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Social Media Marketing Mistakes Every Entrepreneur Should Avoid

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Sourced from BOSS Magazine

Social media is an essential tool for any budding entrepreneur to connect with their audience. Platforms like Twitter, Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube offer unique methods of marketing to engage your audience and show off your brand’s identity. But if you’re a social media newbie or have only used social media for personal reasons, you might want to conduct research before delving into the world of social media marketing. In some ways, social media marketing for business and pleasure do share some similarities.

When we curate an online identity for ourselves, we create our own personal brand. We choose images and videos that present our best selves to our friends and family. When marketing their business on social media, many entrepreneurs make the mistake of over-promoting themselves or creating ads with too much text. Social media is an image and video-driven advertising tool and each platform requires a different promotional format. Furthermore, while our personal social media accounts represent our best or ideal selves, business accounts may benefit from emphasizing their authenticity. As author and social media expert Paul Gillin says, “Transparency may be the most disruptive and far-reaching innovation to come out of social media.”

Depending on their age, social media users may react to online advertisements differently, but most social media users have become accustomed to a constant stream of fake news and overexaggerated advertising. That’s why presenting a unique and authentic brand identity while also capitalizing on social media trends and tags will help your business stand out in a flood of identical ads. Sounds kind of like learning a whole new language? It can seem that way. Luckily, these business professionals have worked with social media and had firsthand experience with some of the most common social media mistakes. Read on to find out which social media marketing mistakes you should avoid when you’re just starting out.

Know Your Platforms

There are plenty of social media platforms to choose from. Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, TikTok, YouTube, Snapchat, Pinterest, and LinkedIn are probably the biggest players right now. Each platform is made up of a different audience—Facebook users, for instance, tend to be older than 40 while TikTok is steadily growing in popularity with Gen Z. Eric Elggren, Co-Founder of Andar recommends knowing your target audience and the type of media most prevalent on each platform before starting an account.

“There is a learning curve with social media and it’s okay to start slow. I would choose one or two platforms to focus on until you get the hang of things. If your target audience is older, I would steer clear of TikTok and master platforms like Facebook and Instagram. Also, think about what you’re selling and what format it is best presented in, and think outside of the box. If you have a very aesthetically pleasing product like clothing or makeup, I would say that Instagram is going to be best for those high-quality photos.

YouTube is also great for high-quality videos presenting the scope of a product or service, but the average consumer’s attention span is only a couple of seconds. If you want to introduce your team or present testimonials in an authentic way, a shorter video on TikTok or Instagram Reels can grab your audience’s attention for those few seconds. Whichever platforms you choose, I would spend some time on those platforms looking at the formatting of the ads there.”

Track Analytics and Trends

Guna Kakulapati, CEO of CureSkin recommends using a social media analytics tracker to ensure your ads are receiving views and engagement. He also encourages the use of tags and trends to boost your posts when you’re first starting out.

“Even if your team works for weeks on a beautiful ad campaign, it won’t do you any good if nobody sees it. You have a higher likelihood of your brand getting noticed with paid ads, but if you’re shooting for a viral moment, scoring those organic impressions can be one of the hardest humps to get over. If you want to make sure your product is seen, you have to track how many likes and saves you’re getting on each post. I would recommend using analytics tracking tools like Facebook Insights and Twitter Analytics. If your impressions and reach are really low, a paid ad might be best. But I think any post can go viral if it follows the trends. As silly as it sounds, that means those viral songs, dances, and memes could be the key to your next sale.”

Interact with Your Audience

If there’s one aspect of social media as a marketing method that sets it apart from TV or billboard advertising, it’s the fact that it’s interactive. You can actively engage your audience’s organic reactions to your advertisements or products in real-time. Most social media platforms allow users to repost and share products that they find interesting, leading to even more eyes on your product. On the flip side, social media users can also share bad reviews and their opinions on poor customer service. Jeff Bezos says, “If you make customers unhappy in the physical world, they might each tell six friends. If you make customers unhappy on the Internet, they can each tell 6,000 friends.” That’s why it’s even more important to ensure customer satisfaction online. Mark Sider, CEO and Co-Founder of Greater Than, suggests that entrepreneurs interact directly with social media users by responding to comments or direct messages.

“If someone posts a funny comment or asks a question in the Instagram or Facebook comments of your post, that likely means they’re interested in further interacting with your business. It’s so important to take advantage of those moments of authentic business-to-client interaction. If it’s a silly comment, leave a response in return. If it’s a question, answer it in a timely manner. Not only will your asker be impressed by that one-on-one attention, but anyone else who looks through the comments will see those interactions as proof that your company cares about its clients.”

Set Social Media Goals and a Schedule

Theresia Le Battistini, CEO and Founder of Fashion League recommends setting business-minded goals on social media involving specific numbers and metrics.

“Like every other form of advertising, social media marketing needs specific goals to work. I would recommend setting SMART business goals—goals that are specific, measurable, attainable, relevant, and time-based. So you wouldn’t just say that you want to increase sales or improve engagement through social media. You would choose a specific number of followers or sales as your goal. From there, you can schedule your social media posts on each platform with that goal in mind. If you’re aiming for more followers, you may need to post and create new content more regularly. If you’re aiming for more sales, then maybe you need to prioritize a few crucial interactions. In any case, the more clearly defined your goals are, the better off you’ll be. And that’s true for any business interaction—not just social media.”

Sourced from BOSS Magazine

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5 New Ways to Make Money on Facebook and Instagram

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Meta is rolling out new ways for creators to make money on Facebook and Instagram.

Content is king on social media, and all the platforms are in a sort of gold rush to ensure the supply of new content does not run dry. Every day, it seems, one platform or the other announces some new scheme or incentive for content creators to sign up to.

Not to be left behind, Meta has announced several new ways creators can monetize their content on Instagram and Facebook. Here are the details.

Meta Announces New Ways to Make Money on Instagram and Facebook

All social media platforms have one way or another of making money, and perhaps YouTube offers the most accessible ways to make money.

These monetization options are always being updated. Thus, Mark Zuckerberg has posted several new monetization tools Meta is rolling out for creators on Instagram and Facebook.

In addition, Meta’s blog confirms the company will not charge subscribers a fee on Subscriptions, Badges, Paid Online Events, and Bulletin for an additional year until January 1, 2024.

Clearly, Meta is going all out to attract and hold on to its best creators.

The New Monetization Tools on Instagram and Facebook

Meta has released five new ways for creators to make money on both Instagram and Facebook.

1. Interoperable Subscriptions

Facebook will now allow creators to automatically add their fans on other platforms to subscribers-only Facebook Groups. This allows them to receive payments from their fans on the other platforms, and save time by not having to manually let individual members into their Facebook Groups.

Facebook will launch the service with a limited group of partners before expanding.

2. Facebook Stars

Facebook Stars is now open to all creators. However, they must have at least 1000 followers since the preceding 60 days, be in a country where Stars are available, and meet Meta’s Partner Monetization Policies and Content Monetization Policies. This applies to Facebook Live, videos on-demand, and will soon be available on Facebook Reels.

3. Monetizing Reels

The Reels payment program was previously only available to creators on an invite-only basis. Now Facebook is allowing US-based creators to apply to join. However, they must have created more than five Reels and have a total of 100,000 views in the previous 30 days, and they must meet Meta’s Partner Monetization Policies and Content Monetization Policies to be eligible.

Facebook is also now allowing creators to cross-post Reels on both Instagram and Facebook and earn money on both platforms.

In addition, creators will shortly be able to use the “Paid Partnerships with” label for their branded content on Facebook Reels. This will allow sponsors to convert them to Branded Content Ads.

4. Creator Marketplace

Meta is following in TikTok’s and Snapchat’s footsteps by launching a Creator’s Marketplace on Instagram intended to match creators with suitable brands.

Creators will be able to indicate the brands and topics they’re interested in making branded content for. Brands will be able to find and collaborate with creators through the Meta Business Suite.

“When they’ve found a creator they want to partner with, they’ll be able to send a project that outlines the details of the opportunity, including deliverables and payment offered,” according to Meta.

5. Digital Collectibles

Instagram started allowing NFTs to be shared on its platform in May 2022. Now Meta will allow this feature to be available to more creators in select countries, and soon on Facebook as well (starting with a small group of US creators). Users will be able to cross-post on both Instagram and Facebook.

Instagram Stories will also start hosting NFTs, in partnership with SparkAR.

Creators Have the Upper Hand

In the old days, the content we consumed was determined by a few people at the top of a production company sitting around a boardroom table. These days, social media has shifted the power to independent creators who execute and deliver content directly to us, with no oversight.

The leading social media platforms have taken notice and are scrambling to find ways to lock in the best creators on their platforms in order to lock in our eyes as well. Clearly, it’s a good time to be a creator.

By Patrick Kariuki

Kariuki is a Nairobi based writer. His entire life has been spent trying to string together the perfect sentence. He is still trying. He has published extensively in Kenyan media and, for a hot 7 years or so, dived into the world of Public Relations where he discovered the corporate world is just like high school. He now writes again, focusing mainly on the magical internet. He also dabbles in the vibrant Kenyan start-up scene, AKA the Silicon Savannah, and occasionally advises small businesses and political actors on how to communicate better to their audiences. He runs a YouTube channel called Tipsy Writers, which attempts to get storytellers to tell their untold stories over a beer. When not working, Kariuki enjoys taking long walks, watching classic movies – especially old James Bond movies – and spotting aircraft. In an alternate universe, he would probably be a fighter pilot. More From Patrick Kariuki

Sourced from MUO

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Instagram’s Enhanced Creator Tags: Implications for B2B Influencer Marketing

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By Lane Ellis

How can B2B marketers make their content stand out and highlight the talented subject matter experts, creators, and influencers they partner with?

Earlier this year Instagram rolled out new enhanced tagging features that allow digital marketers to do a much better job of indicating and crediting the various influencers and creators involved in the creation of content shared on the platform.

Instagram’s addition of enhanced tagging — which is also available for use in video Reels — offers significant new exposure opportunities for B2B content that has been created by multiple professionals, often precisely the type of content that is either made or co-created by industry influencers.

Let’s take a look at some of the advantages provided by Instagram’s enhanced creator tags, and how B2B marketers can best put them to use.

1 — Straightforward Setup Process

The process of using the enhanced tagging features is fairly straightforward, however there are a few caveats to be aware of as you move to incorporate them into your B2B marketing workflow on Instagram, in order to get the full effect of Instagram’s latest tagging elements.

Instagram Image

While Instagram has moved to make more of its features available to desktop users, the enhanced tagging features were initially only available from the mobile app.

Simply having content creators or co-creators tagged goes a long way, and shows a clickable link to learn more about or follow the people involved in the digital assets you find helpful on Instagram. The updated tagging feature can do more, however.

2 — Switch On A Business Or Creator Account

One aspect of the enhanced tagging system takes on even more value, and that’s when the people tagged have gone through the simple process of setting up their Instagram profile as either a creator or business account.

Tagging people with a creator or business account adds a second line of helpful information below the person’s username, containing a category they’ve selected, such as a few B2B-related examples listed here:

  • Video creator
  • Digital creator
  • Writer
  • Author
  • Advertising Agency
  • Marketing Agency
  • Market Research Consultant
  • Advertising/Marketing
  • Internet Marketing Service

To ensure that anytime your brand or the influencers you work with are mentioned using an enhanced tag that also shows category information, it’s easy to switch your Instagram account from personal to professional — there is no waiting period or fee involved — simply access your account settings and select the option to switch to a professional account.

From there you can choose between a creator or business account, described by Instagram as:

  • Creator accounts are best for public figures, content producers, artists and influencers
  • Business accounts are best for retailers, local businesses, brands, organizations and service providers

After choosing your account type, you’re given the option to select a category that best fits how you use Instagram, and this will be the category that shows below your username when others include you using enhanced tagging — however keep in mind that  you must also tick the “show category on profile box” option.

Instagram uses a search box for finding the most relevant category for creator and business accounts, such as those we listed above, and it can be worthwhile to experiment with the available categories, as new ones may be added over time that better describe your own B2B marketing niche.

3 — Ripe For Implementation By B2B Brands

In the B2B arena, the new Instagram enhanced tagging is ripe for implementation by brands and marketers looking to distinguish their content from the competition, and to highlight the subject matter experts and influencers they partner with.

It’s still early days for implementation of the enhanced tagging, and those brands and B2B marketers willing to put them to use will be among the first to stand out as multiple contributors are highlighted in co-created content.

“The new Instagram enhanced tagging is ripe for implementation by B2B brands and marketers looking to distinguish their content from the competition, and to highlight the influencers they partner with.” — Lane R. Ellis @lanerellis Click To Tweet

4 — From One Influencer To Many Others

When Instagram’s enhanced tagging becomes more regularly utilized, it will represent a powerful way not only for influencers to have the digital work they’ve helped create gain greater exposure, but it will also be a helpful way to find new industry experts who are tagged alongside an influencer you may already be aware of.

These days top performing digital content can involve a slew of talented creative professionals, from marketers and writers to video, audio, and social media specialists, and Instagram’s new enhanced tags make it easy to shine a light on everyone who had a hand in building a successful digital asset.

5 — Tagging Gives Voice To Underrepresented Talent

While not unique to Instagram, the new enhanced tagging features can play a helpful role in giving a greater voice to traditionally underrepresented talent.

Instagram’s augmented tagging features were brought to life through the help of three women in technology, who were each profiled in the Snobette interview, “Meet The Women In Tech Behind The Instagram-Enhanced Tagging Feature.”

“In a world where online visibility directly leads to brand sponsorships and other types of monetary opportunities, crediting is more important than ever,” Alexandra Zaoui, music data analyst at Instagram-parent firm Meta, observed.

“In a world where online visibility directly leads to brand sponsorships and other types of monetary opportunities, crediting is more important than ever.” — Alexandra Zaoui @ZaouiAlexandra Click To Tweet

“One of the biggest challenges about being a woman and particularly a Black woman in tech is not seeing nor working with others like you,” Cameryn Boyd, software engineer at Meta, noted. “I’m passionate about bringing other Black women and underrepresented people into tech because that is how and when some of the best and most equitable innovation happens,” Boyd added.

Just as in the B2C marketing world, B2B influencer marketing can help amplify underrepresented voices, and features such as Instagram’s new enhanced tagging help expand such efforts.

Our CEO Lee Odden featured efforts that give voice to talent as one of the top methods for elevating B2B marketing in 2022, in “Three of the Biggest Opportunities to Elevate B2B Marketing in 2022.”

“B2B marketers are in a unique position to make choices about how they represent their customers in content, who they partner with in content collaborations and the influencers they engage.” — Lee Odden @LeeOdden Click To Tweet

Instagram Enhanced Tagging For B2B Marketing Success

By fully embracing Instagram’s new enhanced tagging capabilities, savvy B2B marketers can lead the way and set a good example for the influencers, digital creators, and industry experts they work with, in a process that’s beneficial for both brands and influencers alike — not to mention both existing and potential customers.

Instagram is just one of the digital menagerie of social media platforms that top B2B brands use to engage audiences, however as an increasing number of B2B firms find success on platforms including TikTok and others, having a solid cross-platform tagging strategy in place will give you an edge over those who don’t.

Creating award-winning B2B marketing that elevates, gives voice to talent, and humanizes with authenticity takes considerable time and effort, which is why an increasing number of firms are choosing to work with a top digital marketing agency such as TopRank Marketing. Contact us to learn how we can help, as we’ve done for over 20 years for businesses ranging from LinkedIn, Dell and 3M to Adobe, Oracle, monday.com and others.

By Lane Ellis

Lane R. Ellis (@lanerellis), TopRank Marketing Social Media and Content Marketing Manager, has over 38 years’ experience working with and writing about the Internet. Lane spent more than a decade as Lead Editor for prestigious conference firm Pubcon. When he’s not writing, Lane enjoys distance running (11 marathons including two ultras so far), genealogical research, cross-country skate skiing, vegetarian cooking, and spending time with his wonderful wife Julie Ahasay and their cat Kukla in beautiful Duluth, Minnesota.

Sourced from TopRank Marketing

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A New Social Media Paradigm

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By Johann Hari

Johann Hari: We just have to say that a business model that’s premised upon discovering the weaknesses in your attention in order to hack it and sell it to the highest bidder is fundamentally immoral and we will not allow it.

Interviewer: What would replace it?

Hari: One possibility is subscription – and everyone knows how platforms like Netflix and HBO work. Another model is something like the sewer system. Before we had sewers, we had shit in the streets, we had cholera. So we all paid to build the sewers and we all own the sewers together. And just as we all own the sewage pipes together, we might want to own the information pipes together, because we are getting the attentional equivalent of cholera and the political equivalent of cholera.

Whatever alternative model we adopt, the crucial thing is to understand in this different model, your attention is no longer the product they sell to the real customer, the advertiser. Suddenly, you are the customer.

We need an attention movement to reclaim our attention and focus. And it requires a shift in perspective. When I couldn’t focus and pay attention, I would blame myself. I’d say, “Oh, you’re weak. You’re lacking in willpower.” This is being done to all of us. It’s like we’re having itching powder dumped on us all day and then we’re being told, “You know what, buddy, you might want to learn how to meditate, then you wouldn’t scratch so much.” We need to get out of this psychology and remind ourselves that we’re not medieval peasants begging at the court of King Zuckerberg for a few little crumbs from his table.

Feature Image Credit: Jeff Deng

By Johann Hari

Sourced from ADBUSTERS

 

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Social Media Has Become Saturated With Ads. How Did We Get Here?

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Sourced from NEWSY

Social media platforms are making much of their revenue off of advertising. So is there anything you can do to avoid seeing these ads?

If you go on social media these days, the second you get to scrolling you’re bombarded with ads. Then when you go to another site, you see the same ones.

Survey Monkey found that even though ads perform well on social platforms — with nearly half of social media users buying something from those ads — 74% of people think there are just too many.

But, that wasn’t always the case.

The first digital ad was an AT&T banner on hotwired.com, now known as Wired, which made its debut in 1994. For over four months, a whopping 44% of people clicked on it, which is definitely not something we’d see today. It was part of AT&T’s larger “You Will” campaign.

It featured futuristic commercials, where people were doing things like using a GPS or video calling, and their predictions actually came true.

It was something that hadn’t been seen before. People were even sharing the link to the ad with friends.

Facebook, now Meta, got its start in 2004, but it didn’t make its first ad deal until 2006 in a partnership with JP Morgan Chase to advertise credit cards. YouTube soon followed, launching ads on their platform in 2007. They first used transparent ads that covered the bottom of the video.

In 2010, Twitter introduced ads. By then, it was already a lot more common to see ads on social media. Instagram and Pinterest would do the same in 2013 and Snapchat in 2014.

Today, digital ads are nearly impossible to avoid.

According to a 2020 study, Facebook and Instagram show more ads on average than any other major social media platform.

For both apps, more than 20% of the posts users see on their feed each time are ads. For Instagram, that roughly breaks down to an ad every four posts or so.

So, is there anything you can do to stop seeing this influx of ads every time you open up your social media?

Reporting them is definitely not the way to go — one study found users who report ads see about 5% more ads than users who don’t.

But cutting down on some of the time you spend on these apps could help a bit. Instagram actually shows more ads to people who spend more time on their app.

Unfortunately, you can’t just turn them off; a lot of these social media sites rely on ad dollars to keep their business running.

In 2020, 97% of Facebook’s global revenue came from advertising.

A lot of companies prefer advertising on these platforms because it’s cheaper, and it works for them.

In a recent report, market research company Million Insights found the global social media advertising market was valued at $103 billion in 2020 and is expected to see an annual growth rate of 12.4% between 2021 and 2028.

Sourced from NEWSY

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What our negative comments and consumer gripes on social media reveal about us

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By &

A supermarket starts stocking hot-cross buns straight after Christmas. A cling-wrap brand shifts its serrated cutter bar from the base of the box to inside the lid. The maker of M&M’s chocolates changes its marketing. Each time people take to social media to complain.

Why do people get so angry about things that seem so trivial?

We’ve examined the issue of consumer anger on social media because, as marketing academics, we’re interested in how companies handle the excessive toxicity that comes with corporate social media engagement. But our research also helps explain the causes of this culture of complaint.

Our findings point to this behaviour meeting two basic psychological needs.

First, complaining is a mechanism for social connection.

Second, it’s an opportunity to boost self-esteem through what psychologists call “downward social comparison”. Given social media feeds can be rife with opportunities to feel inferior, complaining about brands is an easy way to feel better about ourselves.

How we did our research

To figure out why people complain so much on social media, we analysed negative posts on Facebook about brands caught up in media controversies at the time.

We focused on six companies – a clothing brand, a supermarket, an airline, an e-commerce store, a department store and a beverage company.

Each had a Facebook page with more than 1 million followers. The controversies included alleged employee mistreatment, unethical business practices, bad customer experiences and a poorly received advertising campaign. We analysed hundreds of comments posted on these companies’ pages. We followed up with interviews with 13 social media users who said they used Facebook at least daily and interacted with brands on social media at least weekly.

We asked these 13 people what they posted about and their reasons for posting. We also asked them to speculate about other social media posts regarding the same brands. This enabled us to draw our conclusions.

Image of Facebook feed.
Shutterstock

Complaining to bond with others

The most common reason for complaining online was paying for something that didn’t arrive or failed to work in some way. This was our least surprising finding.

More surprising was how many who joined in posting negative comments, without any firsthand experience. We saw this complaining used as a bonding mechanism, with users tagging family or friends in posts about malfunctioning equipment with questions such as: “Has this happened with yours?”

Complaining has long been “a pervasive and important form of social communication”, as psychology professor Mark Alicke and colleagues noted in a 1992 study, published before most people had even heard of the internet.

Social media has amplified this, enabling us to not only complain to friends but also to create a type of social connection with strangers. We could give you dozens of examples from our research, but you can probably think of many from your own experiences.

The people we studied got a kick out of debating strangers, particularly when they felt they had the upper hand. One interviewee told us:

I kind of like it, because it shows that at least I’m having an impact. If I’m talking about something someone’s so angry about that they write something back, at least we’re having a conversation.

Such responses speak the social dilemma of social networks. Our increasingly digital existence contributes to real-world social disconnection. To compensate, people look for whatever attention they can find on social media, including through complaining and arguing.

Downward social comparison

The second major psychological reward from complaining on social media was to boost their self-esteem. As one participant told us:

This is kind of that negative thing, but it’s more in a funny, sarcastic, trolling negative thing.

This pay-off came through strongly when we asked our interviewees to speculate on others’ complaints. “Maybe they’re bored and lonely at home,” said one. “The fact he’s obviously looking down on the people is elevating his position,” said another.

Boosting self-esteem by looking down others is known as “downward social comparison”. This idea was articulated by American social psychologist Leon Festinger in 1954, who suggested humans were hardwired by evolution to compare our value against others.

Generally we seek comparisons with people like ourselves. Upward social comparisons (to higher-status individuals or groups) is bad for our self-esteem, while downward comparison (to lower-status targets) can boost our self-esteem.

Leon Festinger’s 1954 paper, ‘A Theory of Social Comparison Processes’. Human Relations, CC BY

Research over the past decade or so suggest amplifies our need to find things to feel superior about precisely because it is so effective in making us feel inferior, with social media feeds typically subjecting us to “highlight reels” of other people’s beachside holidays, job promotions, romantic dinners and so on.

One study, for example, has found that spending more time on social media is associated with a greater likelihood of thinking others are happier and have better lives.

Looking down on companies and brands may be an easy, relatively socially acceptable way for us to feel smarter and superior.

Manipulating our love of complaining

Some complaining is a good thing. It shows companies we are ready to hold them to account.

But the degree to which complaining is done to scratch psychological itches is complicating the use of social media. Indeed, some companies now deliberately court controversy to exploit our love for complaining.

An example is British breakfast cereal maker Weetabix, which in February 2021 tweeted an image of Weetabix topped with baked beans. This is hardly an important issue. But it generated enough controversy on social media to also spill over into dozen of reports on legacy media.

Weetabix's baked beans on weetabix tweet
Twitter, CC BY

Whenever you see a brand bringing out some odd flavour, it’s probably not because company executives have lost their minds. It’s more likely their marketing experts are deliberately looking to provoke people to express mirth or disgust about it.

So if you find yourself engaging in online complaining, be mindful of the social and psychological factors lurking below the surface.

Just as you may be taking advantage of a brand to make yourself feel better, it is possible a company is stoking controversy to take advantage of you.

By &

Sourced from THE CONVERSATION

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These 6 Classic Marketing Tactics Stand The Test Of Time

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By NisonCo

In the age of digital marketing, it seems influencers, email marketing, SEO, and social media reign supreme. Are there any classic marketing tactics that have withstood the test of time? The answer is yes — there are quite a few “old school” marketing moves that still pack a punch. Let’s look at six tried and true marketing tactics you should still consider using in the modern era.

1. Networking and Relationship-Building

Networking online or in-person is just as important in the modern-day as it was in the past. Strong networking skills are essential for any marketing professional or business owner. Successful networking generates referrals and leads, encourages steady client retention, and helps to build a positive reputation among peers and patrons, alike.

Attending conferences in your area is a great way for you to meet other people in your industry and build connections with local businesses and clients that are geographically nearby. Attending national networking events or conferences can also help you expand your network across the country and meet prospective clients and professionals that are doing similar work and perhaps can partner with your business or brand to form a mutually beneficial relationship.

2. Actual Facetime with Your Audience

No, we’re not talking about FaceTime with screens. Investing in facetime with your audience or customers is still a necessary part of doing business and can be greatly beneficial to your relationship with clients, collaborators, and partners. You will develop stronger circular regional relationships by curating interaction opportunities as well, which in turn helps to build more resilient local economies.

When you have face-to-face time with clients or business partners you’re able to pick up on things that are often missed in emails or audio calls such as facial expressions, body language, and other social queues that can get left out in written text or audio-only interactions. This can help build trust and deepen relationships which can yield fruitful business opportunities.

3. Offering Freebies and/or Discounts

People like free stuff. It’s as simple as that. This is a marketing tactic that won’t be retired any time soon because it has proven time and again to be effective. Freebies and discounts allow your target audience to interact with your brand or business and engage more actively with your services and content or sample your products.

It also offers an excellent opportunity for free advertising. When hosting a contest or free giveaway you can get entrants to repost the contest on their social media accounts, follow your brand’s account, and tag other people to spread the news — extending your reach and engaging your target audience in a fun way. Everyone wins.

 

The USPS created a guide titled

The USPS created a guide titled “Still Relevant: A Look at How Millennials Respond to Direct Mail” (PDF) to help companies understand why millennials respond to mail and how to create an appealing mail piece.

4. Direct Mail Lives!

If you think paper mail is dead, then you would be wrong. It turns out everyone really does love mail. Direct mail is still a great way to reach out with the right purpose in mind, even for younger generations.  There are several benefits to using direct mail. Direct mail campaigns give a high return on investment (ROI)—even higher than paid ad campaigns.

It is possible to reach your target audience with the right information at the right time. Direct mail campaigns can work solo or in conjunction with a digital marketing campaign such as by integrating online sales or QR codes, and it is very easy to track their progress.

5. Radio Advertising

Audio is making a significant comeback, so don’t sleep on this medium! Listen to what the founder and CEO of NisonCo Evan Nison had to say about the benefits of radio advertising in Forbes:

The resurgence of radio-based advertising has become increasingly apparent. Podcasts and web-based streaming audio ads can reach national and global platforms. Radio ads can be used to target very specific local regions and varied audience segments.

For those with a brick-and-mortar business location especially, radio advertising is the fun, affordable option of choice for hyper localized advertising. For those looking to level up their findability in the technological age, look into optimizing your local SEO performance.

6. Testimonials and Reviews

People are generally more attuned to the tactics used to get them to buy things or engage with a brand. Testimonials provide both credibility and accountability for brands and businesses because customers are naturally more likely to trust feedback from other consumers. Creating space for testimonials and reviews allows for clients to leave positive feedback or bring attention to issues that can then be addressed to help better the brand or business. In addition to these benefits, bringing them into the modern era by dedicating time to respond on social media sites and to poor reviews will aid in your local SEO strategy so your site will rank better on search engine results pages.

Conclusion Caveat: It’s a Modern World

It is imperative to examine the past for the lessons it has to offer our present, with the caveat that the world we live in exists today in the here-and-now. Each marketing strategy — old and new — has strengths and weaknesses when placed in different applications and contexts. If your brand is uncertain what blend of old-school and digital marketing strategies to employ, reach out to our team of PR, SEO, and Content Writing specialists today to begin crafting a comprehensive plan.

This article was submitted by an external contributor and may not represent the views and opinions of Benzinga.

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10 shockingly easy ways to grow your mailing list

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Reach more people with these ten simple steps

Marketing your business should be one of your highest priorities, but technology has forced us to adapt the way we connect with people. It’s easy to overlook email newsletters in favour of social media, but the humble mailing list still has a very worthy place in today’s marketing strategies. Use it right, and it can even work in conjunction with your social media strategy.

Unlike social media on search engine results, there’s no need to compete with an ever-changing algorithm to ensure that your results appear first. With email marketing, you are in complete control of how much – or how little – you communicate, making it one of the most predictable tools you advertise your business.

Follow these ten steps and watch your subscriber list grow.

1. Social media

Above, we hinted at how emailing lists and social media can work hand in hand. That’s because, while mailing lists are often preferred for their dependability, it’s easy to reach not-before-reached audiences on social media, thus directing them to your newsletter.

There are of course other strategies that you can consider when using social media, such as custom hashtags and viral trends, but we’ll save those for another day. Once you have reached potential customers, give them a place to sign up to your newsletter. This can be a call to action in a post or a simple link in your bio.

2. Videos

Creating videos no longer requires expensive, high-end equipment. In fact, a short clip shot on a smartphone and shared online can be a bigger hit.

People love videos for their engaging and interactive nature. They appeal to our inner social needs, and are a great way for instant gratification (look at TikTok, for instance).

Chances are, you’re already using videos to market your company, or are at least considering using them. Add value to your videos with the option to stay in touch through a mailing list.

3. Referral programs

Starting a business can be difficult, but one of the first steps is getting out there. In the early stages, we typically rely on friends and family to spread the word, then turn to our employees’ networks. Why not consider using other parts of your network to branch out?

Entice subscribers to share with their friends and families with referral programs that reward new signups with discount codes and loyalty schemes.

4. Incentive

Off the back of the above, all potential customers should have a reason to subscribe. Most consumers want to de-clutter their inboxes, but adding value to your emails could persuade them to continue with your mailing list.

Offer customers things that they would otherwise not be able to get: insider knowledge, tips and tricks, and discount codes throughout the year. Remember, everybody loves a birthday treat.

5. Giveaways

Running a promotion on an e-commerce site is a surefire way to increase sales, but it’s an opportunity to do so much more, including shamelessly plugging your email subscription. People will willingly hand over their email addresses for product giveaways – where there is a chance to get something for free – allowing you to sign them up for your newsletter.

Returns on investments in email strategies are said to be high, and if you’re willing to give away a high-value product for free, results could be bountiful.

6. Focus on targeted lists

Using an email service provider allows you to store email addresses and generate email content, but a lot of the work will be done by you which can be both time-consuming and costly. Upgrading to a more comprehensive email marketing service brings the benefit of automation, allowing you to create a library of newsletter templates that are sent out automatically to the right people at the right time.

Subscribers like control, so giving them the option of which mailing lists they wish to be a part of can help you to deliver only the most relevant content. Integrating your mailing list with your e-commerce website can help you to identify incomplete sales, offering specific discounts rather than a company-wide promotion.

7. Gated content

We’ve discussed offering incentives to entice more consumers to sign up to your mailing list, but in more extreme cases it’s possible to restrict access to your content. So-called ‘gated content’ requires a specific key to gain access; this key can be an account with your website, or more applicable to this story, being a subscriber to your email marketing.

Remember that this is a trade – or transaction – so offering high-value content is a must in order to deliver only our promise.

8. Give users more control

Linking your email service provider to analytics software can help highlight not only the sources of new subscriptions, but unsubscriptions too. Analytics are hugely beneficial to any business, but they don’t offer a full picture. Consider why people are choosing to stop receiving marketing communications from you – it could be that they are no longer interested, but it could be that the content isn’t relevant, that they are receiving too many emails, or even that they aren’t getting enough information. Avoid unnecessary unsubscriptions by giving your customers a say.

It may seem counterintuitive, but giving people the opportunity to select exactly what they want to receive is a great idea. You may be surprised at how many boxes people will tick given the option.

9. Increase prominence

A good mailing list will have many entry points across various platforms, from your website to social media and existing emails to non-web marketing. However you’re advertising your marketing strategy, it should be prominent enough to attract attention – often more so than even the products or services customers are looking for.

10. Make it easy

Making your mailing list a prominent feature on your channels is only half of the story though. In business, we cater to the fact that ‘people are lazy’, whether that’s true or false. What this means is that it should be easy to join with minimal effort – each additional click presents another barrier that may deter potential subscribers.

Feature Image Credit: Shutterstock

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5 Tips For Growing Your Social Media Accounts Organically

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By Jerry Balworth

Social media is a great tool to help business owners expand their online presence, publish informative and authoritative content, and, most importantly, engage with their customers. Having a strong social media strategy can grow your business exponentially.

Using an organic approach to help grow your social media accounts results in authentic engagement and true consumer loyalty.

But first, to grow your social media accounts, you need to master your social media strategy.

Whether you’ve recently started your own business or work in-house, here are 5 top tips to organically grow your social media accounts.

Consistent & Captivating Content

Creating content is one of the most important aspects of growing your social media account. Users tend to gravitate towards consistency. This includes consistency in the type of content shared and the frequency with which it is posted.

You will find that social media users are more likely to engage with a post if they know the type of message or branding experience they are signing up for.

Your content has got to be consistent; it has to be exciting! Whilst consistency is key; you should remember the old age saying quality over quantity.

Planning, identifying and researching one’s target audience and keeping an eye on the competitors are just a few ways to create meaningful content.

Engage & Acknowledge Your Followers

Would you keep talking to someone who never returned your messages? Probably not. The same works for customers.

Users will not want to communicate with you or follow your brand on social media if they receive no benefit. That’s why it’s crucial to interact with your followers on social media.

If you want to create a social media presence, you must turn your accounts into a community. That isn’t to say if someone comments on one of your posts, you must respond, but at the very least, you should like it.

You may also use posts to ask and answer questions and acknowledge and share user-generated content to show your appreciation to your followers and customers. Engaging with your followers will help you develop authentic relationships and boost your social media presence.

Establish Your Niche

I’m sure you’ve heard the phrase “jack of all trades, master of none” before. This is true not only in business but also in content marketing.

Defining your niche is preferable so that even your customers know your values, which helps you stand out.

Monitor Your Competitors

Other successful competitors’ social media accounts can be great blueprints for beginners. Keep an eye on accounts that have a similar audience target as you. Have a look at what is working for them? What type of posts generates the most engagement for them?

When looking to increase growth organically, there are many challenges to getting your business off the ground. However, studying what has worked and, most importantly, why it works can help you understand the best ways to grow your account.

Choosing The Right Social Media Platform

It is very tempting to be active on all social media platforms, but do all platforms benefit your business?

Knowing which social media platform works best for your business is essential. For example, Instagram/Facebook may be a good platform if you own a clothing business or sell jewellery products. Still, if you are offering a service, it may be best to use Linkedin due to its professional audience.

Another tip is to focus on the platform that delivers the best results. Although this is not something you would necessarily know when you first start using social media, you may need to give it a few months to monitor results. But once you’ve identified the platform for you, you can determine what needs to be done to organically push your social media account.

Ultimately have fun with it; social media should be used to spread positive messages and show your brand’s personality. Using these five tips, you lay the groundwork in terms of strategy, but if you find something that works, stick with it. Don’t be afraid to get involved in the conversation.

By Jerry Balworth

Sourced from Talk Business

 

 

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