 A Pew Research Center survey of US social media users found that more are turning to Twitter, YouTube—and even Tumblr—to get news. Twitter, for example. More Twitter users (74%) said they are getting news from the social network than said the same in 2013 (52%). But it’s not just Twitter. More people on YouTube—a platform that’s not necessarily known for news content—are also turning to the site for news. In 2013, 20% said they did.
Fast forward to 2017, and that number has increased to 32%. And news-seeking among Snapchat’s users also increased by 12 percentage points between 2016 and 2017. Separate June 2017 data from Kantar, which analyzed the social platforms US users had accessed in the past week, found that by far the highest proportion of respondents—85%—accessed news via Facebook. By contrast, 39% said they did so via YouTube and almost as many (35%) through Twitter. So what does all this mean? Social Media is delivering news to consumers faster than the networks can get typically break the news, get reporters to the scene and set up to broadcast. In this “I gotta have it now” world we live in, social media delivers. With smartphones and live broadcast capability, everyone has become a reporter with the capability to capture news as it breaks. The downside is social media also has been known to have a lot of “fake news” as we all know. Can you believe everything you read on social media? Even the networks have been caught taking stories from social media only to have to retract their remarks learning their stories were not true. Overall consumers are engaging social media over television go get their news. The days of Mom, Dad, and the kids sitting around watching the 5:00 p.m. newscasts over dinner is becoming a thing of the past in our fast-paced mobile society we now live in. To say that is a good or bad thing is for you to decide. -Roy
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 Despite everything you read and no matter what anyone else tells you, there’s really no secret to success for marketers on social media.
Obviously, you can put the odds in your favor if you follow the industry’s best practices. But there are no shortcuts or tricks, no workarounds or hacks. Big advertising budget or not, if you’re not careful to adhere to some of the channels’ most fundamental principles, any wins you experience will be short-lived at best. Transparency counts for a lot in social media, as do authenticity and immediacy. Emerging technologies and newfangled tactics play considerable roles as well. As if all that’s not enough, whether you’re talking about copy or design, still images or videos, memes or GIFs, you need to have an infinite supply of content in some shape or form queued up and ready to share with your followers, subscribers and connections. Those principles I referred to above still reign first and foremost, though. There are too many of them to list here, but let’s talk about a few of the most important ones. 1. Have a solid strategy in place Far too many businesses and brands decide to launch a campaign, only to realize not too far into it that they either don’t have enough content to sustain momentum or they have no idea what to do with it. That’s just one of countless issues to address before you dip your toes in the social media waters. Branding. Lead generation. PR. SEO. What are your objectives? Which channels are you going to use? Who’s your audience? How can you achieve better results than your competition? You can easily get lost on social media if you haven’t mapped out your journey in advance. 2. Be persistent and patient If you’re not a brand like Red Bull or a celebrity like Kim Kardashian, you’re not going to be an overnight success on social media. Attention on these channels is earned, not given to you. Even if you put a massive budget behind your content and promote it like crazy, you still need a ubiquitous, bona fide presence on social media to be taken seriously. Social media levels the playing field between buyer and seller. The more you engage authentically with your audience on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and the like, the more likely they’ll be to respond affirmatively to what you have to offer. 3. Roll out the red carpet for your audience You never get a second chance to make a great first impression. Treat the members of your audience like VIPs. Roll out the red carpet and greet them with open arms. Thank them for following you. Ask how you can help them. Speak to their needs and interests, not yours. Give them props, credit, praise and kudos. Show them how much you appreciate the time they’re taking to watch, listen and learn from you. Give them far more attention than they’re giving to you and chances are, your welcome and warmth will be reciprocated. 4. Be available, responsive and engaging The good news is that social media has made it possible for you to engage with customers, consumers and constituents in real time, anytime. The bad news is that they can reach out to you at their own convenience. And the expectation is that you will respond to them immediately. Banker’s hours are unheard-of on social media. Nights. Weekends. Lunchtime. It doesn’t matter what your schedule is in real life. On these online communication channels, you need to be there for your audience at a moment’s notice. If you snooze, you lose. There’s no rest for the weary on social media. 5. Show the human side of your brand One of the biggest mistakes marketers, advertisers and professionals in general make is to underestimate the importance of the social in social media. People do business with people who are willing to engage as themselves, not logos behind a litany of promotional messages and corporate gobbledygook. Be kind. Be generous. Be yourself. Cold, calculating and contrived content will get you nowhere on these channels. Candor and extemporaneousness will fly. Stress the positive attributes of your brand, personal or professional, but don’t pretend you’re something you’re not. Honesty and personality will get you everywhere on social media. On Pinterest – the social platform built on beautiful, shareable imagery – opportunities for shopping come cleverly disguised as outfit inspiration and smoothie recipes and DIY centrepieces and VW bus renovations and french bulldog puppies. These collectible, bite-sized visuals feed our human instincts to covet and hoard and categorize. For consumers, it’s a place to hunt and gather. For brands, it’s a goldmine. saying "Take my money!" Last year, Pinterest was the second largest social source for traffic (over Twitter), and resulting visits had the third highest average order value (beating Facebook). If you’re still not convinced, consider this: sales and traffic from Pins can occur long after the item is pinned. In fact, 50 percent of visits happen after 3.5 months, according to Piqora. Compared to Twitter and Facebook where the content half-life is around 5 minutes and 80 minutes, respectively, Pinterest is more bang for your social buck. As a merchant, there are several ways to maximize your efforts on Pinterest, including choosing the right content, running contests, and engaging with your community. Here are seven ideas to add to your Pinterest marketing strategies.
1. Use Rich Pins Rich Pins are pins that contain extra information right inside the pin. Your customers can benefit from Product Pins which include real-time pricing and stock availability. Rich Pins can improve CTR and discoverability of Pins, by making them eligible for Pinterest’s own curated feeds. Another advantage of Rich Pins is price notifications. If you reduce the price of your product, customers who Repinned that product image will receive an email from Pinterest notifying them of the price drop and prompting them to buy. 2. Pin Smarter Quality over quantity is a long-revered rule of thumb when it comes to, well, just about anything. With Pinterest, make it your mantra. Volume matters for the sake of consistency – pin every new product, engage frequently, keep it fresh. Knowing what types of images work best on Pinterest is even more important. When shooting and choosing photos for your product pages, make them highly Repinnable. What makes an image Pinterest-worthy? Let’s dig into the data: · Keep it Anonymous. Images without faces receive 23% more Repins than those with faces. · Use Color Wisely. Pins with multiple dominant colors are Repinned 3.25 times more than those dominated by a single color, and red images fare better than blue. · Size Matters. Images on your product pages should ideally be at least 600 px wide with the optimal Pin width being 736 pixels wide (the maximum display size). Taller images are more likely to be Repinned. · Listen. Pay attention to your analytics, either through your Pinterest business tools or via other apps like Piqora, Tailwind, or Curalate. While summer salad recipes and DIY treehouses may have high virality potential overall, be relevant – find out what resonates with your audience specifically. · Timing is Everything. Pin and engage when your customers are doing the same. The time periods 2-4pm and 8-11pm are roughly the best times to Pin, but it can depend on where and who your customers are. Pinterest research also suggests that certain categories perform better on specific days of the week. You Need a Blog. You already know why your ecommerce site needs a blog. Use it as a place tocreate beautiful content for your Pinterest boards, too. Even if you’re not a designer or photographer, you can use easy tools to help create great content 3. Sell the Lifestyle Inspire your audience, don’t just sell to them. Create boards around lifestyle themes that include your products, rather than just product boards ("The Great Outdoors" vs "ABC Company Outerwear"). Great brands understand their customers and the kind of content that they crave. 4. Piggyback on the Popular While I previously cautioned against pinning content simply based on viral potential, you can tap into the most popular pin types and search terms if they’re actually relevant to your audience. Are your customers predominantly men? Your slice of the Pinterest pie is small, so maximize your efforts. Create boards and pin content in the categories of photography, art, design, and home decor. Do you sell food or beverages? Develop easy recipes containing your products. Are your products related to fitness, health, or beauty? Pin inspirational and inspirational content with quotes. Is your ecommerce store a source for tools, craft supplies, or fabric? Use them to create DIYs and tutorials. 5. Run Pinterest Contests Contests are a great way to increase engagement on Pinterest. Brands, however, should pay attention to Pinterest’s contest guidelines. Certain types of contests are not permitted, nor is spammy behaviour. Done well, and within the platform’s parameters, Pinterest contests can drive sales and traffic for your ecommerce site. Jetsetter used contests to increase site traffic by 150% and Overstock.com saw a 1000% jump in referrals from Pinterest. Contest tips: · Be Creative. Modcloth wins at contests by keeping them fun and original. · Make it Worth it. Forever 21 asks followers to create an entire board, but puts a $1000 gift card on the table as incentive. · Get Inspired. Look to other brands for contest ideas that might work for you. · Use an App. Apps like Gleam.io, Wishpond or Woobox can help organize your contest and host it on your site or Facebook. 6. Leverage the Power of Influencers Partner up with Pinterest influencers and bloggers to give your product some clout on the social network. Many brands get access to new audiences by inviting Guest Pinners to create boards on their accounts. Often, influencers will charge a fee for this service, but social media love in exchange for your product may be possible, too. Choose to work with Pinterest users whose audiences resemble your desired customers. 7. Engage Your Community Involve your community to help increase engagement. Group Boards can be comprised of many contributors – customers, staff, a select group of influencers – or can even be open to anyone to join. The contributors to your group boards become brand ambassadors, creating content on your behalf. Celebrate the selfie! Tap into narcissism and encourage your customers to share images of themselves with your product. This is an especially useful tactic for fashion brands to gather alternate, accessible images of products worn by real people. Roy Garton FDMC Social and Digital Media LLC www.floridadudemarketingconcepts.com Social media moves fast. Just as you’ve wrapped your head around a set of features or developed a great new marketing tactic, the rules change.
Looking back at the recent developments can help us work out what to expect in the future. So here are our predictions for the social media trends of 2017. Virtual Reality/Augmented Reality I know, I know… you’ve been reading predictions of virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) taking over for the last few years. It never quite happens. But think about what happened this past year. For a while, you could barely walk down the street without someone bumping into you while they tried to catch a Rattata. Pokémon Go introduced a lot of people to AR, and it showed that there is mass appeal for it when it is executed well. Several VR sets went on sale and generated hype, although they don’t seem to have that killer app yet. The practical application of these technologies is yet to be worked out beyond gaming. Brands with physical stores are likely to be interested in AR development, as it makes proximity-based offers and engagement possible. We are still at the beginning of the VR/AR journey. While I don’t expect AR or VR to be a dominant social media trend in 2017, a few brands will surely experiment over the coming twelve months with these new technologies. Pay To Play Stays Social How do you best reach your audience? It’s a vital question for marketers, and one where the answer is always changing.You may choose to aim for the 3.5 billion searches per day conducted on Google. Alternatively, you can aim for social media. Facebook holds 1.71 billion people. Instagram has 500 million active users. WhatsApp has 1 billion. Youtube has 1 billion. With search, an SEO practitioner can get your content high in the results page. A PPC expert can deliver ads that drive traffic to your site. With social, the halcyon days which saw brands’ content being distributed at no cost are over. The changes brought about by the social networks mean that organic reach is greatly reduced. Brands have two choices: pay up, or have a true understanding of the content your audience wants to see and provide it to them. Even then, you would need to think about how you can maximize sharing, and engage influencers to increase the reach. In the end, a successful strategy will most likely have to include paying money to the networks. Live Streaming Video Last year Meerkat brought live streaming to the masses. (Sadly Meerkat could not compete with Periscope.) Earlier this year, Facebook introduced live streaming for celebrities. Recently it was rolled out for all users. YouTube Live is about to launch too. Video has been responsible for a lot of the growth enjoyed by Facebook this year, and consistently shows higher engagement than other formats. As social networks fight to keep people online, this push into live video makes sense. At this early stage, it’s difficult to know what the possibilities for brands are. Facebook will surely have rules around this. However, forward-thinking brands will be watching this social media trend for opportunities. Brands have the potential to release engaging content, conduct marketing around an event, or even pay influencers to feature their products. With the priority that Facebook gives to video and the reduced organic reach, we should see brands experimenting with this new format in 2017. Rise Of The Chatbots Artificial intelligence is now reaching a level where it is useful to many people’s daily lives. The rise of digital assistants, such as Siri, Cortana, and Google Assistant have got people used to talking to their phone rather than exercising their fingers. With Facebook, WhatsApp, Twitter, and Google Allo all introducing integrated bots to help with bookings and customer service, prepare to start talking to machines much more often. Chatbots make sense for brands, allowing common questions to be answered and simple bookings to be managed. This can free up customer service representatives to answer more in-depth queries. More expiring content The success of Snapchat has seen many of its competitor’s introducing features inspired by the ephemeral messaging app. Facebook, Instagram, and Whatsapp have all ‘borrowed’ Snapchat features recently. It seems disappearing content might be about to become even more popular. It will be interesting to watch the inventive ways brands embrace these new features, just as they have for their Snapchat campaigns. Increased Personalization The amount of data available increasingly allows ads to be shown to the right people at the right time, both across the web and specifically on social networks. The huge increase in the amount of content published online means that this needs to be seen by the right person at the right time too. There is so much choice for the reader that if you don’t personalize and focus on a specific target, your content is much less likely to resonate with consumers. Niche content, interactive content, innovative campaigns: it’s all part of the content arms race, trying to win limited attention in a very busy space. Mobile First ‘Optimize for mobile’ could have been on every social media trends post written in the last five years. That doesn’t make any of those predictions wrong, nor does it devalue it’s entry this year. Its importance has increased every year, and this year is no different. It is no secret that mobile traffic has overtaken the desktop on the web this year. Google is working on a new, mobile-first web index. These changes mean that it is more important than ever to make the mobile experience as good as possible. Increasingly that means putting mobile first, rather than simply optimizing for mobile. Roy Garton FDMC Social & Digital Media LLC www.floridadudemarketingconcepts.com You take pride in creating content for valuable resources such as blogs, e-books and training videos. You make sure you're dedicated to producing quality work that will “wow” your audience. You set aside specific blocks on your calendar to write and revise. You prepare yourself for deep focus and concentration. You even pay for professional design, editing and copy-writing. When you see the final product, you feel pro. You can’t wait to share it with the world. You post it everywhere and patiently wait. This is the one -- and it’s going viral, baby! The results? Minimal traffic, a few leads and no conversions. But how? This was the "no-boundaries" content you knew your audience craved. And you should know by now: You’ve been doing this for months with little to no return on investment. So why isn't your content marketing working? Take a look below to see if you spot any missing elements that are burning up your time, energy and money. 1. Captivating personality. Knowing your business brand will help you nail down your voice. The tone, language and messages that represent your brand will help humanize your business. Together, they bring your products, programs and services to life. When you add personality and soul to what you do, it becomes much more emotionally engaging in the marketplace. People will want to read, watch and listen. It resonates with something inside them and ignites their imaginations. If your content isn't reaching viewers at a personal level, it will cost you. 2. Clear personas. Profiling your audience helps you narrow down detailed target markets and precise buyer personas. When you've clearly identified key demographics and psychographics, you can effectively streamline audience needs, wants and other invaluable specifics. As a whole, these tactics can help you gain your ideal customer's attention. Get these down, and you can bridge consumers' knowledge gaps with relevant information. In the process, you'll earn trust along with their interest. Each time your content helps them gain perspective, confidence and progress, you're positioning your brand as one that's hard to forget. This directed content also can increase organic clicks, likes and shares. Without it, you’ll struggle to connect. 3. Precise content. Content type and a known customer buying cycle help you create relevant, valuable content for your audience. But what about the right format? Do you know where and when it’s best to drop an e-book in front of your audience? Or which time and place your followers will watch a video instead of reading your amazing white paper? Understand how and when your audience prefers to receive information, and you'll make an impact that transforms costs into profits. 4. Concise placement. All of the above can help you pinpoint better, more relevant platforms. You understandably want your logo and products to be seen in as many places as possible, but you don’t want your brand to be just anywhere. Focus on finding two or three primary platforms to start. Refine your approach until you’ve optimized these through traffic metrics, leads and your desired return on investment. Saturating the market with too many locations will spread your message thinly across scattered channels. Your team will end up doing more work and having fewer conversions to show for it. This costs you in more ways than one as employees grow frustrated and your marketing dollars dwindle. 5. Consistent promotion. Promoting inconsistencies will kill your content-marketing efforts. Whether you’re generating leads or practicing your lead-nurturing activities, it's imperative that your brand stay top-of-mind for audience members. It’s easy to get caught up in prospecting for new traffic and leads, but don't forget your current email and social-media communities. It's more profitable to serve your existing customers first than to expend resources finding new ones. Learn from the audience you already have. They'll help you save time, energy and money so you can operate even more effectively. 6. Collaborative planning. Taking time to plan strategically is indispensable. As much as it’s enticing to jump on the current hot tactic, don’t -- yet. You'll certainly want to explore different platforms and tactics, but think it through first. Make sure these moves make sense for your brand, your audience, your team and your bottom line. That being said, overthinking during the planning stage can needlessly delay action and lead to missed opportunities. Find your balance between implementation speed and precision strategies. 7. Calculated production. the results we anticipate. Strategies can fail miserably. That's why you must put in place methods to test, track and measure your predictions and expectations against actual outcomes. Every business is different, every audience is special, and new technologies mean the marketplace is a dynamic one. The content you "know" will go viral sometimes bombs. A campaign you think smacks of effort half-done turns out to generate massive engagement. The market can be surprising and often is unpredictable. Unless you have a system for tracking, of course. Capture data and use it to better calculate outcomes so you can produce better results in the future. Learning to effectively and profitably promote your content will take time, energy and money -- period. But it shouldn’t put you in the red. Be clear, be strategic, and be sure to evaluate these seven planning considerations. Your upfront effort will pay for itself many times over. Roy Garton FDMC Social & Digital Media www.floridadudemarketingconcets.com With social media,reach and engagement rates having dipped so precipitously over the last year or so, the paying to play game is the only option for most brands now. But what about businesses and brands that can’t afford to advertise on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and similar social platforms? Not everyone is willing, never mind able, to carve out the budget necessary to keep their content in front of a critical mass of relevant followers on a regular basis. Those organizations can be particularly creative or incredibly persistent, but the most effective strategy they can embrace may be to get all hands on deck in the form of an employee advocacy program. Of course, to go in this direction, every team member needs to be on board with their new tack, despite an abundance of reasons to be uncooperative, unknowingly or not. Employers need their employees working together toward the same goal if this social media strategy is to be effective. And in many cases, that’s just not going to happen anytime soon without proper training, guidance, incentive and rewards. Here are 10 BIG mistakes many businesses, brands, teams and their leaders are making with social media… Not providing enough education Social media isn’t rocket science, but it requires a huge leap of faith for the uninformed and uninitiated. Not only can it be daunting, it can be downright difficult for a newbie to craft even a simple tweet, never mind write a blog post or record a video. We at FDMC can help you with training and consulting. A comprehensive, mandatory educational program is key to bringing employees up to speed. Not providing enough incentive It wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say that job descriptions seem to include everything but the kitchen sink nowadays. So why not add learning social media to employees’ list of responsibilities? Seriously. Everyone’s a marketer. Everyone’s in sales. And everyone’s on social media. Which should mean repping your employer every once in a while. Not connecting with others There’s power in numbers, especially when it comes to propagating content. No reach, no engagement. Don’t be afraid to suggest that team members broaden their networks, even if their roles have nothing to do with sales and marketing. Employees shouldn’t be kept under wraps. After all, there’s a lot to be said for the multiplier effect. Not sharing organizational content All for one, one for all. That should be an internal team’s creed. Someone writes a white paper, everyone shares it. That’s a no-brainer if you ask me. Every employee – certainly those in marketing, advertising, PR and social media – should be sharing content created under the corporate roof. Their personal brands should include the professional brands for whom they work. Not producing original content There’s a rule in group communications called 90-9-1. This rule suggests that 90% of the members simply lurk while 9% add something to the conversation and a mere 1% contribute the most. But it doesn’t have to be that way. You can’t be effective on social media if you’re being anti-social. Key employees and related stakeholders should be more than encouraged to create their own content, they should be rewarded for doing so on a regular basis. Not keeping up with changes Call them Luddites, Laggards, Naysayers or just plain stubborn. Whatever you call them, call them late to the party, almost too late to gain entrance. Anyone serious about their career in this day and age who hasn’t at least started to use social media risks falling dangerously behind their colleagues, connections and competition on the job. And looked upon as being not that serious after all. Social Media is ever-changing. If you are going to be involved in social media, you need to pay attention to technology changes. Sometimes these changes occur monthly! Not looking at the big picture I can’t tell you how many times I’ve heard people dismiss social media as a passing fad or an inconsequential trend despite overwhelming evidence to the contrary. By 2018, 33% of the world’s population, or 2.44 billion people, are expected to be using social media. Social media is the biggest revolution in mass communications since the printing press. Anyone who can’t see that by now can’t see the forest for the trees. Not brave enough to experiment A tendency to take risks isn’t one of the hallmarks of a corporate executive, so any fear and trepidation among this set isn’t surprising to me. But this is not the time for analysis paralysis. Social media represents a trans formative change in the way people, not just business people, communicate. Like it or not, it’s not going anywhere soon, so resistance is futile. Not aware of their capabilities Most employees don’t realize how easy it is share content on social media, contribute to the conversation at large and actually help move the algorithmic needle in favor of their respective organizations. Whether they’re intimidated, confused or just plain misinformed, they think social media is difficult, complex and ineffective, while it’s actually quite the contrary. They can do it if they try. Not leading by example People will rarely take it upon themselves to share work-related content on their personal accounts. They’re afraid it’s irrelevant and off-putting to their audience. But if leaders are doing it themselves as an example to their teams, that’s another story altogether. Employees will quickly see the benefits of supporting their employer’s brand if they see senior managers practicing what they preach and walking the talk on social media themselves. Roy Garton FDMC Social & Digital Media www.floridadudemarketingconcepts.com  Local marketing will be pivotal for brands in 2017 — but local affiliates are missing out on major opportunities to reach consumers. Even as local businesses understand the value of tailoring their marketing efforts to their community, it appears that a profound disconnect still exists: Less than 8 percent use mobile, targeted search, or display advertising to reach local consumers — and 56 percent haven’t claimed their Google My Business listing, according to Brand Muscle’s State Of The Local Marketing Report. The study indicates that local marketing will be pivotal for brands in 2017 — and beyond. Below, three takeaways that businesses can implement to ensure that their local efforts payoff: Claim those listings: Brands that don’t manage their listings on the local level are likely to see inaccuracies in their data, whether than means in incorrect address listing or out-of-date hours. This leads to customer frustrations when a location they expect to be able to visit has closed or relocated — and businesses can’t afford that negative experience. Set a social strategy that includes local advertising: “That’s not to say that local businesses need to be active on every social media outlet but approaching platforms like Facebook, YouTube, LinkedIn and Snapchat with an open and creative mind presents clear opportunities for brands to execute hyper-local, targeted marketing that helps local affiliates establish a viable social media presence.” Social media posts — and ads — should be tied to concrete locations and local events/promotions. Make 2017 the year of integrated marketing: Online and offline are essentially equal in customers’ minds; they shop and purchase however best suits them in the moment, meaning it’s more critical than ever that brands build integrated marketing efforts that work on the national and local levels. Understanding which tactics generate the best results for affiliates so you can align co-op funds and co-branded materials to support these efforts represents a major opportunity to optimize local marketing, The report concludes. “Campaigns that have historically been seen as seasonal, one-off efforts should be packaged to accommodate an increasingly fragmented media landscape, while also taking advantage of new targeting capabilities available in our mobile-first digital world.” Roy Garton FDMC Social & Digital Media Are you struggling to connect with your audience on social media? Do you feel like social media won’t work for your business? It’s not easy to put every business on social media, but the right approach can help even the most difficult cases reach their customers.
#1: Tell an Outside-the-Box Story Many marketers create content around topics that relate to their value proposition, but that might be difficult to do if you’re in a “boring” industry. The good news is that even if your industry isn’t inherently exciting, you can still create content that appeals to your audience. Look to Shoulder Niches Suppose you’re a widget merchant. You might start with content about widget quality, FAQs about widgets, and suggestions on what to look for when buying widgets. However, these ideas can only go so far. This is where “shoulder niches” come in. Consider niches that are related to your industry. For example, you might create detailed blog posts and videos that show how to build different kinds of widgets. This type of content will attract top-of-funnel traffic and encourage social sharing to boost your reach. To generate content ideas for your business, grab a pen and paper and jot down your industry in the middle of the page. Then add related keywords and topics around your industry keyword until you find an idea you can research further. #2: Deliver a Quick Call to Action Via Micro-content People have short attention spans. Studies show that 50% of users stay on a website for less than 10 seconds. Short-form educational and entertaining content, called micro-content, can help appeal to a distracted audience. How do you create micro-content that has a high chance of going viral? Make the content short, keep text to a minimum, and be sure to accompany it with visuals. Always include a call to action as well. The connection you make with your audience should be the first step to tangible business goals. Micro-content should lead to a micro-yes, whether that’s clicking a link or providing an email address. With your calls to action in place, it’s easy to measure performance. Use UTM codes and shorten links to track each campaign. You can do this in Google Analytics under Acquisition > Campaigns > All Campaigns. #3: Connect in Real Time With Live Video Live video is a powerful addition to the customer retention toolbox that makes one-to-one connections even stronger. While Periscope is a key player, Facebook Live is becoming increasingly popular. Whenever you go live on Facebook, your existing fan base is notified. What content should you stream live? Hold live Q&As to give customers a platform to post questions and get answers in real time. Broadcast product launches live to give your audience a sneak peek at new releases and features, making them feel part of something exclusive. You can also show customers what your business looks like behind closed doors. Allow employees to express their personalities so they can form connections with customers. This is the foundation for increasing customer loyalty on social media. Measuring live video engagement on platforms like Facebook is easy, and the viewer count is displayed within the content. Conclusion Social media marketing requires patience if you’re trying to gain traction organically. That’s why many business owners and marketers supplement those efforts with paid social media advertising. The second approach is to go beyond content and test campaigns that focus on bottom-of-funnel goals. Sharing free trials or discount coupons via Facebook or Twitter can help you generate qualified leads at all stages of the sales cycle. Ad targeting is an area that many small- and medium-sized businesses underestimate. Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn all offer granular demographic and psycho-graphic targeting information. Put these practices into play and see if your business grows by better usage of social media. Roy Garton FDMC Social & Digital Media www.floridadudemarketingconepts.com Video has been on the rise for a while, offering marketers great way to grab potential customer's attention and keep their target audience engaged. Live video streaming in particular has become increasingly popular as a tool for companies and groups to connect directly with their users, to gain greater product awareness, and to brand themselves creatively. To learn more about how to take advantage of the live streaming boom, here are some creative ways to use products like Snapchat, YouTube Live, Facebook Live, Periscope and Meerkat to successfully market your business or group. Snapchat Snapchat allows you to market outside the box while having fun doing it. GrubHub saw potential in Snapchat early on as a way to get more interactive with a younger demographic. Rather than post an intern application on a standard career search site, or on less targeted channels like Facebook, Twitter, or LinkedIn, GrubHub asked its Snapchat followers to apply using the app itself. The doodle request was an easy way for the company to assess creativity and confidence, while also tapping into their ideal intern pool. Snapchat is very popular right now with millennials and the under 30 market. Even Fortune 500 companies have taken advantage of Snapchat's huge marketing appeal. You can to! Taco Bell managed to become one of the most followed brands on Snapchat by uploading a six-minute Snap Story "movie" in increments of 10 seconds. The short film focused on the launch of their product, the Doritos Locos Taco, but the company also took things a step further. Taco Bell coordinated their campaign to align with the MTV Movie Awards, making it relevant to the event and, therefore, gaining greater reach and brand awareness. YouTube Live NASA is big YouTube Live hosting live videos as a way for space-interested audience members to learn more about the organization and its recent discoveries NASA recently, showed off some perks and pitfalls of the astronaut job. Participants used the hashtag #askAstro on their Twitter or Google+ to ask the NASA crew about life -- both personal and professional -- while aboard the craft, which were then answered in real time. The Hangout provided fascinating content, but also provided valuable information to those interested in that career path. YouTube Live has replaced Google + Hangouts and has proven to be a much more effective video tool from Google. Facebook Live Who doesn't love a good laugh? BuzzFeed decided to try out Facebook Live with a video purely for fans' entertainment. Two BuzzFeeders explored how many rubber bands it takes to explode a watermelon, which lasted about 45 minutes.According to Facebook , at the time, more people tuned in to watch the stream than any other live video on Facebook -- reaching over 800,000 viewers at its peak. Now, the video has over 10 million views, creating a ton of social and site traffic, just for doing something fun. CES is an annual event hosted by the Consumer Technology Association to showcase innovation technologies and products from across the world. During the 2016 event, Chevrolet debuted its newest car model, the 2017 Bolt EV. But rather than limit its audience to only those able to attend CES 2016, Chevrolet live streamed the event, giving all of the company's fans a chance to tune in and learn more about the product. Chevrolet also responded to Facebook comments in real time to keep its audience engaged with the video and answer any relevant questions. Periscope General Electric used Periscope to launch a five-day live streaming campaign called #droneweek. GE enabled Periscope on a group of drones to give their audience a real-time, bird's eye view of their facilities, featuring not only some of their industrial machinery, but also interviews with GE scientists and tech experts. GE managed to showcase five different facilities across the country, and even created a Twitter @GEdronepilot to provide extra commentary and interact with viewers. MeerKat Meerkat, like Periscope can perform very similar functions and integrates with Twitter although not quite as popular, Meerkat has various functions that Periscope does not such as record saves and such so do check it out. Ready to Try It? These are not the only live streaming platforms out there. Tons of applications and websites exist, and are used by millions of people every day. There's so much potential for brands and groups to use these outlets creatively to gain recognition, authority, and interest. Roy Garton FDMC Social and Digital Media According to an online publisher's report, 80% of individuals can recall a video advertisement that they have seen in the past 30 days. This is a staggering statistic for small businesses especially when you think about how many will actually buy that product or at the very least learn more about it.If you or your marketing people are considering adding video to your marketing campaigns, here is a three-step guide to doing so effectively.
In Conclusion. Viewing video footage accounts for one-third of all Internet activity. For both new and established companies, enriching marketing campaigns with video content can help you reach and better engage your target audience. While obviously I always suggest using a professional video production company like ours for best results, these suggestions are always good to help maximize your video campaign. Roy Garton FDMC Social and Digital Media www.floridadudemarketingconcepts.com |
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