Social Customer Care: Why Marketers Should Care http://bit.ly/2EWce9G Wondering how social customer care improves your marketing results? Want tips for acquiring and retaining customers? To explore why marketers should care about taking care of customers, I interview Shep Hyken. More About This Show The Social Media Marketing podcast is designed to help busy marketers, business owners, and creators discover what works with social media marketing. In this episode, I interview Shep Hyken, a customer service and experience expert. He's also a professional speaker and author of multiple books including The Amazement Revolution, Amaze Every Customer Every Time, and The Convenience Revolution. His course is called The Customer Focus, and he hosts The Amazing Business Radio Show podcast. Shep explains how small- to medium-sized businesses can offer reactive and proactive customer care. You'll also discover how humor and convenience help both marketing and customer care. Share your feedback, read the show notes, and get the links mentioned in this episode below. Listen Now Here are some of the things you'll discover in this show: Social Customer Care Shep's Story Shep got his start in customer care when he was about 12 years old. He had a business doing magic shows for birthday parties. After doing a show for a 6-year-old's party, Shep's parents offered his first lesson in customer service. His mom told him to write a thank-you note, and his dad suggested he call the family to ask what tricks they liked and improve his show based on their feedback. When Shep was 16, he bought an old Jeep with a snow plow and started a plowing business. When his Jeep wouldn't start at 4:00AM after a heavy snow, he couldn't plow his customers' driveways. He asked a friend with a newer truck and plow for help, and offered him all the money. That's when Shep realized he was most interested in taking care of customers. After college, Shep continued to develop his interest in customer service, and today he's focused on helping his clients achieve amazing customer experiences. He teaches people common-sense approaches that simplify customer service and improve company culture. He also travels around the world delivering speeches, and his team includes trainers who deliver his material, as well. Listen to the show to hear Shep discuss his experiences attending and speaking at Social Media Marketing World. Why Customer Care Is Important to Marketers Typically, marketers acquire the customer and then let someone else handle customer service. However, acquiring new customers costs more than keeping existing ones. As a marketer, you can benefit from these savings by giving existing customers a reason to share positive things about your company, product, or service. In doing so, you create disciples, advocates, and evangelists who praise your company. Whether your business is B2B or B2C, people talk about the people they do business with, good and bad. The best marketing you can have is existing customers who tell others about their great experiences. Using customer care to turn existing customers into brand advocates is different than using a promotion or incentive that gets people to share. When customer care becomes part of your marketing, you're focused on making sure the customer is completely satisfied so they become return customers and want to tell everyone about your company. A byproduct of providing this level of customer service is that your company stands out as different from the rest. Being different is great because your company is then no longer competing head-to-head with the same product or service. That's a powerful place to be in the marketing world. Listen to the show to hear how I work with my team to make Social Media Marketing World an exceptional experience. What Is Social Customer Care? Social customer care is the actual service customers have with companies through social media channels. You no longer have to pick up the phone and call a company... Social Media via Social Media Marketing Podcast helps your business thrive with social media http://bit.ly/1LtH18p December 28, 2018 at 05:03AM
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How to Save Money on Family Photos with Social Media http://bit.ly/2SjDuC1 We find ourselves in mid-December with Christmas getting closer every day… meaning now is your last chance to get Christmas cards sent out to your loved ones. The holidays are an especially great opportunity to capture the moments shared with those you love using family photos accompany your holiday card. While hiring a professional photographer will most definitely add something special to your family photos, it is not a requirement, especially if you are on a budget. Even those who do not have a lot of money to spend can still take some great pictures. After all, this is the age of the smartphone. Below, we will discuss how you can use social media, and a few other smart tricks, to save money on your family photos. Make It an EventAs we discussed in our six steps you haven’t taken yet to prepare for the holidays, if you sort out your schedule and plan ahead, you can avoid spending money on unnecessary things or last-minute orders. The best way to do that is by creating an event or group on social media so that you know the big day is coming up! Wrangling everyone together with their different schedules and social lives is made all the harder if you have college students who are away until mid-December. Having an event made on Facebook and sending out some reminders as you get closer to the day will save yourself a headache later. Save on Clothes, Focus on FiltersFamily photos do not need to be an extravagant affair. You do not have to go shopping and spend money on new clothes for the entire family. This is particularly true if it’s a one-off outfit; some would even consider such a purchase wasteful. You can avoid such waste and still manage to create a lovely memory of your family. Consider adding a good filter to match the Christmas spirit. Rather than making sure each family member complements the others, a good filter can create that sense of cohesion without the added costs. In our previous article on driving traffic on Pinterest, we mentioned how important it is to create an image with broad appeal. The same can be said for family photos. It can be simple, inexpensive, and still come out perfectly! You Do Not Have to Hire A Professional PhotographerEven an hour of a photographer’s time can accompany quite the price tag. While there is no doubt that a talented photographer can bring something special to a family photo, it simply is not a cost-effective move if you wish to save money on photos. These days, just about anyone can take a decent enough family photo if they are armed with a modest understanding of lighting and an inexpensive camera—or even an iPhone. Any new camera should be able to link to your phone where you can start to optimize it immediately through Instagram or Pinterest. And, if you really want to print and frame it, a decent camera and one of the best photo printers will still cost you less than a few hours of a professional photographer’s time. Find a Low-Key LocationOur keys to promoting an album on social media mentioned that your photos need to be personal and from the artist, which in this case is you. Choosing your location should be representative of this. You do not need to go on a fancy trip and get photos done on a beach in Hawaii, but you can should somewhere unique that is meaningful to you and your family. Any place where you have shared time, memories, and laughter will be perfect. Even if the location is your back yard, keep in mind that your family are the stars of this shoot, not the backdrop. Pick Your Camera – Or SmartphoneIf someone in your family does not already have a camera, there are several DSLRs that will not break the bank but will still produce some incredible photos. If you look into buying a consumer DSLR rather than a prosumer camera, you can get the same powerful camera just without many of the unnecessary bells and whistles. But even with a discounted camera, you can avoid all that with a good smartphone and some camera accessories to optimize it. This will save you the hassle of having to transfer the images to your phone in the first place. Even better, you can take photos and videos along the way to give your family photoshoot a ‘behind the scenes’ feel that you can share with everyone across social media. Do Some ResearchFor those that do purchase a camera, you should do some research beforehand. See if you know someone that has one and will let you borrow it, then study the art of photography. Lighting in particular is extremely important for snapping the perfect shot. If you don’t want to spend money on a basic lighting kit, make sure to take family photos at the right time of the day, preferably at magic hour. If you miss those times, there are plenty of social media add-ons –Including Instagram itself—that will help you edit the image to look like it happened at any time of day. You do not need to spend a fortune to produce family photos that you will cherish forever. With some time, planning, and practice, you can turn yourself into a more than competent photographer—and we’re willing to bet the pictures will have a bigger impact on those you love most. After all, they came from you! The post How to Save Money on Family Photos with Social Media appeared first on Social Media Explorer. Social Media via Social Media Explorer http://bit.ly/2onGYog December 27, 2018 at 02:50PM
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How to Increase Average Order Values With Product Bundling http://bit.ly/2Q79EPi Every business needs to strive for growth. This isn’t a secret. However, many business owners hear growth and they jump to customer acquisition strategies, new product launches, and ways to increase their conversion rates. All of these tactics are great for your company growth. But, they’re not the only way to boost revenue and grow your business. You can also grow when you make more money with your existing products, services, and conversion rates simply by increasing your average order value. Are you currently tracking this metric? It’s easy to calculate with this formula. How to calculate your Average Order Value (AOV)In order to increase your AOV, you need to encourage your customers to spend more in each transaction. Sounds great in theory. We’ll walk you through how to actually accomplish it. There are tons of ways to get your current customers to spend more each time they shop. One of the best methods for increasing AOV is with product bundling. This marketing tactic employs a combination of upsells, cross-sells, and discounts. It also helps you generate more profit by focusing on your pricing strategy. Basically, the psychology behind product bundling entices people to spend more with every transaction simply by buying more things at once. As a result, your average order value will rise. Whether you sell products or services, your company can benefit from a product bundling strategy. But it’s not as simple as lumping any two or three random items together. In fact, that can do more harm than good. If you’ve never done this before it can be a bit of a challenge to determine which products should be bundled together and how to showcase those options to your customers. So use this guide as a blueprint for increasing your average order value. Here’s what you need to know. Don’t pair inexpensive items with premium products or servicesThis is the most common mistake we see when businesses attempt a product bundling strategy for the first time. It makes sense: they’re trying to maximize their profits and someone is buying something cheap, why not try to get them to buy something that’s expensive too. Product bundling doesn’t mean you should just throw any two or three items together and assume your customers will pay more for them. Put yourself into the mind of the consumer for a minute here. For example, let’s say you’re shopping for a new car and your price range is roughly $20,000. If the dealer throws in a free t-shirt and a baseball cap with the purchase of a vehicle, is it going to entice you to buy the car? Or, on the flip side, let’s say you’re shopping for a t-shirt and a baseball cap with your favorite car company logo on them. Together the two cost about $40. But then, at checkout it’s suggested you buy a car, too. This brings your total to $20,040. Do you do it? Two items that don’t belong together are not a product bundle. This is especially true if one item is significantly cheaper than the other. But so many brands think two items = a bundle, and it ends up hurting them. Instead of encouraging your customer to buy more things, a grouping like this actually confuses their initial purchase. Let’s take a closer look. There’s a study from the Journal of Consumer Research on consumer perception and product bundling called The Presenter’s Paradox. Here’s what happened. They gave people two options of how to bundle products for prospective customers. The first option was an iPod Touch bundled with a cover. The second option was an iPod Touch bundled with a cover and a free song download. Nearly everyone (92%) chose the second option, which included the free download. However, the study concluded that consumers were willing to pay more money for the first bundle, without the song download. Why? The benefit and cost of that download aren’t enough to enhance the perceived value of the bundle. In fact, the cheaper item — One song? What am I going to do with one song? — lowers the perceived value of the total package. That’s not what we want to do. Rather than diminish the perceived value of a bundle, we want to increase it. You can charge more for your products by enhancing the perceived value. A cheap add-on paired with a premium product makes the whole bundle feel less appealing to the consumer. This Harvard Business Review article discusses a set of similar studies that had the same results. The study showed that consumers were more likely to pay $2,299 for a home gym than they were to pay that very same amount for the same gym was bundled with a workout DVD. Again, that’s because a DVD doesn’t enhance the perceived value. It actually has the opposite effect and lowers that value. So if you’re currently using a strategy like this, it could be hurting your average order value as opposed to helping you out. You can fix this quickly and easily. This guide will also you examples of the right types of products and services to bundle. Emphasize savingsOffering a discount is a great way to make your product bundles more appealing. It’s a very simple strategy. If a customer buys two or more items together, their total purchase will be cheaper than if they bought each one individually. However, you need to make it obvious that they are saving money. So tell them exactly how much money they can save by buying the bundle. Here’s a great example of this from Lowe’s. The product bundle here is a washing machine and a dryer. If customers buy the pair together, they can save $340. The customer might think, That’s getting close to the price as of either the washer or dryer alone! However, people won’t know how good of a deal they’re getting if you don’t tell them. You shouldn’t be making your customers do the math manually or hunt through your prices. Make it obvious and plaster the savings on your website, just like the example above. In this instance, by bundling the savings together, it’s much more entcicing. The customer isn’t simply saving $170 on each, which doesn’t seem like that much. They’re saving $340, which has a lot more wow factor. As a result, they will be more likely to buy these together to get the savings. Bundle items commonly purchased togetherRemember the hypothetical scenario earlier: the car bundled with a t-shirt and hat? Those items are not commonly purchased at the same time, and that’s another reason why that bundling strategy won’t work. You need to figure out what items people will also need when they buy something specific. Refer back to our last example from Lowe’s. If a customer is in the market for a washing machine, there’s a good chance they also need a dryer. Bundling those two items together is a winning strategy. This makes much more sense than bundling a dryer with a dishwasher. Sure, they are both home appliances, but they are completely unrelated to each other. If your company sells shampoo, you can bundle it with conditioner. If you’re selling a mattress, you can bundle it with a box spring and frame. These are all products that go hand in hand. Check out this example from AT&T. It’s extremely common for people to purchase TV, Internet, and phone services from the same provider. The price bundling strategy here is a well-oiled machine. Just look at the three options above to see what I’m referring to. It’s $60 per month for just TV. But when you bundle TV and internet together, it’s only $15 more. This type of product bundle increases the perceived value: Customers are getting something that would normally cost $110, if purchased separately, for $75. That’s a great deal. This is much better than offering a TV package with free remote batteries, or something cheap that doesn’t add value or entice people to buy. By doing this, AT&T can increase their order value by 25%. Think about that for a second here. If your company does $1 million in sales annually, you can make an extra $250,000 per year just by increasing the AOV from $60 to $75. AT&T takes this one step further by adding another bundle option, which includes home phone services. By getting customers to buy this bundle instead of TV alone, the order value is 58% higher. Use anchor pricingAnchor pricing is another way to show value in your product bundles. The idea behind this methodology is that you have different prices on your website that establish a perceived value in the mind of your customers. It’s an age-old strategy. How do you sell a $500 watch? Put it next to watch that costs $1,300. The $1,300 item will serve as the anchor, which makes the $500 product seem like a much better deal. Let’s take a closer look at AT&T’s third option — adding a home phone for an additional $19.99 a month. How many people do you imagine want a phone line? This option may be less about increasing the order value and giving another point of comparison to make the middle option more interesting. Because the $75 package isn’t the most expensive package, the price point seems more reasonable. The $60 TV package also serves as an anchor. It sets the value of TV alone, so all of the product bundles after it seem like a great deal based on the customer perception of the one product. You can use this same strategy with your product bundles by adding more expensive bundles, or selling the solo products at a higher price than when they’re bundled. It doesn’t matter if your customers don’t purchase the higher priced packages. They can serve as anchors to make the rest of the options more appealing. Recommend products to your customersShow your customers products that will enhance the item that they’ve already added to their cart. Depending on the circumstances, the customer may not even realize that you sell those additional products or remember that they need to buy them until you do this. Amazon uses this strategy better than anyone else. If you’re browsing for razors on their platform, Amazon will show you which products are frequently bought with those razors: shaving cream and blade refills. The customer will realize that they need these items to complement what they were initially shopping for. Instead of having to go back and browse for these products, Amazon has a button that makes it easy to add all three items to the shopping cart. You can get more conversions by optimizing your checkout process. Click to add and Amazon has increased the order value with product recommendations. Here’s the kicker: none of the products are even discounted. You don’t necessarily need to offer sales or drastically slash your prices to have an effective bundling strategy. Just by showcasing and recommending similar items that add value to the consumer, you can increase your AOV. Offer volume discountsBut, you can also offer discounts. In addition to bundling products with other items, you can bundle the same product or service with itself. Amazon does this with Subscribe & Save. It gives your customers a reason to buy more, order-value wise, than what they were going to buy — and to make that next repeat purchase from you, instead of wherever else they would be in the future. Just like the 5% subscription discount on Amazon, as the volume increases, the price per item decreases. But your average order value will still rise. Here’s a perfect example from Todo Bien Tours. This company provides a service: bus tours. The price per ticket for their tours varies by the number of tickets sold at once. If you buy two tickets, they will cost $84.15 each, so the total transaction will be $168.30. But, groups of ten pay $69.30 per ticket. While the price per item is less, the total transaction ends up being $630. That’s more than a 400% increase in order value. Notice how their pricing structure is set up on the website.The chart displays the percent discount based on the number of tickets purchased as well as the monetary value saved per ticket. This is an example of one of our previous points: emphasizing savings. By combining this strategy with volume discounts, Todo Bien Tours can benefit from higher average order values. Allow customers to create custom bundlesStudies show that 80% of customers are more likely to buy something if they are offered a personalized experience. Furthermore, 68% of customers will pay more for this type of experience. That’s why customization can highly benefit your bundling strategy. It’s a great way to increase your average order value. Rather than telling your customers which products you’re bundling, let them decide for themselves. Look at how Texas Beard Company accomplishes this. By purchasing the bag, their customers can benefit from discounted prices on other products. The customized bundle makes it more enticing for people to buy. Here’s why. Let’s say that the bundle was preset with a bag, beard balm, mustache scissors, and beard brush, but the customer already owns a pair of mustache scissors. For that person, the bundle isn’t enticing. They don’t need one of the products offered, so it’s not a good value for them. This goes back to perceived value. Though the mustache scissors have a literal value, the value to that customer is $0, so the entire perceived value of the package is lowered. Customized options make the bundle so much more enticing. Find a way to implement this strategy for your business as well. It can work regardless of if you’re offering products or services. ConclusionOne of the easiest ways to grow your company is to increase your average order value. That’s because you don’t need new products, new customers, or higher conversion rates to accomplish this. All you need to do is find ways to get your customers to spend more money each time they shop:
If you follow these strategies, you’ll be able to increase your AOV. What types of product bundles is your business offering to increase the average order values on your website? Social Media via Quick Sprout http://bit.ly/UU7LJr December 27, 2018 at 10:01AM How to Get More Instagram Followers with Ads http://bit.ly/2Q6UFFh Instagram is a fascinating platform that attracts more and more users. And the trend is still strong. Probably soon after I published this article, the 10 million limit was cracked.
The “small” photo sharing service is far more than just a hype and already belongs to the widest range of channels. There is hardly a way to get past Instagram.
Instagram has long become an important communication channel for many companies and brands.
And at least as many are just discovering Instagram for themselves. All of them are always faced with the same challenge.
How do I get more Followers on Instagram?
In Instagram’s big brother, this challenge is much smaller. Facebook has long been able to enlarge its own fanbase with the Page like Ads.
Such a possibility one searches with Instagram currently in vain.
Because even though Instagram was 100% integrated into the advertising cosmos of Facebook, there is no such ad format. Instagram does not (officially) offer Page Follow Ads.
With a small detour, however, it works already today and I show you this detour in this article.
Get More real Instagram followers – the Traditional Methods Of course, you do not have to pay to buy real Instagram followers. There are a few ways you can expand your Instagram community without ads.
Here are the most common ways to get more followers on Instagram at a glance:
Create attractive and high-quality content that suits Instagram. The quality of the photos and videos is enormously important, especially on Instagram! Use matching hashtags for your postings. But please do not exaggerate it. Optimal are between 4 to 8 hashtags per contribution. Follow other accounts that interest you. Even a nice comment or a like is always welcome and makes you aware. Post new content regularly. An account that rarely posts anything is boring for the users. Share your Instagram photos and videos on other social networks, such as Facebook or Twitter. But let’s face the truth. Even the best content does not spread automatically by itself!
GET MORE INSTAGRAM FOLLOWERS WITH ADS As mentioned earlier, Instagram does not (yet) have a special ad format to increase the number of followers. However, ads on Instagram are being driven from the Facebook ad manager.
The possibility known by Facebook to highlight a page with Page like Ads is missing on Instagram.
However, Instagram allows and allows users to direct ads to a website. And who said your Instagram account is not a website?
In the following 2 steps, I’ll show you how to get more followers with ads on Instagram.
STEP 1: CREATE A NEW CAMPAIGN WITH THE GOAL “CLICKS ON THE WEBSITE” First, open the Ad Manager on Facebook and choose the Goal for your Website campaign as the target.
Afterwards you will be asked to insert the URL of your website. But watch out! Here you do not add the URL of your website.
Instead, add the address of your Instagram profile as your destination URL.
STEP 2: DEFINE THE AUDIENCE AND BUDGET FOR YOUR CAMPAIGN In the next step you first determine the target group of the campaign. You define who you want to reach with your ads on Instagram.
Instagram campaigns have all the Facebook-aware targeting options available. And these possibilities are awesome. Learn more about the targeting options here
The following targeting options are particularly exciting for Instagram campaigns:
Custom Audiences: With Custom Audiences, you can reach people on Instagram who have visited your website, subscribed to your newsletter, or are already using your app. Tip: Create a Custom Audience website and redirect visitors to your website to Instagram with your ads (quasi Instagram Retargeting).
Lookalike Audiences: On Instagram, for example, talk to the Lookalike Audiences of your newsletter subscribers or Facebook fans. Add a Lookalike Audience under the “Custom Audiences” option.
Targeting by Interests and Demographics: Talk to people on Instagram based on their interests and demographics. Tip: Use also the function “limit target group”. This allows you to define your target group even more precisely. For example, I define my target group based on their age (21 to 54 years and the interests of “Digital Marketing” AND “Marketing for Social Media”. The post How to Get More Instagram Followers with Ads appeared first on Social Media Explorer. Social Media via Social Media Explorer http://bit.ly/2onGYog December 27, 2018 at 09:19AM
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How to Set Up Twitter Video Ad Campaigns http://bit.ly/2SnSsqK Want more Twitter users to see your videos? Wondering what your Twitter video ad options are? In this article, you’ll discover how to set up a video ad campaign on Twitter.
Two Types of Twitter Video AdsTwitter offers two types of video ad campaigns: in-stream video views and promoted video views. In-stream video ads play at the beginning of videos from Twitter’s 200+ brand and creator partners. Based on the categories you select when you set up your campaign, Twitter will match your video with publisher content. Viewers will see an “Ad by [your brand]” text overlay in the lower-left corner of your video. If your video exceeds 6 seconds, a Skip button appears starting at the 6-second mark. According to Twitter research, 88% of users expect in-stream video ads to be 15 seconds or less; 6 seconds is considered the optimal length. With a promoted video ad, you choose one of your own tweets to promote to reach a wider audience on the platform. In addition to users’ timelines, you can serve promoted video ads to targeted users when they visit profiles and tweet detail pages, as well as in search results. Here are the video specifications for Twitter video campaigns:
The audience targeting and other options for Twitter video ads are similar to other types of Twitter campaigns. Now let’s look at how to set up both types of Twitter video ad campaigns. #1: Set Up an In-Stream Video Views Campaign on TwitterTo create an in-stream video campaign, go to your Twitter Ads dashboard and select the In-Stream Video Views (Pre-Roll) objective. On the next screen, fill in your campaign details. Add a name for your campaign, choose a start and end date, and set a daily budget (and a total budget if you want). When you’re done, click Next in the upper-right corner of the page. Now you’re ready to create your first ad group. Start by adding a name for the ad group. Twitter gives you the option to specify start and end dates, and set a total budget for the ad group. If you don’t make any selections, Twitter will use the settings from the campaign level. Next, select a bid type and bid unit. For the bid type, select either Automatic Bid (the default) or Maximum Bid. If you choose Maximum Bid, enter the amount you’re willing to pay for a video view. For the bid unit, you can choose from two options: Per In-Stream Video View (the default) and Per 3s/100% In-Stream Video View. According to Twitter, an in-stream video view is when a user watches your video in 50% view for 2 seconds or more, or clicks to expand or unmute the video. A 3s/100% view is when a user watches your video in 100% view for 3 seconds or more, or expands or unmutes the video. To better align your video with relevant brands and content, click in the Brand Details field and select any two categories from the pop-up menu. Twitter will take these categories into account when pairing your video ad with publisher content. Experience 3 days with the best social marketers. Discover the latest tactics and improve your marketing know-how! The next step is to set up your targeting. Twitter offers a variety of targeting criteria including custom audiences, demographic targeting, keyword targeting, and more. Twitter allows you to create four types of audiences:
You can also refine your targeting audience by selecting behaviors, interests, followers, hashtags, lookalike followers of competitors, and so on. If you scroll to the bottom of the page and click Advanced Brand Safety Features, you’ll see two additional fields where you can exclude categories and accounts from showing your in-stream video ad. When you’re finished setting up your targeting, the next step is to choose your campaign creative. This is where you select the video you want to promote. Click the Media Library link if you want to upload a video. You also have the option to add a call to action to your video. Note: Make sure the video you choose is Twitter-hosted only. External video links aren’t supported for this campaign type. The final step is to review your campaign settings. From this page, you can create another ad group if you want. Otherwise, click Launch Campaign. #2: Create a Promoted Video Views Campaign on TwitterTo set up a promoted video views campaign, go to your Twitter Ads dashboard and select the Promoted Video Views campaign objective. Now add your campaign details. Type in a campaign name, set a daily campaign budget (and a total budget if you want), and choose the campaign schedule. The next step is to create your first ad group. As with in-stream video ads, select either Automatic or Maximum for the bid type, and choose Per Video View or Per 3s/100% View for the bid unit. Then define your audience as discussed above. When you get to the ad creative, you can compose a new tweet or select an existing tweet. If you want to upload a new video, click the Media Library link. Also choose your ad placements for this campaign. The last step is to review your campaign and then click Launch Campaign. ConclusionRunning a successful Twitter video campaign starts with the content. Your video needs to grab your audience’s attention right away so they stop scrolling. Keep in mind that many users, especially on mobile, will be watching with the sound off so make sure your video messaging is clear without the audio. For in-stream video ads, think about the main message you want to convey to viewers and highlight that in the first 6 seconds before viewers have the option to skip your content. Also include your brand logo, to differentiate your content from the publisher’s content that viewers expect to see. Finally, consider using multiple videos in your campaigns and test which one performs best. Sometimes one video doesn’t give you enough insight about what will resonate with your target audience. What do you think? Have you tried Twitter video ads? What type of content do you think will work best for in-stream video ads? Please share your thoughts in the comments below. More articles on Twitter advertising:There are 17 tracks of content available to you at Social Media Marketing World. Don't miss this event! Social Media via Social Media Marketing | Social Media Examiner http://bit.ly/1LtH18p December 27, 2018 at 05:08AM
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9 content marketing techniques you should try in 2019 http://bit.ly/2ENdJHe 9 content marketing techniques you should try in 2019 Content marketing is simple enough if you’ve got a clear plan of exactly how you’re going to meet your company goals. While everyone starts to make New Year’s resolutions to diet, exercise more or work harder, it is probably time for you to start setting your own goals for your business. Creating a brand new marketing strategy for the New Year now will put you ahead of the game and make that post-festive period a little bit easier. Many businesses tend to focus on the nitpicky marketing techniques that customers won’t really notice and ignore the big winners. So what are the core marketing strategies you should be trying in 2019 to give your company a big push? Here’s nine.
Your customers are, without hesitation, the most important part of your business. So as the new year chimes in, you need to check whether you’re staying current with them and their needs. What device is being used the most to access your products & services? What time of day are you reaching the most people? What are some of the user experience bottlenecks that may impact the retention and engagement rates on your digital platform? This might seem really nitpicky, but it’s the core foundation to a successful content marketing plan. Because content, without a strong digital foundation is useless. Once you’ve figured out the extent to which your overall digital experience is optimal, you need to move on to the next step in your marketing strategy: personalized content for each of your specific target audience. By making your content specific to the audience you are targeting the most, you will attract more buyers and create a bigger customer base as more and more people interact with your content. Keep your content relatable to your customers you need to speak their language. If you’re aiming towards to 20-34 age bracket for example, your content wouldn’t be accessible via desktop only. You need to make sure everything on your website is accessible via smartphones and market your products via social media. By making sure you look at the needs of the younger generation too, you’ll be able to understand them more to market towards them. Run surveys on what your audience wants from you and work from it. A lot of those will be based around your digital reputation and the convenience of your company, so make sure your website is easy to access and simple to understand.
You might be surprised to hear that the ads on your website (or other websites!) probably aren’t doing the favors you thought they would when you first invested in them. In fact, pop up ads and banners are not only highly distracting and off-putting for those visiting your site, they’re also very old school. A lot of people regularly using a desktop are already way ahead of the game with you on this and will have a ad-blocker installed. However not all is lost on your journey to get to the top of Google search results. You need to invest heavily in content that works to attract visitors to your website. If you’re uploading original content regularly, you are more likely to start ranking than by using those flashy ads you’ve painted all over your pages. But when you publish content, it’s not just about flooding the internets with new articles. It’s important to consider SEO here. Your job as a content marketer is to anticipate your customers’ needs and what they will be searching for online. And to configure your articles accordingly in the content management system you use for your site so that Google can easily index your content, understand what they’re about and rank them accordingly. On the technical side, for example, if you’re in the financial services marketing business, make sure your meta description uses the right finance keywords, you have alternative text for each of your images tagged with the primary keyword of your article, check that you have right keyword density and use those keywords at least once in your H1, H2 headings throughout the article. Make sure you don’t stop there, though – once someone arrives on your article page don’t forget to link to other internal pages to keep the visitor on your site longer. The longer a session duration on your site, the more Google will see you as a trusted source of information and worthy of a top spot in search results.
For many online users searching for information or simply doing a scroll through social media, video is a huge attraction. It’s accessible, an easy way to absorb information and an activity which doesn’t require much effort on the behalf of the viewer. Not sure you know how powerful video is so here’s a quick stat: YouTube is the second most powerful search engine in the world which is why it’s so important that you incorporate video into your marketing strategy and use it well. A major thing to consider when doing videos is to make sure you use subtitles. Many people looking at a video on their mobile won’t want to turn the sound on and will scroll past if they can’t understand what’s going on without it. Additionally, as of 2018, using captions is a ADA compliance website rule that is mandatory to all websites in the United States. Keep every video short, engaging and under 45 seconds to keep your users engaged as attention spans are shortening. Make your content interesting by using visual overlays on top of audio and keep switching up the camera angles to keep the audience engaged.
Don’t overlook the importance of your company’s Facebook, Twitter and Instagram accounts. If you have a loyal social media following, Google will take this into account when ranking your content online. Publish a variety of content types on your social media channels to give your brand a lift as well as boosting your search rankings. Quick tip: use social media scheduling software to post for you at times you know you’ll be away from the office or too busy to remember, such as weekends or busy days at work. Use video, polls and infographics to keep your posts simple, easy to digest and friendly on the eye to make sure your audience doesn’t skip past it. Consider having popular faces do a ‘takeover day’, too. For example, as a fitness wear seller, it is definitely a good idea to pay an influencer to get involved with your product and look after your social media for the day. Their audience will bring you a large, new following to boost your business and increase sales. People are more likely to buy from you once they’ve seen your product used. By getting an influencer to test a product out and give a positive review, you’re automatically making yourself more reliable in the eyes of your ideal customers.
With the popularity of Amazon’s Alexa increasing it’s now more important than ever to make sure your content is accessible via voice search. Searching with voice is the easiest and most convenient option for many online users but the main problem companies face with this is that only the top results are given as answers. You need to aim to be one of those top results. Optimize your digital strategy locally to ensure locations are picked up by voice search devices. Geotagging your business on social media and your website will also work in your favor to boost local page views. Create location specific material to attract nearby customers and consider investing in social media advertisements. These will boil down an audience to the people who will be most interested in your content and show it to them, rather than wasting a lot of money of ads aimed at people who do not care.
The best way to keep up with your audience and make your content relatable to them is to use analytics. By watching out for the key trends in the online behavior of your target audience, you’ll be able to see what they want from you much easier. Start to think about the audience you want to target in 2019 now to prepare well for the New Year. For example, many people will be making resolutions in January. If there is something about your business that will help people achieve those resolutions, target those people with your content. If you’re a business running a money management app, great, begin creating content now on how people can recover financially after spending hundreds of dollars on holiday gifts. If you’re a supplement company, great, start telling people how your products will help them to achieve their fitness goals in the New Year. It really is as simple as that. Or if you’re a custom apparel company, right content on why people should invest in new clothing in early 2019.
Keeping your business in line with what your clients want will definitely optimize your sales in 2019. Run campaigns aimed at telling your customers exactly how your brand will improve their life in the New Year and go from there, keeping a lookout for trends. Live broadcasting is set to be big in 2019 as more people reach out to get their information first hand in real-time. As social media makes it challenging for content to be seen by a larger audience, the time has come to give information out live as this way your audience is immediately notified that you are streaming. Consider using competitions as a good way to get people involved in your lifestreams and encourage interaction from your audience in the comments. Post links to your website throughout the stream and keep people interested and clicking.
Chatbots are set to be the biggest form of artificial intelligence in 2019 as an easy automated customer service channel. The immediate response from these bots will give a human feeling to your business with a personal touch and help your customers get their questions answered faster. You should also look into predictive analytics solutions to create personalized and dynamic relationship with your customers.
Getting your audience personally involved with your content is not only a great way to keep them on your site, but also to get their feedback on some of your marketing techniques. Use polls to keep your audience clicking. Make the topics relevant as to not come across as advertisements and consider things you would like to know about your audience. Do you want to know what your customers like the most about your brand? What they’d like to see more of? How happy they are with your content? If they can tell you quickly and anonymously through a poll, they will. Infographics also perform really well at giving the reader a lot of key information on a topic in a very short amount of time. These can be made quickly and easily to round up articles and briefly explain subjects. Make them colorful and well illustrated to grab digital users’ attention. Summary: So what have we taken away from these tips? The bottomline is you need to know your audience and what they are looking for. Reach out to them in every way possible, whether it’s as straightforward as creating a great website or aiming for the top Google search results hits to be read out on Amazon Echo. Make sure content is reaching your website thick and fast, even if it means investing in a copywriter to help you create compelling content. Use live streaming to get information out to your audience quickly, and consider using competitions & quizzes as a way to keep people coming back for more. Also, explore investing in chatbot technologies as artificial intelligence continues to expand to give your customers a speedy, personalised customer service experience. And most importantly, try to see your audience as people, not just as numbers. By looking at the way people search and what they want to know, you’ll be able to adjust to their needs and create a brand that they will love and keep coming back to for its personal approach. Even implementing just two of these points in 2019 will have a huge impact on your business and keep your brand growing visibility and getting new customers online.
Social Media via Social Media Explorer http://bit.ly/2onGYog December 26, 2018 at 07:56PM
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How to Plan a Successful Influencer Marketing Campaign in 9 Steps http://bit.ly/2T9x0pq Wondering how to implement an influencer marketing campaign? Looking for a plan to follow? In this article, you’ll discover nine steps to plan and execute an influencer marketing campaign.
#1: Create an Influencer Marketing Brand BriefBrands strive to create value for their customers, and as with any form of advertising, influencer marketing content should focus on a sharp value-add component. While brands may differ in their approach, most brand briefs include these details:
Learn how to create a buyer persona. #2: Define Influencer Campaign KPIs and GoalsWhen defining KPIs and goals, keep in mind this is how you’ll measure campaign success. So whether the goal is to increase brand awareness or confirm a specific number of visitors for an in-store grand opening, you’re setting up the first part of your campaign analytics. Learn how to calculate the ROI of influencer marketing campaigns. #3: Vet Potential InfluencersTools like Influence.co (shown below) can help you find influencers to partner with. After you put together a list of potential influencers, you’ll need to evaluate them for fit with your campaign. With the recent rise in creators artificially inflating their follower counts, it’s important to look at more than just reach to evaluate a potential partner. Answering the following questions will help you find the right collaborator for your business:
Learn how to evaluate and partner with social media influencers. #4: Define Content Delivery RequirementsAfter you choose an influencer for your campaign, you’re ready to begin the next phase: content management. Planning your campaign content strategy involves setting expectations and guidelines for the brand, agency, and influencer. This will let the influencer know what’s expected from them and open the door for collaboration. Include specifics such as which platforms the campaign will be activated on, the number and type of posts expected from the influencer, and a timeline for when content should go live. This is also where you should discuss paid media as part of the delivery strategy. #5: Spell Out Usage Rights and ExclusivityUsage and exclusivity are typically handled on a case-by-case basis, but they’re important to consider when crafting your influencer agreement. For usage rights, define who has the rights to creative campaign content once the campaign launches and after it concludes. If you want to retain the right to repost content for the remainder of the calendar year, get the influencer’s agreement and include that in the contract. Experience 3 days with the best social marketers. Discover the latest tactics and improve your marketing know-how! For exclusivity, you can place a restriction on the influencer from working with a list of competing brands for a specified time period. #6: Share Campaign Creative GuidelinesSuccessful branded content needs to command the limited attention span of audiences. Whether it’s you or the influencer directing it, all good creative begins with research. This is where your buyer persona is important. When mapping out creative, research audience interests, analyze competitors, and evaluate your existing social media marketing efforts. After you’ve finished your research, brainstorming sessions are essential. One of the benefits of working with an influencer is leveraging the authenticity and connection they’ve built with their audience. Pushing out creative that appears too salesy is a huge influencer marketing “don’t”. Once you’ve developed an idea, map it out and create an outline to share with collaborators. Ultimately, influencer content should be memorable, helpful, or otherwise make a lasting impact on audiences. Here, influencer Olivia Sui sported Jolly Ranchers jewelry for the candymaker’s Valentine’s Day campaign. #7: Iron Out a Process for Content Revisions and ApprovalWhat may seem creative to one person may not to another. Provide influencers with a thoroughly fleshed out brief about your brand before brainstorming creative. Some brands let the influencer create the content they believe will help them achieve campaign goals. Other brands require final creative approval, including several rounds of revisions. Both approaches are fine, as long as communication and feedback are open, honest, and transparent. Keep in mind that flexibility goes a long way. Sometimes if you’re less rigid with guidelines, influencers may enjoy the partnership experience more and organically create content (considered added value!). Discover three useful tools for managing marketing teams. #8: Promote and Amplify Influencer ContentOnce the content is live, check the analytics to gauge how the content is performing and optimize strategies if necessary. If the goal is to reach a certain amount of impressions, consider using paid media to boost visibility. Platforms like Facebook have paid media targeting down to a science. Learn how to set up an effective Facebook ad campaign. #9: Review Influencer Campaign ResultsIt’s important to review and learn from campaign reporting, which includes overall campaign and individual contributor engagement. Data such as earned media value, organic vs. paid results, sentiment analysis, and top content give you a fuller understanding of campaign performance. Once you’ve measured overall performance with a campaign report, compare the results against the KPIs and goals you initially set for the campaign. Remember, there are two types of engagement data to view: audience and creator data. You need to view the total number of actions/rates (likes, comments, views, unique impressions, overall reach, and engagement rate) of the top-performing content to see what resonates best with your audience. Don’t completely write off low-performing content, however. Look for engagement insights such as the best time to post or even the best platform for engagement. See if you can repurpose low-performing content based on what you’ve learned. Reviewing audience sentiment markers such as comments can reveal useful information. When reviewing creator data, check out individual engagement rates and what pieces of content resonated best with audiences. Learn how to determine the effectiveness of your influencer campaigns based on marketing goals. ConclusionThe three main phases of planning influencer campaigns are brand strategy, content management, and analytics. Following the plan outlined above will help you effectively design your campaigns and get the most out of your partnerships. What do you think? Have you partnered with influencers to promote your products and services? What type of influencers would be the best fit for your business? Please share your thoughts in the comments below. Find more articles on influencer marketing campaigns:There are 17 tracks of content available to you at Social Media Marketing World. Don't miss this event! Social Media via Social Media Marketing | Social Media Examiner http://bit.ly/1LtH18p December 26, 2018 at 05:07AM
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Five free tools that can make you successful in influencer marketing from NoxInfluencer http://bit.ly/2QOhAdz What is influencer marketing? Influencer marketing is a form of business relationship which exists between a brand and an individual (influencer marketer) who is capable of having a positive effect on the purchase decision of the brand’s target market through tailored contents and reputation for knowledge and expertise in the brand’s industry. In simple terms, it is a form of brand marketing which focuses on using influential people to positively turnaround the target market opinions towards a particular product/brand. It can also be likened to celebrity marketing and social media marketing since all three involves the use of an individual well informed and with a good reputation to create brand/product awareness and also involves the use of social media and other forms of multimedia. The process of launching an Influencer Marketing Campaign is sequential. The success of a step relies solely on how properly the ones before it was done. This process includes steps like defining the audience and medium, setting a budget, choosing an influencer, determining the Key Performance Index, content creation, improving onsite marketing strategy, choosing a timeline and launching it. Of all the steps in the list, the most crucial one is ‘choosing an influencer.’ This is because, how well an influencer marketing campaign will perform depends on the influencer as they are the brand/product identity during the campaign period. To succeed in influencer marketing as a marketer, there is a need to make use of essential tools to make the process easier. This is the primary objective of Noxinfluencer: to ease the burden of searching and selecting influencers, especially YouTubers. How? Noxinfluencer being one of the leading influencer marketing platforms, it provides an avenue for a quick and smooth collaboration between influencers and brands. To achieve this, Noxinfluencer provides five necessary and important tools for every marketer free of charge. These tools are: YouTube Search: Through Noxinfluencer, marketers can access a vast database of YouTubers suitable for their brand through a single search. Because Noxinfluencer understands brand needs vary, brands can use a keyword from their industry to search for suitable influencers for their brand through the search column of the home page, and the result will be displayed based on their videos, tags and overall videos performance. This way, brands only deal with YouTube channels who have direct relationships with their brand products, identity, industry, and niche. Once this list is displayed, brands can then filter the result using several filters. These filters include category, the number of followers, areas, and locations in the world, estimated exposure and their last published date. For example, a search using ‘Health’ as a keyword will likely bring about thousands of YouTube channels, while choosing a category, location, the number of followers, and exposure value will streamline the results to the best fit for my brand. YouTube Statistics: a brand cannot work with all the influencers that make the search list after filtering it. There is still a need to determine whether they have enough resources to achieve the required milestone. This can only be known through the channel statistical evaluation. For this, Noxinfluencer provides YouTube Stats; an influencer marketing tool that lets you have access to the entire statics of any youtube channel you are reviewing. Youtube stats tool will let you have access to a channel’s information such as the number of subscribers, the total number of views, average video views, average daily subscribers, average daily views, active rate, and the estimated YouTube value. All this will then be used to rate the channel through a Nox Score ranging from 1-5. YouTube Channel Calculator: influencers do not offer their services free of charge; marketers and brands have to pay them for their cooperation. After reviewing channels’ statistics using the Youtube stats tool, and making a pick, it is important to find out exactly how much you need to budget for your influencer marketing relationship with the influencer. YouTube Channel calculator comes in here. Distinct from other tools, it provides brands with the most accurate market value of brand sponsorship for each YouTuber. This way, you can easily draw up your Influencer Marketing Campaign Budget and also effectively bargain with YouTubers. It also saves you time as you will be able to know if you can afford a YouTuber or not before negotiating and failing with him. YouTube Channel Compare: the number of YouTubers you can work with depends on the size and flexibility of your budget. If your budget is limited, YouTube Channel Compare is the appropriate tool with which you can find the most suitable YouTuber. 5, YouTube video tracker: after finding, selecting and entering into an influencer Marketing Relationship with the suitable YouTuber using the above-mentioned tools, it is important you find a way to measure and track the success of your promotional video. Using YouTube Video Tracker, you can easily track the performance of your promotional video and see real time results. Through this tool, you can easily manage contents created by YouTubers found on Noxinfluencer and others. All you need do is create a video tracking task and have firsthand access to 30 days content performance and 180 days status monitoring as soon as you create the YouTube Video Tracking Task. The comprehensive data reports can also be easily shared, exported and directly used for your next presentations. As earlier stated, brands and marketers need to tap into the new trend in Marketing, i.e., Influencer Marketing. To do this, they need access to an Influencer Marketing Platform which will ease the entire process from finding an influencer to seeing the effects of the campaign. Noxinfluencer is a leader among Influencer Marketing Platforms as it possesses all the attributes an ideal Influencer Marketing Platform should possess. These attributes include experience, professionalism, flexibility, and versatility. Also, they also have features in place to protect both parties of an influencer marketing relationship (influencers and brands/marketers) while making the entire process easy, quick and simple. As a marketer or brand owner, it is important that you try out Influencer Marketing and what better platform to create a relationship with except Noxinfluencer. The post Five free tools that can make you successful in influencer marketing from NoxInfluencer appeared first on Social Media Explorer. Social Media via Social Media Explorer http://bit.ly/2onGYog December 25, 2018 at 10:23PM
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My product launch wishlist for Instagram, Twitter, Uber and more https://tcrn.ch/2ELMwDV ‘Twas the night before Xmas, and all through the house, not a feature was stirring from the designer’s mouse . . . Not Twitter! Not Uber, Not Apple or Pinterest! On Facebook! On Snapchat! On Lyft or on Insta! . . . From the sidelines I ask you to flex your code’s might. Happy Xmas to all if you make these apps right. See More Like This – A button on feed posts that when tapped inserts a burst of similar posts before the timeline continues. Want to see more fashion, sunsets, selfies, food porn, pets, or Boomerangs? Instagram’s machine vision technology and metadata would gather them from people you follow and give you a dose. You shouldn’t have to work through search, hashtags, or the Explore page, nor permanently change your feed by following new accounts. Pinterest briefly had this feature (and should bring it back) but it’d work better on Insta. Web DMs – Instagram’s messaging feature has become the defacto place for sharing memes and trash talk about people’s photos, but it’s stuck on mobile. For all the college kids and entry-level office workers out there, this would make being stuck on laptops all day much more fun. Plus, youth culture truthsayer Taylor Lorenz wants Instagram web DMs too. Upload Quality Indicator – Try to post a Story video or Boomerang from a crummy internet connection and they turn out a blurry mess. Instagram should warn us if our signal strength is low compared to what we usually have (since some places it’s always mediocre) and either recommend we wait for Wi-Fi, or post a low-res copy that’s replaced by the high-res version when possible. Oh, and if new VP of product Vishal Shah is listening, I’d also like Bitmoji-style avatars and a better way to discover accounts that shows a selection of their recent posts plus their bio, instead of just one post and no context in Explore which is better for discovering content. DM Search – Ummm, this is pretty straightforward. It’s absurd that you can’t even search DMs by person, let alone keyword. Twitter knows messaging is a big thing on mobile right? And DMs are one of the most powerful ways to get in contact with mid-level public figures and journalists. PS: My DMs are open if you’ve got a news tip — @JoshConstine. Unfollow Suggestions – Social networks are obsessed with getting us to follow more people, but do a terrible job of helping us clean up our feeds. With Twitter bringing back the option to see a chronological feed, we need unfollow suggestions more than ever. It should analyze who I follow but never click, fave, reply to, retweet, or even slow down to read and ask if I want to nix them. I asked for this 5 years ago and the problem has only gotten worse. Since people feel like their feeds are already overflowing, they’re stingy with following new people. That’s partly why you see accounts get only a handful of new followers when their tweets go viral and are seen by millions. I recently had a tweet with 1.7 million impressions and 18,000 Likes that drove just 11 follows. Yes I know that’s a self-own. Analytics Benchmarks – If Twitter wants to improve conversation quality, it should teach us what works. Twitter offers analytics about each of your tweets, but not in context of your other posts. Did this drive more or fewer link clicks or follows than my typical tweet? That kind of info could guide users to create more compelling content. (Obviously we could get into Facebook’s myriad problems here. A less sensationalized feed that doesn’t reward exaggerated claims would top my list. Hopefully its plan to downrank “borderline content” that almost violates its policies will help when it rolls out.) Batched Notifications – Facebook sends way too many notifications. Some are downright useless and should be eliminated. “14 friends responded to events happening tomorrow”? “Someone’s fundraiser is half way to its goal?” Get that shit out of here. But there are other notifications I want to see but that aren’t urgent nor crucial to know about individually. Facebook should let us decide to batch notifications so we’d only get one of a certain type every 12 or 24 hours, or only when a certain number of similar ones are triggered. I’d love a digest of posts to my Groups or Events from the past day rather than every time someone opens their mouth. Notifications In The “Time Well Spent” Feature – Facebook tells you how many minutes you spent on it each day over the past week and on average, but my total time on Facebook matters less to me than how often it interrupts my life with push notifications. The “Your Time On Facebook” feature should show how many notifications of each type I’ve received, which ones I actually opened, and let me turn off or batch the ones I want fewer of. Oh, and for Will Cathcart, Facebook’s VP of apps, can I also get proper syncing so I don’t rewatch the same Stories on Instagram and Facebook, the ability to invite people to Events on mobile based on past invite lists of those I’ve hosted or attended, and the See More Like This feature I recommended for Instagram? Uber/Lyft/Ridesharing“Quiet Ride” Button – Sometimes you’re just not in the mood for small talk. Had a rough day, need to get work done, or want to just zone out? Ridesharing apps should offer a request for a quiet ride that if the driver accepts, you pay them an extra dollar (or get it free as a loyalty perk), and you get ferried to your destination without unnecessary conversation. I get that it’s a bit dehumanizing for the driver, but I’d bet some would happily take a little extra cash for their compliance. “I Need More Time” Button – Sometimes you overestimate the ETA and suddenly your car is arriving before you’re ready to leave. Instead of cancelling and rebooking a few minutes later, frantically rushing so you don’t miss your window and get smacked with a no-show fee, or making the driver wait while they and the company aren’t getting paid, Uber, Lyft, and the rest should offer the “I Need More Time” button that simply rebooks you a car that’s a little further away. Spotify/Music Streaming AppsScan My Collection – I wish I could just take photos of the album covers, spines, or even discs of my CD or record collection and have them instantly added to a playlist or folder. It’s kind of sad that after lifetimes of collecting physical music, most of it now sits on a shelf and we forget to play what we used to love. Music apps want more data on what we like, and it’s just sitting there gathering dust. There’s obviously some fun viral potential here too. Let me share what’s my most embarrassing CD. For me, it’s my dual copies of Limp Bizkit’s “Significant Other” because I played the first one so much it got scratched. Friends Weekly – Spotify ditched its in-app messaging, third-party app platform, and other ways to discover music so its playlists would decide what becomes a hit in order to exert leverage over the record labels to negotiate better deals. But music discovery is inherently social and the desktop little ticker of what friends are playing on doesn’t cut it. Spotify should let me choose to recommend my new favorite song or agree to let it share what I’ve recently played most, and put those into a Discover Weekly-style social playlist of what friends are listening to. SnapchatGrowth – I’m sorry, I had to. Bulk Export Memories – But seriously, Snapchat is shrinking. That’s worrisome because some users’ photos and videos are trapped on its Memories cloud hosting feature that’s supposed to help free up space on your phone. But there’s no bulk export option, meaning it could take hours of saving shots one at a time to your camera roll if you needed to get off of Snapchat, if for example it was shutting down, or got acquired, or you’re just bored of it. Add-On Cameras – Snapchat’s Spectacles are actually pretty neat for recording first-person or underwater shots in a circular format. But otherwise they don’t do much more, and in some ways do much less, than your phone’s camera and are a long way from being a Magic Leap competitor. That’s why if Snapchat really wants to become a “Camera Company”, it should build sleek add-on cameras that augment our phone’s hardware. Snap previously explored selling a 360-camera but never launched one. A little Giroptic iO-style 360 lens that attaches to your phone’s charging port could let you capture a new kind of content that really makes people feel like they’re there with you. An Aukey Aura-style zoom lens attachment that easily fits in your pocket unlike a DSLR could also be a hit iOSSwitch Wi-Fi/Bluetooth From Control Center – I thought the whole point of Control Center was one touch access, but I can only turn on or off the Wi-Fi and Bluetooth. It’s silly having to dig into the Settings menu to switch to a different Wi-Fi network or Bluetooth device, especially as we interact with more and more of them. Control Center should unfurl a menu of networks or devices you can choose from. Shoot GIFs – Live Photos are a clumsy proprietary format. Instagram’s Boomerang nailed what we want out of live action GIFs and we should be able to shoot them straight from the iOS camera and export them as actual GIFs that can be used across the web. Give us some extra GIF settings and iPhones could have a new reason for teens to choose them over Androids. Gradual Alarms – Anyone else have a heart attack whenever they hear their phone’s Alarm Clock ringtone? I know I do because I leave my alarms on so loud that I’ll never miss them, but end up being rudely shocked awake. A setting that gradually increases the volume of the iOS Alarm Clock every 15 seconds or minute so I can be gently arisen unless I refuse to get up. Maybe some of these apply to Android, but I wouldn’t know because I’m a filthy casual iPhoner. Send me your Android suggestions, as well as what else you want to see added to your favorite apps. [Image Credit: Hanson Inc] Social Media via Twitter – TechCrunch https://techcrunch.com December 24, 2018 at 09:51PM
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Social Media Agency Growth: Leveraging Other People’s Money http://bit.ly/2PXBU6V So when you’re starting off in a social media agency or business, it’s usually difficult to have everything right the first time. Most business consultants recommend having 10-25% more capital than you already think you need in order to get your business actually on track. Why Do You Need to Plan Your Business Capital?In the age of internet hype and clickfunnels, the marketplace has generally become distorted in their relationship with managing money. Perhaps this is one of the many reasons the United States economy now has one of the largest bull markets of all time at this point. However, you will have events that you don’t expect arise that will cause your desired projection of growth to slow, with capital being the only solution that is separating you from higher growth rates. Now more than ever with United States loan rates are the lowest they’ve ever been in the history of our country (3-5%), most people whom aren’t privy to this knowledge are walking over metaphorical pay-dirt. It’s one thing to leverage money from credit cards with, dare I say, almost criminally high APR rates. But it’s another thing to make your dreams work for you on 3% interest. Just to frame this up even better, realize this, in the 1980’s business owners were still taking loans even when they were as high as 20%. Why is Leveraging Other People’s Money Smart for Your Businesses Growth?Well the truth of the matter is banks are currently flush with cash to lend. The culling that took place in our last economical crisis of 2008, wiped out a majority of competition, and with the CFPB now in place making it harder for new banks to even form, the saying “the rich get richer and the poor get poorer” is more relevant than ever. Banks have less competition which means the institutions are growing virtually uncontested; in layman’s terms, they have more money to lend than they know what to do with. Furthermore the most valuable thing in your business is your time. Assuming you have all of your numbers set up properly and a sustainable model, you know that the truth is this, the biggest separator of what most people would consider “wealth” is capital. Leveraging Debt is Always a Good IdeaThis capital is usually attained by most people within 25 or more years because they refuse to leverage debt to their benefit. Debt mind you, that is currently carrying only 3-5% interest rates. So when most business owners hit a wall inside their business there is only a series of questions they can ask themselves- is it the customer relationships, prospecting, product quality, marketing, sales team, or operations that can help grow my business to the next level, and outside of that- how long will it take me to get these systems in place at my current rate of growth? You can even leverage money in expenses you may not have conventionally thought of before, such as purchasing a supplementary/complimentarily/rivaling business. Imagine this scenario, you’re a social media marketer and want to make more money within your agency. One option you could take, is flat out buying your competitor with a loan you’ve received from a bank, or buying an SEO agency so you can add something onto your business that you currently don’t offer your clients. Summing UpThe truth of the matter is this, having loans can be your best friend in a lot of ways, there are services out there to help you with finding large loans at a rate and terms that make sense with your current marketing efforts, and small business loans from Financer.com can help you fill in all of the missing gaps between where you want to be and where you’re stuck at now. The post Social Media Agency Growth: Leveraging Other People’s Money appeared first on Social Media Explorer. Social Media via Social Media Explorer http://bit.ly/2onGYog December 24, 2018 at 10:58AM |
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