Social Media Accessibility- Complying to Section 508 http://bit.ly/2WA91Fy Creating a beautiful website is not enough in today’s world, to create a successful website, it needs to be optimized, quick, simple, meaningful and accessible to everyone. If you are a responsible business owner and have a website corresponding to your business which is accessible to everyone including people with disabilities, are your obligations complete? Website 508 compliance is something that cannot be ignored if you wish to target as many consumers as possible but what about your other internet handles like social media? Is your social media accessible to everyone as well? Let us explain why your social media should also comply with Section 508. According to 508 compliance law, all electronic and information technology developed, procured, maintained or used by the federal government be accessible to people with disabilities. Even if your website is private, to reach out to every consumer, making an accessible website is a must but how do your consumers reach till your website? Most business websites are not the first-place people visit online but most people who are active social media users see a business add or post and click on it to visit your business website. This means that making your website accessible to people with disabilities is not enough as if they are unable to access your social feeds, how will they be directed to your website? Understanding the importance of accessible social media, we have listed a few of the best practices to make your social feeds accessible to everyone. 1. Adding Alternative Text for Image Descriptions. If you are posting an image on your social media, adding image descriptions so that it could be narrated by the screen reader makes the post accessible to people with disabilities. Facebook has an option to add the alternative text, also twitter also allows to add image descriptions easily. Even Instagram has started enabling users to enter alternative text describing the image manually. These social media platforms also provide auto-generated image descriptions but we would suggest that the best option is for you to manually enter the context of an image added than relying on automated descriptions. 2. Adding Open or Closed Caption to Videos and Podcasts: If you have been using YouTube, you must be aware that it automatically adds captions for all its videos to make the video meaningful for people with hearing impairments. You should do the same thing while adding a video or a podcast. Social media such as Facebook allows you to enter the subtitles manually or create it automatically. You can choose option but make sure that the subtitles are accurate as sometimes the auto-generated caption may read gibberish. 3. Writing Hashtags in Camel-Case. Hashtags are usually a combination of many words attached together to highlight trending topics but using all caps letters like #WRITINGHASHTAGS or all small letters like #writinghashtags may confuse the users, especially the ones with comprehension disorders. Instead, if it is written as capitalizing the first letter of every word like #WritingHashtags, it is easier to read and understand by all users. 4. Using Emojis Sparingly. Screen readers can also read emojis but using repeated emojis can make the screen reader repeat the emojis as well which may sound irritating so minimize its use. 5. Displaying Trigger Warnings. Adding a TRIGGER WARNING before a content which flashes too much on the screen is necessary for people with seizure disorders. Also, adding such a warning before sensitive contents like assault or violence related content is also must so that people with physical or emotional disorders could skip that part. Final Thoughts: Complying to section 508 to make all your online business handle accessible to everyone including disables is not only a good way of boosting your business but it is also a step towards giving people with disabilities a chance to be on the same level with everyone without any discrimination and that is the kind of future we all need to build when it comes to the field of information and technology. The post Social Media Accessibility- Complying to Section 508 appeared first on Social Media Explorer. Social Media via Social Media Explorer http://bit.ly/2onGYog May 28, 2019 at 05:43AM
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Top Marketing Podcasts That Will Make You Smarter http://bit.ly/2Wadqzj Are you looking for some good podcasts to listen to while commuting? Wondering which podcasts are the best? We’ve done the research for you. Below are the top marketing podcasts by category along with important information including what people think about the shows. We curated nominations from our community and only selected podcasts that produce content exclusively for marketers. All of these shows are well established, highly rated by listeners, regularly produce content, and are shows we endorse. Social Media Marketing Podcasts#1: Social Pros PodcastHosts Jay Baer and Adam Brown talk to the people who staff, operate, and measure social media initiatives for some of today’s biggest brands. Podcast details: “Jay and Adam’s interviews are a perfect blend of compelling, entertaining and actionable content…,” N. Paulsen. Listen on Apple Podcasts | Google Play #2: Social Media Marketing PodcastHost Michael Stelzner interviews leading social media marketing professionals to learn how they’re using social media to successfully promote and grow businesses. Podcast details: “My go-to resource to stay up to date on all the changes, tips, tricks and tools for social media marketing,” Shannon. Listen on Apple Podcasts | Google Play #3: Social Media LabHosts Scott Ayers and Richard Beeson deliver focused episodes that provide data-backed answers to one social media marketing question at a time. Podcast details: “Short and sweet and jam packed with relevant data,” D. Powell. Listen on Apple Podcasts | Google Play Paid Traffic Podcasts#1: The Art of Paid TrafficHost Rick Mulready and his guests share their most effective tips, tactics, and strategies for paid online marketing. Podcast details: “Actionable + smart strategic money making tips to optimize your ads strategies,” M. Schulman. Listen on Apple Podcasts | RSS #2: Perpetual TrafficHosts Ralph Burns and Molly Pittman reveal strategies to acquire leads and sales through paid online traffic. Podcast details: “…two awesome hosts with some incredible insights into website traffic,” A. Shultz. Listen on Apple Podcasts | Google Play Marketing News Commentary Podcasts#1: The Marketing CompanionHosts Mark Schaefer and Brooke Sellas deliver cutting edge marketing insights with fun and entertaining commentary. Podcast details: “…makes learning fun. His marketing insights will challenge the way you think…,” F. Parsons. Listen on Apple Podcasts | Google Play How to Make Better “Data-Driven” Marketing Decisions in Less Time— Without the Guesswork! #2: Social Media Marketing Talk ShowHosts Erik J. Fisher and Grace Duffy discuss the latest in breaking social media news and platform updates with leading industry experts. Podcast details: “Because of this podcast, I am able to stay ahead of the curve on the always-evolving world of social media,” S. Jones. Listen on Apple Podcasts | Google Play General Marketing Podcasts#1: Marketing SchoolHosts Neil Patel and Eric Siu share lessons they’ve learned through years of hands-on experience with digital business. Podcast details: “Short, high yield episodes with really actionable advice,” G. Listen on Apple Podcasts | Google Play #2: The Small Business Big Marketing ShowHost Tim Reid and his guests focus on giving business owners answers to real-world marketing questions about customer acquisition, social media, scaling, and more. Podcast details: “Every episode provides a ton of practical information,” M. Barayeva. Listen on Apple Podcasts | RSS #3: The Agents of ChangeHost Rich Brooks interviews expert marketers about their tips and advice on SEO, social media marketing, and mobile marketing. Podcast details: “…engaging conversations that always leave me with a new idea, strategy or question to explore,” Maddie. Listen on Apple Podcasts | RSS #4: The Marketing Secrets ShowHost Russell Brunson transparently shares his own a-ha moments, marketing strategies, and insights to help entrepreneurs grow their businesses. Podcast details: “If you want a podcast to learn about marketing and growing your business, this is the one,” Chris. Listen on Apple Podcasts | Google Play Other Notable Marketing Podcasts#1: The Ecommerce Influence ShowHosts Austin Brawner and Andrew Foxwell talk candidly with leading ecommerce experts to share successful acquisition and retention strategies. Podcast details: “Strategies and advice that can be put to practical use,” Val. Listen on Apple Podcasts | RSS #2: Video CreatorsHost Tim Schmoyer and others reveal the strategies and tactics they’ve used to grow a business around their YouTube channels. Podcast details: “[Tim] has a vast background with the platform and provides endless value,” A.J. Listen on Apple Podcasts | Google Play Do you listen to marketing podcasts? Is your favorite on this list? Share your thoughts in the comments below. How to Make Better “Data-Driven” Marketing Decisions in Less Time— Without the Guesswork! Social Media via Social Media Marketing | Social Media Examiner http://bit.ly/1LtH18p May 28, 2019 at 05:02AM
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Build a Multilingual Social Media Presence With These 6 Tips http://bit.ly/2YOfERZ English remains the most popular language on the Internet with 1.1 billion Internet users speaking English. Over 860 million people on the Internet speak Chinese and 344 million speak Spanish. These are the top three languages of the Internet. If your demographic speaks Spanish, you don’t want to promote to them only in English. When building a social media presence that is multilingual, these tips can keep followers while also appealing to a larger audience: 1. Double Post in a Different LanguageYou can manage multiple social media accounts, each in a different language, but that’s a massive undertaking. One tip that’s recommended is to treat the same demographic as two languages. If you’re a lawyer in Los Angeles that caters to both English and Spanish speakers, you may want to use a post title of: abogados de accidentes de carro instead of “car accident lawyers.” Double posting is a very good idea for bilingual accounts, but pay close attention to how many followers drop off after a Spanish post. When followers leave because of posts in another language, it may be best to open a separate account for each language. 2. Visual Content Works WellBroad messages are a great option, and visual content is able to speak to followers of many languages. But you do need to be mindful of social norms and what may insult some followers and not others. If you post visuals that are taboo, you may insult the followers you’re trying to appeal to online. 3. Professional Translations OnlyIf you have to use Google Translate, you shouldn’t post in another language. Native speakers will know the difference, and you may say something that is improper or even rude to some speakers. You’ll want to keep to professional translations only. Professional translations will be able to convey your message properly without insulting the audience you’re trying to appeal to the most. 4. Utilize Ad FilteringIf you’re using Facebook Ads, for example, users set their account to their desired language when opening their account. Twitter does the same, and this allows advertisements to target these users specifically. You can run ads for Spanish speakers in LA specifically rather than the ads being shown to English speakers. 5. Translations in One PostIf you don’t want to double post or you find that your account is bleeding followers due to posting in another language, offer translations in one post. This would allow you to cut down on social media resources and target both demographics without anyone being turned off by a single language post. 6. Pay Attention to Time DifferencesDifferent demographics are often in different time zones. You may want to post at 11 am in the US, but the same post is being seen in Italy at 5 pm if you’re in the eastern standard time. Adjust your posting times so that you can target your demographic at the ideal posting times. You may also be able to stave off losing followers if you adjust posts to the time zone of your international demographic. The post Build a Multilingual Social Media Presence With These 6 Tips appeared first on Social Media Explorer. Social Media via Social Media Explorer http://bit.ly/2onGYog May 28, 2019 at 01:30AM
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6 Social Media Use Cases to Refresh Your Business in 2019 http://bit.ly/2K8HWm2 Say what you will about the screen addiction backlash and the seemingly never-ending parade of data privacy snafus. Social media will undoubtedly continue to play a definitive role in marketing for years to come. Facebook still has around 2.27 billion active users monthly, and Twitter has over 336 million. LinkedIn reports user metrics a bit differently, but as of two years ago, expert estimates had them at over 260 million, and that was before the platform got “cool” again, thanks to a series of feature updates and engagement spikes. Social media has earned its place as an integral part of people’s lives, and there won’t be a rollback any time soon. As a marketer, you might be frustrated with a lack of traction on a given social channel, but giving up simply isn’t an option. Social media equity takes time and experimentation to build momentum. Developing your presence isn’t simply about routinely posting and sharing curated content or making snarky jabs at competitors anymore. You have to find ways to meaningfully engage your audience. So, before we hit the dog days of summer, it would serve you well to review your respective social media strategies and make sure that you’re on top of key trends. Here are six key tactics and use cases that your business should employ today, to help boost your reach, engagement and yes, even ROI. 1. Listen to your customers on social media Consumers are now starting to use social media as their preferred means to reach out to companies. Some 45 percent of consumers say that social media is one of the first channels they use for making inquiries and seeking support. Yet most brands to fail to respond to social media messages. Plus, even if customers don’t directly message you or comment on your posts, they may still be talking about your brand in their own feeds. Failing to address urgent concerns, especially negative ones, can drive customers away. Even with a dedicated social media effort, monitoring chatter that involves your company can be a challenge. Fortunately, sentiment analysis has become more accessible these days where a service can actively “listen” for relevant mentions of brands online. Several listening platforms can help you track such mentions across social media, blogs and forums. You can even monitor sentiments concerning your competitors as well. Through the listening platforms’ analytics engines, you can derive useful insights on trends that can help guide your engagement activities. Knowing what the market thinks and feels about your brand allows you to customize communication plans and specifically target user groups with strategic campaigns in order to engage them more effectively. 2. Sell products from your Instagram feed Across all industries, Instagram drives an average engagement rate of 1.6% per post, which is significantly higher than both Facebook and Twitter. For brands, Instagram is all about lifestyle marketing, but that doesn’t mean you need to stick to the “soft sell” in order to drive engagement on this platform. In fact, some of the biggest Instagram success stories involve use of its new shoppable posts feature, which allows brands to tag products appearing in their image posts. Shoppers can then tap on the shopping bag in the corner to open up a layer that reveals product names and pricing – and allows them to click through straight to an ecommerce product page. In a case study from BigCommerce, fashion brand Natori is cited as a prime example of an ecommerce company that has made the most of shoppable Instagram. Just 60 posts into their first experiments with the feature, they reported having seen a 1,416% spike in traffic referred from Instagram, doubling their Instagram-referred revenues week-over-week. “Instagram has played a major role in helping us build a brand,” Natori President Ken Natori said, “and we love how the new shopping features allow us to easily showcase our products in a way that feels authentic to the community we’ve built.” 3. Nurture brand advocates and ambassadors Marketers don’t have to look far to find people who could talk positively about their brands. If your company takes care of your staff well enough, then your employees could easily become your own pool of social media ambassadors. Employees have the power to reach an estimated ten times more people than brands themselves can on social media. Unlike advertising campaigns run by marketing teams, content generated by employees on their own accounts appear as native content. This allows posts to be more visible through employees’ own networks and even circumvent barriers such as ad blockers. Aside from delivering better reach, having your employees talk about your brand also conveys employee loyalty, further contributing to your company’s overall positive image. 4. Use dynamic video to boost conversion rates Short-form video has started to dominate social media. About 75 percent of videos published over the past year span only two minutes or less in length. This conciseness has proven helpful in drawing and retaining attention with 46 percent of viewers watching such videos until the end. To further enhance the effectiveness of short-form video, brands could look into personalization. Storybulbs, for instance, helps brands publish dynamic videos that target users’ specific interests and preferences. The platform allows marketers to easily create custom videos based on your company’s customer data, so that people will post them to social media. Even users’ names can be placed as part of the rendered videos to make it clear that the videos are made specifically of them. You can also explore sponsoring external personalities and influencers since they can showcase your brand to their followers instantly. Even local celebrities could easily have thousands of subscribers to their feeds. Budding influencers and content developers might even be happy to talk about your brand in exchange for freebies and samples. 5. Create captivating and elegant visuals Almost a third of marketers agree that visual images are now more important to them than text content since users are now likely to ignore plain posts. Walls of text and bland graphics only contribute to the visual clutter and noise that pervades social networks today. To remedy this, many marketing teams now have graphic designers on board to help create captivating and elegant visual content. However, social media marketing demands quick turnaround times that designers often feel pressured and burdened to deliver quality outputs within short periods of time. To empower your team, you can actually automate the creation and publishing captivating visual content. A service like Crello can help you create eye-catching designs easily even without any advanced design skills. The platform features images, typefaces, colors, and backgrounds which you can combine to create elegant visuals made for social. Aside from its design features, it can also schedule and automate the posting of content, allowing you to preplan posts days or even weeks ahead of time. 6. Explore conversational marketing Advances in AI and natural language processing (NLP) have led to improvements in chatbot technology. Today, chatbots are already capable of handling a number of routine customer interactions and more businesses are already integrating chatbots to their social media channels. Gartner expects that, by 2020, 85 percent of business engagement will be done without interacting with another human being. With regard to marketing, chatbots are now being used perform tasks such as facilitating lead conversion. Conversational marketing platform Drift, for instance, optimizes the conversion funnel by allowing chatbots to qualify leads so that human agents can focus on engaging high potential prospects. Drift, in its own effort, was able to convert 300 percent more traffic from Facebook ads without even redesigning their landing page. Chatbots are expected to become a major force in e-commerce. Facebook has been investing heavily on its Messenger platform to be able to accommodate more chatbots, the big idea being users will be able to do pretty much everything including interacting with companies and services within Facebook’s ecosystem. All advantages necessary Consumers are expected to continue shifting their media consumption to digital and mobile. By the end of 2019, the time people spend online is expected to eclipse the time they spend watching TV. Marketing and engagement efforts should accommodate this shift in customer behavior. If you’re already invested in digital marketing, you should optimize your strategies to accommodate these new trends. It’s also high time for those who have yet to take start their own efforts to kick start theirs as soon as possible. All advantages will be necessary to ensure the relevance and visibility of your brand. So be sure to plan and strategize your effort well in preparation for the coming year. The post 6 Social Media Use Cases to Refresh Your Business in 2019 appeared first on Social Media Explorer. Social Media via Social Media Explorer http://bit.ly/2onGYog May 27, 2019 at 07:33PM Optimizing CTR of Ads Across Multiple Social Media Platforms http://bit.ly/2YX0dXL Creating a successful social media advertising strategy requires extensive testing. It is virtually impossible to predict the performance of your ads ahead of time. Why is it so hard to know the click-through-rate or conversion rate of a social media advertisement in advance? There are many factors that come into play. These factors include the demographics of the audience reviewing your ads, as well as the network that you are displaying them. One way to scale your campaigns is by running your ads on other social networks. For example, many marketers have had great success running Facebook campaigns on Instagram. This can be a great idea when you have a strong campaign running on one social media site. However, you are going to need to invest resources testing it when you try transferring it to another platform. Quandaries that you will face running ads across different social media platforms CTR and conversion rate data from one social media platform can be a good bellwether for its performance on other social media sites. However, you need to take this data with a grain of salt. It is important to factor for other variables too. If you are planning on running the same ad across different social media platforms, then you’re going to need a well thought out strategy. You are also going to have to be realistic about the limitations with your data. Here are some tips to get the most of a multi-channel social media marketing strategy. Start running your ads on a platform with granular targeting capabilities The number of social media sites has increased dramatically over the past few years. At first glance, the growing number of options makes it seem like it is difficult to know where to start your campaign and the path that you will take to scale it to other social networks. Your options become clearer when you realize that certain social media sites have better advertising products than others. You may want to consider testing your ads on a social media platform that has granular demographic targeting options. Facebook and Instagram are the two best. If you start running advertisements on one of these networks, you can create different campaigns for various demographics that you intend to target. This will give you a better sense of the best ads to use for each customer group. Once you have gathered engagement data from different demographics, you have a couple of different options. Make sure you have a reliable ad server You are going to need a dependable ad server to handle any large media buying campaign. Your traffic is going to put a greater strain on your server as you start expanding into different social networks. This is especially concerning if you are trying to promote your services in a country with a less reliable Internet infrastructure, such as Australia. According to an expert from Best Web Hosting Australia, you need to choose your hosting option carefully. “It is important to have a local hosting service when running any media buying campaign. Unfortunately, many Australian hosting solutions aren’t up for the task when you try scaling across platforms. It is important to do your due diligence.” Test the same ads on another platform with demographic targeting capabilities Let’s say that you tested your creatives on Facebook. You found that a certain ad performed best for 25 to 35-year-old women. You might want to try testing the same ad on Instagram and create a campaign for women in the same age group. Since you already know that it is the best performing ad for that demographic on one network, it has a higher chance of engaging with them elsewhere. Run your advertisement on a niche social network that appeals to the same demographic When you think of advertising on social media, you probably are thinking about major platforms like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Pinterest. However, there are hundreds of smaller social networks. Although these networks have a more limited reach, they have other benefits that you might want to consider:
You might have discovered a couple of niche social networks that appeal to your core customer base. Once you have found an ad that works well on Facebook for your target audience, you might want to try using it on one of these niche networks too. Use Facebook‘s placement optimization feature to compare between Instagram and Facebook Facebook and Instagram are obviously two separate social media networks. However, Facebook purchased Instagram in 2012. As a result, Facebook allows advertisers to reach customers across both platforms with a single interface. One of the benefits of the combined interface is the Placement Optimization feature. This feature allows you to create a single ad and run it concurrently on both Facebook and Instagram. You will be able to monitor the performance data on both networks to see similarities. You can also determine if one social network is showing a lot more promise than the other, so that you can allocate your resources for the best ROI. Be prepared to improvise for differences in ad formats The data that you will receive from any social network can be transferable to others. However, there is an important limitation to be aware of. Different social networks have their own and formats. You might need to change the size of your images to make sure they fit. However, your data should at least indicate the types of images and add copy that resonates with different social networks have their own ad formats. You might need to change the size of your images to make sure they fit, but your data should at least indicate the types of images and ad copy that resonates with your audience. In other words, your advertising data from one social network will be very valuable when setting up a campaign on another network. However, you’re going to need to prepare to make some adjustments along the way. The post Optimizing CTR of Ads Across Multiple Social Media Platforms appeared first on Social Media Explorer. Social Media via Social Media Explorer http://bit.ly/2onGYog May 27, 2019 at 07:31PM
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How to Reach Local Customers Using Facebook Video Ads http://bit.ly/2HEjpDV Are you trying to get more local customers? Have you tried Facebook video ads targeted to your local market? In this article, you’ll discover how to use Facebook video ads to reach customers in your area. Why Local Businesses Struggle With Facebook AdvertisingIn my experience working with hundreds of local business owners, the number-one mistake they make with advertising on Facebook is thinking they can just create an ad offering some sort of discount (i.e., 20% off), boost that out, and the flood gates will open. They’re spending money on ads so they’ll see some sort of return, right? Wrong. Advertising, when you break it down, is simple: Deliver the right message to the right person at the right time. Achieve that and you’ll have an incredibly successful advertising campaign. Fail to achieve that and you won’t see any results. Why doesn’t the above approach work? Let’s think about consumer behavior. When you watch YouTube, Hulu, or TV, how do you feel when you see an ad trying to sell you something? You’re annoyed, right? We don’t like ads. We don’t like it when strangers try to sell us stuff. We don’t know, like, or trust them—three things required for a sale to happen. So, as a Facebook advertiser, how can you advertise to people in your local area without annoying them? Let’s look at how you can use Facebook video ads to deliver content your local market will want to engage with. #1: Publish Micro-Video Content to Facebook to Answer FAQsThink about what content you consume when you scroll through your own Facebook news feed. Chances are, you’re watching videos on topics that you’re interested in, find informative, or consider entertaining. Guess what? If you’re doing that, your potential customers are too. If you stick a salesy Facebook ad in their face, you’re just going to annoy them. You need to create content they’ll want to consume. Serve them ads that provide value. Make their lives better. Improve their experience on Facebook. Deliver a message they want to see. The first stage of any successful Facebook campaign has everything to do with content. You need to create content people want to see when they scroll through their Facebook feed—content that builds trust. To build a simple content strategy for your Facebook marketing, ask yourself these three questions:
List as many answers to these questions as possible. You should be able to get 50–100 answers from these three questions alone. For example, here’s a list you might put together by answering the first question above:
You’ll use these questions to form the basis of your Facebook content strategy. If you’re always asked these questions, you can guarantee other people are asking them too, or typing them into a Google search. If you’re not providing the answers, your competitors probably are. Once you’ve gathered this information, create 1-minute videos to provide the information people are asking for. Use the questions as the video titles. The videos don’t need to be super-professional or polished; you can record them using your smartphone. Simply start creating short pieces of video content and sharing them on Facebook. While these short videos may not go viral, you’re helping people solve specific problems, which is the type of content that will generate leads and sales for your business. #2: Promote High-Performing Content to Your Local Area With Facebook Video AdsOnce you’ve started creating and sharing your videos on Facebook, you want to ensure the right people see them. What’s the point of spending time creating content if nobody sees it? That’s where Facebook video ads come into play. But you don’t want to just run ads that aimlessly promote all of your content; you need to be methodical about it. Facebook will encourage you to promote every post you make. They’ll say, “Your post isn’t performing well… Boost it and reach more people!” or “Your post is performing well… Boost it and reach more people!” But you don’t want to do that. Instead, focus on spending money and promoting your best-performing posts—those that perform well organically. If a post performs well organically, advertising is like adding fuel to the fire. So how do you decide which posts have performed best? As you start to share content regularly, you’ll get a good feel for what works and what doesn’t by looking at indicators such as the number of likes, comments, and shares. The metric you want to pay the most attention to is the Average Video Watch Time. To access this data for your videos, go to your Facebook page and click on More and then choose Publishing Tools. Once your page’s Publishing Tools opens, click Video Library on the left side of the page. You’ll then see all of the videos you’ve posted on your page. Click one of the videos to see the average watch time for it. Once you click on a video, a pop-up window will appear that shows the analytics for that video, including the average watch time. How to Make Better “Data-Driven” Marketing Decisions in Less Time— Without the Guesswork! The average watch time for a video on Facebook is 6 seconds, so if your videos are being viewed for 7-15 seconds, you’re doing well. People are spending more time than average consuming your content, so you may want to promote these videos. If your watch time is above 15, that’s excellent, and you’ll definitely want to promote those videos. When promoting your local business’s top-performing content on Facebook, create a radius around your business location and choose your demographic targeting. However, don’t add any interest targeting. Going broader with your targeting works well on Facebook for now. When you do this, you leave the heavy lifting to Facebook, asking them to find the right people rather than you trying to do it yourself—and they’re better at it. #3: Retarget Facebook Video Viewers With a Free OfferAs you start to create and promote your videos on Facebook, that content will start gaining hundreds and possibly thousands of views. Not only that, they’ll be relevant views based on the content ideas you developed above and your ad targeting. These results are great for building your local brand, but you need to bring the people who’ve engaged with your videos deeper into your business. You can do this by offering them something for free, such as a guide, consultation, or webinar. The goal is to draw these video viewers into your business to give you a sales opportunity. To set up a Facebook retargeting ad campaign, first you need to create a Facebook custom audience of people who’ve watched your video. To do this, open Facebook Ads Manager and click on the three-line menu icon in the top left of your screen. Once the main menu opens, hover over All Tools and select Audiences under Assets. This takes you to your Audiences dashboard, showing all of the custom, lookalike, and saved audiences you’ve created. To build your new audience, click on Create Audience and select Custom Audience from the drop-down menu. In the Create a Custom Audience window, you’ll see a lot of different options to choose from as the source for your audience. Because you want to focus on users who’ve viewed your Facebook videos, select the Video option. In the video engagement custom audience window that opens, Facebook asks you to define the audience you want to target. From the Engagement drop-down menu, choose the length of time that this audience watched your video. The options range from at least 3 seconds to 95% of your video or more. I typically like to choose People Who Have Watched at Least 25% of Your Video because that’s a signal that people have shown some interest in your content. After you’ve chosen the viewing length, click Choose Videos to select the videos that this audience has engaged with. In the Select By drop-down menu at the top of the window, select the Facebook Page option and choose the page to which you posted the content. Then check the boxes next to as many videos as you’d like to use. In the image below, I selected two videos. Once you’ve made your selections, click Confirm. Now type in a descriptive name for your audience and click Create Audience in the lower-right corner of the window, and voilà—you’ve created your video views custom audience. Now, when you set up your Facebook ad campaign and choose your targeting, simply select the custom audience you just created. Facebook will only target people who watched the videos you selected when you created this audience. ConclusionI’m sure by now you recognize the importance of creating content and using video in your Facebook advertising campaigns. Now you have an advantage because there are so many local businesses out there that are still not doing this. I call this the VF method, which stands for “value first.” Put yourself in the customer’s shoes: If two businesses are fighting for your business, will you work with the company that provided value before making an offer or the company that rudely interrupted you and went straight for the sale? The majority of advertisers spend their money promoting offers and discounts only to see their efforts not work, and then claiming Facebook ads don’t work for them. But as you know, advertising is simply about delivering the right message to the right person at the right time. Because you’re a local business owner, you know your target market (your local area) so you have one piece of the puzzle already solved. Now you just need to create relevant content for your audience on Facebook and get it out there to the people in your local area. Once you do that, you can expect to become an authority in your area, which hopefully will result in more leads and sales generated than ever before. What do you think? Will these tips help you drive more local foot traffic to your business with Facebook video ads? What types of videos do you plan to create? Share your thoughts in the comments below. More articles on promoting your local business on Facebook:How to Make Better “Data-Driven” Marketing Decisions in Less Time— Without the Guesswork! Social Media via Social Media Marketing | Social Media Examiner http://bit.ly/1LtH18p May 27, 2019 at 05:06AM
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What Local Businesses Need to Know About Video Marketing on Social Media http://bit.ly/2X6KTHz Running a successful local business requires dedication, passion and hard work. Hard work often means finding new and creative ways to promote your brand. After all, marketing always has been and always will be the key to keeping a business in operation. While there are numerous mediums to explore, video marketing is arguably the most important. In fact, a study from Cisco found that video will account for 82% of all internet traffic by 2021. Video Marketing Benefits Local BusinessesAt one time, video marketing appeared to be out of reach for most local businesses due to budget constraints. Thanks to technological advancements, video production is more affordable and can benefit local businesses of all sizes. If you want to learn more about the specific benefits of local video marketing, check out this guide. The average adult in the U.S. spends more than 100 minutes watching digital videos each day. In 2011, adults spent just 39 minutes watching videos online. We’ve reached a point where video accounts for a third of all online activities. There are Numerous Types of VideosWhen creating videos for social media, there are several different formats to choose from, including:
Having a wide variety of options makes video marketing more accessible to businesses of all budgets. Video Length is Important and Platform-DependentVideos are more engaging than textual content, but there’s still a limit to how long viewers will stick around. Choosing the right video length is important, and will be dependent on the social platform you want to share it on. Here’s what HubSpot recommends:
Even with video content, people still have short attention spans. Longer video content may be effective in some cases, but generally, the shorter the better. With video content, it’s surprisingly easy to get your message across in a relatively brief amount of time. Live Video Will Improve EngagementLive video continues to play an important role in video marketing, and it will account for more than 10% of traffic by 2021. Instagram Live is particularly effective at improving engagement. Because these videos are only available for 24 hours, followers are more inclined to watch. Otherwise, they’ll miss out on your exclusive content. Local businesses can live stream events, new product launches, announcements or just give viewers a tour of their operations. The key most important thing is to let followers know that you’re going live. Yes, some social platforms will send out notifications when users initiate live streaming, but announcing it ahead of time will spread awareness and increase viewership. Video can Improve SEO Results and Promote Brand AwarenessVideo marketing can help improve SEO results and promote brand awareness.
Google Analytics can be used to get a better understanding of how your videos are performing, who’s watching them and more. The post What Local Businesses Need to Know About Video Marketing on Social Media appeared first on Social Media Explorer. Social Media via Social Media Explorer http://bit.ly/2onGYog May 27, 2019 at 03:27AM
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How to Stop Being Boring on Social Media http://bit.ly/2X3K6ak Are you having trouble gaining or keeping new followers? Are you posting content but not getting much response? Have you considered that you might be…boring? If your posts aren’t getting the attention you desire, it might be that you’re not posting content that engages your audience. Social media writing is a skill that takes time and practice to perfect. The good news is, social media platforms are a great place to practice and hone your skills. You can transform your page from a snoozefest to a trending topic in no time at all. No one will even remember how boring you used to be! Keep reading for tips on how to write social media posts that your audience can’t resist. Use Active VoiceActive voice is more engaging to readers. Active voice is when the subject in your sentence performs the action described by the verb. Passive voice is when the subject is acted upon by the verb. When the subject is in the driver’s seat, the sentence becomes more action oriented and is more relatable to your readers. Don’t Make it All About YouYou have a product or service to promote, we all get that. Ironically, talking less about yourself helps make your content more interesting for your readers. Putting your audience first and including them in your posts makes them more likely to feel included and engaged in your content. Create Content to ShareThe beauty of social media is the ability to have your followers act as marketers for you with the click of a “share” button. Social media users and influencers promote their own pages by sharing relatable and interesting content. By creating content that your own followers want to share, your content will reach massive audiences with little effort on your part. Use VisualsSocial media content is not all about written copy. Visuals can compliment your posts, attract people to them, and they are highly sharable. As they say, a picture is worth a thousand words. Center your content around an image or graphic and let it speak for itself. Create a BrandOne way to make your content more interesting is to create an identifiable brand. Your brand is not just the logo associated with your business, it is the message you are sending and the way your audience feels about your mission. Your brand is what makes you, you. Social media is a great way to develop and promote your brand and you can learn more from the HOTH. More Tips on Social Media WritingLearning the trade of social media writing takes time and effort. Social media is a new medium for advertisement and many are still getting the hang of it. There’s no shame in asking for help upping your social media game. For more advice on making your social media content more engaging, check out the tools and tips section of our blog. The post How to Stop Being Boring on Social Media appeared first on Social Media Explorer. Social Media via Social Media Explorer http://bit.ly/2onGYog May 26, 2019 at 06:44PM Instamber Review: the Easiest way to Grow on Instagram http://bit.ly/2QpGTzh Due to its unique features, Instagram has now turned to one of the strongest social media platforms and is considered to be a suitable place for Individuals as well as businesses’ growth. In some cases, some influencers even have received $750,000 just to publish a promotional post on their pages! Now, if a person decides to start his own business on Instagram, the initial steps may be a little complicated. Why? Two obvious reasons are the costs of advertisement (which would be at least $100 on a page with 30K followers) and also the long process of coordinating every detail with the proper person. In this article, we introduce Instamber, an Instagram bot which will help you to manage, and save your time and budget for your growth on Instagram. Just keep in mind that the key to getting the attention of your audience is to produce quality content. In fact, without considering it, none of your marketing strategies would be effective on Instagram. Well, you may now ask what is the role of Instamber in this process? In fact, Instamber is your professional assistant which executes your instructions 24 hours a day, seven days a week. In the following section, we will explain how Instamber will help you to gain real Instagram followers. Gaining Real Instagram FollowersHave you ever wondered what are strategies of those who grow really fast on Instagram? Your success on Instagram highly depends on the amount of your activity in this network including checking other people’s pages, following them, liking their posts and leaving comments on them. All these actions will finally lead to more visitors to your page and more views of your biography and photos. However, applying this method to gain thousands of followers, if not millions, could be an impossible mission. How long would it take? Months? Years? You could simply hire other people for managing your account and let them waste their time instead of you! But, it would be much easier if a tool or software could do it automatically for us. Instamber Instagram bot is exactly the tool which enables you to perform all these actions automatically. It allows you to set your Instagram account on auto mode and it would like, comment, and perform other activities automatically to lead thousands of followers to your page. What makes this tool even more attractive is its ability to attract people in a specific geographic area. Manage Your Instagram PostsUsing Instamber, you will be able to schedule your future posts easily. This software can be especially useful for those who manage multiple accounts on Instagram. You can add photos and videos to this application list and it will publish them according to your desired schedule. Never Miss any Important Comment!Currently, Instagram users can delete the comments below their photos or even report offensive ones. But if you have to do it manually on a page which receives thousands of comments each day, it will really get frustrating in long-term. To avoid this, Instamber has provided a great dashboard through which you can manage all your comments. Using Instamber comment manager, you can automatically delete, sort messages to important or resolved ones or even respond to them instantly using your PC. Send Direct Messages in Bulk to Interact with More UsersInteracting with users is the key to increase the number of your followers on Instagram. People don’t have sufficient information about your page when they follow you. Using Instamber Instagram auto direct message service, you will be able to send them an automatic message and explain your page special features. In addition, if you are running a sale campaign, you can send related information to your new followers. All you need to do is to set Instamber auto direct message, write your message and upload video or photo to it, then Instamber would automatically send it to your target audience! Instamber blogIf you are interested to learn new tips and tricks about Instagram or you want to gain a suitable amount of income using these platform, visit Instamber’s blog. The post Instamber Review: the Easiest way to Grow on Instagram appeared first on Social Media Explorer. Social Media via Social Media Explorer http://bit.ly/2onGYog May 25, 2019 at 09:46AM
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YouTube Changes Public Subscriber Counts http://bit.ly/30IaY1L YouTube Changes Public Subscriber Countsby Grace Duffy / / Leave a Comment Welcome to this week’s edition of the Social Media Marketing Talk Show, a news show for marketers who want to stay on the leading edge of social media. On this week’s Social Media Marketing Talk Show, we explore upcoming changes to YouTube’s public-facing subscriber counts and marketers’ reactions to Facebook Ads Manager issues with special guests, Owen Video and Gavin Bell. Tune In to the Social Media Marketing Talk ShowWatch this week’s show: VIDEO You can also listen to the show as an audio podcast, found on iTunes/Apple Podcast, Android, Google Play, Stitcher, and RSS. New episodes publish every Monday. About Our Special GuestsFor this week’s top stories, you’ll find timestamps below that allow you to fast-forward in the replay above. YouTube Will Change Public-Facing Subscriber Counts: YouTube introduced a major change to the way real-time subscriber counts are displayed for creators with more than 1,000 subscribers. For example, instead of seeing a YouTuber’s exact subscriber count of 10,500,000, people will see an estimated flat count of 10 million subscribers. This update is expected to roll out in August 2019. (2:44) Channels with fewer than 1,000 subscribers will still be shown the exact, non-abbreviated subscriber counts. All creators will still have access to accurate counts in Creator Studio.
YouTube Developing New Tool That Automatically Creates Bumper Ads: YouTube is testing a new tool that uses machine learning to automatically generate a 6-second version of longer ads. It will create a bumper by scanning the longer ad for “key elements” like a voiceover or a tight focus on people, logos, or products. The result ends with the final call to action in the last 2-3 seconds of the video. (17:28)
YouTube Debuts Image-Only Discovery Ads: YouTube will soon roll out discovery ads, new image-only ads that will appear within a variety of placements. Previously, advertising on YouTube meant your brand had to have a video or app to use. With this new option, brands can simply upload the best images from their social campaigns and the photos will be optimized for maximum performance across Gmail, Discover, and the YouTube home feed. (26:31) Marketers Report Ongoing Issues With Facebook Ads Manager: Marketers report seeing noticeable problems with Facebook Ads Manager as far back as last November when the platform suffered an outage days before Black Friday. Since then, advertisers say they’ve experienced a steady decline in the platform’s performance such as being unable to publish ads or turn off campaigns, and significant inconsistencies in campaign results. (36:42)
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