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Twitter is actually ditching the 140-character limit (for some) http://ift.tt/2fy6gRz Twitter just changed the rules of tweeting. The company is now testing a change that doubles Twitter's character limit for "a small group" of accounts. It's not clear when the change will roll out more broadly. Under the test, users will be able to send tweets of up to 280 characters at a time. Those who are not part of the initial test will be able to see and interact with the longer tweets as they normally would. As it often does with significant new features, Twitter says it will use the test to get feedback and, if necessary, make tweaks based on users' responses to the change. It's not clear how long this process will take, but the intention seems to be to eventually make the feature a permanent fixture. "Although we feel confident about our data and the positive impact this change will have, we want to try it out with a small group of people before we make a decision to launch to everyone," Twitter wrote in a blog post today. Until it does, the biggest change for most will be getting used to seeing paragraph-sized tweets in their timelines. What a 280-character count tweet will look like. Still, it's a major shift for the service, whose 140-character constraint has been an iconic feature for more than a decade. And it'll be a big adjustment for users accustomed to finding creative ways to succinctly cram their thoughts into 140 characters. "Twitter is about brevity. That is something we will never change," the company writes in a blog post — likely in an attempt to head off the inevitable backlash the change will cause with many longtime users who get fired up over even the smallest changes. "We understand since many of you have been Tweeting for years, there may be an emotional attachment to 140 characters — we felt it, too. But we tried this, saw the power of what it will do, and fell in love with this new, still brief, constraint." Even though the change is likely to catch many off guard, it shouldn't be all that surprising for close observers of the company. Twitter has been rumored to be working on some form of longer tweets for more than a year. Last year, Jack Dorsey himself suggested Twitter's 140-character constraint wasn't necessarily meant to be around forever. "We didn't start Twitter with a 140-character restriction. We added that early on to fit into a single SMS message," Dorsey wrote. "We're not going to be shy about building more utility and power into Twitter for people." Earlier this year, Twitter relaxed its rules so that text used for handles in replies as well as attachments like photos and GIFs would no longer count against the 140-character limit. Those same rules will still apply to 280-character tweets, the company says. The company claims there are practical reasons for the change, too, noting that around 9% of all tweets sent in English run into the 140-character limit, which suggests some demand for the feature. The same tweet in three different languages. Twitter will not be rolling out the change to Japanese, Chinese, and Korean-speaking users because those languages are structured in a way that already allows speakers to "convey about double the amount of information in one character as you can in many other languages," according to the company. Social Media via Social Media http://ift.tt/1N1mMj1 September 26, 2017 at 04:01PM
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This app makes your Instagrams literally sparkle http://ift.tt/2k05duR Everything in this world needs, nay deserves, sparkles. Be they in glitter, confetti—or thanks to a viral app—digital form. Step away from the glitter, people. The kirakira+ app adds actual✨ sparkles✨ to videos as you're taking them. But, while it's great for taking videos of ~objects~, it's not all that marvellous for taking selfies. The app—which has been around since 2015—went viral during fashion week in London and New York as fashionistas posted their shiny, sparkly creations. Instagram's head of fashion Eva Chen went to town with kirakira+ during London fashion week, which drew many Instagrammers' attention to the app. Chen's kirakira+ Intagrams prompted something of a craze.
So, how exactly does the app work? Available for 99p in the App Store, kirakira+ is pretty straightforward to use. Once downloaded, open up the app, swipe the screen to pick a filter, and tap the red button to film something. I tried out the app to see just how sparkly my world could become. And, there was some good news and bad news. I ventured out of doors to a nearby park to see what could—and could not—become sparkly. Turns out that pigeons are prime territory for sparkles. During my travels, the "color" filter turned the park into a pretty scary-looking place. The "bling bling," "twinkle" and classic "kira kira" filters are the best filters for adding cute sparkles to your view. Sadly, there's one thing that kirakira+ isn't great at: selfies. The only way I could get any part of my face to look remotely sparkly was by applying lip gloss and pouting until sparkles appeared on my face. Annoyingly, it seemed to only add sparkles to my lips and—rather bizarrely—my scalp. Which is not exactly the aesthetic I'm trying to achieve on Instagram. Still, that's not to say you can't go to town on things that aren't closeups of your face—however pretty it may be. You can now turn the most basic and unappealing objects and sights into gloriously sparkling wonders that'll probably blow up your Insta notifications. Who doesn't love a sparkle? Social Media via Social Media http://ift.tt/1N1mMj1 September 26, 2017 at 10:37AM 5 Ways Social Media Can Actually Help Your Mental Health http://ift.tt/2huqRXg We often hear about the ways social media breeds unhealthy habits, like addictive scrolling, jealousy, and self-comparison. In fact, a recent study found that out of five popular social media platforms, Instagram, where people display the best parts of their lives front and center, ranks as the worst for people’s mental health. Still, we shouldn’t ignore the benefits of social media on our emotional wellbeing. Social media isn’t inherently bad for mental health, and it can be positive and uplifting if used in the right way. 1. Social media deepens your sense of communitySure, scrolling through social media should never take the place of personal interaction with the people in your neighborhood, at your work, or at your school. But there are other communities that you don’t engage with everyday, and with which you rarely have the opportunity to engage in-person. These are communities that you build in addition to the ones you’re part of at home. Often, they’re communities you didn’t even know existed, communities of people who share your interests and hobbies and who live all over the country and all over the world. You might, for example, uncover a global community of backpackers through sites like Couchsurfing and strengthen that community based on your shared interests and through your online connections with them on social media. You might find people who relate to this hobby, who can talk with you and give you advice, and whom you wouldn’t be able to otherwise access in-person. Or you might be new at a university and join a social media group that’s specifically for new admits. When you feel lost and isolated in a new place, you can find a source of comfort in engaging online with people who are navigating the same problems you are. We can see this in ever-popular chat apps like Line and WhatsApp. The group chats that these platforms facilitate aren’t merely about making texting more convenient. More importantly, they’re about maintaining relationships with the communities we’re a part of and the people we love. 2. Social media builds personal empowermentWhile there’s lots of talk about social media lowering one’s self-esteem, it can also have the opposite effect if used correctly. When you get involved in an online community, you’re not just developing a network of friends. You’re also engaging with hobbies you love, cultivating your own interests, and shaping your sense of identity, in part, around those hobbies and interests. You create an identity for yourself that grows out of your experience in a community–whether you’re a Star Wars lover or an arts and crafts guru. Social media platforms can also build personal empowerment by helping you form a network of people who lie outside your family or immediate community but who nonetheless support you in your interests and passions. URIJI, for example, is a platform that lets people share their goals and life projects through images and video, allowing them to use social media to explore the experiences that define them as individuals. It also lets their followers offer donations and words of encouragement, providing users with a supportive digital community. Because social media allows people to explore their own interests while engaging with their digital communities, it can help boost self-esteem and make people feel encouraged in the pursuit of their goals, whether they’re fitness goals, travel goals, or something else. 3. Social media keeps you in touch with relatives and old friendsSurveys have shown that nearly two thirds of social media users primarily use the digital platforms to keep in touch with family and friends. Social media provides us with updates on the lives of our loved ones back home, filling in the gaps between our infrequent visits. We can see how much our brother’s kids have grown, or we can hear about our friend’s recent trip abroad. Chat apps have made staying in touch even easier, since they allow us to text and make phone calls without a data plan. The principle of staying in touch is even built into the design of apps like Tinyblu, which sends reminders to users when they go too long without contacting their friends. Platforms that don’t necessarily involve direct conversation still go deeper than just mindless scrolling. Even the biggest social media platforms are less about stalking and more about keeping up with the ever-evolving lives of the people we care about. We better understand what our friend’s life is like in New York, for example, when we get visuals of her day-to-day activity on Snapchat. This is stuff that we just don’t get over the phone, and it makes us feel a little less disconnected from so far away. 4. Social media keeps you engaged in causes you care aboutThe purpose of social media, of course, isn’t just to stay updated with friends. It’s also to stay updated with causes and organizations you care about. Keeping up with the work of your favorite volunteer organizations, for example, can boost your optimism about the causes you believe in. Following the progress of organizations that are important to you helps you stay up-to-date with causes you care about, whether they’re climate change, disaster relief, or something else. Tracking organizations on social media is also more convenient and efficient than separately visiting each of their websites or reading each of their newsletters. On top of that, mainstream platforms like Twitter and Facebook drive publicity for your favorite causes, spreading the word about important current events. 5. Social media lets you spread joyOften, when scrolling through a news site, we’re bombarded with information about global tragedies and local crime–and we’re given little information about worldwide acts of compassion or the kindness of strangers. Social media sites, though, have proven good vehicles for disseminating more positive information. In fact, unlike on news sites, most of the stuff we read on social media–whether they’re updates from friends or shared posts–is uplifting and, often, humorous. We might see uplifting pictures and stories like those from Upworthy or Humans of New York. Or, we might see jokes and funny animal videos shared and posted by friends. While anything–social media included–can be used in unhealthy ways, our obsession with social media is more good than bad. We use social media to stay updated with all the good stuff going on in the world and to add humor to long days at work and early morning bus rides. We use social media to stay in touch with family and friends, and to strengthen our sense of community. And we use social media to empower ourselves as we engage with our passions. All this keeps us a little more optimistic. The post 5 Ways Social Media Can Actually Help Your Mental Health appeared first on Social Media Explorer. Social Media via Social Media Explorer http://ift.tt/xMddWR September 26, 2017 at 09:58AM
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How to Create a Facebook Public Figure Page and Why You Should http://ift.tt/2wixYol Want to create a Facebook presence that’s separate from your personal profile? Have you considered creating a public figure Facebook page? In this article, you’ll discover why you should consider a Facebook public figure page and how to set one up.
Why a Public Figure Facebook Page?Your personal brand is your most valuable asset. If people begin to see you as an authority in your field, you won’t have to reach out to get customers; they’ll come to you. One of the best tools for growing your personal brand is a Facebook public figure page. In addition to looking more official, a public figure page offers these advantages over a personal profile:
Remember, personal branding comes from expertise in your field. If you don’t have something to teach, you won’t get engagement. To effectively use a public figure page for personal branding, you need to specialize in something. It’s fine if you don’t know everything about your chosen topic now; just make sure you’re willing to learn and that your specialty relates to your overall goal. If you’re wondering what to sell on your public figure page, the answer is, well, nothing. You don’t need to have a product ready; you just need to have content to deliver and a personal brand to grow. Build your brand now so when you do have a product to sell, people will trust you enough to buy. Now let’s look at how to set up and use a public figure page to build your brand. #1: Create Your Public Figure PageTo create your page, go to Facebook’s page creator and select Artist, Band, or Public Figure. Next, select Public Figure from the Category drop-down menu, type in your name, and click Get Started. Your new public figure page then appears. In the upper-left corner of the page, click Add a Picture to upload a professional-looking headshot. You want to choose a high-quality image to represent who you are online, so consider hiring a professional photographer to take your photo. You can use this photo as your profile picture across all of your platforms. Next, click Add a Cover to upload a cover photo or cover video. #2: Connect Your Page and Ad Account to Business ManagerFollow these steps to claim your page in Business Manager (and set up a corresponding ad account) so you can start boosting posts and running ads. Create a Business Manager Account You need a Business Manager account, so create one if you don’t have one already. Log into the Facebook account you used to make your public figure page and go to http://ift.tt/NeuImi. Next, click Create Account and enter your business name. Then type in the name you want to use for Business Manager and your business email for notifications. Click Finish to create your account. Claim Your Page Now you need to claim the public figure page you just created. Log into Business Manager and click Business Settings. On the People and Assets tab, click Pages in the left menu. Click Add New Pages and choose Add a Page from the drop-down menu. Type in the name of your page or URL, and click Add Page. Great! You’ve claimed your page. Set Up an Ad Account Next, you need to create an ad account to start running ads. In your Business Settings, click Ad Accounts on the People and Assets tab. If this is your first ad account, you’ll see a page that prompts you to claim, request access, or create an ad account. Click Create a New Ad Account. Enter your information and click Create Ad Account. After you create your ad account, go to Business Manager and you should be able to access both your ad account and claimed page. #3: Install the Facebook Pixel on Your WebsiteThe Facebook pixel is a piece of code that you install on your website so you can track audience activity and ad results. To install the pixel, go to the Ads Manager and select Pixels from the Assets column. On the next page, click Create a Pixel. Enter a name for your pixel and click Next. Now choose how you want to install your pixel code. You can either use a tag manager tool that supports a Facebook integration, or copy and paste the code to your website. If you’re manually installing the pixel, the next screen lets you copy the required code. Just click in the code box to copy it. From here, insert the code in the header tags of your website. Once you’ve set up the pixel, it will track activity from your website or app so you can retarget website visitors. You can also determine if your Facebook ads are driving conversions. #4: Build Credibility With Your ContentNow that you have your public figure page set up, it’s time to start publishing content that demonstrates your expertise. Produce a “Why” Video Create a “why” video that explains your mission and what experiences led you to it. If people know what you stand for, they’ll be more likely to follow you. You don’t need fancy editing software or a high-quality camera to record your video. Just take out your smartphone and start recording. If you need help finding your “why,” check out these examples or look at Simon Sinek’s TED talk. Collect Endorsements If people say something positive about you online, ask if you can quote them. Use these endorsements as testimonials on your website and landing pages. Interview Thought Leaders Ask thought leaders and influencers in your industry for quotes that you can use in your content to build authority. If you’re a frequent commenter and good community member, influencers will usually say yes to a quote. #5: Amplify Your Reach With Paid AdsNow that you have content that’s working, show it off! You can use a variety of methods to boost your posts and help you reach your goals (attract an audience, increase engagement, or drive conversions). Dollar-a-Day Ads When you have a post that’s getting tons of likes, engagement, etc., boost that post for a dollar a day. This lets you see what content can scale without breaking the bank. In the Ads Manager, click Create Campaign and choose the objective for your campaign. Follow the prompts to choose an audience, placement, budget, and schedule. When you get to the ad itself, choose Use Existing Post and select the post you want to boost. Remarket to Custom Audiences Use custom audiences to retarget people who have visited your website or engaged with your post. Because this is a warm audience, it won’t take much to get people to take action. Keep in mind you’ll need to have the pixel installed on your website. To create a custom audience, go the Audiences section of the Ads Manager. Then choose Custom Audience from the Create Audience drop-down list. Next, choose how you want to create your custom audience. If you want to create a custom audience based on website activity, for example, choose Website Traffic. Then fill in the details for your custom audience and click Create Audience. Cross-Post Videos to Multiple Pages to Extend Your Reach Cross-posting allows you to post or repost your videos to multiple Facebook pages without re-uploading. This allows you to retain all of your video views, likes, and comments when reposting. To enable this feature, go to your page, click Settings, and select Crossposting in the left column. Then enter the URL of the page for which you want to establish a cross-posting relationship. The other page will also need to follow these same steps to allow the cross-posting relationship. After you establish the cross-posting relationship, you can allow the other page to cross-post your videos. When you upload a video to a new post, click the Crossposting tab and select the options to allow the other page to cross-post the video. You can also go to your video library in Publishing Tools to choose which videos to allow cross-posting. You’ll be able to see insights for all of the posts in which your video has been used. Other pages that cross-post your video can see insights only for the video post on their page. Conclusion A public figure page is a great way to grow your personal brand and offers many benefits over a personal profile, including the ability to run ads and collect leads. Remember, with a personal branding page, you don’t need to have a product to sell but you do need to publish good content. What do you think? Do you have a public figure Facebook page? How do you promote your personal brand on Facebook? Share your thoughts in the comments below. Social Media via http://ift.tt/1LtH18p September 26, 2017 at 05:07AM Twitter says it hasnt deleted Trumps provocative North Korea tweet because of newsworthiness9/25/2017
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Twitter says it hasn’t deleted Trump’s provocative North Korea tweet because of “newsworthiness” http://ift.tt/2hvRHur After North Korea’s top diplomat described President Donald Trump’s recent tweets about the country as a “declaration of war,” Twitter explained why it hasn’t deleted the offending tweets. On its public policy account, Twitter said Trump’s tweets are still up because of their “newsworthiness”:
(For readers who prefer transcripts of tweet threads, Twitter’s global public policy team wrote “THREAD: Some of you have been asking why we haven’t taken down the Tweet mentioned here: http://ift.tt/2fvp2J2 1/6 We hold all accounts to the same Rules, and consider a number of factors when assessing whether Tweets violate our Rules 2/6 Among the considerations is “newsworthiness” and whether a Tweet is of public interest 3/6 This has long been internal policy and we’ll soon update our public-facing rules to reflect it. We need to do better on this, and will 4/6 Twitter is committed to transparency and keeping people informed about what’s happening in the world 5/6 We’ll continue to be guided by these fundamental principles 6/6”) On Monday in New York City, North Korean foreign minister Ri Yong Ho, who was there to attend the United Nation General Assembly, told reporters that “since the United States has declared war on our country, we will have every right to make countermeasures, including the right to shoot own United States strategic bombers even when they are not inside the airspace border of our country.” His remarks were made after Trump tweeted his reaction to Ri’s speech during the General Assembly, which was harshly critical of the president’s actions toward North Korea.
Twitter’s critics believe updating its “public-facing rules” isn’t the only thing Twitter needs to be better at and that many of Trump’s tweets—which have included gifs edited to depict him tackling a figure representing CNN to the ground or hitting a golf ball into Hillary Clinton’s back--arguably break several of the platform’s rules, including a bans on targeted harassment and threatening or promoting violence. Critics also argue that Trump already has many other platforms, including the official POTUS Twitter account, press conferences and the presidency of the United States of America, to share his views with the public, and that continuing to let him tweet with impunity from his personal account is not only a violation of Twitter’s own standards, but may help instigate abuse against whatever individual or group is currently in Trump’s sights. The latter scenario is also a matter of public interest because hate crimes have increased since Trump was elected president. While calls have been made for Twitter to take action against Trump’s account even before he became president, events like his recent clashes with North Korean leadership, the white supremacist rally in Charlottesville and Congressional inquiries into how much social media platforms knew about Russian attempts to influence the election, have put more pressure on the company. Social Media via Twitter – TechCrunch https://techcrunch.com September 25, 2017 at 10:48PM
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Snapchat's new sky-changing filters make even boring snaps look cool http://ift.tt/2y4HmAH Snapchat's just added a new tool that will help even the most boring snaps look a lot cooler. The app introduced a new set of "sky filters," which let you add different effects, like rainbows and sunsets, to photos with skies in them. Just like Snapchat's other filters, sky filters, which are rolling out to the app now, will change regularly. Once live, you can experiment with the filters by swiping across a photo just as you'd add any other filter. The sky-changing effects will appear automatically when the app detects a sky in the photo. Here's what they look like in action. The sky filters look a bit more realistic than the cartoon-like World Lenses, which add animated overlays onto your snaps. They're also distinct from Snapchat's lenses in that they don't appear in real time. Instead, the new filters change the look of the sky so a clear sky can be filled with storm clouds or a sunny sky can be filled with stars after you've already taken a photo. For Snapchat, it's a neat trick that shows off its image recognition tech as much as its desire to be seen as a "creative" company. The filters also have the added benefit of being yet another way to spice up otherwise boring photos with cool effects. The update comes on the heels of Snapchat's new 3D Bitmoji lenses, which put users' animated Bitmojis front and center in the app. Social Media via Social Media http://ift.tt/1N1mMj1 September 25, 2017 at 02:55PM
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Researchers find that Twitter bots can be used for good http://ift.tt/2xAOovf According to Emilio Ferrara, a USC Information Sciences Institute researcher, not all Twitter bots are born bad. He should know. Ferrara created a “large-scale experiment designed to analyze the spread of information on social networks” and found that “good” Tweets spread just as quickly as bad Tweets. Further, they confirmed something the we already know: that information goes viral when we see it “multiple times through multiple sources.” In other words, if you don’t want to spread the news don’t interact with it. But, if you see news from multiple sources at the same time, you’re far more likely to begin clicking the like button and the news becomes part of your worldview. “We found that bots can be used to run interventions on social media that trigger or foster good behaviors,” said Ferrara. “This milestone shatters a long-held belief that ideas spread like an infectious disease, or contagion, with each exposure resulting in the same probability of infection. Now we have seen empirically that when you are exposed to a given piece of information multiple times, your chances of adopting this information increase every time.” Ferrara created a bot that Tweeted out a set of health tips and fun life hacks to 25,000 real people using 39 bots. The team measured interaction with the bots and saw how the information began to become part of the user’s experience. “We also saw that every exposure increased the probability of adoption – there is a cumulative reinforcement effect,” said Ferrara. “It seems there are some cognitive mechanisms that reinforce your likelihood to believe in or adopt a piece of information when it is validated by multiple sources in your social network.” This helps explain why we are skeptical about a single movie recommendation, for example, but change our minds when we see multiple positive descriptions of a movie from multiple sources. The bottom line? Bots work. “The common approach is to have one broadcasting entity with many followers, but this study implies that it would be more effective to have multiple, decentralized bots share synchronized content,” he said. He proposed that organizations like the CDC use botnets to send information multiple times from multiple sources to increase the likelihood of adoption. So if Twitter is casting you down into a deep pit of despair maybe all we need are a few botnets more Tweets like this one? Featured Image: Kevin Smart/Getty ImagesSocial Media via Twitter – TechCrunch https://techcrunch.com September 25, 2017 at 12:39PM
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This camera prints out customizable sticker photos http://ift.tt/2wgkQQQ Polaroid created this updated instant camera that lets you save your photos digitally and print multiple copies of your sticker photos to share with friends. Read more... More about Photography, Photos, Mashable Video, Social, and FriendsSocial Media via Social Media http://ift.tt/1N1mMj1 September 25, 2017 at 11:41AM
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How Not to Waste Time Generating Leads on LinkedIn http://ift.tt/2wOEzLJ Lead generation is an indispensable part of business. If you want to have paying customers, you need to gather a reliable stream of leads. That’s the bottom line. But generating leads isn’t as easy as one might think. In fact, it requires quite a bit of finesse and a whole lot of time. Reports show that 65% of businesses say generating traffic and leads is their top marketing challenge. That doesn’t surprise me at all. There is encouraging news though. Marketers now have a lot more avenues to target potential customers. At the forefront of that is social media. And if we’re talking about the highest-quality leads, LinkedIn is the clear winner. It’s a bit shocking, I know. You expect a giant like Facebook to be leading the pack. Not in this case. More than 80% of B2B leads sourced from social media come from LinkedIn. That goes to show the power of this platform. Here’s the kicker though: many people are failing at using LinkedIn for lead generation. They’re spending too much time in the process. And they do not see a return on that time investment. That’s a frustrating problem to have, and I’ll show you how to fix it. Here’s how you can generate leads on LinkedIn without wasting your time. 1. Target the decision makersIt’s imperative you consider the sales cycle when you’re generating leads. I am referring to the entire process it takes for you to sell a product or a service. It includes everything, i.e., generating a lead, nurturing that lead, and eventually making the sale. Here’s a map of what a typical sales cycle can look like: Some of us have the good fortune of being in a niche where it can take as little as a few minutes to close a sale. For others, it can take months and even years. Whatever camp you fall in, there is a simple solution to shorten the sales cycle. Find the decision maker. Here’s what I mean. Unless you’re targeting a solopreneur, most businesses have select people who ultimately make the purchasing decisions. Wouldn’t it be wise to direct your efforts at someone with authority to close the deal? Of course, it would! Now, the decision maker is not always the CEO. In fact, it’s rarely the case for most businesses. I’m not saying you shouldn’t target CEOs. It depends on what you’re selling, what business needs it will serve, and what your goals are. Let’s say you’re a freelance writer looking for new clients. The best people to target when prospecting would be marketing managers or someone in that field. Anyone else would likely be a waste of your time. The decision makers usually have the following positions:
These are mainly for B2B leads, but the premise doesn’t change when you’re targeting individual consumers. There’s usually (not always) someone they have to consult with before making a purchasing decision. Tailor your efforts and your messaging to take that fact into account. 2. Follow up with old leads before targeting new onesI’m sure you’ve heard that lead generation is a numbers game. Target enough people, and eventually you’ll land a sale. That’s true in a sense. But the quality of these leads is also important. Many people collect a bunch of leads, initiate contact, and stop there. Then, they restart the process. The problem with that? There’s no follow-up. And if you know a thing or two about lead generation, you know the follow-up is crucial. We know 80% of sales need five follow-ups, but almost 50% of people only send one. Wires get crossed. Your message could be missed. Your prospect could get distracted. Especially on a social media platform, it’s common for your message to get buried beneath all the noise. If you don’t send a follow-up message, you miss out on a potential customer. You also waste time and effort it took to generate those leads. When is the right time to send a subsequent message? In my experience, three days is ideal for the first follow-up. You should check in with your prospects several times. It can even be automated. If you’ve collected email addresses, you can set up an autoresponder series. This way, it becomes a hands-off process. Businesses who use marketing automation experience a 451% increase in qualified leads. 3. Put lead generation on autopilot with content marketingOne of the most powerful features on LinkedIn is its publishing platform. You can publish content natively on LinkedIn Pulse, or you can republish posts from your business blog. Either way, it’s one of the smartest strategies for generating leads. For one, it allows you to demonstrate your expertise to potential customers. There’s no better way to convert a customer than to show them how knowledgeable you are in your field. It can also shorten the sales cycle. Think about it. If you’re consistently educating prospects and solving their problems with your free content, they’ll be easier to convert. Doesn’t content marketing take time though? It does, but here’s the thing. You won’t find another audience as receptive as the network on LinkedIn. The platform is filled with professionals waiting for you to educate them. They are ready and willing to do business. If you publish helpful content, your job is half done. You’ll be on your way to generating the kind of leads that turn into lifelong customers. You can also repurpose content you’ve already published on your blog. I’ve done this before, and it works exceptionally well. Here’s some crucial advice for publishing content on LinkedIn:
4. Stop harvesting cold leadsThis one takes the prize for time-wasters. Here’s what many people’s idea of lead generation looks like:
There are many things wrong with this approach. The biggest is these people have not demonstrated an interest or a need for what you’re selling. Your leads are not targeted enough, and they’re not qualified. It means the chances of these leads converting to solid sales are slim. The solution? It’s a multi-step approach. Step #1: Establish what you want your prospects to doThe first thing you need is a goal. You’re generating leads, but what’s the purpose? What’s the next step? You may want your prospects to download a free resource, schedule a free consultation, attend a webinar, hop on a call, or something of that sort. Decide what your goal is before even starting the lead generation process. Step #2: Create a hit list of hyper-targeted prospectsWhat’s the typical process for finding leads on LinkedIn? You type in a job title in the search bar, hit enter, and get a plethora of results. These become your targets, right? That doesn’t work. You need to conduct a more focused search. Here’s how. First, click on the search bar and scroll to the bottom, where it says “search for people with filters.” This will allow you to filter your results so you can focus on a targeted group of leads. Your number of leads will be smaller, but their quality will be greater. Here are some of the filters available: Step #3: Initiate contactAfter you’ve put your hit list together, you can connect and send a personal message. When you hit “connect,” some of the options will prompt you to enter an email address. If you connect as a “friend,” this isn’t necessary, so select that option. Also, ensure your connection request has a message attached to it. You only have 300 characters, but that’s more than enough to send a thoughtful message. Don’t send the same generic message to every prospect. You can still have a template to save time, but personalize it. I recommend going through the prospect’s profile so you have more information to go on. Step #4: Build a relationshipIt’s critical you continue to engage with your LinkedIn connections. This could be by engaging with their content and sending them messages. That’s what’s going to set the stage for a sales conversion later on. It’s only after you’ve gotten on your prospects radars that you can start thinking about selling to them. Step #5: Funnel prospects to the top of your sales funnel outside of LinkedInLinkedIn should not be used to sell. It’s a great prospecting tool. But you’ll sabotage your lead generation if you sell prematurely. Use it to get prospects interested enough to join your permission marketing funnel. You can then take the sales process outside of the platform. I know this sounds like a tedious and long road. I promise you, this is way more effective than targeting a large list of unqualified leads. You will get nowhere fast. 5. Go premiumIf you’re serious about using LinkedIn as your primary lead-generation tool, a premium account can serve you well. It can increase your efficiency and save you time. You’ve got several options, depending on your goal. You’ll benefit from the features such as InMail, advanced search, and access to information about people who viewed your profile. Sure, the free account allows you to filter your searches. But with a premium account, you can conduct even more advanced searches. With InMail, you can message people not in your network. You can also look at all the people who’ve viewed your profile. This is a great way of gathering warm leads. These profile views represent people who have showed some interest in you. There are other features, but these three are particularly useful. Now, I’m not saying this is a must. It’s not a necessity to have a premium account to succeed with lead generation. In fact, before you invest in a premium LinkedIn account, you should test the platform. If you see promising results, and you want to amplify your lead-generation efforts, premium is a solid path to take. 6. Join groups where your ideal prospects hang outLinkedIn groups are gold. There’s no better way to quickly and easily find quality prospects. You can also create your own group. But that requires a time investment—you need to build the group and then maintain it. If you want to save time, I recommend joining an existing group. You want to select groups relevant to your industry. It’s also important to have an idea of your ideal prospect. This way, you can target people who will be receptive to your message and, eventually, your product. Here are some other things you should consider:
How do you find these groups? Conduct a group search. Type in your keyword in the search bar, and select “Groups.” You can also click on the “Work” tab in your top menu and click on “Groups.” Then, click on “Discover.” LinkedIn will display a list of groups: By default, they’re filtered according to your industry. Since my field is marketing, I automatically get shown a bunch of groups relevant to that field (no search necessary). Click on the individual groups that interest you. Read the “about this group” section to get familiar with them and their rules. Check out the admins and the mutual connections you share with the group. If it seems it fits with your goals, go ahead and connect. ConclusionLinkedIn is hands down one of the best platforms for lead generation. If you know how to work it, you can end up with some quality prospects primed to become your paying customers. But as fruitful as lead generation can be, it is also a time-consuming task. If you don’t use the right strategies to target the right people, it is easy to spend months and see no result. I’ve pinpointed some of the biggest time-wasters and ways you can go through this lead-generation process quickly. Use the strategies, and you’ll see more leads of a higher quality, without a massive time investment. What are your best tips for generating qualified leads on LinkedIn? Social Media via Quick Sprout http://ift.tt/UU7LJr September 25, 2017 at 10:11AM 4 Essential Tips for eCommerce Startups http://ift.tt/2htVeJV As any startup CMO will tell you, eCommerce is a highly competitive industry. Therefore, that glaring need to stand out shines even brighter. Efficiency and convenience are just the first steps towards conversion. To really set your brand apart, you’ll have to do some outside-the-box thinking. Or inside-the-box thinking, as Boxed.com believes. This eCommerce startup is in the business of delivering not only bulk grocery packages, but also joy within those packages. Customers are regularly delighted by personalized, handwritten notes and cartoon drawings of Boxed.com’s CEO atop their delivery bundles. Jackson Jeyanayagam, Boxed.com’s CMO, helps market the heartfelt trinkets that illustrate the startup’s brand image. On the Renegade Thinkers Unite podcast, Jackson discusses some of the amazing things Boxed.com is doing to catch consumers’ eyes. We’ve embedded the episode below if you’d like to listen: Here are 4 pearls of wisdom we learned from Jackson that can help grow your eCommerce startup: 1. Give Customers a Little Something ExtraIf somebody orders from your brand once, give him or her the best possible reason to order from you again. I’m not just talking about offering bonus coupons or discounts. Many competing eCommerce brands will probably be offering those anyway. Tailor a perk that’s unique to your business. Jackson explains how Boxed.com charms customers with little extras. “It’s about delivering joy through every experience when you open the box,” he says. “You see a cartoon face of our founder with a quote on it. You see a handwritten note in a selfie of your box inside of it…It’s those little touches that for us is all about delivering joy, not only from your products that are there and you paid a good price for it, but all those other touch points that is a little bit more nuanced to us specifically.” A small bit of thought and consideration can go a long way. Show your customers how special they are to you through kind gestures like these. 2. Set a Clear Brand VisionYour philosophy should carry meaning. If you’re running an eCommerce business—or any business for that matter—profit is probably your end goal. But if your company’s only goal is to make the most money, it won’t have the zest it needs to stand out. Set a brand vision that speaks to the problems you solve for customers. As Jackson bluntly puts it, “Brands that have a higher purpose tend to resonate with our customers more so than brands that don’t.” Keep those words in mind, and think about your community of consumers. 3. Do Customer Segmentation ResearchAudience makeups are often complicated. Appeal to each demographic in a way that will hit close to home. Customer segmentation research can be expensive in terms of both dollars and hours, but the information learned is likely worth the cost. Jackson describes why customer segmentation research is critical for Boxed.com. He says, “What we want to do is attract [consumers] in with a great promo code. But if we know a little bit more about you we know what drives you, we can lead with something that’s more important to you around specific product or value prop versus me or someone else. And that’s where I really want to focus this data to drive better decisions on how we target and acquire new customers.” Like those perks mentioned earlier, some added attention to the customer could help develop a stronger relationship. 4. Assemble a Winning teamYour startup can only get so far without passionate team members. Employees shouldn’t like their jobs. They should love their jobs. Show appreciation for your workers every chance you get. The cliché that a happy employee is a productive employee is absolutely true. Here’s just one of the ways Boxed.com takes care of its team members: https://www.boxed.com/ Instituting a program like that may be shooting for the moon, but I hope its principle inspires you. Care for your employees, care for your customers, and care for your brand. The post 4 Essential Tips for eCommerce Startups appeared first on Social Media Explorer. Social Media via Social Media Explorer http://ift.tt/xMddWR September 25, 2017 at 09:01AM |
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