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Why Marketing Your Brand in China is Difficult, But Not Impossible https://ift.tt/37nJ39T China is a market any company wants to be targeting in some way, shape or form. The country is the world’s second largest economy, it boasts 1.3 billion consumers, and their financially flush middle class is growing exponentially. With so many positive numbers, how can a company possibly fail in such a blossoming environment? Well you only have to ask the likes of Tesco and Dolce & Gabbana. The former struggled for a decade before its Chinese operation was relinquished following a merger, while the latter found its brand shunned due to a racism-tinged PR disaster – and this is despite Chinese shoppers being the current biggest purchasers of luxury goods. It’s a tough market to crack for those on the outside. However, it is not impossible. Below are some potential issues your business could face, and how these can be averted on the way to success in China. The issuesThe ban on social mediaThis website might be called the Social Media Explorer, but there isn’t much to survey when it comes to the likes of Facebook and Twitter in China. This is because Western social media platforms like those two, and also YouTube and Instagram, are banned in China. That’s right, wave goodbye to whatever marketing plan you currently have in place with social media. All those Instagram stories, Tweets and YouTube videos are not going to be viewed in China. Oh, and Google is also banned, so your content marketing strategy needs further tweaking. Not understanding the consumers and cultureWhen you’ve had success in your current market, there’s the chance of becoming conceited. You might start believing what worked in one market will work in every market. If you do this, there’s the real potential of ignoring the needs and tastes of the Chinese population. The solutionsUtilizing China’s social media channelsAlthough the usual platforms might be gone, this doesn’t mean you can’t utilize China’s forms of social media. From Weibo to Tencent Video, the volume of Chinese social media platforms can be difficult to comprehend. To help, just remember that 2018 statistics pointed to over 670 million users of social media in China. Adapting for the marketAdapting is a given for any company looking to grow their brand in China. Although the level of change depends on the sector your business operates in. A luxury furniture brand might not have to modify their products, but a clothing brand will have to alter their sizing chart to better fit with Chinese consumers. For example, the Chinese public has a palate which doesn’t match up to those in the West. You know Starbucks as a coffee company. In China, however, it offers such a wide range of drinks – including lychee and teas – that it isn’t identified primarily for its coffee. If even Starbucks had to adapt, it means you also have to change things up. Enlist the help of a local marketing agencyIf there’s one way of certifying your advertising plan is on point in China, hire a local marketing agency. They will already be aware of the ins and outs about China’s social media – which can be a particularly steep learning curve for non-natives to comprehend. Additionally, they can assist with any other beneficial offline and online marketing tactics. With that said, there’s one notable problem: actually enlisting the services of a local marketing agency. This is especially a concern if you don’t have a local entity in China. To circumvent this issue, a specialist solution company can act as a middleman. Along with being able to provide recruitment and tax assistance, organizations such as INS Global feature invoicing solutions in China. This means you can invoice the marketing agency effortlessly. This also goes for any other China-based clients you work with. ConclusionUltimately, China is a different ballgame for Western organizations looking to crack the market. What works for your business at home isn’t necessarily going to work in China. You need to recognize the needs of Chinese consumers, how the country differs to Western audiences, and then adapt when needed. When doing so, remember: the Chinese economy might be expanding and modernizing at a rapid rate. However, do not confuse this modernization with westernization. This is an important step for ensuring you have an effective marketing strategy in China. The post Why Marketing Your Brand in China is Difficult, But Not Impossible appeared first on Social Media Explorer. Social Media via Social Media Explorer https://ift.tt/2onGYog December 30, 2019 at 08:31AM
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4 Tips on Expanding Your Restaurant’s Reach https://ift.tt/2tePPQq When you are in the restaurant business, you need to make sure that you have done everything you can to expand your company’s reach. You can use the four tips below to ensure that you have done the right thing for your company. Be sure to take your time as you deploy each of these options. By doing so, you can build a client base for your restaurant as full as possible. Social Media Marketing Take good pictures and remain active on social media when you are trying to make the most of your restaurant’s profile. You want people to engage with you regularly, so you should be engaging with your followers and others in your city on social media as well. By interacting with those in your area, you might convince them to stop by your restaurant. As you grow your following, you should try to get your accounts verified so that people know you are the right account. Offer Customer Loyalty Programs Customer loyalty programs are a great way to expand your reach because it gives people a reason to come again. You could use the simple punch card method, but those are easy to lose. You could also make an app, which is convenient for most, but not everyone wants another app taking space on their phone. However, the most convenient method for customers would require no responsibility on their part. You can implement a customer loyalty program using the Brink POS you already have at your restaurant. All the customer has to do is provide an email or phone number upon checkout. The system tracks and stores all the information needed. Reward programs are an easy way to get people to come back to you in the future and provides an opportunity for customer referrals. Go Mobile While the first two options are less expensive to implement, another promising opportunity to reach more customers is with a food truck. The food truck industry is growing fast, with more than 2.5 billion eating street food every day. You can sell to the lunch rush near your location, and you can use the food truck as a way to market your company. Make sure the vehicle is painted in bold colors with your logo. When people know the name of your company, they are more likely to come in for your food when they are hungry or passing by. Consider Adding a Second Location If a food truck isn’t quite your restaurant’s vibe, maybe consider opening a second restaurant location in a new city. This will allow you to not only attract the new area’s restaurant crowd, but you could also implement the tips mentioned above with this location to bring in even more guests. You could open a new location where there are not many other restaurants, or you could open a place where your food truck has already been successful. This could be the beginning of a franchising operation if you’d like it to, or you could open new locations in the local area because you want people in each suburb of a large city to have access to your food. A Final Note on Restaurant Management And Marketing When you are trying to manage and market your restaurant, you need to make sure that you have used the appropriate social media marketing tools, opened a new location, and used a food truck to sell food on the go. Using all these tips makes it much easier for you to reach new customers. Plus, you can begin franchising your business to other people who want to be a part of your brand. The post 4 Tips on Expanding Your Restaurant’s Reach appeared first on Social Media Explorer. Social Media via Social Media Explorer https://ift.tt/2onGYog December 30, 2019 at 06:29AM
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How to Use Instagram Stories to Promote a Live Event https://ift.tt/3567LtW Does your business host events, workshops, or training experiences? Looking for an effective way to promote these events on Instagram? In this article, you’ll learn how to document live events in Instagram Stories to increase awareness and sales for the next live event. Why Document Live Events With Instagram Stories?A live event can be a labor-intensive affair. Between planning, logistics, booking speakers, ticket sales, and hospitality, it can be easy to let content documentation go by the wayside. If events are an integral part of your business, however, you want to document as much of the live experience as possible so you can refer back to this content and use it later to promote the experience to future prospects. The idea of working Instagram Stories content into evergreen marketing campaigns is still fairly new. Instagram launched Stories in August 2016 to directly compete with Snapchat, and all content would disappear after 24 hours. It wasn’t until December 2017 that the story archive and highlights were launched, allowing users and creators to refer back to their content in future campaigns. In fact, you can pull a hyperlink from any Instagram story, as long as it’s in either your story or a story highlight. To do this, go to any frame of your story content and tap More in the bottom-right corner of the screen. Bear in mind that whichever frame you draw the link from will be the starting story shown when a user clicks. From the menu that appears, choose Copy Highlight Link. You’ll receive confirmation that the link was copied to your clipboard. Discover the best social media marketing strategies from the world's top experts! Don't miss this event! Sharing highlight links opens up a world of possibilities for directing traffic from other sources to your Stories content. And with a little creativity, you can put together a highlight at a later date if you want something more cohesive. To illustrate, I constructed a recent story highlight for my company from a total of 89 Instagram stories, which consisted of 33 client story reposts, 22 employee story reposts, 19 images from our photographer’s reel, 10 archive reposts, and 5 posts of design creative. By thinking ahead to how your event footage will look in a story highlight, you can create posts that act as title pages for your stories, direct attendees to post and tag you in creative ways, and refer back to these campaigns later on. Here’s how to get started. #1: Create Branded Instagram Graphics and Collateral Before the Live EventSome light storyboarding may help you with your call to action (CTA). If you want to make an Instagram story highlight of event testimonials, for instance, plan to capture this content throughout the event. You might want to divvy up your event coverage using different title slides—simple graphics that serve as checkpoints. These graphics give you a chance to disrupt the usual Stories experience of filters and boomerangs. You could also pull links from different parts of your story highlight, not just the beginning. Because my company’s event spans 3 days and each day has a different theme, I opted for day-specific creative. I wanted to engineer a way to talk about the different content of each day and direct users to just the story content of that day if I wanted. You could create title slides for different batches of content such as sessions offered throughout the day and between-session mingling and general energy. Depending on your strategy, this could also be split into multiple story highlights. We chose to keep all footage of our November event in one highlight. I designed the creative slides in Canva—and I am by no means a graphic designer—so you can do the same. (Canva is available in both free and paid plans, starting at $12.95/month.) Go to Canva and select the Mobile-First Presentation Deck option. Now browse the presentation design options. Title slides can be a great place to supply copy that validates your target client. To visualize this, language around “who this event is for” can be powerful. Keep in mind that you’re laying the groundwork to point to in future campaigns. Our brand has a whimsical voice so I created a summary slide that mixed real event statistics with spoof ones. I posted this slide twice in the story and overlaid a CTA in strong font on the second slide for dramatic effect when a user taps through. In addition to the day-specific graphics, I also designed a throwback-style graphic to start the story. I did this because I reposted the majority of our content a second time after the event was over (so I could work in some professional photos from the event). This way, consumers of the organic stories weren’t confused about what was happening. I left the “throwback” slide out of the highlight so that it wouldn’t create a confusing timestamp. Note: If you have a Canva Pro account ($12.95/month), you can save colors in your brand kit for easy reference. A free Canva account gets the job done, too; your account will just recall the most recent colors used rather than allow you to keep specific colors on speed dial. Pro Tip: If you ever need the hex triplet of a color quickly, I recommend the free ColorPick Eyedropper Chrome browser extension. It can pull the code of any color on your screen in seconds flat. #2: Capture and Post 5 Types of Footage From Your Live EventOnce you’ve completed any pre-event graphics for Instagram Stories, it’s time to document your live event! Footage With Engagement Prompts (so Ads Can Be Run Later)If you have an Instagram business account, incorporating a participation element in your stories content can help you build a custom audience for future retargeting ad purposes. You can segment users who have engaged with your content and run ads to them the next time you have a live event or advertising campaign. The types of engagement prompts you can natively use within Instagram Stories at the time of this writing include polls, quizzes, chat prompts, questions, emoji vote sliders, and donations. Get Expert Social Media Marketing Training!Want to keep ahead of your competitors? Need to master a social platform? Discover how to improve your social media marketing at Social Media Marketing World 2020, brought to you by your friends at Social Media Examiner. You’ll rub shoulders with the biggest names and brands in social media, soak up countless tips and new strategies, and enjoy extensive networking opportunities . Don’t miss the industry’s largest conference. Get in early for big discounts. Sale ends Tuesday, December 31st, 2019.CLICK HERE TO LEARN MOREMain Attraction FootageWhat does your live event look and feel like? This is some of the most important footage to capture in stories to create a great highlight. Don’t overthink this. When you’re immersed in an event, it’s easy to get acclimated to the high energy and groups of people. However, in a story highlight, this vibe pops off the screen and builds excitement and curiosity. Crowds of people, special performances, and speakers and sessions are great types of footage to include here. In this particular event, we had musical performances bring us back from each break with percussion and fun visuals, so we peppered in live performances with some of the speaker footage. Use your best judgment here. A prospective attendee should be able to discern what actually happens at the event from your highlight footage and posts. Behind-the-Scenes FootageDon’t be afraid to layer in boomerangs and impromptu footage; you can always choose to leave this out of your story highlights later on. It’s better to end up with too much content than not enough when you’re between events and pushing ticket sales. Document your setup or the construction of stages if you have a more involved production. Highlight the finishing touches you’re putting on event materials to give attendees a great experience. Did you invest in great food or fancy décor? Show that off in your content so you can further leverage your event expenses. Some of our footage included sharing the morning team gratitude circle, the joy of fastening hundreds of lanyards, and some green-room selfies. Reaction FootageConsumers trust online recommendations and endorsements from their peers over the brand itself by a wide margin. So why not work in some testimonials from your attendees while they’re still at the event? This will take a little planning, but if your attendees are having a great experience, they’ll be glad to give you a shout-out on camera and you’ll be able to use that footage again and again. Direct-to-camera footage of attendees sharing their thoughts can be very powerful, and it’s much easier to get great reviews from attendees while you’re still at the event. Consider asking questions like:
To create more flexibility with your footage, capture these endorsements in a video outside of Instagram, and then trim and upload the video later on to make the experience cleaner. Reposts of Tagged FootageTestimonials are great but nothing says “this event is awesome” more than event attendees willingly sharing their experience on their own accounts. The repost feature in Stories is your best friend here. In my example above, 37% of all of the story content was reposts of tagged stories from attendees. This is an easy way to tap into the creativity of your community, get them engaged, and increase the depth and earned media element of your story. It’s important to have a strategy so you can mine the maximum amount of content from clients who are happy to oblige. Be sure to announce or communicate your Instagram handle in some way at the start of the event (or, even better, before the start of the event), and encourage attendees to tag your handle in their content. Event hashtags are great too, but to repost they’ll need to have tagged your account. Want to pump up the creativity? Consider adding gamification to this component with prizes each day or each session. “The best story footage that tags us will get a prize” is a fun CTA that can spur some awesome earned media footage for you and your brand. If your event has a large following, the prospect of being featured on your platform can be in itself an enticement for attendees to tag you. #3: Incorporate Instagram Story Highlights From a Live Event Into Future Instagram Ad CampaignsWhether you’ve created your event highlight in real time or constructed it from your archives, it’s now time to grab the link to your highlight and incorporate the footage into cross-promotional marketing efforts. Share links to your story highlight in your email marketing campaigns and any website copy that drives interest in attending a future event. Highlight links will open in the Instagram app for mobile users, which creates a seamless experience. This approach could also be used in your evergreen email marketing as a way to drive new email subscribers to follow you on Instagram, cross-pollinating your different audiences. Because you used engagement prompts in your Instagram story highlight, you can run Facebook or Instagram ads to these audiences. To create a custom audience of people you engaged with, go to Facebook Ads Manager and navigate to Audiences. Then click Create Audiences and select Custom Audience from the drop-down menu. Under Use Facebook Sources, choose Instagram Business Profile. Then when adding people to your audience, choose Everyone Who Engaged With Your Business, or if you want to get more specific, Choose People Who Engaged With any Post or Ad. Now you can get back in front of users who watched your live event highlight when it’s time to promote your next event. ConclusionWhether you implement all of the strategies above or just a few, don’t let all of the hard work you put into a live event go unnoticed. Instagram story highlights are a great way to build foundational content, stack credibility, and increase awareness around the current and future live events hosted by your business. Discover the latest tactics and master social media marketing in 2020! Don't miss this event! What do you think? Will you use Instagram Stories to document your next event and promote future events? Share your thoughts in the comments below. More articles on promoting live events on social media:Social Media via Social Media Marketing | Social Media Examiner https://ift.tt/1LtH18p December 30, 2019 at 05:04AM
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2019 Africa Roundup: Jumia IPOs, China goes digital, Nigeria becomes fintech capital https://ift.tt/2ZySrVk 2019 brought more global attention to Africa’s tech scene than perhaps any previous year. A high profile IPO, visits by both Jacks (Ma and Dorsey), and big Chinese startup investment energized that. The last 12 months served as a grande finale to 10 years that saw triple digit increases in startup formation and VC on the continent. Here’s an overview of the 2019 market events that captured attention and capped off a decade of rapid growth in African tech. IPOsThe story of the year is the April IPO on the NYSE of Pan-African e-commerce company Jumia. This was the first listing of a VC backed tech company operating in Africa on a major global exchange — which brought its own unpredictability. Founded in 2012, Jumia pioneered much of its infrastructure to sell goods to consumers online in Africa. With Nigeria as its base market, the Rocket Internet backed company created accompanying delivery and payments services and went on to expand online verticals into 14 Africa countries (though it recently exited a few). Jumia now sells everything from mobile-phones to diapers and offers online services such as food-delivery and classifieds. Seven years after its operational launch, Jumia’s stock debut kicked off with fanfare in 2019, only to be followed by volatility. The online retailer gained investor confidence out of the gate, more than doubling its $14.95 opening share price post IPO. That lasted until May, when Jumia’s stock came under attack from short-seller Andrew Left, whose firm Citron Research issued a report accusing the company of fraud. The American activist investor’s case was bolstered, in part, by a debate that played out across Africa’s tech ecosystem on Jumia’s legitimacy as an African startup, given its (primarily) European senior management. The entire affair was further complicated during Jumia’s second quarter earnings call when the company disclosed a fraud perpetrated by some of its employees and sales agents. Jumia’s CEO Sacha Poignonnec emphasized the matter was closed, financially marginal and not the same as Andrew Left’s short-sell claims. Whatever the balance, Jumia’s 2019 ups and downs cast a cloud over its stock with investors. Since the company’s third-quarter earnings-call, Jumia’s NYSE share-price has lingered at around $6 — less than half of its original $14.95 opening, and roughly 80% lower than its high. Even with Jumia’s post-IPO rocky road, the continent’s leading e-commerce company still has heap of capital and is on pace to generate over $100 million in revenues in 2019 (albeit with big losses). The company plans reduce costs by generating more revenue from higher-margin internet services, such as payments and classifieds. There’s a fairly simple equation for Jumia to rebuild shareholder confidence in 2020: avoid scandals, increase revenues over losses. And now that the company’s publicly traded — with financial reporting requirements — there’ll be four earnings calls a year to evaluate Jumia’s progress. Jumia may not be the continent’s standout IPO for much longer. Events in 2019 point to Interswitch becoming the second African digital company to list on a global exchange in 2020. The Nigerian fintech firm confirmed to TechCrunch in November it had reached a billion-dollar unicorn valuation, after a (reported) $200 million investment by Visa. Founded in 2002 by Mitchell Elegbe, Interswitch created much of the initial infrastructure to digitize Nigeria’s (then) predominantly cash-based economy. Interswitch has been teasing a public listing since 2016, but delayed it for various reasons. With the company’s billion-dollar valuation in 2019, that pause is likely to end. “An [Interswitch] IPO is still very much in the cards; likely sometime in the first half of 2020,” a source with knowledge of the situation told TechCrunch. China-Africa goes digital2019 was the year when Chinese actors pivoted to African tech. China is known for its strategic relationship with Africa based (largely) on trade and infrastructure. Over the last 10 years, the country has been less engaged in the continent’s digital-scene. That was until a torrent of investment and partnerships this past year. July saw Chinese-owned Opera raise $50 million in venture spending to support its growing West African digital commercial network, which includes browser, payments and ride-hail services. In August, San Francisco and Lagos-based fintech startup Flutterwave partnered with Chinese e-commerce company Alibaba’s Alipay to offer digital payments between Africa and China. In September, China’s Transsion — the largest smartphone seller in Africa — listed in an IPO on Shanghai’s new STAR Market. The company raised ≈ $394 million, some of which it is directing toward venture funding and operational expansion in Africa. The last quarter of 2019 brought a November surprise from China in African tech. Over 15 Chinese investors placed over $240 million in three rounds. Transsion backed consumer payments startup PalmPay raised a $40 million seed, stating its goal to become “Africa’s largest financial services platform.” Chinese investors also backed Opera-owned OPay’s $120 million raise and East-African trucking logistics company Lori Systems’ (reported) $30 million Series B. In the new year, TechCrunch will continue to cover the business arc of this surge in Chinese tech investment in Africa. There’ll surely be a number of fresh macro news-points to develop, given the debate (and critique) of China’s role in Africa. Nigeria and fintechOn debate, the case could be made that 2019 was the year when Nigeria become Africa’s unofficial capital for fintech investment and digital finance startups. Kenya has held this title hereto, with the local success and global acclaim of its M-Pesa mobile-money product. But more founders and VCs are opting for Nigeria as the epicenter for digital finance growth on the continent. A rough tally of 2019 TechCrunch coverage — including previously mentioned rounds — pegs fintech related investment in the West African country at around $400 million over the last 12 months. That’s equivalent to roughly one-third of all startup VC raised for the entire continent in 2018, according to Partech stats. From OPay to PalmPay to Visa — startups, big finance companies and investors are making Nigeria home-base for their digital finance operations and outward expansion in Africa. The founder of early-stage payment startup ChipperCash, Ham Serunjogi, explained the imperative to operate in the West African country. “Nigeria is the largest economy and most populous country in Africa. Its fintech industry is one of the most advanced in Africa, up there with Kenya and South Africa,” he told TechCrunch in May. When all the 2019 VC numbers are counted, it will be worth matching up Nigeria to Kenya to see how the countries compared for fintech specific investment over the last year. AcquisitionsTech acquisitions continue to be somewhat rare in Africa, but there were several to note in 2019. Two of the continent’s powerhouse tech incubators joined forces in September, when Nigerian innovation center and seed-fund CcHub acquired Nairobi based iHub, for an undisclosed amount. The acquisition brought together Africa’s most powerful tech hubs by membership networks, volume of programs, startups incubated and global visibility. It also elevated CcHub’s Bosun Tijani standing across Africa’s tech ecosystem, as the CEO of the new joint-entity, which also has a VC arm. Social Media via Twitter – TechCrunch https://techcrunch.com December 30, 2019 at 04:49AM Why Instagram Is Today’s Cultural Phenomenon https://ift.tt/2MSOc23 In the twenty-first century, the world runs on trends and popularity. The most popular thing in the world currently is social media, specifically Instagram. The visual subtlety portrayed by it cannot be matched by any social media or other such platforms to date. This generation of people prefers subtlety and aesthetics over bling and glamour. The trend is to go with the trend. Instagram has facilitated a world in which popularity is built by the common people and the common people have access to it too. Reasons behind the popularity of Instagram There are various reasons as to Instagram being the preferred social media by the people.
Why buying Instagram followers Going through this question is very simple because if users buy Instagram followers it enhances their standing in social media and contributes to their experience tenfold. Corporates and businesses can use adding Instagram followers the paid way to increase sales, individuals may use it to gain popularity and tend to their needs of esteem and other organizations may use this to bring to certain information to the knowledge of as many people as possible by increasing the visibility. Buying this kind of boost for followers is popular for simple individuals willing to improve their image and how they look to their friends and the society as well as for big brands that have to do that while on a very competitive race of digital media world. The same goes for bloggers of any kind, it may be pages related to sports and fitness, cooking and baking, traveling and humor – nevermind the niche differences, all kinds are sighted at buying followers to put their Instagram into a better light. On a platform like Instagram, there is no boundary to improvement or enhancement. It is an open space to test your creative limits. This overall experience is enhanced by the usage of additional tools available for the very purpose. This is precisely why Instagram is today’s cultural phenomenon. The post Why Instagram Is Today’s Cultural Phenomenon appeared first on Social Media Explorer. Social Media via Social Media Explorer https://ift.tt/2onGYog December 29, 2019 at 02:38AM Using the power of the digital era to your advantage as a social media advertising professional12/28/2019
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Using the power of the digital era to your advantage as a social media advertising professional https://ift.tt/354pC4v The rise of the digital era has brought with it an influx of interest and investment in the social media landscape. Of course, this is a fact that you are very much familiar with, given that you have chosen to pursue a career as a social media advertising professional. Whether it is learning Ripple or teaching yourself to navigate another particularly tricky pathway to the next iteration in your flourishing a career, there is something powerful to be said about utilising the digital era to your advantage as a social media advertising professional. Of course, to a degree, all social media advertising processionals do in the first place (after all, social media would not exist were it not for the digital era). However, the point is that there is much to be said for wholeheartedly jumping into the field in ways that are bolder and less hotly anticipated than one might expect to pursue or the world might expect at all. So, how can you best and most effectively use the power of the digital era to your advantage as a social media professional? Acknowledging your weaknesses No matter how good you are at your job, you are bound to have some weaknesses. These weak spots do not make you weak, they are just areas where there is definitive room for improvement. The first step to becoming a better social media advertiser is to acknowledge your weak spots. Considering you have been in the game for a while, you might think there is no need for change, but this could be further from the truth, in actual fact. Recognising the potential for improvement Just because you have some weak spots in your performance at work does not necessarily mean you have to live with those weak spots for the rest of your life. Recognising the potential for improvement where possible is an incredible gift, and this is often where you can see the most improvement. This piece of advice is about seeing opportunities and being willing and able to work with those opportunities to see the optimal areas you can commit more time to, to elevate your work performance. Understanding the expectations of modern consumers This might come as a bit of a shock, but modern consumers are already different to the consumers that existed when social media first came to fruition. This means that they have different consumer expectations and ideals. Moreover, these modern consumer expectations and ideals are likely different from the ones that you have grown so accustomed to. So, take it upon yourself to learn the consumer expectations and ideals of the day. After all, practice does make perfect and there is no denying that in a field as competitive and ever-evolving as social media advertising, it never hurts to do the extra legwork to ensure that you are running ahead of the pack – and that you stay ahead of the pack. The post Using the power of the digital era to your advantage as a social media advertising professional appeared first on Social Media Explorer. Social Media via Social Media Explorer https://ift.tt/2onGYog December 28, 2019 at 06:37AM The art of taking your social media advertising approach to new heights https://ift.tt/2ZxWvFe So, you are a professional social media advertiser. This is the career you have built for yourself – and you have built it well. Over the years, you have firmly established yourself as a force to be reckoned with in your industry. As all flourishing careers do, this has taken time, precious years. You have now built yourself a career trajectory that you are proud of, and you are at the top of your game…or are you? While it might feel like you are indeed riding the waves of a height in your social media advertising career, it is important to acknowledge and understand that you can always do better. There is always a way to take your social media advertising approach to the next level. So, how do you accomplish this? The art of social media There is a certain appeal in the art of social media. Of course, you know that…it is likely this appeal that drew you to the field of social media professionalism in the first place. But while the appeal in social media is certainly prominent and very much real – nearly 83% of businesses rely on social media to bring in customers – it is so important to acknowledge and understand that the art of social media is where it starts – but it is also just the tip of the iceberg. This is the fact, it is not a point that is up for discussion or debate. When you chose to turn your love of social media into a career you could build up, you chose to take social media for everything it was – not just the parts you have loved from the onset. The thrill of social media advertising The thrill of social media advertising lies in knowing that you can turn any product or service into a coveted spot in the market, all thanks to your perfect approach to the ideal. Whether it is advertising via social media for individuals around the globe to work towards understanding Bitcoin, or getting people to pay attention to the latest fashion craze up close and personal, your job is to bring it all to the helm and make consumers fall in love with it all. So, how do you take that framework and elevate it to heighten your own approach? The power in optimising personal connection with clients Sure, the widespread approaches to social media advertising are great and all, but there is something undeniably exciting about the impact that personalised social media marketing is having on consumers around the globe. This is your key to elevating your career, it is in your pocket and it is so easily accessible that it is almost funny. If you are able to optimise your personal connection with client demographics, then you are going to be able to propel your social media advertising career to all-new heights that you never even thought were possible before. This is how you get started, and this is where it goes uphill from here. The post The art of taking your social media advertising approach to new heights appeared first on Social Media Explorer. Social Media via Social Media Explorer https://ift.tt/2onGYog December 28, 2019 at 06:37AM
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Best Video Conferencing Services https://ift.tt/363MqlY Video conferencing plays a crucial role in the business world. Whether it be for communicating with remote employees, clients, prospects, or team members at other locations, nearly everyone needs video conferencing software at one point or another. In our personal lives, we use technology like Skype or Facetime to communicate with video. But that software isn’t sufficient enough for a large-scale video conference. If you’re ready to take your conference calls to the next level with video, you need to read this guide. I’ll explain everything you need to know about how to choose the best video conferencing service for your business. Regardless of your company size, industry, or conferencing needs, there’s definitely an option for you below. The 8 Best Video Conferencing ServicesThere are hundreds of video conferencing choices on the market today. So finding the best one for your business can be overwhelming if you don’t know what to look for or where to start. Fortunately, I’ve already done all of the research and heavy-lifting for you. I narrowed down and reviewed the top eight choices for video conferences. We’ll cover the top benefits, prices, and potential drawbacks of each option as we continue. GoToMeetingGoToMeeting is a top choice for video conferencing and conference room capabilities. The platform makes it easy for you to turn any video conference into a highly collaborative workspace. This is one of the top video conferencing solutions for accommodating both remote workers and clients alike. Another top benefit of GoToMeeting is its ability to integrate with the systems your business is currently using. It’s used by sales managers, business owners, and IT teams as well. GoToMeeting also offers an all-in-one hardware and software kit for those of you who want to transform your physical conference room into a digital one. This hardware is more advanced than the built-in cameras, microphones, and speakers on your current devices. Some other top features and benefits of using GoToMeeting for video conferencing include:
Unlike the other platforms that we’ve reviewed so far, GoToMeeting has just two plans for you to choose from:
The plans are very similar. GoToMeeting offers unlimited meetings and unlimited meeting durations with both options. You’ll also benefit from things like Salesforce integration, Slack meeting launcher, and an admin center with each. The biggest difference between Professional and Business is that they can host up to 150 and 250 participants, respectively. In addition to more participants, the Business plan gives you access to transcripts, keyboard and mouse sharing, unlimited cloud storage, and mobile cloud recording. I think it’s a no-brainer to sign up for the Business option instead of Professional. The added benefits are worth the extra $5 per month. GoToMeeting does offer enterprise-grade plans for up to 3,000 participants. But those prices aren’t available online. You’ll need to speak to a sales rep for a custom quote. Save 16% on your GoToMeeting plan with an annual contract. You can try GoToMeeting for free with up to 250 participants for 14 days. Zoom MeetingsSince launching in 2011, Zoom has quickly become an industry leader in the video conferencing space. The software is trusted by large businesses like Ticketmaster, Uber, Pandora, and GoDaddy, to name a few. I like Zoom because of its simplicity and versatility. They have a plan for businesses of all shapes and sizes, including a free option. Zoom has video conferencing capabilities with up to 1,000 participants, and up to 49 videos on the screen simultaneously. The platform is secure, with role-based user security options, password protection, and waiting rooms. Zoom makes it easy for your team to collaborate with screen sharing, filing sharing, and other interactive features. Zoom is modern, so naturally, the service can be accessed from a mobile app as well. This is perfect for participants who are on the go and unable to reach a computer for a meeting. Here’s an overview of the different plans, features, and prices for Zoom Meetings: Basic — Free
Pro — $14.99 per month per host
Business — $19.99 per month per host
Enterprise — $19.99 per month per host
As you can see, there is a plan for everyone. The free option is an excellent choice for an entrepreneur or freelancer who only needs to video chat once in a while for brief meetings. Beyond personal use, you’ll need to upgrade to the Pro or Business plans to get the most out of Zoom Meetings. Fortunately, Zoom makes it easy for you to scale to another plan as your company grows. Just be aware that your plan will impact the level of customer support you receive. To get premium support, you’ll need to upgrade. Cisco WebexCisco is a brand name that’s synonymous with superior technology. So it should be no surprise that Cisco Webex ranks so highly on our list for video conferencing software. With Webex, you can host massive virtual events with up to 100,000 participants and run an interactive webinar for 3,000-person audiences. Cisco Webex is perfect if you need to run on-demand training lessons for large groups as well. This is a great tool for onboarding employees at scale throughout multiple locations. The Webex mobile app is another standout feature of the platform. Hosting and joining meetings are both simple and accessible from anywhere. Cisco Webex is built for teams. Arguably the best part about this video conferencing software is the cloud collaboration features. It’s easy to share files and screens with other meeting participants to stay organized and make the conference more interactive. Cisco offers four different plans for you to choose from, including a basic free option. Free — $0 per month
Starter — $16.95 per month per host
Plus — $22.95 per month per host
Business — $32.95 per month per host
At first glance, the Cisco Webex prices appear to be higher than Zoom Meetings. However, you can save 20% per month with an annual contract. It’s also worth noting that the Webex Plus plan doesn’t have any host minimums, and the business plan has just a five license minimum. Zoom has a 10 and 50 host minimum for their plans at similar price points. So Cisco Webex will be a better option if you want those business or enterprise-level features for a smaller team. Microsoft TeamsMicrosoft Teams is business a messaging solution with video capability offered by Microsoft. The platform is designed specifically for internal communication in the workplace. With chat, audio, and video capabilities for group sizes of 10 or 10,000, Microsoft Teams is the ultimate in-house communication solution. Slack is a direct competitor of Microsoft Teams. But Microsoft Teams shines with its superior technology and video conferencing features. However, the setup, usage, and onboarding are a bit more complex. So just be aware of that ahead of time. Microsoft Teams is best when it’s accessed from a desktop device or web app. They do have a mobile application, but overall the web version is easier to navigate. Here’s a quick overview of the plans and pricing:
Both paid plans are only available with an annual contract. The Free plan and entry-level paid plan both have a limit of 300 users, while the Office 365 E3 option is unlimited. You’ll still have access to quite a bit of features with the free version, including video calls. But you’ll need Office 365 Business Premium to get the most out of this software. Paid plans have 140+ app integrations, 1 TB of storage, scheduled meetings, meeting recordings, and administrative support. The biggest downside of Microsoft Teams is that it’s limited. It’s not really a true video conferencing service. Instead, it’s better for one-on-one video meetings or smaller groups. If you want to host large-scale video conferences and make presentations to clients, you should look elsewhere for a more suitable solution. Zoho MeetingsZoho Meetings is arguably the most straightforward video conferencing solution on the market today. Instead of overwhelming you with different features and pricing options, there is just one plan for video meetings. Pricing is simple; it’s $10 per month per user, or $8 per month for an annual contract. The plan comes with everything you need in a video conferencing service. However, it’s limited to just 100 participants per meeting and storage of up to 10 recordings. This isn’t enterprise-grade software by any stretch of the imagination, but it’s an affordable and suitable choice for lots of small business owners. Some of ZohoMeetings’ top features include:
You’ll also have the ability to switch a presenter, give someone control, and remove users from a video conference. As expected, Zoho Meetings integrates seamlessly with Zoho CRM. So if you’re already using a Zoho product, this will be a top option for you to consider. While Zoho Meetings isn’t the most extensive video conferencing service out there, it’s a high-quality solution for small business owners who just need basic features. ClickMeetingClickMeeting is a bit different compared to some of the other video conferencing services that we’ve reviewed so far. This platform has a specific standout—webinars. It’s a great option for those of you who want to hold large online events, market your products with video demonstrations, and host online courses or training sessions with live video. Of course, ClickMeeting does offer traditional video conferencing solutions for team meetings and business collaboration, but that’s all you need then I’d probably lean towards another option on our list. Pricing for ClickMeeting is complicated. There are two plans, but the prices are based on how many webinar attendees you want to have. Here’s an overview of those price points per month for each plan: Live
Automated
For video conferences with more than 1,000 attendees, contact the ClickMeeting sales team for a custom enterprise solution. You can try ClickMeeting free for 30 days and run webinars with up to 25 attendees to try it out. Save up to 20% off your with annual billing instead of a month-to-month contract. The Automated plan is your best option for broadcasting professional video webinars. This plan comes with advanced features like auto-streaming to Facebook or YouTube, automated follow-up emails to attendees, Google Analytics integration, and certificates of attendance. As you can see, ClickMeeting is definitely pricey compared to the other options on our list, which is why I wouldn’t recommend it for just basic video conferencing use. But the price is worth it if you’re planning to use the webinar features. Join.meMillions of people use Join.me for video conferencing. The platform offers solutions for individuals, teams, and businesses. From startups to Fortune 500 companies, Join.me is a popular choice. The website boasts its best-known customers like like TOMS, Foursquare, OpenTable, and Pinterest. Join.me is easy. The signup process is as quick as it gets. There’s no need to consult with a sales representative or get a custom quote. Just visit their website, and you can start a call in minutes. To start a new video conference, simply invite others to “join” your meeting (hence the name). You can invite people via email or with a custom link. With Join.me, you can customize the video conferencing background, customize the URL, and share your screen with just one click. You can invite people to your meeting even if they aren’t already using the Join.me platform. Here’s an overview of the plans and pricing options: Lite — $10 per month per user
Pro — $20 per month per user
Business — $30 per month per user
Unfortunately, the Lite plan doesn’t include video conferencing, so you can skip over that one. It’s also worth noting that all plans are offered with an annual contract only. Month-to-month plans are unavailable. However, you can try Join.me free with a 14-day free trial. Compared to other options on the list, Join.me is a bit limited in terms of meeting participants and the number of video streams per meeting. But it’s a fine option for those of you who won’t need more than ten simultaneous video streams per conference. RingCentral MeetingsRingCentral is more than just a video conferencing platform. It’s also a VoIP business phone service. With RingCentral, you can ditch your traditional business phone plan for a more modern solution. If you have the phone plan, you’ll get video conferencing features as an added bonus. But you can always purchase RingCentral Meetings as a standalone product. For the purpose of this review, those are the plans that we’ll focus on. Free — $0 per month
Essentials — $14.99 per month per user
Advanced — $19.99 per month per user
The free plan is actually pretty decent if you compare it to others on the list. While you’re capped at 40 minutes per meeting, you can still have up to 100 participants. At the same time, the paid plans are also limited to just 100 participants, which is low compared to the competition. However, you can add-on larger meeting options to your plan for an upcharge. RingCentral also has great enterprise solutions. You’ll need to contact their sales team to get a custom quote. But you can save some money by bundling RingCentral Meetings with a VoIP business phone. How to Find the Best Video Conferencing ServicesNow that you’ve had a chance to review the top solutions on the market, how can you find the best option for your unique situation? This is the methodology that I used to come up with this guide. I’ve identified each feature set that matters the most and why you need to take it into consideration when you’re evaluating prospective platforms. Conference SizeEvery video conferencing plan has some limit on the number of participants who can join a meeting. This can be as 25 or as high as 100,000. Make sure you choose a service and plan that can accommodate the number of people you need for your video conferences. You don’t want to overpay for a plan that has participant limits that you’ll never reach. But more importantly, you don’t want to be in a situation where your participant list is too large for your platform and plan. Video StreamsYou might be able to have a large number of participants in a conference, but that doesn’t necessarily mean that every user will be able to broadcast a video stream. For example, RingCentral plans have up to 100 participants per meeting, but limit you to just ten simultaneous video streams. So don’t be swayed by the participant limits alone. Always check to see how many users can actually stream a video at the same time. Collaboration ToolsCollaboration tools are crucial for groups and teams. Features like screen sharing, built-in chat, file sharing, and cloud collaboration is very useful for presentations and group projects. It’s also helpful when a video conferencing service integrates with existing tools and platforms that you’re already using to run a business. You can look for features like Salesforce integration or Google Analytics integration. PriceObviously, the cost will play a roll in your decision-making process. For the most part, video conferencing services are billed on a monthly basis per user. Prices typically fall in the $10 to $40 range per month per user for traditional video conferencing. However, you can pay significantly more than that for advanced features like video conference webinars. Solutions like ClickMeeting has plans starting at over $300 per month. ConclusionTake your virtual meetings to the next level with video conferencing software. What’s the best video conference service on the market? The answer depends on who you ask and what you’re looking for. Here’s a quick recap of the platforms reviewed above.
Based on this guide, I’m confident that you can find the best choice for your business. No matter how unique your situation might be, these options can accommodate your needs. Social Media via Quick Sprout https://ift.tt/UU7LJr December 27, 2019 at 10:24AM
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Creating Stories That Stick: How Marketers Can Win With Story https://ift.tt/34ZePsi Want to craft better stories in your marketing? Wondering what makes a good story? To explore the power of stories in marketing, I interview Kindra Hall on the Social Media Marketing Podcast. Kindra is the author of Stories That Stick: How Storytelling Can Captivate Customers, Influence Audiences, and Transform Your Business. She’s also a keynote speaker and hosts storytelling workshops. Kindra explains why stories can work for marketers and shares the four key components every story needs to be effective. Getting Started With StorytellingSo much of Kindra’s work now is about storytelling in business; in marketing, it’s all about the stories. But her start with storytelling was long before she was in business. Kindra recalls telling her first story when she was 11 years old. Each child in her fifth-grade English class was assigned to read a children’s book to a third-grade class. Kindra knew there were a few factors working against her. Number one, it was the end of the school year in Minnesota, which, as any Midwesterner knows, means the kids were seeing the sun for the first time in months. So she had that distraction working against her. It was also the end of the school day, and once you approach that last hour, all bets are off. She walked into the room and the teacher was sitting in the back, staring off into space, counting down the minutes until the buses come to take the kids away. The kids were bouncing off the walls and climbing on the desks. Kindra made a last-minute decision: Instead of reading the book, she put the book down and simply told them the story. Discover the best social media marketing strategies from the world's top experts! Don't miss this event! After a few sentences, the whole classroom was quiet, everyone was sitting back down on the rug, and they were all just staring at her, hanging on every word. Kindra felt in that moment that she had stumbled into an alternate universe and had just discovered some secret power. As children, we beg for bedtime stories. It’s something we all crave. But it doesn’t stop with childhood. It turns out that no matter what age we are, stories draw us in. Kindra went on to tell stories on her school’s speech team. At the end of high school, she entered a national storytelling competition. The grand prize was a trip to the National Storytelling Festival in the little town of Jonesboro, Tennessee. The first weekend in October, 10,000 people flood this zero-stop-light town. They bring in world-renowned storytellers and people squeeze into these huge circus tents and sit on these half-sized chairs just to listen to the stories. Kindra remembers sitting in the audience with her mother. She remembers looking around the tent and listening to the stories as if they were laying themselves out in front of her, Matrix-style. Kindra noticed two things in particular. First, the great stories didn’t have to be overly dramatic; they just followed a certain arc and included certain components. The second thing she noticed as she looked around the room was that there were people of all different ages in the audience and everyone was equally captivated by these stories. Kindra continued going to that storytelling festival, and eventually, she joined the board of directors for the National Storytelling Network. She attended storytelling conferences and workshops. Her background in storytelling had nothing to do with business or marketing. Most of the time, it had been all about the story. As time went on, Kindra knew she wanted to do something with stories beyond just traveling around to different storytelling festivals. She had a passion for business so she finished her master’s degree and went on to become a director of marketing and VP of sales. It turned out that this thing that she had been doing her whole life as a hobby was actually the thing that made her the best at her job. Eventually, she left her job in marketing and sales, started a family, and began consulting to help individuals, non-profits, and companies tell their stories. Why Stories Are ValuableHumans are programmed for stories. This goes all the way back to the beginnings of humanity. This is how we organized our knowledge and communicated about intangible things. Stories are part of what it is to be human. Tapping into that element of human nature is such a powerful force. When we’re following a good story, our brain releases chemicals that make us pay attention. If the story is done well, our brains engage in what Kindra calls the co-creative process: We take those details and paint a picture in our own heads while we’re hearing it. That co-creative process is something we can’t help so we have this desire, this addiction, to hearing stories. Kindra recently made a big mistake. She called a friend whom she’d been missing. Later, Kindra texted her and said, “Hey, have I got a story for you!”—which she now realizes was a unique form of torture. After sending that text, Kindra boarded a long flight and the internet on the plane wasn’t working, so she wasn’t able to text her friend back. By the time she landed, her friend had sent her multiple text messages, a couple of voicemails, and an Instagram message because she wanted to hear that story so badly. It doesn’t matter who you are or where you come from, we all want to hear stories. That’s why they’re so valuable and powerful, and we just know this intuitively. But we often make the mistake of thinking we’re telling stories when we’re not. Telling Brand StoriesStories are really important for marketers. First, we’re all competing for a limited amount of mind share from our prospects and customers. And when we can tell a story that engages them, we can capture some of that attention, which is absolutely necessary for marketing. If we tell a good story, we also establish some credibility—that “know, like, and trust” factor—which is such an important part of marketing. We’re in a time when we have so much connectivity. We can see what everyone’s doing at any time, yet we still feel very disconnected. So marketers, particularly those working within companies, have an incredible opportunity for that “know, like, trust” aspect to humanize business. You can tap into that human emotion and really make your potential and current customers feel that connection to you as a human brand. Disney+ has a series called The Imagineering Story, which features the engineers who make the rides at Disney’s theme parks. They talk about how stories are conveyed as you go through the rides. Thunder Mountain has an actual story arc so it’s not just a rollercoaster. They’re very intentional about how they try to create an experience on all of these rides. Indiana Jones is another example: They tell a story while you’re in line so they’re leading up to this big crescendo, which is the experience. They’re probably the masters of bringing stories to life in the real world. Almost everybody has been to a Disney property and it shows you how cool it is to live that story. One of the incredible things about storytelling is it makes things matter more. I’ve been on those rides but I imagine that if I had heard the stories behind them, I would want to go back. Similarly, Netflix has a show called 7 Days Out, which documents the 7 days leading up to a big event such as the Westminster Dog Show or New York Fashion Week. One episode chronicles the 7 days leading up to the reopening of Eleven Madison Park, a restaurant in New York City that was rated the best restaurant in the world. Eleven Madison Park only accepts reservations exactly 1 month in advance. If you’re coming to town on December 15, you must have made your reservation on November 15. Each setting is prix fixe and you pay in advance. It costs hundreds of dollars just for the food, not including alcohol. Kindra had foodie friends coming to town who had seen the episode and wanted to go to the restaurant. They wanted Kindra and her husband to join them. Kindra’s husband Michael is very money-conscious so when she told him how much the reservations were going to be, he said, “No, absolutely not. That’s not happening.” So Kindra showed Michael the Netflix special. The episode did such a great job telling the story of this restaurant that their friends did wind up making reservations for four because Michael was now on board. He wanted to go experience this restaurant after hearing the story. They enjoyed the restaurant even more because they were now a part of the story. Whether it’s upscale, downscale, or commoditized, being able to tell this “behind the scenes” story, the “it’s so much more” story, adds such an incredibly different, irresistible dimension to marketing. The 4 Key Elements of a StoryIn the process of writing her book and in her career, Kindra never wanted to just tell people, “You should be telling stories.” We’ve all heard that, especially nowadays. She really wanted to give a measurement or a blueprint for how to do it. She did some research on what she deduced were the four key components of a story. She created almost a checklist of things that a story needs to make it effective—after putting them into practice for over two decades. The four key components (in no particular order) are identifiable character (one to three of them), authentic emotion, a moment, and specific details. Get Expert Social Media Marketing Training!Want to keep ahead of your competitors? Need to master a social platform? Discover how to improve your social media marketing at Social Media Marketing World 2020, brought to you by your friends at Social Media Examiner. You’ll rub shoulders with the biggest names and brands in social media, soak up countless tips and new strategies, and enjoy extensive networking opportunities . Don’t miss the industry’s largest conference. Get in early for big discounts. Sale ends Friday, December 27th, 2019.CLICK HERE TO LEARN MOREIdentifiable CharacterIt’s easy to say, “Our brand is our story” or “This is our story,” and proceed to just talk about the history of the company or flash a logo on a screen. But people don’t want to do business with businesses. They want to do business with people. And the brand isn’t the story—the stories are the brand being experienced by people. Where stories can go wrong is by staying too broad. We talk about the company or the brand when what we really need to do is narrow it down to a particular character, a person. Maybe it’s a customer, maybe it’s an employee, maybe it’s the founder of the company—but to the listener of the story, the point of an identifiable character is to give the audience someone they can identify with. A person they can picture and say, “Oh, I feel like I know them” or “They seem a lot like me.” In The Imagineering Story, retired employees sometimes tell stories; for instance, they related how they came up with the Indiana Jones car. They had to find something that wasn’t built to carry people, then figure out how to put it on a track, and cut corners, and do it all safely. First they designed the car and then they designed the ride around the car because they wanted to create an immersive experience. It was really fascinating because these were just everyday people but they were there at the beginning. They helped create the idea that became the product. Those stories were told in bits and pieces by the engineers, so each one of those people over time became a character to you. Someone you could identify with, instead of just “our team of engineers.” You can’t picture a team of engineers; you want to get to know Susan and Franco.
Think about that if you’re telling the story of one of your customers: who they are, what they like, the kind of person they are. You want to pick up on the nuances of that person because your potential customers want to think, “Oh yeah, I’ve been there before; I’ve felt that way.” You want them to have a real person they can connect to. The choice of our characters really depends on the purpose of our message. If you’re trying to illustrate the particular features of a product, then the character could be the person who developed that product. They could relate their journey to finding the solution and making sure it was perfect and expressing their passion for developing that product. The character could also be someone who used that product and has seen a transformation in their lives. There are a few determining factors to that decision, but ultimately, think about the message you want to deliver and what you want the audience to think, feel, know, or do as a result of hearing the story. Also think about what’s available to you. You may have direct access to the product developers. Sit down with them and let them tell you their stories. You may want to talk to people in customer service who have long, drawn-out conversations with your customers. You want to hear those stories to get to know those characters. Once you find the person, once you identify that relatable character, spend some time crafting the story with them and developing the arc. You can ask them to read it—whether it’s off a teleprompter, which is risky, or just delivering it line by line. Or you can design your questions to extract the right parts. But the good news is that person doesn’t have to be super-talented. When people are telling their own stories, there’s a lot more leeway. And that ring of truth, that authenticity, comes through. Some people are really bad on camera, but when they’re telling their own stories, it works. Authentic EmotionThis one is very important because one of the misconceptions or challenges that marketers face is we think that it has to be over the top. We want to create stories that have really big, dramatic emotions. It has to be someone’s worst day ever or a super-outrageous accomplishment. But the truth is even small emotions are really important; emotions like hope, guilt, frustration, or embarrassment. If what we’re talking about is human connection, sometimes small emotion is even better because we don’t feel like we’re being marketed to. We feel like we’re hearing a story that sounds like our life. One of the stories Kindra shares in her book is from an Apple ad called, “Misunderstood.” It’s about a boy who seems distracted by his phone but he’s actually taking little snapshots of his family together at the holidays. When it all comes together, it’s this beautiful imagery. The whole family is sitting down watching it and getting emotional about it. In the video, the snapshots he was taking were really small moments but it was the emotion of togetherness, what family is really all about. There was also a side benefit of the audience misunderstanding him as a teenager and the revelation of that misunderstanding. As you’re crafting your stories, think about what your customers are feeling on a day-to-day basis—the importance of small, real, human emotion—and what stories can be told around that. If they’re your stories, that’s one thing. If you’re responsible for telling someone else’s stories, though, think about what keeps them up at night. What do they worry about? What’s at stake for that person? Once you can tap into that, you’ll find where the emotion lies. Another thing they do in The Imagineering Story is to show some of these engineers and then go to the opening of the ride. They ask them, “How did you feel when you saw people enjoying the thing that you helped create?” That was a small emotion but you could tell they were elated to see someone benefiting from something they created. They also sent people overseas when they were building Disney parks in other countries, and they were talking about the challenges of dealing with a different culture. The CEO talked about how at first glance, they really kind of missed the mark culturally. You see people literally throwing eggs at the CEO at the opening of Disneyland Paris. They could have chosen not to share that story, but they showed how eventually they overcame it. A MomentWhen you’re telling a story, you want to bring your audience to a specific place and time so that they’re there with you. Stories go wrong by staying vague, when what they really need is to come all the way down to a particular moment. This is more than just describing the setting; it isn’t necessarily about the description. Your goal here is really for your audience to see themselves right there in the story. So the moment could be when you first turned the sign on your office door from closed to open. Kindra tells a story about going out to dinner with her husband after getting some unhappy news. They’d originally had these reservations to go celebrate something else, and they happened to get this unhappy news right before going out. Kindra describes that moment, with the two of them sitting at a steakhouse table that could fit eight people. They sat all the way across from each other at that huge table under the dim lights until she finally asked him to come around to the other side to sit by her. After she tells the whole story, she’ll go back later and say, “Okay, how many of you were right there in the booth with us?” Everyone raises their hands. That’s what the moment is: bringing the listener to a very specific place and time. This component drives that co-creative process. As your audience is hearing it, they’re picturing themselves in that story. When they do that, the story stays with them longer. That’s how you overcome all of the noise and get your message to stick with them. Bringing it down to a specific moment is a really powerful strategy in storytelling. You can absolutely have more than one moment in a story. Remember how on actual printed maps, to see a particular area in a city, it would say, “See inset”? Then you had to go to the bottom corner of the map where it showed an enlargement of that particular area. That’s what this moment is. Your story is moving along, and then all of a sudden, you zoom all the way in. You slow it down, you draw it in, you heighten the details, increase the saturation right there. And then you can pull back out of it and go along with the story. And then, depending on the length of the story or the nature of the story itself, there may be another point at which you zoom all the way into another moment. If you do have two distinct moments, it’s a good idea to put some similarities into the way that you describe them. So if you’re zooming in on that moment at the steakhouse table, and then later in the story you zoom back in again to something else, you might include that the light was dim if that was a detail included in both the earlier and later moments in that steakhouse. Specific DetailsSpecific details are the final component that drives the co-creative process. You can get very specific about the details in the story, and your listeners’ brains will pick up on that and they’ll hold it and keep it with them. Kindra has a presentation she gives where she talks about picking someone up from the airport and she mentions that she was driving a silver Grand Am. The silver Grand Am really has nothing to do with the story but she always adds that detail. Later, about 30 minutes into her presentation, she asks, “How many of you can tell me what kind of car I was driving in the story you heard 30 minutes ago?” Consistently, about 95% of the attendees in the room remember that it was a silver Grand Am. The power of a story is in the ability to keep people engaged. We love picking up on these tiny little details. The brain is listening for them, and for whatever reason, they stick. At the beginning of this conversation, Kindra included the details of those chairs in the storytelling tent being half the size of normal chairs. By taking a couple of extra minutes to put that detail in there, we remember that particular detail she included earlier. Specific details can carry extra meaning or they can simply just be. Kindra worked with a gentleman on a story about opening his first bank account. One of the details he included was that there was a bowl of Werther’s candy sitting on the person’s desk. It had nothing to do with the story, it wasn’t a metaphor for anything else, but can’t you just picture it? Aren’t you suddenly sitting in a bank and seeing those Werther’s on the desk? You have to be careful not to include too many details or put too much weight on them. Don’t make them work too hard. Just something as simple and straightforward as one detail will do exactly what you need it to. Kindra worked with a new CEO who had to give a big address to his company at a large dinner event. It was his first address in front of a really large audience, and everybody was wondering who he was and what he was about. He told the story of the first time he really experienced the true essence of what their company was all about. He was at an event and a homeless man came in. This was an organization dedicated to helping the least fortunate among us in the population. And so instead of asking the man to leave, someone gave him a chair, a bottle of water, and some cookies that were provided for the event. The man sat there and evidently enjoyed the presentation. The CEO said, “I saw in that moment, this is what we do every day. Sometimes it’s as simple as a bottle of water and a handful of cookies. Sometimes it’s much, much more when we help people who need it most to find dignity and respect. Everyone deserves this.” He got off stage at this dinner event, and then the MC got up and said, “Everyone please enjoy your dinner—and the special cookie that’s at your place.” It was a really cool way to incorporate that small detail of the cookie from his story into the real-life experience. Key Takeaways From This Episode:Discover the latest tactics and master social media marketing in 2020! Don't miss this event! What do you think? How do you use storytelling in your marketing? Share your thoughts in the comments below. Social Media via Social Media Marketing | Social Media Examiner https://ift.tt/1LtH18p December 27, 2019 at 05:07AM
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Creating Stories That Stick: How Marketers Can Win With Story - 386 https://ift.tt/34X3zwl Want to craft better stories in your marketing? Wondering what makes a good story? To explore the power of stories in marketing, in this episode I interview Kindra Hall. Kindra is the author of Stories That Stick: How Storytelling Can Captivate Customers, Influence Audiences, and Transform Your Business. USEFUL INFORMATION: Check out Social Media Marketing World We'd love you to review our show on Apple Podcasts. Social Media via Social Media Marketing Podcast https://ift.tt/1LtH18p December 27, 2019 at 04:54AM |
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