Category: Social Media

Social Media Skills for Every Digital Marketer

17 Mar 17 by Chris Jenkin

Everyone knows how to post something on Facebook, tweet an image, and how to put a filter on an Instagram photo. Because of this, anyone can easily pick up a career as a digital marketer. What separates the professionals from others is the fact that professionals know how to make use of a platform’s analytics in order to determine the success of their content.

The seasoned digital marketers are a step up from the rest of the competition. These individuals know that their content does not just end with how good a photo is. Instead, they tailor-match the content to the right platform. They fully understand each channel and know how to make the most of their content on each of these platforms.

So how do you become a social media ninja? Here are some important things you need to know about your chosen craft:

Engage with Your Community

One thing you have to realize about doing social media work is that in its very essence, you are making connections and building a community with other people. In order to do that, you need to post and share content that people will find valuable.

Once someone comments or shares your content, see to it that you personally acknowledge them. You can also honestly and quickly respond to questions, complaints, and criticisms.

As a brand manager, you have to be transparent on social media instead of just using well-crafted statements.

Create Video Content

Over the past year, marketers have shared how vital video has become. You see this in how people are now engaging with one another through Facebook Live, Instagram Video, and Periscope. As this becomes more mainstream, your followers will expect that you follow suit. Even if you haven’t done a video before, it pays to know a few videography skills.

Thankfully, you can already create an interesting video with your smartphone. This can already help you stand out from other digital marketers.

Use Each Social Media Feature Properly

Since your job involves social media platforms, it is recommended that you know how to make use of these websites to the best that you can. Each platform is unique and has its own hidden features waiting for you to discover and master. If you want to be effective at your job, you have to take time to learn these social media hacks so you can utilize them to their fullest potential.

Automate and Schedule Posts

Even if your friends think you’re spending all your time online, the truth is that you still need time to sleep, eat, and rest. So how can you manage to post 15 different items on 5 social networks every single day? The answer is to automate your posts.

Nowadays, there are a number of tools that you can use to help you schedule and automate your posts so that they will be sent across the platforms that you use. Two good examples that serious digital marketers make use of are Hootsuite and Buffer.

Write Good Articles

As a digital marketer, you need to know how to write. You don’t really need to spend several hours just to craft the perfect tweet, but you should be able to express yourself whenever you write something. And since the ideal length for blog posts has increased to 1,500 words, you need to make sure that your posts are of good quality.

Curate Valuable Content

While you may be excellent at creating content for your audience, it’s important that you also curate the best pieces of content from around the web. Your followers will find these useful instead of reading your written content all the time.

SEO

Search engine optimization (SEO) skills are what each digital marketer needs to develop. Having SEO skills can help you get your content to rank high on a search engine results page through the use of strategic keywords, high-quality backlinks, and shareable content.

Having these skills can truly help you develop your digital marketing strategy and boost your website for high search results. Make sure you have these skills so you can be on top of your game.

Content MarketingDigital MarketingSocial Media

5 Tips on How to Use Snapchat as a Marketing Tool

10 Mar 17 by Chris Jenkin

Nowadays, our smartphones have become an important part of our lives. This is why more and more business owners are looking for ways to reach their customers through mobile. In more recent years, Snapchat has become a widely used app for smartphone users. It has become such a successful app that it has over 10 million views each day. Because of this, marketers have decided to share their brand through Snapchat.

If you’re wondering how you can make use of Snapchat as a marketing tool for your business, here are some useful tips that can help you:

Tip #1: Offer Exclusive Content

Why do you want people to follow you on Snapchat when they could easily find the same things on your website and other social media pages? You have to give them a reason why you are someone they need to follow on Snapchat. When you decide to use this medium as the first venue where you will publish new products or give away freebies, you have to know that this is what will help you stick out.

Your audience in the app will feel like they are insider experts since they are among the first to get updates about your business. This is one big reason why you should offer exclusive content on Snapchat.

Tip #2: Share In-Store Sales and Promo Codes

As mentioned, you have to give your followers a reason why they should follow you on Snapchat. Since the main concept behind the app is that the content you publish is only around for a limited time period, you can use it as an effective tool for your followers to get exclusive content. This will be rewarding to your loyal customers who know when to visit your profile.

Tip #3: Connect with Your Customers

Another way you can use Snapchat is to use it to connect with your customers. Ask your customers to take a selfie with your product or watch a Snapchat story in return for an exclusive promo code. This is a great way you can encourage your followers to learn more about your products or showcase your customers that use your products.

Tip #4: Make Use of Snapchat Groups

Back in December, Snapchat introduced the group’s feature, which allowed a conversation to take place between 16 users and below. Through this feature, the messages in the group are automatically deleted after 24 hours. As a business, you can use this to introduce specials or promo codes. You can also reward the people who are in the group by giving them freebies or exclusive early access when you have an ongoing sale.

Tip #5: Host a Live Event

Live videos have increasingly become vital to online marketing strategies. Since Snapchat supports this feature, it is a great way you can market to your followers. To utilize a live video campaign, one good suggestion is to do a product demonstration. This will give your followers a chance to see how your product works and how it fits their needs.

There are many different things you can do on Snapchat. With its immense popularity, you’ll be sure to get your product across to your followers with little time and money spent.

Content MarketingDigital MarketingMobile MarketingSocial Media

How to Use Instagram in Digital Marketing

15 Feb 17 by Chris Jenkin

Instagram has been proven as a useful tool for business owners, especially now that more and more people are using this social media network to connect with their friends. The latest numbers show that Instagram has more than 300 million users per month. This is a big reason why brands are always looking for ways they can grow their Instagram community.

But even though your business may already have its own Instagram account, it does not automatically guarantee success. Instead, you need to make sure that you make use of your Instagram account to the best way you can. And the best way you can do this is to know what this social media network is mainly for– shopping.

Based on a study conducted by Iconosquare last 2015, 70 percent of users on Instagram look up a brand on the app. Not to mention, 62 percent of users tend to follow a brand they like on the platform. With this massive reach, you need to be able to attract your target audience through your posts. You can do this by following these tips:

Have an optimized business Instagram account

If you intend to use Instagram for your business, you should keep it separate from your personal account. By keeping things separate, you can concentrate on posting things related to your business instead of posting your selfies or food shots on the business account. These things are not relevant to your followers and will not increase your numbers.

Your business account should not show any photos of you, as much as possible. This way, you can keep a professional looking Instagram account that will be more appealing to your customers.

Remember to include a link on your profile

Instagram works differently than other social networking platforms. Any links you post, other than your bio, are not clickable. This is why you should remember to include your link on your bio underneath your name and description. Use this spot to link to your website or another landing page you intend your followers to visit.

Stay consistent to be recognized

Remember to stick to one name on Instagram and photo of your brand. You need to do this so that you build your reputation with your followers. When you do this, they will easily recognize you. Keep the same social media handle across different channels so you won’t end up confusing your followers.

Avoid hard selling in your posts

Your posts on Instagram matter a lot. As a matter of fact, they can influence an individual to follow you or to make a purchase. Instead of forcing your followers to buy a product you are selling, allow them to make that decision for themselves.

Use creative photos

When you want to post something on Instagram, see to it that it is clear and professional; especially if you are selling something. Instagrammers aren’t on the platform for a sales pitch but to look at pretty photos. This is why you should make sure your photos are high quality and reflect professionalism.

Use Instagram to give exclusive offers to followers

One way you can grow your followers is by using the platform as an exclusive tool where they can get insider information as well as special offers and bonuses. Remember to make these announcements using a text overlay on a photo so that your followers won’t end up scrolling through without reading your caption.

Come up with active and inviting captions

Your captions on Instagram can make or break your product. This is why you need to come up with an effective caption that can stir up conversation among your followers.

Remember to use hashtags

Without the right hashtags, your posts can easily get buried by newer posts. These hashtags work as a keyword that gets linked together when a person searches for them. But while you use a hashtag, don’t go overboard with them. The most you can do is 5 but that’s already risky.

Post consistently

In order to remain relevant with your followers, you have to remember to post on a consistent schedule. A good rule to follow is to post around 6 photos per week. You can schedule your posts between 5:00 to 6:00 pm on weekdays, as this is the best time to post.

Engage with your followers

Instagram is a great tool with which you can build your brand’s reputation and appeal among your followers. This is why you should make sure to use it properly to get the most results.

Re-share content from your followers

When you encounter a customer who has posted one of your products or used your service, make sure to re-share this with your own followers. You can then give a shout out to the person who posted the photo so they will appreciate your way of getting in touch with them.

Instagram can be a very useful tool for your brand. Just remember to be mindful with what you post and how you engage with your audience.

 

 

Content MarketingDigital MarketingSocial Media

YouTube Never More Relevant

09 Feb 17 by Chris Jenkin

Trends change every so often whether it’s in the food, fashion, or any other industry.  This is the same case with trends being utilized to improve a website’s traffic. Because of this, analysts try to figure out what specific tools and trends are worth using on a yearly basis. By identifying these tools, analysts can replace the time they use the tool with something that will yield them better results at a lesser price and effort.

After 10 years of ownership by Google, Youtube has never been more relevant. Through the years, YouTube has continually been a useful tool to help business owners gain the audience they need for their business. But with the emergence of other social platforms, websites like Facebook, Vimeo, Instagram, Snapchat, SlideShare, DailyMotion, and others are establishing themselves in video content. Here are some reasons showing that Youtube is more and more relevant.

YouTube is the Second Largest Search Engine on the Internet

Next to Google, YouTube has been recognized as the second largest search engine on the Internet. According to data gathered by Alexa and SimilarWeb, YouTube is already the third most visited website. To support the claim that YouTube is a large search engine, Google has also released figures that show the number of users that use the platform as a search engine. The success of this website is largely due to the fact that video content is more engaging compared to reading a page of text. And in certain cases, it can be more informative.

YouTube is Owned by Google

Back in November 2006, Google bought YouTube for US$1.65 billion. Ever since then, the video sharing website has been operating as one of the subsidiaries of Google under Alphabet Inc. Each month, YouTube has over 1 billion unique users visiting the website. These facts mean that it is accessible by millions of people in the planet. By utilizing video content marketing through YouTube, website owners are able to make the most out of their efforts.

More Users Want to See Videos

Last year, Hubspot Research released data revealing that 43% of customers and audiences prefer seeing more videos. This means that video is gaining a significant audience. This number just proves that YouTube is still relevant in 2017.

So what does these all mean for a digital marketing? Simple. YouTube is a vital tool to use for promoting a website. Through video content, you can tap into a market that you may not have engaged in the past. By using this website, you can improve your efforts in increasing your website’s traffic.

 

Content MarketingDigital MarketingSocial Media

15 Social Media Tips You Should Live By

26 Jan 17 by Chris Jenkin

If you’re planning to put up a business this year, it’s important that you also have some knowledge on how to conduct the business online. Especially with the growth of social media, you need to know how you can make this work for your advantage. Here are some social media tips that will help you grow your brand:

Tip #1: Have a Strategy

Before implementing social media channels, make sure you have a social media plan or strategy that you can follow. Otherwise, you might not be able to grow your business. You won’t be able to regularly post things on social media without a strategy to follow.

Tip #2: Differentiate Each Social Media Channel

One thing you have to remember is that not every social media channel is the same. Each one works in a different way so you have to remember to follow what works best for each one. As the business owner or social media manager, you have to learn what works best on each channel you plan to use. You should also learn when and how often to post things on these accounts.

Tip #3: Don’t Be Spammy

While the reason your business is on social media is so you can sell to your customers and attract new people, you should not spam your followers. Avoid ending your posts with “Buy Now” or “Sign Up Now” as this will hurt your reputation on social media. These words are counter-productive and will not be good for your campaign.

Tip #4: Be Consistent

Even though you should be customizing each post according to which social media channel you’re posting to, you should remain consistent. This means that you should use the same logo, brand colors, links, and other things that identify your brand. This way, your followers can easily recognize you whenever you use a new social media platform.

Tip #5: Don’t Buy Fake Followers

While it’s good to have a lot of followers on your social media channels, you should also identify whether these followers are real or fake. This is because there are so many fake profiles on Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram that are used to follow certain accounts. If you are hiring a social media manager who promises you can get a certain number of likes in a short amount of time, you should be cautioned already. This is a dirty tactic that could potentially backfire on you in the long run.

Tip #6: Avoid Talking About Your Brand Too Much

The idea behind social media is to be, well, social. This is why it is good that you don’t only post things about your business. You should also take time to post about your industry and things that are related to it. Your followers might find it annoying to see you talking about yourself all the time. If this happens, they’re likely to unfollow you or see you as spammy.

Tip #7: Share Original Content Too

Even if you’re sharing the posts of other individuals you feel is relevant to your business, you should also remember to share your own unique content. Invest in a blog so your followers get more acquainted with your business. If you haven’t put up a blog yet, it’s important that you get this up online before starting a campaign on social media.

Tip #8: Make Use of Social Media Tools

Thankfully, there are a number of tools you can find online to help out with your social media strategy. These tools can help you manage your posts so you don’t have to stay connected to the Internet 24/7. Try to do more research on which tools will best work with your business.

Tip #9: Be Wary of Your Metrics

From time to time, try to see how well your social media campaign is working. This will give you a deeper look at how efficient your efforts are. Since most social media channels have their own analytics features, you can take advantage of these tools to help you see your progress.

Tip #10: Properly Use Hashtags

Hashtags are important. It’s important that you use hashtags sparingly and not at every single word you post. One or two hashtags is recommended. Anything more than that is considered overkill. You should research on the best hashtags to use so you can achieve the right results you need.

Tip #10: Engage with Your Followers

Remember to reply to all the comments, messages, and the shares you get on your social media channels. This is a good practice to follow, especially if you are a startup.

Tip #11: Identify Your Target Audience

One of the best ways you can do a good job on your social media campaign is to properly identify who your target audience is and find out where they are found. If your business targets other businesses, the best platform to use is LinkedIn. If your target includes women, Pinterest and Instagram are the best websites to use. Do a lot of research to get the results you need so you can have an effective strategy.

Tip #12: Don’t Share Too Much

You should also remember not to post too often on your social media channels. Even though you share other people’s content, you have to limit the number of posts you share.

Tip #13: Make Use of Paid Ads

Set aside a small budget that you can use for paid ads. Though this will cost you some money, you’ll be able to reach other people who do not have access to your posts.

Tip #14: Work with Influencers

Look for influencers whom you can work with to promote your business. These are individuals that have established profiles and a large follower count. With just a few posts, you can get your business noticed by these individuals.

Tip #15: Show Your Culture

Let your followers peek into your business. If you can do this, you’ll have a winning social media strategy. Your followers want to see the people who are behind your brand, letting them realize that you are human after all.

Try these tips to see how well your followers will respond to them. As always, social media is a continuous experiment that you get to learn a lot from. Don’t be afraid to explore your options and research new trends.

Content MarketingSearch Engine MarketingSEOSocial Media

How Does Fake News Affect Content Marketing

17 Jan 17 by Chris Jenkin

Last year, we saw the prevalence of fake news vastly shared via social media. There have been rampant sharing of fake news camouflaged as a legit website. But even if these websites turned out to be fake (or sometimes satire), the damage has already been done. It was too late to retract such rumors as it had already been perceived by individuals as the truth. Because of this, marketers have been faced with the problem of having to deal with the effects of fake news. As for the readers, they’re left struggling with distinguishing the difference between fake news and bad news.

The truth is, fake news has always been around. The only reason we’re dealing with it right now is because there has been a sudden spike in the number of stories that were either partially untrue or meant to mislead the readers. This has been pretty evident in the recently concluded Presidential elections, as things got heated and led to the exchange of harsh words amongst friends and family members on social media.

Thankfully, both Facebook and Google have become alarmed by the prevalence of fake news. This prompted them to announce their plans of tracking down stories that were of such nature. But how does it affect content marketing? How do you even determine whether a story is fake or not? Let’s look at things deeper.

How to Identify Fake News

According to FactCheck.org, it doesn’t take a genius to determine fake news. Here are some of the things to look out for:

  • Source Credibility. One of the easiest ways to determine whether or not you’re reading legit news is to look at the URL of the page you’re reading. Try to remember the real URL names and extensions of the legit websites. Simple things like using ‘z’ instead of ‘s’ in ‘news’ can already tick you off. And of course, the extension of the domain is usually in ‘.com’ instead of ‘.website.’ or ‘.com.co.’ Remember, these websites were meant to mislead its readers into thinking they are reading something from a trustworthy news network.
  • Go Beyond the Headline. Most of the time, these websites attract readers by using clickbait titles that are sure to catch your attention. Before you believe the headline, make it a point to read the entire article. Don’t stop at the headline.
  • Look for Quoted Sources. You should also check whether or not the article is linking to another questionable website. This is because there are tons of fake news websites that link to one another. As much as possible, check that the source of the article is a real government website or another credible publication.
  • Check the Author’s Name. Take a look at the name of the author. If there is a name attached to the article, you can perform a quick search to tell you how credible that person is.

So How Does This Affect Content Marketing?

Fake news does not only affect those in content marketing, but everyone in the field of journalism. It creates a bad image for authors, writers, and editors. As a content marketer, it could also hurt your campaign as it could destroy your readers’ trust in the things they find online.

The best way you can combat this is to make sure every content you publish on your website has been fact-checked and verified. If you have any stories to pitch, make sure to do this with reputable reporters and media outlets. This is the best way you can fight against fake news.

Content MarketingDigital MarketingSearch Engine MarketingSEOSocial Media

2 Important Tips on Creating Content

11 Jan 17 by Chris Jenkin

No matter how good your article is, if it’s not getting the traffic it deserves, it might as well be buried on the Internet. But how do you make sure that your articles will be read by your target audience? After going through the different strategies online, it all boils down to how well you practice content marketing. The success of your content is not derived from your industry, your writing skill or the number of keywords you include in the article. Instead, it has more to do on how well you thought out the content, created the headline, and used the right meta description and tags for search engines to pick up your article.

If you run a content marketing agency, it’s important that you know how to provide content that people are searching for. The reason behind this is so you don’t waste time and energy preparing a post that will not be read by your targeted audience. After all, this costs you a lot of money to produce. Here are some tips to help you create content that your audience is looking for:

Tip #1: Make use of content ideation

According to studies, consumers spend up to 79 days to check out their options before they decide to make a purchase, especially if it is a big one. They do so by conducting their own research of their other options and what they can do to make this decision better. This is why you need to have your content available to them and offer valuable information. In doing so, your consumers can trust your brand. When it’s time for them to make their decision, they’ll remember your company right away.

The best way you can do this is to conduct a research of your own. This means you should take advantage of social sites and keyword tools to help you get the information you require. Apart from searching for ideas online, you can ask other people to give you ideas on what they would normally inquire about a particular product they are interested in purchasing. With this wealth of information, you can already come up with some topics to write. You can compile these ideas into your editorial calendar so you can keep producing content consistently.

Tip #2: Make the most out of your headline

Sure, you may be using the right keywords for your article, but if your headline is not interesting enough, it might not get the notice needed. When coming up with a title for your article, you have to remember to be clear with what you are presenting in your article. You don’t need to have a witty title as it does not always get people to click your article. Remember, you only have around 65 characters to work with so make each one count. Here are a few tips for a clickable headline:

  • Be descriptive. Include a bracket that summarizes your content, like [Infographic] or [Video].
  • Announce if you have added photos. Include “Photo(s)” in your headline as these perform better.
  • Use “How To” to solve a problem.
  • Create a list. This will give your readers an idea of how many items they are going to browse through in your article.

Follow these tips and you’ll be well on your way to producing quality content all the time.

Content MarketingDigital MarketingSearch Engine MarketingSEOSocial Media

How You Can Use Instagram Stories for Marketing

09 Dec 16 by Chris Jenkin

Just recently, Instagram introduced its newest feature called Instagram Stories. For everyone who’s been using their mobile device for the past few years, they can immediately connect this new feature as something similar to popular app, Snapchat. This is because Instagram Stories gives its users an avenue where they could share posts at a higher frequency. Instead of the typical Instagram photos being shared, Stories gives users the ability to share little moments that are not necessarily captured on a single photo. After all, there is only very little a photo can tell.

With Stories, Instagram hopes this would answer the common issue of overposting. Since these can be found on another space on the app, users can post as much as they want without worrying about taking over their friends’ feeds. As a marketer, however, how do you take advantage of Instagram’s newest feature? Find out below.

How Instagram Stories Benefits Marketers

Mostly speaking, Instagram Stories is greatly beneficial for marketers who have an active audience base on the app. If you already use Instagram to promote your products and services extensively, you’ll get the hang of using Stories. This is because this new feature allows you to create a light-hearted feed without necessarily starting all over again. You still get to relay your message to your followers but avoid oversaturating them with too many photos you shared.

Another advantage you have over using Stories is that you have more chance of being discovered by other users, particularly the ones you have not yet touched base with. Compared to Snapchat, you won’t have to continually promote your content regularly across other channels in order to be seen by people. With Stories, you have the help of hashtags, geotags, and even the Discover section on Instagram. These tools are specifically there to help increase your chances of being discovered by other users.

Will This New Feature Stick?

Looking at it from an overall perspective, Stories is an entirely different approach compared to Instagram’s photo sharing style. And considering there’s now a demand for transitory content (somewhat similar to Snapchat), Instagram Stories seems to be taking a shot on this new approach. Not to mention, there’s not much thought that needs to be put into Stories compared to a photo.

With this in mind, there’s no saying that ephemeral content would be going away anytime soon; especially since it’s an approach that has become such a success over the recent years. This gives each marketer a chance to take advantage of Instagram Stories as a new way to promote content.

What Type of Content Should You Publish?

As a marketer, you have to remember that the things you publish on your feed have a purpose—to sell your products and services. This is why you should remember to correlate this goal with the content you are sharing with your followers. Here are a few ideas on what type of content would be great to share on Instagram Stories:

  • Behind the scenes. Give your followers a look at what goes on in your office and how everyone works together to create a product. This lets your followers develop a deeper understanding of your brand.
  • Do a take over. You can partner with another establishment to document how you go about with their business and how they do with yours. This makes your audience interested in what goes on behind your business.
  • Poll on the next post. Include your audience in your decision-making process to make them feel more involved in your business.
  • Host a Q&A. Your followers love to hear what you have to say about a particular situation or topic. Indulge them.
  • Limited sales. If you are having a discount, you can highlight a particular product and let your followers know why they should purchase it.

There are plenty of other things you can post on Instagram Stories. You can try out new things and see whether or not they work for you. The important thing is that you determine your own brand and what works for your own business.

 

Content MarketingDigital MarketingSocial Media

What Your Audience Wants to See on Your Social Media Pages

01 Dec 16 by Chris Jenkin

As they all say, content is king! But how do you continue to provide the best content when the demands for content marketing continually change over time? How do you make sure that your content marketing efforts don’t go to waste? One good thing to remember is to pay close attention to your audience. Do you still know who your audience is? Are you giving them content that’s useful to them?

HubSpot Research recently made a remark on how 2016 initiated a new phase of technology, one wherein consumer preferences and new innovations are important factors to consider for every marketer. If you are trying to improve your content marketing practices, the key to doing so is to identify if you are providing your readers the right content. So how do you determine this?

Here are some of the latest trends as told by industry experts:

 Videos

Video has largely become a vital part of content marketing. As projected by experts, 80% of web traffic will come from video by the year 2019. This will represent an impressive increase in video content and especially the amount of time people spend watching YouTube and Facebook videos.

How to make use of video content for your advantage?

  • Keep videos within two minutes in length to ensure viewers watch the entire clip.
  • Add captions and animations to your video so it’s easy for viewers to understand the message, even without listening to anything.
  • Cover breaking news, since this is something more users are interested in seeing.

 Social Media

Social media is never going to die, at least anytime soon. As a matter of fact, its audience is only growing bigger every day. To date, there are 1.7 billion daily active users on Facebook, 500 million on Instagram, 313 million on Twitter, and 150 million on Snapchat. These individuals are consuming more content compared in the past. Because of this, content creators have started to make use of these channels to connect with their target audience.

How do you maximize social media for your brand?

  • Use relevant hashtags sparingly. It’s not good to use multiple hashtags that aim to increase Twitter engagement. You can use a branded campaign hashtag for your audience to easily find content.
  • Use social media for your videos to gain more engagement through likes, shares, retweets or replies.

 News Articles

Nowadays, more and more people are using the internet to stay updated with the latest news. Based on the findings of experts, readers want to keep up with news articles; however, they don’t really read these articles thoroughly. Many readers tend to skim-read the articles or even get the gist of the content through the headline of the article.

How to boost engagement through news articles?

  • Provide an accompanying video to a long article so that those who don’t have time to thoroughly read the text can use the video.
  • Maintain your reader’s attention by using bullets, images, and by breaking up larger text paragraphs. 

Research Content

Readers are also looking for original research they can easily consume and understand. An evidence of this is proven by how successful infographics have become over the years. Your readers no longer want to spend long periods of time trying to decipher the information you provide them. Instead, they are more likely to appreciate it if you spent some of your resources providing a visual element that could prove to be useful for the content they are searching.

How does one make the most out of research data?

  • Make sure to provide effective data visualization through an infographic.
  • Remember to use color in providing the information you have collected as this improves your content’s readership and the attention span of your audience.
  • Break up text in easily digestible images. Remember, people tend to skim-read now instead of reading the entire text.
  • Provide actionable content so your readers know how they can apply what they just learned.

Information provided through an infographic can be more easily remembered by an individual compared to their reading text.

Knowing these things can help you with your content marketing strategy. You no longer have to second guess your tactics since you already know what it is your readers are searching for. In this way, you know that your efforts won’t go to waste.

Content MarketingDigital MarketingSearch Engine MarketingSEOSocial Media

How PokeMon Go Can Boost Your Business

19 Aug 16 by Chris Jenkin

Do you run or help promote a local business?

Interested in taking advantage of the latest gaming craze?

Pokémon Go is close to topping the number of daily users on Twitter and average time spent on the Facebook app. That’s why it’s time for your business to capitalize on it.

In this article, you’ll discover how you can boost your business’s social media engagement with Pokémon Go.

#1: Invite People to Play at Your Business

Your first step to boosting social media engagement via Pokémon Go is to get players to your business.

Use your social channels to invite people to come play at your location, like Monroe Bank & Trust. Better yet, turn it into a contest! Just be sure to follow the rules on each social network, like Facebook.

#2 Offer Free Wi-Fi and Charging Stations

If you want Pokémon Go players to play at your business, there are two vital things they’ll need: Wi-Fi and charging stations. Use your social channels and window signage to let people know that you offer both so they’ll feel welcome to play.

#3: Ask Players to Tag Their Photos

To make sure your business gets some social exposure, ask players to share their favorite Pokémon photos taken at your business and tag your business when they do.

Depending on which social network they share to, they can either tag your business in the post or tag it as the location they were playing at. Either will give your business some social media engagement among the player’s audience, and further if they share the post publicly.

Be sure to look for public mentions so you can thank players for coming and further engage with your customers and fans!

#4: Encourage Players to Check in While Playing

Another way to boost your social engagement (and local Facebook page credibility) is to encourage players to check in while playing. Hopefully the check-ins will either lead to more players coming to your business or new reviews on your Facebook page.

#5: Get Players to Take Pictures of Pokémon With Your Products

Another option is to incentivize customers to play Pokémon and share their pics on social media. Ask players to aim Pokémon on products they want to buy, and each photo they share with a product tagged with your business name will get them a special discount!

Be sure to start by showing your customers how to do it on your Facebook page, Instagram, and other social profiles.

#6: Encourage Players to Share With Snapchat Memories

Snapchat isn’t completely out of the loop when it comes to Pokémon Go, thanks to the new Memories feature. Although you can’t get customers to add your custom geofilter to their snaps from Memories, you can encourage players to share snaps of catching Pokémon inside your business (using Memories and their camera roll).

#7: Film Pokémon Players

This could go a number of ways. Your employees could film players (with their permission, of course) while they’re “on the hunt” for some Pokémon. Or they could film players after they’ve successfully caught a special Pokémon and have them show off their Pokédex. Depending on the space, you could even have a drone fly over a large group of players congregating at a Gym.

Consider filming videos for live platforms like Facebook or Snapchat, or upload videos later to Facebook, Instagram, and so on.

In a “these results are not typical” kind of way, an animal shelter in Indiana came up with the idea to pair Pokémon Go players with shelter dogs so that players could play and walk the dogs at the same time. The idea was so creative that Facebook sent a team to film it and the video was featured on news outlets nationwide.

Author credit: Kristi Hines

Social Media