Category: Social Media

5 Ways to Step Up Your Marketing in 2023

Running a business, your time is valuable – and seriously in demand. You want to build a social media and digital presence, grow your brand and reach more people but there never seem to be enough hours in the day. But focusing on a few key steps can kick-start your marketing growth this year. 

  1. Know your audience

Who are your ideal customers? What are their drivers and why might they come to you? Put together example customer personas for your target groups, and share these across the business to ensure everyone has the right customer insight and that any proposed marketing initiative is tailored to your target audience. 

  1. Get your branding right

Establish a clear brand identity, including design, brand voice and succinct brand messaging. A strong brand is a key differentiating factor to make you stand out from the competition. And if it’s your business, don’t worry about showing a more personal side to your brand – it can have a good impact.

Brand all your communications and make sure your logo, company name, tone of voice and messaging are consistently applied, including on your website, social media and emails. Inconsistency will dilute customer recognition and loyalty, plus variation in company name could negatively affect Google searches for your business.

  1. Engage with social media

Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and LinkedIn are all potential marketing avenues for your company. If you’ve never used any of these to promote your business, you’re missing out.

  • Don’t let fear of ‘doing it wrong’ stop you engaging – There are plenty of good free courses available to get you up to speed and comfortable with different social media channels.
  • Target your resources – Focus on the social media channels right for your audience.
  • Put a plan and guidelines in place – So everyone knows what to say and when.
  • Schedule in time for regular engagement – Post regularly and respond to enquiries promptly.
  • Bring in help – Consider enlisting the support of an external social media manager and marketer as a flexible and cost-effective way of maximising social media opportunities. 

  1. Create content

Whether you are posting on your website, putting articles out on social media or sending out e-newsletters, you need regular, valuable content.

  • Make sure your content is engaging for your audience.
  • Vary your content. For instance, add videos, third-party content from credible sources and event information into the mix.
  • Plan ahead with a content schedule and get content ready ahead of busy times, so there is no communication drop-off.
  • Repurpose content in different ways – on the website, in emails and social media posts.

  1. Go direct

Don’t forget the potential impact of direct marketing too. A well-targeted email marketing campaign can be an effective and inexpensive way to reach large numbers of existing and potential customers, to target specific groups using segmented customer lists and potentially build good customer relationships. 

Revitalise your marketing in 2023

 

And remember there’s support available to help you at every stage if needed. If you’re interested in talking to our team about how we could help you step up your marketing in 2023 we’d love to hear from you. Contact us here for more information or give us a call on 01600 891525.

5 Fun and Festive Marketing Ideas For Your Small Business

Competition is high during the festive period, no matter what industry you are working in. With so many different companies vying for the attention of your target audience it can feel impossible to stand out and be seen – especially if you have the typical tiny marketing budget of a small business!

Even if you don’t know exactly what to do, you know that doing nothing is not an option. You need to get involved to benefit from the extra traffic and spending that happens at this time of year. So here are five ideas for marketing your business in a creative, fun and festive way that should help you stand out from the crowd.

Countdown to Christmas

Two of the things synonymous with Christmas are Advent Calendars and ‘The 12 Days of Christmas’, and both give you the opportunity for a ‘countdown’ campaign. Maybe you can offer 24 days of deals, or 12 free training videos, or maybe even a prize draw every day for customers who purchase.

A countdown campaign is a great way to engage your audience and remind them of who you are every day of their shopping calendar.

Help a Good Cause

This time of year is not just about consumerism, it’s about gift-giving and hospitality, so highlight the values that your company stands for by partnering with a charity or supporting a relevant organisation during the holiday season. Not only will it help you get on the Nice List, but it will also give your customers a great reason to do business with you. 

Whatever you decide to support, remember to do it with sensitivity. The current cost-of-living crisis will make the Christmas season especially difficult for a lot of people. Your audience may even be the recipients of the help you are giving. Focus more on the importance of helping than how wonderful you are for doing it!

Make Christmas Greener

Did you know that at Christmas in the UK 114,000 tonnes of plastic packaging goes to landfill?  Consumers are becoming more aware of the problem of wasteful holiday packaging and are paying more attention to the environmental impact of the holiday season. That makes it a great opportunity to highlight your business’s green credentials, and promote what you are doing to reduce your environmental footprint over 2023.

Get Interactive

The Christmas period is definitely a time when we feel like we’re being yelled at by every shop we’ve ever bought from, so instead of shouting about your latest deals, give your audience the opportunity to get involved and take action.

Interactive content could include polls and surveys, quizzes, calculators and games. Anything that stops the scroll and gets visitors involved with your content is a winning campaign.

Don’t Stop on December 25th

When you’ve worked so hard to gain momentum over December, don’t stop! Make sure that your campaigns carry through the weird pause between Christmas and New Year when we all forget what day it is and struggle to eat anything that isn’t candy cane shaped. Give all the people who engaged with you the opportunity to take action again with more interactive content, chances to give back and countdown to New Year and beyond.

And remember there’s support available to help you at every stage if needed. If you’re interested in talking to our team about how we could help you up your marketing game during the festive season we’d love to hear from you. Contact us at here for more information or give us a call on 01600 891525.

How to Conduct a Killer End of Year Marketing Audit

How often do you review your marketing?  Ideally you should be looking at your statistics regularly throughout the year, but certainly before you embark on plans for the next 12 months. 

You need to look at what worked this year.  And what did not. 

In marketing, we call this an audit – a systematic review and assessment of what has happened up to this point in the year.

  1. Where are you now?

The first place to start is by looking at where you are at right now.  Get all of the data you can together for your website, your email marketing, your budget and it’s ROI, your social media, your sales and whatever other data you’ve been measuring throughout the year.

  1. Look back to look forward

Step two is to reviewing the marketing plan that you made at the start of the year and seeing where you are relative to what you wanted to achieve.  For each objective and goal that you set yourself, look at the measurements and find the relevant numbers you’ve gathered up in step one to see how you did.  For example, if you wanted to increase the number of subscribers to your newsletter by 25%, go dig out your numbers for January and for now and do the maths. 

The reason we do this before we make our next plan is not just to pat ourselves on the back for the goals we reached, but to help us in setting our goals for the year to come.  Where did we surpass our goals – were the numbers too conservative?  Where did we miss the mark – did we not focus on this area enough or was something else responsible? 

  1. An honest appraisal

Step three requires setting your ego aside, and having an honest look at how your competitors have done in the year. 

How active have they been on email and social media?  If you don’t already follow them on social media, or subscribe to their emails, now is the time to do that! 

How has their website been updated during the year?  Where are they coming up in the search results compared to you – has this improved? 

As well as your own statistics, this information can help you to see where your company’s marketing was lacking and offer inspiration on where to focus attention for the year to come.

  1. Delve deep

Finally, step four is to review all the information you’ve collated.  Dig deep and ask questions on everything you have gathered, like:

  • Why is this number different to last year? 
  • How can we improve on this statistic? 
  • What time of year needs more attention? 
  • Who could we ask for help with this next year?

The answers to these questions will form the basis of your marketing plan for the year to come and create actions that you need to take in order to see improvements and reach your new goals.

If you think your business would benefit from some marketing support this festive season we’d love to hear from you! You can contact us here or pick up the phone and call us on 01600 891525.

 

How You Can Use Christmas to Boost your Marketing

Whether we like it or not, the Christmas countdown is well and truly underway. Some businesses will have had their Christmas marketing action plan finalised months ago, whereas others do their marketing following more of an ‘on the fly’ model. Whilst there is no one way that works for everyone, it’s always helpful to know some handy tips for jumping on the Christmas bandwagon and boosting your marketing.

Pull on heartstrings

We’ve seen the TV ads at Christmas; the tear jerkers. If there’s ever a time to get emotional with your marketing strategy, it’s now. Whether you do something big as a company to support a great charity, or just generally do a little more storytelling and get heart-warming with your content, if you can pull genuine emotion out of your users, then you’ve made an impact.

Start at Black Friday

Actually, start at Halloween, but if that’s a little early for you, Black Friday and Cyber Monday is the perfect weekend to add some Christmas offers. This year Black Friday is on 26th November and Cyber Monday is on 29th November. 31% of consumers in the UK begin their Christmas shopping in November, so Black Friday is more than suitable to start dressing up your offerings as Christmas gifts.

Don’t go too far, though. The line between festivity and tastelessness is a fine one, so make sure you’re really adding value with your offers. Christmas gift bundles, or a simple free stocking filler are great ways to add value.

Update your digital shop window

People travel for miles just to admire well-presented and jaw-dropping Christmas window displays. Your digital shop window should draw the same response. Updating your social media profiles and website in line with the holidays is a nice way to get your brand involved with Christmas.

Send out Cards

If you’re a business that serves your offerings regularly to customers, you build up a rapport and relationship over time. Sending out a card is a simple way of reminding them that you value their custom.

Create an Advent Calendar

If you have an e-commerce platform and can afford to offer promotions every day for a month, then you could create an advent calendar. Anyone signed up to your mailing list could receive an offer a day throughout December (should they wish). This is an incentive for people to sign up to email marketing and will also include some very tempting CTA’s (Calls to Action).

Depending on your already established brand image, you don’t have to use every single one of these techniques or go over the top on the Christmas marketing. Christmas is however, the absolute prime time to up your presence, and not to be dismissed.

If you need any help over the busy period, we can offer short-term help. Get in touch and we can have a chat.

7 different ways to advertise your small business

Advertising your small business is stressful – with so many choices and, usually, so little budget how do you choose which channels to use and where to spend your money?  It is important to find the answers, as knowing how to promote your small business in the best possible way sets you on the path to growing your market and expanding your reach.  Reaching the right audience, in the right way, at the right time is the key to successful marketing, and it is different for every business, but there are some general things that can help.

Here are 4 free and 3 paid ways to advertise your small business in a crowded market.

Free Marketing Ideas for Small Businesses

 

Social Media Marketing

LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Pinterest, YouTube, TikTok – the list of social media platforms goes on, with Wikipedia estimating that there are over 130 different ones to choose from now! The key to using social media to advertise your small business is choosing the platform that your customers are using most, and then updating your page regularly.  The only cost to a successful social media marketing campaign is your time investment. 

Email Marketing

If you have a list of customer (or potential customer) email addresses, using them wisely is a great way to market your small business.  Send out helpful articles, sales messages, and rewards to those who sign up and you will create a faithful following that will convert as well as your social media audience, or even better! 

Website Marketing

Don’t overlook your website.  If you are doing all this work to drive people to your website, you need to make sure it converts them into leads.  Make the most of your data and analytics to ensure that it is working as hard as you are.  Search Engine Optimisation is another great way to make your website do more for your business.  By optimising your website to be found in the search engines you can increase the number of visitors, and with no direct costs, your only investment is time and energy.

Content marketing

Another fantastic way to market your business is by creating valuable content.  This could be blog posts, videos, and even podcasts.  It is a great way to express your brand’s personality and help you to find new customers.  It can also support your social media and SEO work, so it’s a great option to use in combination with the other free marketing ideas we’ve suggested above.

Paid Marketing Ideas for Small Businesses

 

Paid Advertising on Search Engines

 

PPC (Pay-Per-Click) marketing is a really effective way to market your business as it allows you to send your message to a highly targeted audience and set a tight budget.  Google Ads and Bing Ads are the most common, and each gives you a chance to test multiple adverts and campaigns to see which performs best for your goals.

Social Media Advertising

 

Instead of relying on organic growth in your social media profiles and pages, you can create very visual social media adverts and display them to a highly targeted audience.  As well as giving you the opportunity to reach a wide number of people for a small budget, the advertising options on these channels give you access to a huge range of in-depth data which can help you to make future advertising decisions.

Remarketing Campaigns

 

If you already have a bank of customer data or have run successful paid campaigns in the past, then remarketing is a great option. Remarketing is usually a cheaper option than other paid marketing options, and has a higher conversion rate.

Whatever your budget, whatever time you have to invest, there is a marketing solution for your small business. Take your time, make a plan and good luck!

If you’d like to speak to one of our team about how we could help you attract new customers with catchy and clever advertising tactics, you can get in touch here. Alternatively, pick up the phone and call us on 01600 891525 – we’d love to hear from you!

Unlocking The Mystery of Social Media Marketing

Why are there so many social media platforms? How do you know which is the right one for your business? Should you pay to boost your content? 

 

Social media can seem mysterious to the business person who wants to use it for promoting their business. But much of what they do can be demystified with the three A’s, attention, audience and assessment.

Social media networks, like the news networks before them, are focussed on attention. Specifically, getting long bouts of attention from users. We hear a lot about how social media is ruining attention spans with short blips of content, but users can spend hours a week, if not a day, scrolling through the endless stream of content.

With your business posts you are looking to interrupt this stream with something that grabs the attention. This doesn’t have to be something outlandish or shocking, it can simply be something that stands out for your audience. 

Depending on the social media network the audience may be seeing things about their friends and family circle, the celebrities they follow, their interests. Then there’s your post, what can you do to make yourself seem different to these other posts? How can you annex some attention?

A core part of attention is interest, when you’re establishing your social media presence you want to do so where your interested audience is.

 

This can vary by industry and social media platform so it always requires some research before you start but a key indicator is to do some competitor analysis. Where are businesses like yours set up on social media? What does their follower audience look like?

This will give you an idea of what is working but it also gives you a basis from which to ask, does this audience exist somewhere else where my competitor doesn’t have a presence? Can you be first to contact an audience via a different channel? This certainly gives you an opportunity to find new customers and clients. 

Once you’ve thought about how to grab attention and who to aim it at, you should engage in continual assessment of your posts.

Look at what gets engagement and what doesn’t. When you pay to boost posts, how do the results compare with your expectations? Were the results bad, or your expectations high?

You will never stop assessing your posts, measuring them, understanding what performs and what doesn’t. 

 

The idea that there is some concrete formula that will see you right for social posts, that will bring business flooding in every time, is a fallacy. The networks themselves change modelling and algorithms on a frequent enough basis that any formula would be short term, but what they cannot change is what an audience is looking for on social media. 

Define your audience, talk to them in a way that differs from the rest of the content they’re encountering and keep assessing what you do to ensure you maximise your potential, that you explore new ideas and give your audience a reason and opportunities to connect, engage and do business with you.

If you’d like a hand solving the mystery of social media marketing, then get in touch and we’ll work it out together.

Thinking Out of The Box With Creative Marketing

How can a smaller company hope to compete in their industry when they are at such a big disadvantage when it comes to marketing?

Larger companies have big budgets and a greater number of staff dedicated to all aspects of the marketing process: From advertising, to customer service, and even production. For smaller companies, they don’t have the same luxuries – budgets are vastly smaller and usually a lot of the work must be done by a handful of people, or even fewer!  In order to grab the public’s attention – and hold onto it – smaller businesses must be more creative in their approach and offer a unique selling point in the hope that they can beat the big guys at their game.

So, what can you do?

 

SOCIAL MEDIA

 

Social media can be a great platform for exposure whatever size you may be; it is relatively inexpensive and can reach a vast number of potential customers quickly. With different platforms to choose from, you can use them all for different purposes.

LinkedIn has 756 million members, is specifically a business and professional network and is uniquely suited for B2B lead generation. It enables you to easily target, connect and engage with your target audience. If your business offers a solution to your customer’s needs, LinkedIn is the best environment for attracting their attention.

Twitter is brilliant for interacting with other people and can be used for customer service; this is a method that has already been adopted by many companies.

Instagram specialises in photographs – this can be ideal for showing off the visual aspects of your business: different products; the views from your B&B or glamping pod. Social media can also allow other forms of interaction – invite them to post photos of themselves with your product; have a hashtag and offer a reward. You could even run competitions.

 

VIDEO

 

Not everyone wants to read an article about a product; maybe the individual does not get the same feeling or experience from written words that they require to make a purchase.

Millions of videos are viewed daily on the internet, and this can be a great avenue to expose your products and business.

Consider uploading a video of your product, like a demonstration or being used by a model, to your website or a social channel like YouTube.  Or you could make a virtual tour of your restaurant, holiday let, office or workshop.  The visual effect of your product could be more enticing to your potential customers, and you can help increase trust by being part of the video yourself. 

Allowing your customer to see the face of the business can bring about a more personal touch, and a lasting impression – you could even go viral!

 

CHANGE WITH THE SEASONS

 

Consider taking a seasonal approach.

Throughout the year, there are various holidays and events, that you could use to inspire you. Food and drink-based companies can capitalise on holiday days like Valentine’s Day – bakeries offering sweet treats; restaurants selling special offers for couples. Change menus to suit the summer weather; BBQ offers; sell cocktails or mocktails.

Adapt your products to seasonal change: Sell hot drinks and baked goods in the winter; cooling drinks and ice cream in the summer; anything with pumpkin spice in the autumn!  Run vibrant swimwear campaigns during the summer holidays or winter campaigns that position hats and scarves as great gifts. A Christmas Countdown, with Black Friday incentives – whatever your business, seasonal promotions can boost your creativity and your sales.

Just because you don’t have a big budget, doesn’t mean you can’t be creative with what you have.  Work out what matters most to your customers and support them in that, and never underestimate the power of the personal touch.

If you’re interested in talking to our team about how we could help you induce some creativity into your marketing we’d love to hear from you. Contact us here or give us a call on 01600 891525.

Fighting Lockdown Fatigue – How to Keep your Marketing Going

Marketing has been going digital for decades, but now as the rest of the business world is racing to catch up, the huge increase in screen-time means we’re all fighting Lockdown fatigue.  We’re growing tired of webinars, video calls, and endless ‘how to improve working from home’ blogs.  So how do we keep our marketing going when the same audiences who were excited about our innovative ways to attract and entertain them online, are now fed up with anything digital?

Social Media

Instead of continuing to share useful articles on your feed and hoping for people to respond, start engaging with them first.  Get into the comment sections of relevant posts and share your article there.  Add value, give back, don’t keep shouting and hoping you’ll be heard above the noise.

Also, use this time to encourage your employees to grow their social media presence, especially on LinkedIn and Twitter.  Offer training on how to be confident and helpful online; show them how to add valuable insight, and to do it when their network wants to hear from them, not before.

Emails

Emails are still converting as well as they have ever done, but the secret to standing out in a crowd right now is to get creative.  Segregate your audience and send them targeted messages.  The most effective emails right now are highly personalised, and create memorable experiences for your audience, so take the time and do it properly to see a difference.

Go offline

Royal Mail recently did some research with MarketReach, which has shown that physical mail is having more impact on customers than ever before.  Since we are more likely to be home when our mail arrives, we choose when to look at it and if we want to respond to it, rather than throwing it in a pile at the end of a long day.  The research shows that the biggest rise in engagement has been in the 18-34 age group.

The best part of this research?  Mail is an increasingly effective method of driving people online, with a 70% increase year-on-year of traffic driven by physical mail.  Send your customers thank you cards, care packs, physical vouchers – anything that could bring them a smile when they go to the letter box. 

Whatever method you choose to use to reenergise your fatigued marketing, the most important thing is to do something.  Now is not the time to slow down.  It might feel pointless, especially if your business has been forced to stop trading, but now is the time to plan for the future.  When lockdown finally lifts and you are able to reopen, a new marketing strategy will be the last thing on your list!  Market now, reap the benefits later.

And remember there’s support available to help you if needed. If you’re interested in talking to our team about how we could help you keep your marketing going during lockdown we’d love to hear from you. Contact us here for more information or give us a call on 01600 891525.

4 Small Business Marketing Tips During the Pandemic

Now is an uncertain time with lots of unknowns and small businesses all over the world are scared and worried. 2020 has brought about many changes that are impacting the way businesses communicate and this period of uncertainty is weighing heavily on the minds of customers.

Many businesses have been forced to close as a result of the crisis, many others have lost a significant portion of their customer base and many have been reduced to a 100% remote workforce.

This is the bad news.

 

But let’s talk about the good news.

 

It’s not all doom and gloom, and there is light at the end of the tunnel. The Coronavirus pandemic could present a unique opportunity to reinvent how you market your small business. There are steps you can take to set your business up for success in the long run. The crisis can be turned into an opportunity with the following small business marketing tips:

 

  1. Reach Out to your existing customers

Do your current customers know you are still open for business? Have they been informed of any changes to how you operate? Reach out to them by email, social media, phone or letter. Let them know you are still there for them and happy to offer assistance when they need it. Remember that due to the pandemic, competition is low, so cease this marketing opportunity to get in front of your target audience. Communicate how you can help your customers navigate tough times.

 

  1. Optimise your brand’s online presence

Businesses that rely on offline operations face huge challenges as a result of the crisis. People are still fearful of venturing into public and non-essential stores, so now is the time to shift your focus from a brick-and-mortar storefront to an online presence. Online is more essential than ever when it comes to building your brand and businesses that actively utilise the online space for marketing and customer relations have realised the importance of optimising their online presence. If you want your business to survive and thrive in a post-Covid-19 world, you must adapt and leverage the opportunities brought about by the changing digital world.

 

A few tips for optimising your brand’s online presence:

 

Create compelling content that clearly defines what you do and why you’re different

Make sure your brand looks and sounds clear and consistent

Be active online – post regularly to your website and social media, and regularly engage with your followers on social media

 

  1. Redefine your brand purpose

Why does your business exist beyond making money? Your brand purpose has always been a big deal, but during the pandemic it’s even more important to know exactly what your business stands for. A brand purpose means you always have something to work towards and affects everything from making key business decisions to bringing on board the right team members. Your brand purpose is your ‘why.’ In his book ‘Start with Why’ Simon Sinek says we can define our brand purpose by asking ourselves these 3 questions:

 

Why does our brand exist?

Why would someone choose us?

Why do we do what we do and how do we do it?

 

Consider what makes your business different. There may be many businesses offering the same services or products as you, what makes your brand different is your brand purpose.

 

  1. Send out personal Christmas cards 

Quality business partnerships have a personal element to them. Adopt an old-school personal touch to let your customers know you value them and are looking forward to welcoming them back by sending out beautifully branded Christmas cards. A Christmas card reminds your customers that your business still exists and is an indirect way of getting on their radar without looking salesy or pushy. It’s also a great way to get noticed by clients you haven’t heard from in a while.

 

If you need any help developing a marketing strategy and brand message at this difficult time, get in touch and we’ll work it out together.

5 Ways to Grow your Business using LinkedIn

5 ways to grow your business using LinkedIn 

LinkedIn is one of the fastest-growing social media networks, with an average of two new accounts being created every second.  Its value as a B2B marketing tool is integral to its popularity, but unlike other social media networks, business users must have a public face.  On Facebook and Twitter you can hide behind a logo, but on LinkedIn, you are visible and that can be daunting for small business owners and their staff.

In an effort to help alleviate fears and remove the overwhelm of marketing your business on LinkedIn, here are our top tips for growing your business using this powerful social network.

1 – Complete your LinkedIn profile

As the saying goes, people do business with people.  On LinkedIn, your profile acts as a type of CV, showing off your accomplishments, musings and interactions online.  You and your colleagues’ LinkedIn profiles are integral to how your brand and company are seen by prospective customers and employees.  It is the place to boast about your achievements so use it wisely.  Fill it in completely, and then optimise it as you see how your profile appears in searches over time.  Don’t forget to continuously update it with new skills and examples of your work.

2 – Complete your LinkedIn Company Page

According to statistics published by LinkedIn, 46% of the social media traffic visiting B2B company sites comes from LinkedIn.  That’s a lot of potential traffic for your website, and since completed company pages receive twice as many visitors as incomplete profiles, you can see how important it is to fill out your company page information!  Make sure to use a version of your company logo as the page’s profile image, and use a cover image that portrays your brand in the right light, then dig deep and complete all of the information required to hit LinkedIn’s 100% target.

3 – Post regularly and consistently

LinkedIn’s own statistics suggest that posting to your company page at least once per month is enough to gain six times more followers than pages which post less often.  We suggest posting at least once per week to keep your followers engaged and to help you to attract new followers.  To maximise engagement include a link and an image as statistics show these are key to improving how followers interact with your posts and company profile.

4 – Get your team onboard

The fastest way to increase the reach of your company page posts on LinkedIn is to engage your colleagues and employees.  Encourage them to like, comment on, and share your posts whenever they see them in their news feed.  Statista shows that 42% of LinkedIn users have between 300 and 999 connections – that is a lot of potential reach when your employees share your company’s posts.  Think outside of your team and invite your partners and customers to follow your company page and encourage them to share your posts. 

5 – Share far and wide

Getting great results from your LinkedIn marketing efforts will require you to integrate it with your other marketing channels.  Cross-promotion is key to increasing your company page followers and improving your reach.  Include a link to your page in your email signatures, on your website and other social media pages.

You can also consider increasing your reach by utilising LinkedIn’s paid advertising campaigns.  These allow you to get your important messages to a target audience in the same way as other paid social media marketing but, because of the B2B nature of LinkedIn, it offers some great additional targeting options.

If you are still struggling with the idea of promoting your company on LinkedIn, consider outsourcing to an expert – someone who will guide you through the pitfalls and help you to build your business on the world’s biggest B2B social network.

Influencer Marketing: The Take Over

Influencer Marketing: It’s essentially celebrity endorsement, put into the modern-day content marketing strategy. Influencer Marketing will usually involve a collaboration between today’s internet-famous and brands. These peoples’ recommendations have proven to have massive impacts on ROI and the tactic has grown hugely in recent years.

To put this growth into perspective, here are some stats and facts:

– 71% of consumers are more likely to make a purchase based on a Social Media reference

– Instagram is the most popular platform for influencer marketing, with a predicted $2.4 billion to be spent by marketers on Instagram in 2020

– 86% of women head to Social Media platforms before making a purchase

There’s huge money in Influencer Marketing, and companies are investing big percentages of their budget into it. 2019 Love Island star Molly-Mae Hague earns around £7,200 for a single sponsored Instagram post, and the most successful influencers such as Kylie Jenner get a whopping $1 million per sponsored post!

Now, these figures may seem out of reach for most Small to Medium Enterprises (SME’s), however the fact remains that Influencer Marketing is not to be scoffed at. If you’re looking to reach your target market directly, this could be an avenue to explore.

However, as influencer marketing is so new, it can be hard to know where to start and what to do. Here are some key tips for anyone getting started:

Find influencers that encompass your brand values

It’s important when searching for an influencer for your brand, not to just look at follower numbers and engagement rates, but to look at their whole brand image. Does it match yours? Do they have the same values as your brand? You want to form partnerships with your chosen influencers, that way they’re more like brand ambassadors, rather than simply churning out meaningless content.

Delve deeper into the metrics

You may think that finding an influencer with a huge number of followers is the way to reach a wider audience, however this isn’t always the case. Big numbers don’t always mean that they’re all paying attention. A lower number of followers could mean that they have a tighter network and bigger engagement rates. If you’re in a niche market, you may be better off going for an influencer with a lower number of followers, but with a good and trustworthy relationship with them.

Work with your chosen influencer(s) to get content that works for everyone

You’ll need to collaborate with your influencers to ensure that they’re posting content that matches both your own and their brand image, as well as motivating people to act. Working together is the best way to create content that is a win-win for everyone; your brand, your influencer, and their followers.

Finding influencers can be a tough job, too. A good place to start would be to search for relevant hashtags to your industry and see who may already be taking an active interest in your brand or products. Build up relationships with these people and do your research to see if they’re the right fit.

If you don’t have the time to put in all of this research, there’s some good tools out there to help you out:

Upfluence – A tool that helps you search for and contact influencers that are relevant to your brand

Socialbakers – A search facility that gives influencers a score based on how they match up to your brand

Influence.co – A free library of influencers that you can search for by category, location and more 

Taking the leap into a new and unknown world can be a big step. But, with these basic tips and tools, you’ll be well on your way. If you’d like any consultation or help with your marketing strategy and tactics, then get in touch with us.

 

 

The Language of GIFs

If you haven’t used GIF’s in your communication before now, then there’s no doubt that you’ve seen them around. GIF’s have grown in popularity so much that you can even search for GIF’s quickly with a shortcut on many smartphone keyboards and on most social media platforms.

What exactly is a GIF? A Graphics Interchange Format is, in official terms, a bitmap image format for files that supports both animated and static images. In layman’s terms, it is, in essence, a digital flip book of images going around in a loop.

The popularity of the GIF is quite ironic, because GIFs were actually invented before the internet itself! The first GIF was created in 1987 by Steve Wilhite.

Twitter introduced GIF search back in 2016 in a bid to keep moving forward with culture. David Macintosh, CEO and co-founder of Riffsy, a GIF library platform, expressed his feelings towards the move; “So much can be expressed with GIFs, and the key is to find just the right one in the moment that quickly and efficiently expresses your emotions.”

Now, Riffsy has been re-branded as Tenor, and Google bought the popular GIF platform so that users can even search for them in Google Images. Our digital culture has GIFs ingrained in it as part of the language, and the marketing industry is jumping on the bandwagon more and more.

Why? Unsurprisingly, marketeers aren’t just using GIFs because they’re fun (but that is a bonus), GIFs make for much higher engagement rates and allow brands to express a lot in just one image.

Here’s just a few reasons that GIFs work so well for marketing:

They’re Easy to Consume

Keep Scrolling

With our attention spans getting shorter and shorter, conveying a message that’s easy to consume is more important than ever. You can convey a message to users without them even having to stop scrolling with a GIF.

The internet likes GIFs

The file size of a GIF is significantly smaller than that of a video, so upload time is much quicker than it would be for a video. The internet reads it as an image, whilst we get the benefits of a video.

They’re cheap and easy

The design and creation of GIFs is miles easier than video. It takes less time and less money, the two most crucial elements of a marketing strategy.

GIFs Add Personality to your Brand

Brand personality

People are much less receptive to traditional methods of marketing than they used to be, and they crave creativity and personality. GIFs are a great way to feed this need and can encourage more sharing and engagement.

We could go on with the list of benefits of GIFs, but we’ll just leave you with this:

If you’d like some help with your marketing strategy and the integration of modern trends, then please contact us and we’ll see how we can help.

Utilising National Holidays in your Strategy

If you were to look it up, the chances are every day is a national, international or awareness day of some kind. Some are serious, the intention to make us think – such as World Diabetes Day on the 14th Nov 2019.  Others are just fun and often a little bit whacky such as national wear your pj’s to work day  (It’s on the 16th April if you’re interested!)

With over 1,000 of these days and months, plus bank holidays and religious holidays, your calendar is jam packed, you could have a theme for each day!

In recent times, lots of companies have jumped on some of these national days and used them for their own marketing, and it proves to be a great way to add some personality to your brand image.

Depending on your business and industry, you can host marketing promotions and events for certain days that are relevant to you. For example, if you have an optical business, National Glaucoma Week could be your opportunity to run an event to educate your customers on the effects and causes of Glaucoma.  Run a bakery?  Then National Donut Day may be the one for you!

There are, of course, more well-known holidays that most businesses will use, like Christmas Day. Utilising the lesser-known holidays are a good way to stand out, though. Why?

– On a national day that is smaller and more unique, you won’t be trumped by huge corporations with an unlimited marketing budget

– The quirkier days can put a smile on your customers faces or brighten up their day, this can put you in a positive place in their minds

How can you use national days in your marketing?

– Create some interesting and relevant content for your blog or website

– Share this content on your social media – remember to alter the content to suit your platform though!

– Don’t forget to use the official and unofficial hashtags which are being used around the day’s theme so that you join in with the conversation

– Add a special sale or offer that relates to the national day – this will entice people to purchase

– Hold an event with a theme for the national day. If it’s a fun and quirky day, then maybe you could hold more of a party style event, if it’s a serious awareness day, then you could hold an educational event

To save you the time in hunting out all the relevant national days that you could jump on board with for your marketing, we’ve put together a handy document for our clients. Not every national day is on there, we’d have to publish a book for that, just some that we think are handy to know. Download the pdf, print it out and stick it up in your workplace, then you’ll know when there’s a date coming up that’s worth shouting about.

Download printable PDF here

When is the Best Time to Post on Social Media?

Are you posting your brand content on social media, and sometimes getting a great response, whilst other times radio silence?

If you’re just posting when you remember, although it’s a good start, you might not be reaching all the people that you could be. There has been lots of research showing that posting at certain times, on certain days, can increase the likelihood of people seeing and engaging with your content.

What’s more, you don’t just have to think about the times that your posting. Different times are more suited to different social platforms. Posting at a certain time on Facebook may not be as productive if posted at the same time on Twitter.

Unfortunately, whilst there’s no exact magical time that will guarantee you likes, comments and 100% engagement there is research which suggests which times and days are best. 

We’ve highlighted the best times for each social platform to help you reach the highest number of people.

Facebook

Wednesday (12pm & 3pm) Thursday (1pm-3pm) have shown themselves to have the highest engagement. The lowest engagement rates are usually between 10pm & 5am (unsurprisingly). The highest levels really are during business hours, it seems there are a lot of people at the office desk scrolling through their feeds!

Good to know – Facebook’s newest algorithm means users see more posts from friends and family than business pages, so your marketing posts may not get as much reach as they once did. Engagement rates consistently peak during midday on weekdays, so Wednesday is a safe day to post.

Twitter

Wednesday 12pm / 3pm / 5pm-6pm are peak moments that content is being shared, clicked on, and commented on (during people’s work breaks). As with Facebook, Wednesday seems to be a safe day to post your content, although it’s good to use Twitter for instant engagement and sharing of industry news.

Good to know – B2B content performs 16% better during business hours, whilst B2C content works 17% better over the weekends

LinkedIn

Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday are all good days for posting. 7am-8am, 12pm and 5-6pm have shown themselves to be effective times to post.

Good to know –LinkedIn usage should be kept to sharing industry insights and sharing company news – try not to sell directly through LinkedIn, although cleverly sharing project case studies is a way of taking people directly to your website, just make sure it’s relevant and topical.

Instagram

The best time to post on Instagram is Wednesday at 3pm, however Thursday is a good day throughout. It’d be safe to post on Instagram during the working hours on Tuesday-Thursday.

Good to know – Instagram has over 1 billion users, coming third behind only Facebook and YouTube, and 60% of millennial’s say they’re more likely to buy from a brand that they actively follow on Instagram.

Now’s the time to think about ‘time’

In short, scheduling your social media activity for certain times is a good way to increase your engagement and brand awareness. Ideally you need to factor this into your social media strategy.   Plan ahead, schedule strategically and follow it through.

If you need any help developing a strategy and working out which social media platforms will work for your brand message and business objectives, then get in touch  and we’ll work it out together.

Should I Still Use Facebook…?!

Social media giant Facebook was the brainchild of Mark Zuckerberg who launched the platform back in February 2004 with fellow Harvard University student, Eduardo Saverin. Whilst it was initially designed exclusively for Harvard University students, Facebook was soon rolled out to colleges across the USA and Canada and eventually made available to anyone with a valid email address, over the age of 13 in 2006.

11 Years on from its public release, it’s now difficult to imagine a world without Facebook and it’s estimated that 2.2 billion people are active on the platform worldwide. However, recently there has been much controversy surrounding the social network.

There have been allegations that the social media giant has exposed the data of 50 million users without direct consent. In addition, Facebook’s moral position on connecting the wrong kinds of people has also been called into question.

While there is a distinct difference between using the platform on a personal level and as a business, the fact is that if people do delete their personal profiles, there will be no one left on the platform for your business to reach.

So, should you and your business still be using Facebook? We thought we’d let the statistics help you decide!

 

In Favour

> Website Quora reported that, “Mark Zuckerberg says he has not seen a “meaningful number of people” deleting their Facebook accounts in the wake of a scandal that caused users to question how well the social media site protected their data.”

> Facebook is a great way to reach a targeted audience.

> 83% Of women use Facebook while 75% of men use the social network.

> 16 Million local business pages have been created as of May 2013 which is a 100% increase from eight million in June 2012. 

> According to technology research company Forrester, 78% of teens online use Facebook. This is the same proportion as in 2014 and Facebook remains one of the more popular social networking sites, second only in popularity to You Tube.

 

Against

> There are an estimated 83 million fake profiles.

> 40% Of Facebook users have never “liked” a Facebook page.

> Facebook has played a significant part in the rise of Fake News as it tries to position itself as a news portal while continuing to promote freedom of speech. You can see where the lines become blurred.

> The newsfeed has now become so diluted that it’s not considered a valuable source of information.

> There is an argument that Facebook can take traffic away from your business’ website.

 

Make up Your Own Mind

Essentially no one can answer this question for you because each and every business is different. Even with the recent controversy, the network remains popular and even while some millennials now deem it “uncool” it’s unlikely that we’ll see a total boycott anytime soon.

Given the statistics above, it might seem crazy not to have a business presence on Facebook. However, it’s worth considering your target demographic and whether this is the right platform to reach them.

Having a Facebook page is only really worthwhile if you’re going to spend time updating it with engaging content. But what if the people who you want to engage with your content aren’t there? It’s worth considering if investing your time on this social network is worth your effort.

Security and data breaches aside, using things like Hootsuite can help save time with your social media posts, allowing you to simultaneously post to accounts on different social networks. Making it easy enough to keep your business presence on this platform and keep your page content ticking over.

 

If you’d like more information on how to set up a company page for your business on Facebook or if you require some other social media support, contact our team. You can email info@limegreenmarketing.co.uk or call us on 01600 891525.

Seasonal Social Media Support

At LimeGreen, we specialise in providing bespoke marketing solutions for businesses across a range of industries. While our complete social media management packages are popular with many clients, we also understand that this isn’t always right for every business.

 

Depending on the service or product you’re offering, certain times of the year are going to be busier for you than others. So, if it’s some short-term support that you’re looking for, we’re here to help!

 

Here are just two organisations who have benefited from some seasonal support with their social media.

 

The National White Water Centre

The National White Water Centre on the River Tryweryn in Snowdonia National Park is the UK’s original white water rafting venue.

 

 

While they had already established themselves on social media and developed loyal followers, the team sometimes struggled to keep on top of their channels during popular paddling times, when the centre was at its busiest.

We supported the team by managing their social media accounts during these busy summer months.

By using Hootsuite Teams, we were able to schedule social media content whilst allowing the team to share of the moment posts. A shared digital content library was created where imagery, videos and marketing materials could easily be accessed by both parties.

We produced well-balanced content for all social media channels including videos, imagery, testimonials, facts and figures, real time information, industry articles and promotions in order to attract new visitor and keep existing centre users engaged.

Hashtag research established which terms were popular with our audience, enabling us to strategically target them by activity or interest. A centre specific hashtag was created to encourage followers to start their own conversations on social media – #WhiteWaterWales.

In order to support the team going forward, we produced a social media content calendar template to help them plan and schedule content while the centre is quieter over the Winter months.

 

 

Hart’s Traditional Turkeys

Hart’s Traditional Turkeys raise a limited number of premium free-range turkeys with love and care in the beautiful traditional way on their Gloucestershire farm.

 

 

Hart’s wanted to take part in the NFU ‘#BuyMyTurkey’ campaign which aims to share messages of why buying local is important this Christmas.

Farmers are encouraged to post pictures of themselves, their farm and their turkeys on social media, telling us why they’re proud, and why local is best, while using the hashtag #BuyMyTurkey.

We started with some basic housekeeping of Hart’s Twitter account to ensure that their brand identity was clearly recognisable and in line with what customers would see on their website and Facebook page.

We set up Hootsuite and gave the team a crash course in how to use it to schedule content in order to make the most of their social media channels during the busy festive season.

 

If you think your business would benefit from some social media support this festive season we’d love to hear from you! You can email info@limegreenmarketing.co.uk or pick up the phone and call us on 01600 891525.

 

 

How to Use Hashtags

What is a # Hashtag?

 

A hashtag is a word or phrase without spaces with a hash mark (#) in front of it. It is used to identify a keyword or topic of interest in a social media post.

For example, ‘#HowToUseHashtags’ is a hashtag!

When used properly, hashtags make it easier for users to find related content. Including them in your social media posts will help increase the visibility of your messages.

 

What’s the Difference Between ‘#’ and ‘@’?

Now you know what a hashtag is, it’s important that you know how to use it. So, let’s start by clearing up some simple symbol confusion.

When you’re starting out on social media, ‘# – hashtag’ and ‘@ – at’ are easily confused but they have different functions and it’s important to be aware of these if you want to make the most of your social media posts.

The good news is that these functions are the same across most social media platforms and so you’ll only have two rules to remember

    • If a word has the symbol ‘#’ in front of it, it’s a hashtag.
  • If a word has the symbol ‘@’ in front of it, it’s a specific social media account.

So, if we were to write the following message,

“Did you know that @LimeGreenMarketing can help businesses with their #SocialMedia?”

‘@LimeGreenMarketing’ directly mentions the business’ social media account and ‘#SocialMedia’ is the keyword or topic of interest, or hashtag.

 

Using Hashtags on Different Social Media Platforms

While the function of a hashtag is essentially the same on each social media platform, it is worth noting that there are subtle differences in the most effective ways to use them. We’ve put together some pointers for the three most popular social media channels below.

 

Twitter

Given that Twitter is where the it all began, it’s no surprise that this social media platform has enabled the humble hashtag to be more versatile than most.

Like other social media channels, hashtags are used on Twitter to find relevant content and conversations to get involved in. By having a public profile, your tweets that include hashtags will appear in search results for that term. This means users who aren’t already following you can find your account through a common interest or topic via the hashtag.

But how many hashtags should you include? In general tweets with one hashtag receive the most engagement whereas using three or more on this platform have been proven to lower engagement.

If you’re unsure which hashtags you should be using, take a look at the “Trends” sidebar of your Twitter feed. This creates a list of hashtags you might be interested in based on your tweets.

You can filter the results when you search for a hashtag on Twitter. The “Top” option displays the most relevant and popular posts, including those from users you don’t follow, “All” shows you every tweet that uses the specific hashtag in real time, and “People you follow” will only display results from users you are following. Good to know!

 

Instagram

Instagram is a visual social media platform. Using hashtags on Instagram allows photos with the same hashtag to be collated into one stream. This makes discovering content and finding new users with similar interests easy to follow.

While Instagram limits users to 30 hashtags per post (which seems like plenty!), there is no universally agreed correct number of hashtags to use on this platform. Our advice? Keep your hashtags relevant and don’t forget to include some plain text with your photo too.

If you want to include a hashtag in your Instagram post, type the ‘#’ symbol and Instagram will give you suggestions based on popularity.

 

Facebook

Rather than asking how to use hashtags on Facebook, it’s worth asking if you should be using them at all. As the last of the three major social media platforms to follow suit with the hashtag feature, Facebook’s functionality is a little more limited. While clicking on Facebook hashtags will take you to a list of posts containing the same hashtag, the results are not limited to people you know.

It is now possible to filter hashtag search results on this platform. However, data has shown that using hashtags on Facebook posts does not help boost engagement like it does on other social media platforms.

If you’re determined to use hashtags on this platform, we recommend you do so sparingly – one per post will be just fine.

 

Creating Your Own Hashtags

As well as tapping into hashtag trends, it’s easy to create your own. While you could conduct your own hashtag research to get you started, we simply suggest following these simple rules:

    • Try to keep your hashtags to no more than three words. This makes them easier to remember and more likely for others to remember.

 

    • Use a capitol letter for the start of each word in your hashtag sentence. While hashtags are not case sensitive, it will make them easier to read and will avoid any embarrassment. Do you remember #susanalbumparty, or rather #SusanAlbumParty? Did you see it? Exactly, take our advice!

 

    • Alliteration often works well in hashtags e.g. #ThrowbackThursday or #FridayFeeling.
  •  
    • Hashtags can be brand specific or campaign specific. Brand specific hashtags can be included in any post. Campaign specific hashtags will be used for one off promotions.

 

 5 Hashtag Facts

Now that you know how to handle your hashtags, we thought we’d include some facts and figures for you to impress your friends with.

  • It’s thought that the symbol we know today as a hashtag has evolved from the 14th century abbreviation for pound weight – libra pondo or lb. A horizontal slash was added to denote the letters were connected and over time messy writing resulted in the hashtag.
  • Hashtags were born on Twitter.
  • In 2007 former Google employee, Chris Messina was the first person who tweeted using a hashtag.
  • The word “hashtag” was added to the Oxford dictionary in 2010 and the Scrabble dictionary in 2014.
  • Almost 75% of people on social media use hashtags – whether they are all using them correctly is a different story altogether!

 

If you’re still unsure about how to make the most of hashtags on social media get in touch with our team. We offer social media support and training tailored to you and your needs. Call us on 01600 891525 or email info@limegreenmarketing.co.uk.

 

Be Social Media Savvy in 2021

The new year is the perfect time to make resolutions and what better new year’s resolution to make than a vow to improve your social media? We’re on hand with some helpful hints to help make you social media savvy in 2021. So, let’s get started…

 

 

Creating a Social Media Schedule

 

A social media schedule can sound like a lot of work but in fact, this will save you time. By setting aside a small amount of time each week – or month depending on how far ahead you’d like to look – you can find some focus and hatch a plan so that you know exactly what you’re going to post and when.

 

 

What Content Should I Post?

 

Images – Images are nice to look at. Images catch peoples eye. Facebook posts with images receive 120% more engagement than those with plain text. This is equally true with Twitter. Including an image on a tweet increases retweets by 150%.

Infographics – Infographics are the most socially shared form of content. They communicate data quickly and simply with minimal effort on the audience’s part. Share your stats.

Newsworthy Content – People want new information all the time. Current, up-to-date news stories, that are relevant to your organisation are worth sharing. Be a source of useful information as well as being your brand.

Quotes – Be it humorous, inspiring, motivational or thought provoking, quotes are quick to read and are a good way of getting an easy like or share.

Behind the Scenes Photos – Give your followers something extra, something that they wouldn’t see on your website or read on your blog. These types of images help tell the story of your brand and humanise what you do.

Reviews – If your business is doing well, shout about it! Word of mouth is a powerful tool. So is a social share.

Recurring Posts – Give your audience a reason to come back. A regular feature like a blog post or fun fact posted at the same time each week can work well.

Products and Promotions – Think of social media as your digital shop window. Sell yourself.

 

 

 

Where Can I Find Good Content?

 

Blog Posts – If you already have a blog make sure you share your posts on social media, but don’t stop there. Do you read other blogs? If they’re relevant to you and your business or you have something to say about them, go ahead and share.

Your Website – Don’t forget to encourage people to visit your website by regularly sharing links. This is where people will find the most detailed information about who you are and what you do.

The News – Try to get into the habit of keeping your eyes peeled for stories that would interest your followers. If you can’t share them right at that moment, save them for later or set a reminder. You could start to build up a bank of content quite quickly.

YouTube – Video is booming, and with 300 hours of it uploaded to YouTube every minute, you’re bound to find something to share.

Canva – Not a Photoshop whiz? Canva is an online tool which allows you to create simple social media sized images, with lots of free content and the option to upload your own too.

Pinterest – Pinterest is a platform based on organised content. Someone else has already done all the hard work for you. Just type in your key words and let the search feature do the rest.

 

 

So, there you have it, what are you waiting for?

If you’re interested in talking to our team about your own social media marketing requirements we’d love to hear from you. Email info@limegreenmarketing.co.uk for more information or give us a call on 01600 891525.

 

 

 

 

Social Media Pros & Cons

Social media is everything, everywhere, and everyone is part of it! 4.48 billion people currently use social media worldwide, up more than double from 2.07 billion in 2015.

This surge of social media activity has created a whole new opportunity for many businesses to reach, distribute and promote services to customers. In this article we explore the top 5 pros and cons of social media marketing.

Social Media pros

 

1) Cost: Social media is often free or at worst it costs very little. It’s also versatile and allows marketers to choose what they spend and when so you have control over your own budget.

2) Massive Audience: The internet is HUGE, we all know that. Facebook alone has over a billion users, all of them in one digital location. This offers a host of opportunities to generate business and attract customers who would be considerably harder to reach offline.

3) Building your brand: Social media is all about just that. Being social! Interaction means that customers feel valued by your brand, thus building brand loyalty. Happy customers also have the chance to tell the world how great you are. If everyone can see you then everyone can also see these great reviews making it is easier for your reputation to be shared with your target market.

4) Its fast. Really fast: Social media is instantaneous and your results can be too. You can also synchronise your message across different platforms to reach even more customers. 

5) Customer Service: Do you care for your customer? You should. And Social media allows you to do that publicly. It’s easy for customers to contact you if they need to, and responding to customers is simple and personal.

 

Social Media cons

 

1) Stand Out: Due to the scale of social media and the sheer number of competitors it can be quite difficult to make your company stand out in the crowd.

2) Time is money: Social media marketing needs committed time and attention for it to be successful. 64% of digital marketers spend a minimum of 6 hours on Social Media Marketing, with the remaining 37%  dedicating more than 11 hours to it. If not maintained, your hard work will become old news very quickly and hard to rebuild.

3) Putting your reputation on the line: Social Media can make your brand, but it can break it just as easily. A billion opinions will never agree and a host of spammers and trolls must also be handled quickly and carefully.  Bad news spreads faster than good news and many people don’t understand how their often flippant opinions can affect your reputation. It’s essential your followers are engaged with regularly and honestly to reduce negative feedback.

4) Measuring success: Interest in your brand can come in waves and just because you’re successful onscreen, that doesn’t always mean your followers are behaving in the way you want them to. Despite insights and statistics, it can be difficult to accurately calculate the real world success of social media activity.

5) Security: You often publish brand sensitive information, aspects of your business structure, future plans and customer information can be out there on a platter for the taking. If too much information is shared online, or is if security is not maintained these details can be golden eggs for your competitors

Need help with your social media, contact us today on info@limegreenmarketing.co.uk

 

 

 

 

Facebook Boosting

What do you need to know about boosting posts?

 

Many companies use Facebook as a tool to engage with their target market and to drive traffic to their websites.

Before 2014 Facebook was the best platform to reach as many people as possible with the minimum amount of effort. Great! Times were easy, engagement was high.

But in 2015 Facebook reduced its efficiency, drastically! The reason was simple, developers realised that reducing the efficiency of Facebooks reach would encourage more people to pay for boosted posts.

Great for Facebook, not so great for the rest of us who were left scrabbling for a new social media budget.

Fast forward to today and, whilst Facebook may no longer be as easy to promote from as it once was, its boosted post option is still one of the cheapest and most effective ways to reach its one billion members.

 

Example:

The account below is an excellent example of the effectiveness of post boosting.

By targeting this post directly to their customers and providing content which is both useful, attractive and linked to their site this recruitment company were able to increase reach from an average of 250 to nearly 6,500. This boost also resulted in a peak in website visitors and therefore improved applications to this job.

Circle Support Statistics Boosting Posts

What should I boost?

Boosted posting is something which requires your direct attention, not simply because you want to make sure you are reaching the right people in the right way, but also because a mistake can really take a bite out of your pocket.

There are really only two types of post which warrant boosting with your cash, content which is rich in useful information, such as blogs or jobs, and existing posts which already have great engagement.

Boosting allows marketers to target specific customers by geography, employment sector and interests ensuring that your post appeals directly to your exact customer base.

 

When should I boost?

As with all aspects of social media timing is not only key but also completely subjective.

Go back through older posts and search for a correlation between the time of the post and the level of engagement.

Put yourself in the shoes of your target client, if they are teachers they may be more likely to be using Facebook during lunchtimes or evenings, whereas office workers are likely to have access to social media all day and start to surf later in the working day from 4pm onwards.

Be logical and gather data before you jump in.

Post boosting is certainly an advantageous way to target your customers and builds on Facebooks already beneficial structure to reach as many people as possible.

 

Key Points:

– Posts are eyecatching

– Posts link to a website

– Posts contain useful information or rich data such as video or imagery.

– Boosts are targeted effectively using the boost building tool

– Boost at a time which relates to your target market