One year ago, a top Facebook executive approached Mark Zuckerberg. He offered to add facial recognition to his products.

That executive’s name was Andrew Bosworth. Bosworth claimed that facial recognition technology could enable the company to identify individuals in virtual environments. It could also create labels that would appear right next to their bodies. This technology was in use for over a decade to tag and identify people in Facebook photos.

This is all according to an internal source. That person spoke under the condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive issues.

According to the source, Zuckerberg would not agree to it. After years of scandal, the company wanted to take a new direction that prioritized encryption and privacy.

Already, U.S. cities and countries had adopted privacy laws to restrict facial recognition. Other company leaders believed that Facebook should be ahead of them.

The Growth of Facial ID

It took months to dismantle facial identification. It was a technology Facebook pioneered and was crucial in enabling it to grow virally.

Facebook then shocked the world by announcing it was closing the program. It was deleting more than one billion faces from its databases. This was due to public concern over unregulated technology.

The announcement came amid the worst public relations crisis of its 17-year history. The Facebook whistleblower revealed internal documents. The platform was shown to have awareness of societal harm.

Some observers and ex-insiders speculate that the timing was chosen to appease critics. They claim that the company doesn’t care about the safety of its users as it builds its products.

In fact, the decision had been in the making for almost a year before the current scandal.

The internal artificial intelligence team championed the proposal. Facebook policy professionals supported that team. They believe regulation of controversial technologies will come eventually, according to several people familiar with company thinking.

According to two sources, the proposal to make the change was presented to Mike Schroepfer, chief technology officer, and Bosworth, in June. It consisted of a 50-page policy document that outlined the pros and cons of getting rid of facial recognition in every division.

Changes to Facial Recognition Policy

Some critics and ex-insiders claim that executives believe they can change the company.

Paul Argenti, Dartmouth University professor of corporate communication, said that “This is a leadership issue — full stop.” Argenti went on to say that, “This attitude — we’re right and you’re wrong — is a part of the company’s DNA.”

Facebook referenced its blog post explaining the reasons behind shuttering the program in response to a comment request.

The motivations behind the sudden change are unclear. This follows a pattern of making big announcements in times of crisis.

For example, Instagram has stopped creating Instagram for children for several weeks, saying that it needed to “listen” and respond to parent concerns. It promised privacy and safety would be considered “from the beginning” when it launched a new suite for virtual reality plans last week.

Then it did what critics call the most significant deflection: Facebook changed its name to Meta.

The Constant Crisis

For the past four years, Facebook has been in constant crisis. After discovering that Russians had extensively abused their service, Facebook minimized the severity of the problem in 2017.

One year later, the company revealed that Cambridge Analytica — a Trump-affiliated political consulting firm — and a researcher had used the company’s loose data policy to improperly siphon user profile information from tens of millions of U.S. Facebook users.

Both times, Zuckerberg publicly apologized dramatically. The company made hurried announcements to make it seem proactive.

The Russian disgrace led to the CEO using his Facebook wall to apologize during the Jewish holiday of atonement called Yom Kippur. The company ran full-page ads in major newspapers after the scandal of Cambridge. These were Zuckerberg’s apology letters.

Frances Haugen, a product manager at the company’s division of civic integrity, made public a cache of tens to thousands of documents in October. These documents show how Facebook knew that its service led to political polarization. The use of misinformation harmed the mental well-being of teenage girls. In many cases, it even rescinded the steps it was proposing for reducing the harm.

Scandal

After so many crises, Facebook executives have a tried-and-true strategy. It’s simple:” “Flood the zone with good news to counter any bad.”

“They might not be able to predict how large a crisis will be, but they’ll look at the news and see what you can do to impact it.” Katie Harbath, former director of policy at Facebook, helped to manage many company scandals. Her work included the Cambridge Analytica privacy controversy. However, she claimed that she didn’t know about the facial recognition decision.

Facebook’s public relations department controls every aspect of product decisions. According to people and numerous documents obtained by The Washington Post, managers can concoct negative and positive headlines for any potential product announcement.

Sheryl Sandberg is the chief operating officer at Facebook. She is also the highest-ranking executive in charge of the company’s public relations strategies. She has named her private conference room “Only Good News” at Menlo Park headquarters. Zuckerberg’s foundational “Move quickly and break things” philosophy has since been removed from the Menlo Park Campus.

After the Russia scandal, the company employed thousands of content moderators. It also established a new division to combat “coordinated, inauthentic behavior.”

Facebook made significant changes to its data-sharing policies following the Cambridge Analytica scandal. These changes were partly motivated by legal actions against Facebook. They helped lay the foundation for the announcement of facial recognition ending this week.

FTC: No Facial Recognition

In 2019, the Federal Trade Commission filed charges against the company. It later settled for $5 billion — the largest privacy settlement ever made against any company.

This settlement allowed regulators to have greater oversight of the company’s data practices and facial recognition. The company will reorient the message platforms of Zuckerberg, which includes Messenger and WhatsApp. No one, including Facebook, will be able to access the messages afterward.

Apple’s 2020 decision to limit data that apps can collect on its platform is a significant blow to Facebook’s business model.

Argenti stated that the “playbook Facebook uses to manage its crises” is “classic wrong.” Argenti noted that any company trying to correct a mistake should admit it, explain how to fix it, and then assure everyone that it won’t happen again.

“This is not their DNA. He said, “And, yes. What I’m advocating for is more of a transformation in their business, how they lead and how they communicate.”

The post Facebook Decides Against Facial Recognition…For Now appeared first on SmallBizTechnology.

More than 3.5 billion people — approximately half of the entire human population — are active on social media, with an average of three hours being spent per day per person on social networks. What’s more, 54% of social users use social media to research products and engage with brands.

There’s no shortage of tips and strategies you can use to leverage social media as a branding tool. Listed below are three of the most fundamental yet highly effective social media branding tips that you’ll want to implement as soon as possible.

1. Understand which social platforms you want to target.

First things first. How well do you know your target audience?

Got concrete answers to questions such as how old they are? What do they like/dislike? Which social media platforms do they hang out on most? What types of branded content do they engage with best? What motivates them to make a purchase?

The better you know your audience, the better you’ll know where to focus your efforts. You don’t necessarily need to have a loud presence on every platform for effective branding.

For example, when branding your local boutique, establishing a strong presence on Instagram and Facebook should do the trick. Conversely, as a budding B2B startup, focusing on LinkedIn makes more sense.

Simply put, to get the most audience engagement and ROI for the valuable content you create and post, you must pick the right social platforms.

Take the time to do your research. Survey your existing customers about their social network preferences. Learn what your competitors are doing.

Ultimately, you’ll use all of these facts and pieces of evidence to decide which social platforms are worth your effort.

2. For social media branding, focus on visual content.

At its core, effective branding — especially on social media — is all about the presentation of amazing visuals.

To have a consistent color scheme in all the graphics you create and pictures you post, chalk out a visual style guide that outlines your branded color palette. That way, you’ll make sure you have the same hues and fonts in all of your social content.

Over time, your audience will internalize a visual pattern associated with all of your content. They’ll then link those patterns with your brand without even looking at your social media handle.

Attaining this level of brand recognition is possible if you focus on posting visually strong and consistent content.

In fact, internal data from Twitter — a platform that isn’t usually considered visual-first —  proves that people are three times more likely to engage with Tweets that include visual content such as images, GIFs, and videos.

Source: Huckberry

Visual content such as GIFs and short video clips command audience attention as they scroll through a feed. Visual content encourages more engagement.

What if visual design isn’t an area of strength at my company?

Your content doesn’t always have to be elaborate or even particularly well-planned. For example, you could showcase your business using a behind-the-scenes video or promote company culture with an impromptu team photo or quick vlog-type walkthrough of your workspace. You could also show picture testimonials of happy customers or demonstrate your product in use.

Let’s say you decide to use a new video-creation tool with a ton of features to create professional-grade video content for your company. Your team may find it challenging to fully adopt the new tool and leverage all its advanced capabilities. In this case, consider leveraging a digital adoption platform (DAP). A DAP empowers your team to swiftly learn the new software by providing a comprehensive and interactive walk-through of the tool. With a DAP, you can train your team more effectively. They won’t lose productivity trying to make the most of the new software that’s meant to take your social content to the next level.

Long story short, to effectively leverage any social media platform for branding your small business, maintain a strong focus on visual content that’s consistent and engaging.

3. Effective social media branding requires that you engage with your followers.

The greatest benefit to using social media for branding your small business is that it allows you to show your brand’s “human side.” You can talk to your audience informally.

You accomplish this by publicly replying to comments and concerns on a first-name basis. Feel free to use emojis and slang to speak like an individual with a personality. This will make your brand more approachable and personable.

Spark more two-way engagement with your audience with calls to action. For instance, “Drop your favorite __ in the comments!” or “How do you go about ___?” in captions.

After all, 71% of consumers who have had a positive experience with a brand on social media are likely to recommend that brand to friends and family. Creating positive, branded conversations on social media counts.

Use social media to speak, but also to listen.

In addition, customers are talking about your brand across the social web. This not only includes social media platforms such as Facebook but also Q&A platforms such as Quora. Business review sites such as Yelp and Trustpilot are also a crucial part of this social web conversation. You’ll want to use a brand monitoring tool to track who’s talking about your brand, on which platform, and whether it’s in a positive or negative light.

Apart from praise, you’re sure to receive criticism from time to time. Be proactive. Respond to both types of mentions in a tactful and timely manner. Be frank and friendly, assuring a better experience next time.

Show that you value your customers’ opinions. Use a CRM such as SuperOffice to store all your customer’s feedback and data. This ensures that you truly improve the customer experience moving forward. Knowing your customers as individuals is key to building better relationships.

Time for action!

Now it’s your turn. If you want to grow your customer base, put these three tips into practice to effectively leverage social media for branding your small business. Start small and build over time and, if you found this post useful, be sure to share it with your growing social network.

The post 3 Tips for Leveraging Social Media Branding for Your Small Business appeared first on SmallBizTechnology.

Instagram is primarily a photo-sharing platform packed with features that help businesses sell their products. According to statistics, more than 72% of users purchased a product they saw on Instagram. With the right marketing strategy, any size brand can increase its reach, find new customers, promote products, and generate more sales.

Whether you want to grow followers for your eCommerce brand or earn more clients for another company, there are several Instagram marketing tools that help you promote your products or services and generate more conversions. Here are 11 top picks.

Increase Your Reach With These Instagram Marketing Tools

Awario

Awario is a brand monitoring and social listening tool that serves up instantaneous brand mentions from the web and social media. It helps your company reach new audiences, create relevant content related to your product or service, and participate in discussions. With Awario, you can better understand your prospective customers and create results-oriented Instagram marketing campaigns.

Awario acts as a great Instagram marketing tool for small and mid-size companies to connect with their target audience. It helps you discover prospective customers by allowing you to provide immediate solutions to their problems. Awario also enables you to find industry influencers and develop beneficial relationships to market your products. You can identify industry trends, perform hashtag research, and delve into competitor analysis to create more engaging Instagram content.

Iconosquare

Iconosquare is a social media analytics tool that helps businesses make well-informed and data-backed decisions for Instagram. It helps you increase Instagram engagement by visualizing the important metrics and improving your content marketing strategy.

Iconosquare includes many useful features such as the best time to post, geolocation, user targeting, user tagging, and more. These features help you post content automatically and reach the right audience at the right time. You can also schedule your comment along with hashtags to increase engagement and reach. Iconosquare helps you keep a close eye on your competitors and share your performance report with your social media team.

Sked Social

Sked Social is a great tool for brands, enabling marketers to plan visually engaging posts for an Instagram feed. You create posts for your Instagram feed in advance and see how your feed will look. It lets you automatically publish posts to Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn. You can schedule Instagram posts along with relevant hashtags, location tags, and product tags to boost engagement and generate more sales. You can even schedule user-generated content.

Later

Later is an Instagram platform that helps marketers visually plan their posts. The tool allows you to automatically publish content and get useful insights to connect to the right audience. With Later, you can create a visually appealing feed for your Instagram audience using a drag-and-drop interface. Later helps you select the best time to post and also allows marketers to find on-brand content to create more engagement. Its in-depth analytics enable you to track exactly which posts are driving traffic and where your followers are converting.

Agorapulse

Agorapulse is a social media management tool that helps marketers stay organized. From publishing posts to reporting, social monitoring to getting insightful analytics, and team collaboration, Agorapulse is packed with useful tools. You can plan your Instagram feed in advance, giving you the freedom to create better strategies for your business and reach more clients.

Kicksta

Kicksta is a powerful Instagram growth tool that uses artificial intelligence technology to acquire authentic, organic followers. With this tool, you can find your competitors, industry influencers, and complementary brands. Kicksta lets you engage followers who follow profiles similar to yours. It will help you engage with a similar audience and increase the chances that they will follow you back. As a result, Kicksta helps you improve brand awareness and boost your follower growth.

Gleam

Gleam is a powerful tool designed for running Instagram giveaways and contests. It assists you in running campaigns that boost your audience engagement and business growth effortlessly. You can run hassle-free campaigns with features such as automatic entry validation and random or manual winner selection. Gleam also allows you to embed their mobile-friendly widget onto any webpage or create your contest on their free hosted landing pages. With Gleam, you can collect photo and video submissions from Instagram through hashtags, mentions, or manual selection. Additionally, Gleam integrates with all the email marketing tools and social networks you use. With its flexible design, you can drag and drop any of the supported actions into your campaign within seconds.

Picodash

Picodash is an Instagram marketing tool that helps marketers find the right audience and industry influencers for their brand. It provides useful data and helpful analytics to create your social media marketing strategy and outreach more efficiently. Picodash allows you to export your Instagram followers to a spreadsheet to filter for influencers by checking their followers and searching for relevant keywords. You can also filter users based on likes and comments received to find the right audience for your brand.

Hopper

Hopper is a scheduling tool that helps brands plan content for Instagram and drives maximum user engagement. With Hopper, you can create up to 50 posts and upload them with its bulk upload feature. You can then choose your favorite time to publish posts. Hopper’s planning and analytics feature allows you to drag-and-drop posts and create social media calendars. It also enables Instagram video scheduling with Hopper HQ.

Smartly.io

Smartly.io is an Instagram marketing tool that automates social advertising to improve audience reach. It combines media buying and creative automation to help brands succeed. The automation tools and templates help you develop creative copies, plan localized offers, and make different prize and copy variations. Smartly.io allows you to instantly publish ads on your Instagram account and update ads in real-time. It optimizes your targeting, budget, and bidding to make sure you achieve the maximum conversion rate.

Grum

Grum is an Instagram marketing tool that helps marketers schedule posts to automatically go live at the preferred time on multiple Instagram accounts. You can schedule video posts with Grum. One of the best parts about using Grum is that it allows you to upload content from your desktop, ultimately eliminating the need to use your phone to post content to Instagram.

Wordswag

Wordswag is an Instagram marketing tool that allows you to add captions to your posts. Its smart typing engine lets you create custom text layouts for Instagram posts. You can choose from hundreds of quotes, thoughts, and funny text to make your posts more creative and interactive. Wordswag helps Instagrammers create interesting content for their audience. In due time, this increases engagement and creates brand awareness.

All kinds of businesses, ranging from eCommerce brands to media, mobile app development companies to design agencies, healthcare organizations to travel businesses, are harnessing the power of Instagram. Whether your business is working to increase its reach, find new customers, promote products, or generate more sales, it’s the right time to use one or more of these tools to better promote your brand.

The post Top Instagram Marketing Tools to Supercharge Brand Growth appeared first on SmallBizTechnology.

Content marketing has evolved into a critical component of any digital marketing campaign for any company operating in the online world. Original content is essential for blogs, and yet many content authors ignore this guideline and continue to plagiarize. Since the internet is crammed full of content, “authors” grab what’s already available rather than generate new ideas.

Writing can be challenging, no doubt about it, especially when the topic is unfamiliar to the author. However, it doesn’t matter whether you’re an experienced writer or a novice. One thing is sure: we all face the task of preserving originality in the material we create.

First and foremost, if you want your content to shine — and trend on Google — you must focus on making it exclusive.

Search engines are scanning for plagiarism-free content.

If you don’t want Google to blacklist your website, publish original content. It’s that simple.

Google recently updated its algorithm to make it easier for them to detect imposters and plagiarizers. If you’re caught plagiarizing, you can count on your website being blocked. Depending on the seriousness of the issue, Google might even push your site down to obscurity on its search engine result pages (SERPs).

All authors and website admins must recognize the significance of plagiarism detection. Failing to underscore the seriousness of plagiarism is an invitation for your brand to take a serious hit in terms of credibility.

Why is it necessary to provide unique content for content marketing?

Plagiarism-free content will attract a wider audience.

The primary goal of marketing is to attract customers to your company and raise revenue. You must create original content if you expect potential customers to prefer you over your competitors. Plagiarized material undermines a website’s reputation and jeopardizes all of your content marketing activities, online or otherwise. If your company can’t be trusted not to plagiarize, what else can it not be trusted for?

It’s always better to post nothing at all than to post something damaging. If your content is being supplied by an outside writer, make sure you run everything through a plagiarism checker before you post. The stakes are too high and you’ll be held accountable even if you were unaware that the material was not original.

Plagiarism-free content gives a serious boost to your SEO efforts.

Content promotion is also essential for a site’s search engine optimization; its pages would not score highly on search engine result pages without it.

If the website’s content is of high quality, it can help to improve its search engine ranking. Originality is a core component of high-quality content, and search engines like blogs with content free of plagiarism.

High-authority sites will be quick to disown plagiarized content.

Backlinks are essential for increasing your search engine exposure because they represent the level of trust that others place in your content. If your company gets dinged for plagiarism, it typically creates a stampede of other sites removing their links to your material.

High-authority course, in particular, will be quick to disown content that is plagiarized and place that website on a blacklist. One of the ways that those sources earned their authority in the first place was by not directing their readers to spurious content.

If you have something of value to offer, offer it in your own words and trust that interested parties will respond by inviting others to see for themselves. As long as you are producing marketing content that is free of plagiarism, those backlinks will stay in place for a long time.

Consistently providing original content builds trust.

Well-executed content creation should aid in the development of a partnership of sorts between the company and its target audience. Great content connects with consumers and answers their questions. When you offer value, without asking much in return, your audience is more likely to trust your advice and recommendations.

Over time, as your messages hit the right spot at the right time for the right audience, you can reasonably expect that the reputation of your brand will grow. Potential customers are far more likely to come away with a favorable impression of any brand offering high-quality material.

Plagiarism-free content helps build a positive social media presence.

Social media networks are one of the most powerful ways to engage with your target audience. Social networking offers your company a venue to post videos, hold meetings, and get real-time feedback. Moreover, social media channels push new leads to your website. They are an effective platform for building genuine partnerships with your client base.

Much of the power of social media networks, however, is fueled by excellent content production. The immediacy of feedback allows you to dive deeper quickly and make adjustments to your message on the fly. You might only hit so many eyeballs with a Tweet or Facebook status update, but if your content is original and engaging, you’ll gain more views through link-sharing.

Publishing original content helps builds your brand.

Content marketing is one of the most effective ways to help you raise brand awareness, and you don’t want to do anything to detract from your efforts. Consistently publishing original content is a marketing approach that achieves more than just a first-page ranking for your blog.

Original content will be more visible to prospective consumers as they search the web for products and services that are of interest to them. This is why it’s so important to find out which questions your potential customers are asking. When you publish something that meets a genuine need, it’s a shot in the arm for sales, yes, but also a boost to the credibility of your brand.

What are some strategies for avoiding the temptation to plagiarize?

1. Modify existing content.

You shouldn’t plagiarize, obviously, but there’s no need to reinvent the wheel, either. Start by searching for content similar to what you are trying to write. If you’ve ever read something online and thought to yourself, “I could do better,” well, now’s your chance.

The hardest part of writing can be coming up with ideas. Reading existing material will help you clarify what it is you are trying to say and can be useful for developing a bulleted outline of the points you wish to address.

Coming up with marketing content that is plagiarism-free is much easier when you write to an outline. Read what others have said, make notes where you have something different to say, and focus on bringing your own unique perspective to the topic at hand.

Write to your own individual context. Don’t try to please everyone — that’s impossible — but do speak to your core constituency in a way that’s winsome and informative. If you can do so without denigrating your competitors in any way (or even mentioning them by name) so much the better.

2. Feel free to use quotes, as long as they are properly attributed.

There are times when any author — experienced or otherwise — can find it difficult to paraphrase a piece of material. This is where knowing how and when to quote comes in handy.

When you quote someone else, make sure you give proper attribution to the original source. You might need to link to another resource to demonstrate its validity. You might even need to provide footnotes if you use several sources in the same post. Whatever you do, make it obvious that you are treating the original source with respect and good intentions.

If someone else has said something perfectly, maybe you shouldn’t try to improve on it with your own paraphrase.

3. Consider using a paraphrasing tool to keep your content free of plagiarism.

If you’re still struggling to say something in your own words — it happens! — check out some of the paraphrasing tools now available. These online tools can be used to paraphrase content to help you create unique, plagiarism-free content for marketing.

Especially if you’re a relatively new writer, you may find this tip for producing original content helpful. Even if you need to tweak results from a paraphrasing tool, it can be much easier to edit something to your liking as opposed to coming up with all-new ideas.

Paraphrasing tools replace plagiarized words with synonyms, creating at least some difference between your writing and the source material. Some paraphrasing tools remove plagiarized content completely and replace it with unique content.

Parting Reminders

Content marketing is critical for companies of all sizes. Customers are using their smartphones to find you (or your competitors). You’ll want to leverage all of the advantages of online content marketing without shooting yourself in the foot by publishing plagiarized content.

Content marketing using original content can help you not only increase exposure but also strengthen partnerships with your leads and clients. Keep your communication efforts focused on originality, even if that means a reduction in your publication schedule.

The post Content Marketing Using Plagiarism Does More Harm Than Good appeared first on SmallBizTechnology.

That makes social media marketing a key part of every business’s marketing strategy. This article discusses the top reasons why social media presence is still important for small businesses. 

Social Media Presence is Important

Social media marketing is ubiquitous, cost-effective, and highly profitable for businesses of all kinds.  

According to a study by The CMO Survey, marketing budgets for social media are expected to more than double (from 11% to 24%) in the next five years. Statistics also show that almost 95% of young adults follow a brand through at least one social media network.  

That establishes the fact that social media presence is still important and essential for small businesses that need stronger engagement and greater reach. 

Why is a Social Media Presence Important for Small Businesses?

1. It helps you better understand your customers.

Social media platforms like Facebook and Instagram can be great resources to collect and aggregate data. Hence, you can get a clear understanding of your customers and your target market. Having a social media presence is key to finding potential leads and reaching your target audience. 

2. It increases customer reach.

On average, internet users generally have 7.6 social media accounts. The number of internet users in the world is 4.2 billion, and the number is constantly growing. This makes social media a very effective tool to reach a wider audience. Fifty-two percent of millennials have said that social media advertisements influence their purchase decision of a certain product or service. 

Along with that, communicating with your customer base is very important. Multiple contact channels increase reliability and brand reputation. Helping customers reach your business through social media platforms like Twitter, Facebook and Instagram can be very profitable in the long-run. Real-time and consistent engagement with your customers can lead to the effective growth of your business. 

3. It establishes brand presence.

It is undeniable that social media channels are the best way to establish your brand’s presence; however, that doesn’t mean you have to be on every single one. With the proper social media marketing strategies, you can express the voice of your brand and establish its presence and recognition in your target marketplace. 

Over 30% of millennials and Generation X members regularly interact with brands on a monthly basis. This calls for the need of increasing visibility, which is effectively accomplished when you have a strong social media presence.

We are living in a digitally-savvy generation, and consumers are more inclined to buy from a business that offers a positive social media experience. Brand engagement builds trust with Twitter users. In fact, when brands engage with their consumers’ Tweets, 77% of them feel more confident in the brand.

Having active social media profiles and a strong presence will also effectively enhance your visibility on search engine result pages. That will help you obtain potential leads and connect with potential customers interested in your products or services. 

4. It leads to better and greater brand loyalty.

Brand loyalty matters in today’s world. Most major brands as well as small businesses try to improve brand loyalty through their marketing plans and strategies. 

Social media marketing is definitely a key element in building brand loyalty for all kinds and sizes of businesses. It is a known saying that, “It’s five times more expensive to attract a new customer than to keep an existing one.”

In today’s market, customers have a plethora of options and brands to buy the products or services they need. This means that your business needs to be consistent and efficient to retain a customer and build brand loyalty.

Brand loyalty is a two-way street. Customers expect businesses to offer them something in return for their loyalty towards the brand. Having a strong social media presence is a great way to build brand loyalty for your business. 

Chatbots on Social Media Platforms are Cost-effective and Very Useful

Chatbots are a great way to enhance social media presence. It can be a great way to offer quick and effective customer service. They enable automatic replies to frequently asked questions and concerns of your customers. It can also offer on-demand information without having to check your messages all the time. 

Chatbots are an important part of any social media marketing plan. We can effectively increase engagement, impress your existing customers. Also, it helps you acquire some new customers in the market.

Social Media to Ensure Success

If you were in doubt about social media marketing for your small business and if it would be a profitable investment, then we hope we have made the reasons amply clear to you. 

With the rapid increase in the popularity of social media networks, social media presence is not merely an option for your small business anymore. It has become a necessity in 2021! 

Make sure you hire the right professionals and adopt the right strategies for social media marketing, which can serve the needs and purposes of your business and ensure sustainability and long-term success. 

The post 5 Reasons Why Small Businesses Need Social Media Presence appeared first on SmallBizTechnology.

Instagram also offers brands extensive reach and scale, allowing businesses to connect with people and discover new marketing avenues. The platform also makes it easier for brand interaction with customers through stories, posts, and ads.

Here are the prime reasons why brands continue to favor Instagram over other social media platforms:

1. Easy to Target and Retarget Your Audience

Instagram marketing helps you reach the core audience of your market seamlessly. It helps businesses target prospects based on their demographics, purchasing behavior, gender, language, affiliations, and more. Leveraging the knowledge of their customers, businesses can quickly attract potential customers. Instagram will help by putting your business’s content in front of your target audience.

2. Instagram has Better Discovery Options

Brands are always on the lookout for new marketing tactics to gain organic reach for company posts. Compared with other social sharing and social media platforms, the Instagram newsfeed algorithm makes the brand-user coexistence much better overall. Brands get to share their content with the hashtag system and innovative features. Racing to be at the top, Instagram launched a search bar to help users find new content and accounts to follow. Location and hashtag stories play a critical role in which accounts and posts users will see.

3. Build Trust with User-Friendly Content

The user-generated content is vital to building trust with audiences for your brand and products. Most businesses thrive on building brand visual content to reach users. Instagram is a gold mine of user-generated content, which helps brands promote user-friendly content for their loyal customers regularly. Businesses get to engage their followers and can help to grow their Instagram followers. Better engagement is one of the most compelling reasons brands are moving from other social media platforms to Instagram. Thus, it makes it easier for them to connect with and attract new followers and share stories to build a vast network.

4. Frequent Updates on Marketing Features

Instagram has incorporated a number of great tools and features that brands can leverage to sell more products and in turn, raise brand awareness across varied demographics. They are impromptu in understanding audience goals, and with a marketing strategy, this platform gives you the tools to accomplish them and target them successfully. It knows its users well and understands their transactions well enough. Brands can use the platform to publicize and advertise their offerings without obstructing the process itself.

With Instagram stories, you can add links and product tag widows that are tailored toward businesses to showcase their products. Thus, it is tapping the world of product tags wherein a brand can attach links with CTAs to encourage shoppers to leave their feed and shop.

5. Driving Engagement Across Demographics

Nearly 500 million people leverage the Instagram platform on a daily basis. That is a staggering number, isn’t it? But it is not about the sheer number of people who opt for the platform. The platform can actually generate incredible engagement rates on its posts. 2,500 Micro-influencers revealed in a survey by Bloglovin’, that nearly 60% of them find the platform perfect for engaging audiences. Engagement rate is quite useful in choosing influencers for diverse marketing campaigns. Instagram has also witnessed a marked rise in several unscrupulous practices with companies luring businesses for mass followers for specific prices. Paid followers are usually not genuine and are combined with fake bots.

Instagram influencers also work for increasing their follower count, but one needs to check engagement rates before deciding if they indeed are authentic enough. Chances are, higher engagement rates mean that the influencer is consistently genuine in their posts and authentic in their content. For businesses, relevant influencers with high engagement rates and reach can help in driving their brands to the roof. They need to track and measure their post campaigns effectively and tweak them for maximum success in real-time.

Locowise revealed that Instagram marketing generates a staggering 70% higher engagement rate than Facebook. It is a no-show for Twitter with Instagram boasting 669% higher engagement rates than the micro-blogging platform.

6. Boost Conversions Effectively

Irrespective of the business you run, the main priority remains boosting conversions through the marketing channels efficiently. Although social media channels help drive conversions effectively, Instagram rules the roost here.

A Shopify study revealed recently that the conversion rate of ecommerce firms on an average through the Instagram platform is 1.08%, with an average order value of referrals at a brilliant $65! The most popular social media platforms cannot touch these statistics in any way!

Also, Influencer marketing through Instagram continues to enjoy higher reach compared to its traditional counterparts like TV. Influencer marketing is known to generate a whopping 11 times higher ROI than other marketing channels.

Brands are keen to spend almost 13.4 billion euros on Instagram influencer campaigns by the year 2022. Almost 80% of marketers continue to uphold instagram marketing over other social media platforms. And the success does not apply to only businesses with large followings but even the ‘niche’ brands who are keen to target their intended business prospects who are part of specific, engaged communities.

The post 6 Reasons Why Brands Favor Instagram Over Other Platforms appeared first on SmallBizTechnology.

However, Facebook is also one of the biggest advertising opportunities for businesses today. More than 1 billion of its users log in daily, making Facebook too big for businesses to ignore. And as organic reach — posting updates on a group/page — reaches its success limit, more and more businesses are turning to Facebook ads to increase their exposure and traffic.

But are Facebook ads the right investment for you? Here are some benefits to advertising on the world’s biggest social media platform.

1. Your audience is on Facebook

As mentioned, more than 2 billion people actively use Facebook. Using Facebook ads allows you to not only reach current customers, but new customers whose interests or beliefs align closely with your brand.

The audience present on Facebook also spans across many demographics. Users aged 18-34 take up a bulk of the audience, at 56%. However, older audiences are quickly increasing with almost half (46%) of 65+ year olds using the platform. No matter who your target audience is, you should be able to find them on Facebook.

2. Access to fine-tuned targeting tools

Facebook ads use a variety of advanced targeting tools to reach your audience. They factor in the basics, such as age, gender, and location, but they also look at lifestyle characteristics such as interests, hobbies, and even recent buying behavior to expand your potential customers. Such targeted forms of advertising are hugely beneficial to any business.

One tool that Facebook provides is the ability to reach Lookalike Audiences: people similar to those that already engage with your company. This tool is just one of many that can increase your reach, and ultimately, your brand success. Facebook shows your ads to the people who are most likely to buy, providing the best results for your campaign. 

 3. Budget-friendly advertising 

A big budget isn’t necessary for a big outcome. Using Facebook ads is one of the cheapest methods of advertising in today’s marketplace. 

Other forms of advertising that were more popular in the past, such as radio ads, commercials, and billboards, are far more costly than Facebook Ads, and the same desired results are achievable.

Less than $10 in Facebook ads can easily lead to a reach of 1000+ people if you strategize and plan well.  And you can even set daily or lifetime budget limits — that you can change at any time — to ensure that you’re only spending as much as you want or can on your advertising. 

4. Ease of use

You don’t need to be an expert to figure out how to use Facebook advertising to your business’ benefit. With easily customizable ads that allow you to choose your type of ad, your target audience, and your budget, Facebook ads are for any business owner — tech-wizard or not.

Marketing goals are also easily factored in. Do you want to increase brand awareness? Post engagement? Likes or clicks on your page? Reach a wider audience? From sponsored stories to video ads to carousel ads, Facebook ads will have a way to get the results you want for your company.

5. Free analytics 

Building on its budget-friendly rep, Facebook ads also provide free analytics for your campaign. You’ll get real-time results to see what is and isn’t working. This allows you to easily adjust your ads to increase their performance.

Facebook provides reports with metrics such as weekly reach, page likes, and engagement. You can easily see which posts are effective and which aren’t doing so well, then fine-tune your ads in a way that makes them more successful. Such flexibility isn’t possible with forms of traditional marketing. 

With an ad such as a tv commercial, it’s difficult to measure effectiveness while the commercial is still being run. Usually, a business has to wait for reactions from the public, or movement towards or against their marketing goals to gauge the success of the commercial. Facebook, on the other hand, provides reports for your campaign as soon as possible, giving you the best results for your investment.

6. Remarketing

Remarketing is an advertising approach that Facebook makes easy. Say someone visits your website but does not make a purchase. Facebook is able to track this visitor and show them an ad for your company at a future time, while they’re scrolling through their feed. Re-engaging customers this way can lead to more website visits and better conversions.

This tactic can also be used to drive repeat business: purchases by customers who have bought from you in the past. You can directly import past customer emails into your Facebook ad campaign. This means your ads will be shown to people who are already engaged and are willing to buy.

7. Referrals

When you advertise on Facebook, your audience can help you expand your reach. Customers that are already engaged with your brand can easily tag their own friends and family on your ads. And because they have a connection with the people they are tagging, those people are more likely to trust the quality of your product or service.

Plus, there’s always the potential to go viral on a social media platform. Take Squatty Potty for example. They posted a video ad in 2015 that went viral with over 1 million shares and thousands of comments. Users tagged friends and family with comments like “You need this!”. One ad led to a massive increase in brand awareness, website visits, and sales. 

8. Facebook is mobile 

Almost 80% of Facebook users only view the platform on their phone. During their work breaks, while traveling to and from work, or when bored, people are likely to use their phone and browse through Facebook. Using Facebook ads allows you to catch these people during their down time, when they may be more likely to buy.

9. Facebook is fast

Facebook gives you the option to add a call-to-action (CTA) to your ad. This is a button that gives the customer a direct action. It might be downloading your app, subscribing to your emails, or booking an appointment. This provides a sense of urgency for the ad viewer and encourages them to click on your ad. With this method, you’ll reach your marketing goals fast.

Using Facebook ads has countless benefits for any brand. Strategizing, knowing your audience and recognizing your company’s goals are all you need to get started. For more information on advertising with Facebook, you can also check out their Business Centre.

The post Why You Should Be Using Facebook To Advertise appeared first on SmallBizTechnology.

Some agencies are faring better than others. In a recent survey among marketing agencies around the globe, 16% of participants experienced an increase in revenues.

What sets these agencies apart is their ability to adapt to change. For digital marketing agencies to survive, it’s essential to play the long game—especially since it’s not known when the pandemic will end. This includes being creative, adaptive, and being able to craft as well as implement the right strategies. Here are a few tips to help you keep your agency running at its best:

Understand the Pandemic’s Effects on Individual Clients

COVID-19 has impacted all businesses, but some more than others. Certain industries are hard-hit, while others seem to be adapting well to the change wrought by the pandemic.

No matter how many clients you have, it’s good to assess the impact of COVID-19 on each one. By doing so, you can identify which clients in which industries are in danger of jumping ship. Catching warning signs early allows you more time to formulate and implement retention strategies.

Measuring the pandemic’s impact on your clients also allows you to determine which of them is doing well. Focusing your attention on these customers could be even more beneficial than offering incentives to clients who are considering churning. These types of clients may be more receptive to offers of added services and solutions.

Having a better understanding of your clients’ situations is also helpful in improving your relationship with them. Adding value for your clients and going the extra mile for them will go a long way toward making your relationship last beyond these challenging times.

Analyze your Ongoing Burn-Rate in Both Normal and Barebones Scenarios

Many organizations run with too many excesses—however, you don’t have to be one of them. Many expenses are avoidable, so you will want to go over your spending and figure out what’s essential and what you can do away with. Doing so can help you control overspending and get a leg up on the competition.

Identify areas where added effort and time allows you to reduce spending. Tailor your reductions to your business goals. Typically, you won’t be able to optimize your burn rate with just one significant change. Multiple incremental changes across departments can better help you trim low-value activities with minimal organizational disruption. 

Focus on what maximizes the return on money, time, and effort. The goal is to be as efficient and lean as possible without sacrificing the quality of service you provide to your clients. 

In a Changed Business Environment, Dare to Think Out of the Box

Across all industries, businesses are making major changes to the way they do business to survive in the new normal. Some companies are doing more than just survive. One example is Evil Genius, a brewery known for its cleverly named craft beers and popular bar and retail location in Philadelphia.

Having previously relied on sales to bars and restaurants for about two-thirds of their sales, Evil Genius faced a dilemma when these distribution channels closed off due to the lockdown. According to co-founder Hayward, the closure of bars reduced their business by about 60%.

Employing out-of-the-box thinking, Evil Genius focused on offering carry out service at their retail location and taking online orders for pick-up and delivery. They also introduced new products—a risky move that ultimately paid off when one of them, a beer referencing the wildly popular Netflix series Tiger King, became a hit.

A whiz at staying topical, the company also offered a free roll of toilet paper with a purchase of “The Gang Gets Quarantined,” a beer referencing both the lockdown situation and the popular TV show It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia.

Their unique approach to marketing their products have helped them rise above today’s cluttered advertising environment. Their innovations in marketing helped make Evil Genius an online talking point when the news and social media outlets are heavily saturated with both bad news and a slew of competitors eager to capitalize on the public’s increased social media usage.

Evil Genius is an example of how traditional marketing approaches need to be innovative and adaptive. Creativity has always been the lifeblood of marketing, and it is even more so now. Your clients are facing significant changes in the way they market their products and services, and your success in helping them meet their goals rides on how quickly and creatively you can respond to these changes.

Be Flexible and Open to Adjustments

Small- to medium-sized digital agencies have the advantage of being more flexible than their larger counterparts. Since smaller agencies don’t have substantial overhead costs to worry about, they can typically afford to offer competitive pricing. This is especially true for agencies that work with businesses or organizations that are experiencing layoffs.

While the cost of retaining your services is lower than that of hiring an employee or employing their in-house marketing department, your clients must be fully aware of this fact. You would also want to show your clients that the value you deliver to their business far exceeds the cost of having you onboard.

You can achieve this by being more flexible in terms of pricing. At the same time, lowering your rates is an act that conveys your understanding of the current situation’s difficulties. It shows that you value your relationship and that you have integrity.

Flexibility can mean:

• Delaying Invoice Scheduling. If you have the financial capacity to do so, delaying invoices can be beneficial to both you and the client. Deferring payments allows your client more time to meet their obligations, and you also get to keep your clients at the same rate they paid pre-lockdown.
  
• Restructuring Contracts to Reduce Pricing. According to a survey by Upplers, 58% of agencies became more flexible in client terms, and 28% reduced their fees. The reality of the pandemic situation is that many businesses cannot or will not justify marketing spend in these uncertain times. 

To retain clients, consider restructuring your clients’ contracts to accommodate their needs while reducing their marketing spend. This shows that your relationship with your clients is essential to your agency, and at the same time, it’s a move that drives long-term instead of short-term value.

• Offering Limited Services. If your client’s marketing budget is tight or if they don’t need as much work done on their account, consider reworking your contract to include limited services. For instance, your client may no longer need assistance with content creation but could use some help in social media. You can rework your contract to include only the services they need and reduce your rates accordingly.

This strategy results in cost savings for them and allows you to retain their business on an as-needed basis until the overall situation improves.

Learn From Your Competition

The pandemic has affected all businesses, but some are doing better than others. Assess your direct and indirect competitors and identify which ones seem to be toughing out the crisis better than most. Knowing your competitors and how they’re positioning themselves for success can help you identify strategies that allow your agency to succeed.

For example, many small to medium-sized agencies are currently outsourcing or planning to in the future. Outsourcing provides agencies with on-demand access to talent at less than the cost of taking on new team members.

You can use knowledge gleaned from observing your competitors to take advantage of their weaknesses. At the same time, you can improve your agency’s performance. Identify which of their strategies seem to be working and apply them, making adjustments to tailor-fit them to your needs and goals. This also positions you well for when the crisis is over, and your agency resumes normal operations.

Leverage Social Media Effectively and Creatively

Consumers are more active on social media than they used to be in pre-lockdown days. More people are at home and rely on social media channels to connect with their loved ones and get news and updates. Agencies that typically focus on other channels can leverage this uptick in social media usage to increase their clients’ reach, boost engagement, and ultimately improve conversion rate.

Doing so requires more than a little bit of creativity. Making memes, videos, contests, and the like a part of your clients’ social media campaigns allow their products or services to stand out. The key is to stay on-trend and keep content engaging and relevant.    

Deliver Added Value to Your Clients

COVID-19 has not only transformed the way that agencies do business with their clients but also the way their clients do business with their customers. Changing attitudes to what’s essential and what’s not can lead to decreased revenue for your clients and, in turn, reduced marketing spending.

One way to keep your clients is to find places where you can add more value, especially for those businesses and organizations that are at high risk of churning. Determine whether there are additional services you can pitch to your clients. For example, you may be skilled at data analytics or content creation. You can offer these services at reduced or zero cost. This allows your clients to obtain services all from one place while minimizing their expenses.

What if you and your team don’t have additional skills that you can turn into add-on services? It’s best to be proactive and identify the areas with which your clients need the most help. Learn and refine skills in these areas to provide more value to your clients even after the crisis is over. 

Assess Your Clients for Opportunities

As previously mentioned, the pandemic has affected different clients in different ways. For example, while clients in industries like tourism and hospitality are among the hardest hit, clients in the medical and personal care sectors are likely experiencing steady or increased volume.

When rebuilding your agency’s client portfolio, target businesses and organizations that are doing well. Even if they’re not usually the type of clients you take on, getting their business can keep your agency afloat.

E-commerce businesses are also faring well. For instance, if you typically handle local companies’ accounts, it may be worth your while to broaden your scope and pitch your services to online businesses.  

Don’t Forego Strategic Planning

This crisis is rapidly evolving—as societal changes and their effects trickle down to marketing, agencies should be well-poised to plan for and adapt to them. This may mean having to re-strategize your accounts.

One strategy is to incorporate COVID-19 messaging in the ad copy. Doing so shows consumers that businesses are aware of the situation and keeps them relevant. It also allows brands to communicate how they’re helping consumers during the crisis.

Some brands are further adjusting their marketing to show messages of support or information on how they’re helping communities during these trying times. As evidenced by a spike in Love reactions on ads posted on Facebook, this is a strategy that seems to be working as far as brand engagement is concerned.

A good relationship with your clients comes in useful here. You can more easily communicate with them why and how any changes need to be made, from minor updates to ad copy to a complete pivot from traditional to social media marketing campaigns.

Plan for You and Your Clients’ Post-Crisis Recovery

While it’s not known when the current crisis will end and its impact further down the line, agencies should plan ahead. This may involve defining best- and worst-case scenarios, listening for changes in consumer attitudes, and adapting marketing plans on an as-needed basis.

While you may not have the expenses that larger agencies have to contend with, it is still wise to cut costs where possible without sacrificing quality. Keep in mind that all agencies, no matter their size, are going through the same major upheaval to their operations, and the key to surviving lies in resilience and your ability to adapt. 

Making no adjustments and simply hoping to ride out the wave of change can result in your agency sinking. Staying afloat requires being open to change and prioritizing innovation to adapt to the new normal. Lastly, employing a COVID 19 Business Sanitization Services will help sanitize every corner of your office, eliminating the risk of catching the virus.

The post Staying Resilient in a Pandemic: Strategies for Digital Agencies appeared first on SmallBizTechnology.

Older people shop on social media, too, but not as much as younger buyers. While 88% of people aged 18 to 29 use social media channels, that number drops to 64% for consumers between the ages of 50 and 64. The older the demographic, the less likely its users are to buy on social media.

“Today, people don’t shop the way they used to,” says Ryan Napierski, president of opportunity platform Nu Skin. “They want the full experience: social proof, brand engagement, entertaining content, and shopping options. Social media provides those experiences better than any other channel.”

If your brand doesn’t have a social media sales plan, use TikTok likes service to get social proof and tens of thousands of likes in a matter of days and consider the following reasons to get started today:

1. Everyone loves an influencer.

Even people who claim to be immune from advertising can’t help but listen to their favorite influencers from their Community Engagement Platform. Good social media influencers create authentic, entertaining content that captivates audiences without an agenda. Brands can join those conversations to benefit influencers and audiences alike.

According to research from influencer marketing agency Mediakix, 89% of marketers say influencer marketing ROI matches or beats the ROI of other channels. The survey also found that 17% of companies plan to spend more than half their marketing budgets on influencers this year, which suggests that influencer marketing works in both small and large doses.

2. Consumers trust their friends and families.

When influencers don’t do the trick, friends and families make the difference. Kantar Media reports that 78% of consumers trust the recommendations of people in their social circles, while just 33% trust advertisements.

Those social circles gather on social media to talk about everything from politics to hair gel preferences. If your brand doesn’t use social channels to influence the narrative, unhappy customers could tell your story for you. Do a little social listening to keep tabs on what people say about your business and products. Answer questions and complaints on your page quickly. For more sensitive issues, invite users to send a private message toVPNtag to continue the discussion.

3. Buyers can check authenticity at a glance.

Modern consumers like it when brands share their values. Companies can no longer stand on the sidelines on political and social issues. By using social media to promote your brand and sell your products, you can make it easy for consumers to verify your brand’s stances on important topics. Even companies like Los Angeles Social Media Agency are using social media to connect clients and businesses.

For example, if you offer an Earth Day sale, audiences will want to know whether you walk the walk. A few recent posts about environmentalist issues can show audiences you mean what you say. When audiences can see your ad, confirm your authenticity, and buy your products in one place, you can reduce friction in the purchasing process and up your odds of making more sales.

4. Videos create immediate sales opportunities.

The online world has taught consumers to expect brands to be available 24/7. Not all companies can afford ’round-the-clock customer service teams, though. Solve the issue by investing in videos to respond to messages at all hours and handle basic concerns without the need for human intervention.

Videos on social media make it easy for customers to get closer to your brand. Increase your video views on Instagram with social media marketing services by Buzzvoice. People can learn about products and make purchases by watching videos, but to get the most from these powerful tools, don’t replace your human teams.

5. Engaging content blends in with the environment.

Online consumers crave content in every form. Native ads — ads that look like the rest of the content on the page — work well because they don’t interrupt the scrolling experience. Native ads aren’t the only successful content strategy on social media, however.

Live videos have become one of the most effective tools for brands on social channels over the past year. Companies use live streams to answer audience questions, promote or host events, and pull back the curtain to reveal the team behind the magic. Provide special flash sales, discount codes, and referral bonuses to viewers to encourage participation.

As social media’s sales importance continues to grow, think about how your brand could blend multiple tactics. A live video that answers questions submitted through messages and comments could help new audiences get familiar with your products. Some brands have even discovered how to sell from Instagram using live streaming to provide more authentic and personalized experiences for targeted audiences. Businesses can throw a private party, set up a group influencer event or host a fundraising activity as a way to get the right people interacting with your brand, https://www.childinjuryfirm.com/strattera-atomoxetine.

Whether your brand lives on social media or only posts once a year, don’t sleep on the social b2b marketplace of tomorrow. Audiences want to engage with your company on their turf, and today’s buyers are ready and willing to purchase products through social channels. Find your footing now so you can ride the trend as it rises over the next few years.

The post 5 Reasons Social Media Is the Marketplace of the Future appeared first on SmallBizTechnology.

Conversely, one terrible review can cost you valuable business and damage your brand’s credibility.

In light of this, we’ve got some surefire advice on how to handle any negative reviews published about your company.

Let’s dive in!

Respond Publicly to Bad Reviews

First and foremost, you need to be monitoring your company online for any reviews that customer publish. Tools like PowerReviews, allow you to automate the monitoring and collecting of your reviews online.

If you receive a poor review, you need to respond publicly.

As you construct a response, ensure you address the issue in a way that remains professional. Ideally, you want to provide a resolution so that other prospects can see how effectively you handle customer complaints. Needless to say, keeping your cool always creates a better impression than losing your temper.

If you feel the comment was particularly unjust, take an hour or so to cool off, and then compose a friendly response. Trust us; you’ll be thankful you did. Fighting fire with fire when it comes to customer relations never pays off.

You should also provide an email address or phone number so that if the customer wants to discuss the issue further, they have the option of doing so offline.

Top Tip: Publish your response as quickly as possible- the online world never sleeps, so a quick acknowledgment is expected. Plus, a speedy reply helps to ensure the situation doesn’t spiral as more and more prospects read the unsavory review.

Lastly, if your company was at fault, be sure to apologize. Do NOT shirk responsibility or try and blame the customer. This never comes across well. Instead, show you take responsibility and that you’re keen to make things right. Consumers appreciate this and are far more likely to respect your brand because of it.

If you’re unsure how to respond, here’s a quick template you can edit:

“Hello [insert the name of the customer],

Thank you so much for your feedback. Here at [insert the name of your business], we take customer complaints extremely seriously. We’re sorry about [insert their complaint] To try and make things right we would like to [insert resolution]. Would you mind contacting us on [insert contact details] so we can find out a little more about how things went wrong?

Best Wishes,
[Insert the name of your company]”

Make Necessary Improvements

If the same negative comments are surfacing time and again, then you need to make a change.

Go through your reviews and compile a list of all the negative comments you’ve received. Then call a team meeting to discuss how as a brand you can tackle these issues. This is essential for ensuring the same problem doesn’t repeat itself.

Not to mention, when you make the necessary improvements you show customers you care about their concerns and want to provide a premium user experience. This is imperative for rebuilding trust with disgruntled customers.

Follow Up

Now you’ve addressed their complaint; you need to follow up with them and find out whether they’re satisfied with the way things were resolved.

Shoot over a private message, and if possible offer a discount or freebie to try and smooth things over. This highlights that their opinion is valued and that you’ve taken their feedback seriously.

Showing genuine concern in your follow up message increases the likelihood of the customer giving your brand another try. Who knows? Perhaps they’ll even delete or update the negative review they published?

Top Tip: If you’ve apologized and rectified the issue, there’s nothing wrong with asking the customer to erase their negative comments. On the whole, people don’t usually mind doing this once there query is resolved.

Stay Vigilant

The best course of action is to avoid negative reviews in the first place. To do this, businesses need to meet and exceed customer expectations. One of the biggest pet peeves of most customers is when a business doesn’t keep their word.

For a service based business this could be as small as not showing up on time or as big as not living up to the agreed upon work. Whether you’re a web design firm or a home service business, exceeding customer expectations can lead from a first time customers to repeat business and referrals.

To help businesses execute this goal they turn to technology. For example, home service software companies, like ServiceTitan, help create a seamless customer experience by communicating with customers at every step of the process. From automatically rerouting the closest technicians for on-time appointments to texting customers ahead of time with the name, picture and bio of the technician doing the work.

Top Tip: Stay ahead of the online review curve by heading off potentially negative review before they happen. Using your customer service or field representatives as your front lines is a great way to deal with reviews.

Final Thoughts

Receiving negative reviews about your brand can be heartbreaking. It can be tough to handle when you spend so much of your time and effort building growing your business. So much so, that some business owners forget these reviews aren’t personal attacks.

Instead, it’s important to try and see them as opportunities to improve business operations and to learn more about what your customers really want.

If you follow the above advice and respond appropriately by committing to solving the customers’ concerns, there’s a good chance you’ll rekindle the relationship while demonstrating to prospects how professionally you handle customer complaints- win-win!

The post How Your Business Can Deal with Negative Online Reviews appeared first on SmallBizTechnology.

These answers are provided by Young Entrepreneur Council (YEC), an invite-only organization comprised of the world’s most promising young entrepreneurs.

1. Google Alerts

Our social media team has certain keywords that they are sent alerts for. This keeps them up to date on any new rules, updates or news put out by different social platforms. – Dave Nevogt, Hubstaff.com

2. Podcasts

You can find a podcast about just about any topic these days, and they’re an easy way to keep up on new trends as you’re walking, driving or working out. I’m all about learning while I’m doing the things that I would be doing anyway. – Allie Siarto, Allie Siarto & Co. Photography

3. Compliance Officer

As a leading digital agency, it’s our job to be up on these things, so we have a compliance officer. Most sizeable companies should have one, and if it doesn’t quite make sense, then add that as a dual role for someone in your company. Have them update your marketing team and even execs via email, and if need be on a monthly in-person basis just to ensure they are on top of things. – Scott Levy, Fuel Online

4. The Platform’s Own Training Modules

Social media platforms have their own training outlets. For example, Facebook has a platform called ‘Facebook Blueprint’ that contains training modules. You can subscribe to the newsletter and receive monthly content consisting of highlights, updates and new courses. Twitter has a platform called ‘Twitter Flight School’ which has a resource library and online courses to keep you up to date. – Nick Friedman, College Hunks Hauling Junk

5. RSS Feeds

It might seem old-fashioned to use RSS to follow social media news, but it is effective. Most of the big social networks have news blogs, like Facebook Business News. We subscribe via RSS to many of the most important social media news sources, which helps our team to keep on top of changing rules and updates. – Vik Patel, Future Hosting

6. Log In and Check

The simplest way to stay abreast of any changes is to log in to your social media regularly. For most platforms, you will get a prompt the first time you log on after a change has been made. Also, it is not a bad idea to subscribe to some of the more popular platforms’ blogs, such as Pinterest, LinkedIn and Twitter. They will have posts about site changes and updates. – Blair Thomas, eMerchantBroker

7. Social Media Publications

There are a few social media publications you can subscribe to that will keep you updated on all of the latest changes. One is called Social Media Today and another is Social Media Examiner. – Andrew Schrage, Money Crashers Personal Finance

8. Paid Information

There are entire businesses built around educating entrepreneurs on platform changes and strategy. They typically have private Facebook groups where they post live videos, have paid for online courses and even coaching. They not only walk through changes, but also how to best implement them for your business. It’s been invaluable what my company has received from groups like this to stay competitive. – Bryan Citrin, Chiropractic Advertising

9. Tech Sites

When social media platforms make ad changes, it is almost always reported on by the major tech websites like Tech Crunch, Mashable, Recode, etc. Even if you aren’t in that industry, it’s important to stay current with the tech news that may affect your business. – Leila Lewis, Be Inspired PR

10. Updates

I always read everything that pops up or that comes as an update. Social media sites have had to be more transparent in their changes and policies, so when it pops up, I stop and read it or save the link if I can’t read it right then. – John Rampton, Calendar

11. Pay Attention

Don’t just click ‘OK.’ We can’t demand transparency if we then don’t take the time to ingest the information that is readily available to us. Many of these companies are constantly updating us, but we lack the patience to go through and understand the ‘why’ and ‘how.’ Keeping up with blogs, news and podcasts can also be a good way to stay informed on this quickly changing facet of social media. – Justin Lefkovitch, Mirrored Media

The post 11 Ways to Stay Up-to-Date on Social Media Platform Changes appeared first on SmallBizTechnology.

These answers are provided by Young Entrepreneur Council (YEC), an invite-only organization comprised of the world’s most promising young entrepreneurs. YEC has also launched BusinessCollective, a free virtual mentorship program that helps millions of entrepreneurs start and grow businesses.

1. Guest Post for Others

One of the best ways to build your audience and increase engagement on Facebook is to partner with a complementary brand. Find a noncompeting brand that has an existing audience that overlaps with your ideal target demographic and vice versa. Both brands can mutually benefit from an occasional guest post on each other’s Facebook pages. – Duran Inci, Optimum7

The post 14 Cost-Effective Ways to Engage Facebook Followers appeared first on SmallBizTechnology.

There are lots of ways how a business can hire, but finding the right candidate can be a challenge.

LinkedIn recently introduced a new tool, Recommended Matches, which helps you zero in on the right candidates for your needs and gets more intuitive and smarter based on your guidance. It uses machine learning to help you not just find 347 candidate but to help you find the 3 or 4 that are best suited for your needs.

Liz Maples, product marketing at LinkedIn shared that LinkedIn’s latest feature for business Recommended Matches is part of a newly redesigned LinkedIn Job Posts that was crafted specifically with small business owners in mind.

To use Recommended Matches you simply post the position to LinkedIn, being sure to include specific skills, years of experience, and whatever else you look for in an ideal candidate. The more specific your post is, the more relevant your candidates will be. A stream of profiles will show up, and with a click of a few buttons you can either reject them, schedule a meeting, or add them to a list of candidates you would like to look at later. You can even share potential candidates with your entire team and work together on the hiring process.

What’s nice about Recommended Matches is that you now have a “partner”, albeit a digital one, to help you narrow down your list of candidates.

Many small business owners tend to shy away from online platforms not realizing that small business is “hot market” right now. In fact, Liz’s team researched and discovered that 87% of LinkedIn professionals are looking to work at “smaller or medium-sized businesses.”

Many candidates, the majority of which are millenials, are looking for more opportunities to grow and further their experience, and small businesses offer such golden opportunities. When looking to hire millenials, Liz advised that employers should “have upfront conversations with them about how they want to grow.”

While larger companies, such as LinkedIn, Facebook, Google, Amazon and hundreds of others “brand” names get the media’s attention, there’s a great opportunity for your business to find great candidates by touting that you ARE a small business. Being small means a candidate can probably have more opportunities to learn more at your company than a bigger one.

One part of hiring that you should pay attention to is your website and any other “hiring” areas. Be sure it’s welcoming, has your core values, even photos and videos that give candidates a peek inside your company. Remember, hiring is a two way street. YOU the business owner/manager must choose the candidate but the candidate must also choose you.

The post LinkedIn’s Newest Hiring Services Help Smaller Businesses Hire Smarter appeared first on SmallBizTechnology.

• Instagram’s engagement rates are around 15 times higher than Facebook and 20 times higher than Twitter.
• 86% of the top brands use Instagram.
• Companies with over 100k followers on Instagram have grown by 163% over two years.

If you want to succeed at your online marketing efforts, you must have Buying an Instagram account from kickstagram helps your Instagram game is on point. The social media company has recently made new features available that make it easier for entrepreneurs to improve their online presence. These features include adding hashtags, clickable links, and scheduled posts.  This article will help you understand how these three features can help you gain more exposure using Instagram. Here are stimsocial alternatives which provides you a best traffic boosting services for Instagram platform.

Why Are These Features Important?

Instagram’s new features can give you a head start when it comes to marketing on Instagram. While many companies use the platform, the vast majority have not yet discovered its true potential. Using the new features, your business can become more discoverable, more relatable, and generate engagement and interest among new and existing prospects.

How Do Bio Hashtags Work?

Instagram now allows you to include clickable hashtags on your bio. This means that when you type a @ or # before text, it will become a live link when people view your profile. When your visitors click on the hashtag, they will be able to view other profiles or look at other posts using the same hashtag.

Hashtags provide a lucrative branding opportunity for your business. You can mix it up by using carefully-research hashtags that already exist or creating new ones that directly relate to your business. By clicking or searching for the hashtags you use, visitors can learn more about your company and see your latest posts.

You can maximize this even further by using hashtags in your posts. This is a helpful technique for reaching more people and attracting more followers. Target hashtags that have between 100k-900k posts. These are popular topics that people are searching for, but they leave enough room for you to stand out. Each post can include 30 different hashtags at most, so make sure you choose these wisely.

Why You Should Add Clickable Links to Your Profile

Previously, you could not include clickable links in your profile. A visitor to your Instagram page would have to copy and paste a link from your bio. However, this has recently changed thanks to popular demand. Instagram now allows you to put clickable links in your profile, making it much easier to direct visitors where you want them to go.

It’s also a great opportunity to highlight a link to your audience temporarily. One effective strategy is to update the link in your bio every few days and point followers towards this via daily posts. When you next post, you can rinse and repeat this strategy to keep any links in the bio fresh and exciting, and direct followers to new products or services.

If you’re running a special online promotion, you can include a link to the contest to make it simple for visitors to participate. You could also include a permanent link to your business website or direct your audience to a new product or service. Providing a clickable link is convenient for visitors and will drive engagement with your Instagram page and business.

Scheduling Your Posts

Every social media manager knows that the ability to schedule posts is essential to the success of an online marketing effort. Managing your posting schedule manually is nearly impossible in this day and age. That’s why certain social media apps allow you to schedule posts in advance. Using these tools, you can set the date and time that you want a piece of content to be posted. These apps can also schedule your posts automatically. This helps you ensure that your content is being published at times when there is high traffic.

Previously, Instagram didn’t allow scheduled posts, but developers have been busy making behind-the-scenes update which make this feature possible. They have enabled social media tools like HootSuite, Sprout Social, and SocialFlow to schedule social media posts on their platform. Ryan Holmes, CEO of HootSuite, stated that scheduled posts have been the “number one request for our 16 million customers.”

Instagram’s Role In Social Media Marketing

Social media marketing is an essential part of growing your business. While a lot of companies have embraced Twitter and Facebook as their primary social media platforms, many are excited about the opportunities that Instagram offers and are moving their main social media activities to this platform. If you’re serious about connecting with your audience, you should include Instagram on your company’s social media list. As the statistics show, Instagram can generate a lot of business for your company － you can try the tips provided in this article, to see how Instagram can become an invaluable tool in garnering more online business.

Zach Benson is the CEO and founder of Assistagram – an innovative Instagram management agency specialising in growth of accounts and creating Instagram campaigns that reach millions.

As a full-time entrepreneur, TEDx speaker, social-media trainer for international brands such as The Four Seasons, Ritz Carlton and ViceRoy, he encourages others to reach their full potential through the arts and social media. He uses his successful social media presence and impressive network of followers to travel around the world teaching others how to grow their Instagram accounts.

Zach is also an award-winning dancer and was a finalist on FOX TV’s popular show ‘So You Think You Can Dance’. He combines his passion for teaching, entrepreneurship, dance and travel to mentor people all over the world and help them grow, dance and improve their companies.

The post Three Powerful New Instagram Features and How To Use Them appeared first on SmallBizTechnology.

Advancements in Big Data – or the analysis of customer behaviors online and off – and automation technology are making it easier than ever before for marketers to connect and engage with their audiences. By following the customer journey more closely, and in real-time, marketers can deliver better options that are personalized and relevant. Understand the basics of a customer profile is just the starting point; marketers must understand the nuances of that customer during the buying journey.

To accomplish this, marketing teams need to leverage a variety of technology solutions along with streamlined workflow management. Speed is the name of the game and the strategies below will help you get there.

Chatbots

Offering Insurance Carrier Automation Solutions to customers is important but often costly when it comes to manpower. Using chatbot technology, though, cuts costs while helping customers find quick answers.

Chatbot technology analyzes patterns and word choices of consumers to help find immediate solutions. Chatbots can provide links, give answers to frequently asked questions and even file support tickets if more action is needed. Instead of consumers searching for an email address, then waiting a day or two for a response, chatbots can give immediate answers to common questions.

Consumers like transparency, so when chatbots are implemented, it’s best to let people know that they are interacting with an automated system right off the bat. Chatbot software like SecondEgo communicates with website visitors in real-time. The software uses artificial intelligence to get smarter over time based on data you provide and how people interact with it.

Real-Time Decision Making

Marketers are always looking for ways to speed up the data analysis time so decisions can be made quickly. Data analysis is only part of the picture. Streamlining communication and automating workflows free up team members to focus on optimizing campaigns. The faster marketing teams can make adjustments to campaigns the more revenue they can generate with lower expenses.

Project management solutions like Wrike allow marketing teams to create systematic workflows that speed up communications between team members on specific tasks and create a shared knowledge base for quickly accessing information. Wrike even uses artificial intelligence to automate repeatable tasks that intelligently suggest next steps and notify managers if there’s a possible project delay.

Suggested Items

Having brands suggest items you may like is nothing new – consider the “you may also like” product suggestions that Amazon has been offering post-sale for over a decade. What’s changing is the ability to suggest items across several sites and channels through secure computer software platforms. The right tracking and AI platform can follow customers from one online location to another, and remind them of what they liked on your brand’s site or social media platform. This type of tracking and marketing can also tell you what people are doing after they leave your site, like heading to competitor sites or looking up reviews on your brand.

When marketers better understand consumer behavior, they can better deliver personalized messaging that results in higher return. Big Data and AI benefit both brands and customers by providing custom information.

The post How Big Data and Automation are Giving Marketers Real-Time Solutions appeared first on SmallBizTechnology.

However, marketers are having difficulty integrating their social media and email marketing campaigns. Polls have found that 95 percent of marketers recognize the importance of multi-channel marketing, but 51 percent admit they lack the tools and expertise to set up these campaigns.

If you need direction on combining social media and email marketing, you should follow these tips.

Use influencer marketing to earn trust

Email subscriber rates have collapsed in recent years. The biggest reason is that unscrupulous marketers have abused email to spam potential customers. They are very cautious about subscribing to email lists of brands that they do not trust.

Many black hat marketers use spam tactics to try building their email lists with social media. This has hurt the credibility of legitimate marketers trying to earn email subscribers. You need to earn their trust before driving them to your opt-in page.

One of the best ways to gain the trust of potential subscribers is by using social media influencers. Find social media users in your niche that people trust. People will be far more likely to join your email list if you have the endorsement of one of these experts.

Intertwine all channels

The primary focus of many marketers is to use their social media traffic to promote their email lists. Don’t limit yourself this way. Social media doesn’t lose its value as soon as your followers subscribe to your mailing list.

You should also try promoting your social media platforms with your email campaigns. Fruit of the Loom incorporates their major social media profiles into most of their emails, which has helped them expand their reach on social media.

Test both similar and custom opt in pages with your social media traffic

Facebook and other social media platforms offer a wide range of targeting options to reach new audiences. Many marketers have trouble figuring out how do you build their campaign funnels around different audiences.

Should you target eight different types of customers and reach them with the same ads and landing pages? Or should you build custom funnels for each of them? Both approaches have their merits, so you may need to improvise for each campaign.

In some verticals, different demographics respond very differently to certain marketing messages. Marketers in other industries find that there is a little distinction with the demographics that actually convert. Testing different ads and landing pages to optimize your results.

For example, you can create multiple landing pages for each demographic group you are advertising to and A/B test them to find what works best. Landing page software, like Wishpond, makes creating and testing landing pages simple while also integrating with third party email platforms.

Once a social media visitor is converted into a subscriber, use email marketing platforms like Campaign Monitor to create personalized email content based on the landing page message that got them to convert. If the landing page offered an ebook about a specific topic then your email copy should offer additional value on the same topic.

Use multimedia content and pinned posts to reach potential subscribers on Twitter

For many marketers, the term “social media marketing” is synonymous with “Facebook marketing.” Too many marketers overlook the potential of other social media platforms, such as Twitter.

Twitter can be an excellent site to build your email list. However, you need to work hard to make sure that your tweets stand out from all of the noise.

Kajabi has a lot of experience promoting campaigns on Twitter. They have found that using multimedia content and pinned tweet is a great way to build an email list.

Use social data to estimate demand for various lead magnets

Using a lead magnet is one of the most effective ways to build your email list. However, it is easy to invest a lot of time and resources building a lead magnet that appeals to a very small group of people. You must measure interest before investing in it.

You can use social media to identify lead magnet angles that appeal to a large base of potential subscribers. Try tweaking the targeting options with Facebook ads to see the size of different audiences. You probably don’t want to create a product that will resonate with 5000 people on the network.

Twitter doesn’t have the same audience estimates that Facebook does, but there are ways to test engagement for different ideas. Try running sponsored tweets for blog post that will be similar to your lead magnet page. You can use the number of retreats, likes and clicks to gauge interest in a particular topic.

The post Integrate Email and Social Media Marketing to 10X Results appeared first on SmallBizTechnology.

People lose this part of themselves when livestreaming for the first time. If you are naturally energetic, be energetic! If you are naturally informative, share insightful information. There are many types of people doing livestreams and they all have their own style. Highlight your strengths from the start and then work on masking your weaknesses later on. 

– Lawrence Watkins, Great Black Speakers 


2. Watch Other Livestreams 

Watch as many livestreams as possible first to see what you like and don’t like so that you can either incorporate them into what you do or avoid certain things. This benchmarking can vastly improve your delivery. 

– Angela Ruth, Due 


3. Consider the Impact of Background Noises 

Setting is huge. One thing I underestimated was the amount and intensity of the sounds you can tune out in a normal office that suddenly come through like wasps in a recording. Grinding road sounds and construction can ruin a whole take. You need to be somewhere as silent as possible when you begin. 

– Adam Steele, The Magistrate 


4. Script It and Practice It 

You don’t need a full Shakespearean monologue, but you should have a well-rehearsed outline of what you want to communicate. Practice a few times with your video camera in front of you to get a good feel for what you look like and how you are conveying your message. Remember, 80% is how you say something rather than what you are actually saying. 

– Nicole Munoz, Start Ranking Now 


5. Create an Outline 

If you’re going to livestream for the first time, it’s very important that you’re fully prepared. Have a set outline with key talking points that you’d like to address to stay on topic. There’s a lot of things that could go wrong when livestreaming, but being prepared will likely lead to a successful stream and help prevent any potential issues. 

– Solomon Thimothy, OneIMS 


6. Don’t Skimp on Technology 

Just because livestreaming removes the need for post-production editing and inherently communicates a more immediate, laidback method of communicating to an audience, don’t try to cut costs by using low-cost equipment. Professional cameras and high-quality audio equipment will easily increase the professionalism of your livestream, check this speakers to have a good sound trough all the video. 

– Diego Orjuela, Cables & Sensors 


7. Plan for a Longer Video 

We’ve learned that if you’re only livestreaming for five to 10 minutes, you are not likely to get a large chunk of your audience. We recommend doing content that spans from 20 to 30 minutes, as people regularly check streams in intervals and you’re more likely to catch someone in the middle of your stream (especially for those just checking their Facebook). If your content is good, they’ll rewatch it. 

– Kenny Nguyen, Big Fish Presentations 


8. Invest in a Camera or Phone Stand 

Invest in a stand for the camera or phone for a steady video recording. Second to bad audio quality is shaky, fuzzy video, which gives the viewer a headache. Also, know which format you’re streaming in and position your camera for horizontal or vertical streams appropriately. For example, Facebook Live videos are horizontal but Snap Stories and Facebook Stories tend to be vertical. 

– Adelyn Zhou, TOPBOTS 


9. Keep Practicing 

If you haven’t done it before, being on camera might feel awkward. It’s OK, you’ll figure it out. The more you do it, the easier it gets, and you’ll find out what works and what doesn’t. 

– Karl Kangur, MRR Media 


10. Go Through Some Basic Media Training 

Before livestreaming, invest some time and money into media training. Hire a professional or watch tutorials on YouTube. You want to have some idea of what you are doing before broadcasting yourself to the world! 

– Leila Lewis, Be Inspired PR 


11. Make Sure Everything Is Working Beforehand 

Test your sound and your camera. Ensure you have a reliable internet connection. Avoid making last-minute adjustments, and set everything up how you want it in advance of starting. That will help you get down to business. 

– Erik Bullen, MageMail 


12. Use the Right Lighting 

A camera, any camera (not just an SRL or mirrorless camera) needs light in order to create vivid images. Just by playing around with lights, you can change the mood of a video, which is even more pertinent in a livestream. Most livestreams look dingy and miserable (with yellow undertones), and while I stick around because the content is interesting, it’s irritating. Invest in three-point lighting. 

– Cody McLain, SupportNinja 


13. Think of It As a Conversation 

Make it fun and throw yourself into it so you come across as natural as possible. It’s easy to get nervous, but you will appear so stiff. Go with it and remind yourself that you are just having a conversation with someone you know well. 

– Cynthia Johnson, Ipseity Media 


14. Have Fun 

No one likes watching someone who is rigid and clearly reading a message. Get on camera, have fun and be yourself. People like seeing real-life, authentic faces — it allows them to relate to you even more and can inspire them in their lives. 

– Abhilash Patel, Recovery Brands 

The post 14 Important Things to Remember Before Your First Livestream appeared first on SmallBizTechnology.

A recent study from Career Builder revealed that 52 percent of employers are now using social media in some aspect of the recruiting process. Moreover, a staggering 35 percent of employers admitted that they are less likely to interview someone if they cannot find them online. This upward trend in social recruitment (it’s up 13 percent in just two years), signifies a major change in how human resource departments and those tasked with hiring employees will operate in the future and what knowledge, skills and strategies they’ll need to succeed.

So, which social platforms does someone looking to recruit new talent start with? While some social media sites, such as LinkedIn, are built specifically to help recruiters find new talent, not all others are. Here’s a breakdown of what social platforms many recruiters are turning to.

It’s not surprising to see that LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter round out the top three, and for good reason. LinkedIn is a business-oriented social network with a number of tools available to recruiters to assist them in finding great talent. While initially, you wouldn’t think Facebook would be the best place to start when looking for a new hire, the sheer volume of users on the platform makes it hard to ignore. And because Facebook is a more ‘personal’ social networking site, it allows employers to connect on a different level with potential candidates. Twitter, the place of 140 characters, holds a top spot for finding candidates with more progressive skills. With specialized hashtags that make searching for jobs easy, this platform is a great place to start the recruiting process for free.

But that’s the social media recruiting landscape today. What will it look like 6 months from now or even 6 years from now?

Thankfully, just as quickly as the social media and business landscape changes, many colleges and universities are also making the necessary changes in their programs to ensure that their graduates are prepared to succeed. Take, for instance, Concordia University Texas. Teaching students today’s best practices in recruiting and hiring is a major focus of their online Bachelor of Arts in Human Resource Management program. As stated on their website, “Graduates of our program understand the “why of business,” so they are prepared to succeed not just now, but also in the constantly changing future.”

“Graduates of our program understand the “why of business,” so they are prepared to succeed not just now, but also in the constantly changing future.” – Concordia University Texas

If the last ten years in business, since the introduction of social media, is an indicator of the type of change we will continue to see, then those entering the field will need a much deeper knowledge and skill set than ever before. It’s good to know that there are programs that will prepare them for success.

There are many different ways to make your product popular thanks to the easy access to the internet. But the most popular way should be growing your tiktok account and talking about the product you would like to sell. Talk with marketing experts about a fun and interactive way to attract more customers.

This article is written in partnership with Concordia University Texas. Their affordable online programs help you take the next step in the journey to becoming a skilled and knowledgeable professional.

The post Social Media’s Impact on Business Recruiting Continues to Rise appeared first on SmallBizTechnology.

Building a successful channel does take time and effort but following these rules of thumb will help you maximise the appeal and subscriber base of your channel, as well as the wider reach of your YouTube content in general.

Video Optimisation

YouTube operates like a search engine, and a properly considered search engine optimisation (SEO) strategy is vital if you are to increase the reach of your channel, as well as the videos you host on it.

The first thing to do is to research the types of video content likely to go viral within your niche or sector and ask yourself if you have incorporated any of those elements within your video. This will ensure that you will have a captive audience but your content needs to get found, so it’s important to ensure you also use relevant keywords in your video titles, as well as throughout your channel description.

Successful implementation of keywords in video titles and description boxes will ensure YouTube ranks your content appropriately, and will provide users with an understanding of what to expect. There are many tools for keyword research with Google’s Keyword Planner one of the most popular (partly because it’s free). Tools like SE Ranking, SEM Rush, Moz’s Keyword Explorer are also all excellent, but do require you paying for a subscription.

Top Tip: always avoid keyword stuffing and instead, make sure you maintain a natural tone throughout, incorporating 3 or 4 hyper-relevant keywords, with the first present within the first 20 words.

Thumbnails

When constructing your thumbnail, your core aim must be to create an image that will attract attention and entice your audience to click through to watch your video. We’ve laid out some simple do’s and don’ts for thumbnails, which will form the visual candy for your YouTube channel.

Do:

• Include the title or a few words to provide context for that section of your audience who just look at thumbnails when scrolling through their subscriptions.
• Make sure your design is eye-catching and relevant to the video and your brand.
• Ensure it’s visually interesting, but avoid excessive clickbait techniques, don’t forget that you also buy real YouTube views in order to gain more popularity.

Don’t:

• Settle for a generic aesthetic – you need to stand out from the crowd.
• Become too repetitive, but do try to establish a signature style, so your audience instantly knows it’s a video from you.
• Be afraid to switch your thumbnail for something else, if it isn’t working as well as expected.

Monitoring and Tracking your YouTube Channel

Keeping track of your analytics data is one of the most important elements of any digital strategy as it allows you to identify what works and what doesn’t and to focus budget where it’s best served. Picking the perfect metric or KPI to do this with video marketing isn’t easy and YouTube is no exception. Here are some key considerations when it comes to YouTube metrics.

• Views are excellent, as they demonstrate the reach of your channel and effectiveness of your optimisation strategy.
• Average viewing time will allow you to keep an eye how long people are watching your content. Are viewers getting to the end of your videos, for example? If not you might want to think about making shorter or more attention grabbing videos.
• Another important metric is how often your audience is sharing your content across other platforms. This is extremely important if engagement is key to your campaign or CTA.

Alongside your website and wider smm panel presence, YouTube should be an essential pillar of your video marketing strategy. With so many well known brands failing to establish a convincing YouTube presence with a properly organised YouTube channel, the opportunity to really make an impact is there for taking.

Adopting these techniques to your YouTube channel will help you create the best possible platform for your burgeoning video campaign and establish yourself as an authority in your niche.

Channel Structure

YouTube traditionally isn’t the best platform for driving referral traffic but it is an incredibly powerful brand building tool. In this sense, it might help to think of your YouTube channel as being like the homepage of your video content; a hub that should effectively communicate who you are, what you do, and what you have to offer through your videos.

Below are three golden rules when it comes to actually constructing your YouTube channel.

1. Separate your Consumer and Commercial Content

Understanding how your audience wants to engage with your videos will help you to correctly segment your video content. When creating each video, you should always have a clear idea of who your message is for. Presenting a consumer with content intended for a more corporate audience won’t go down very well, which is why taking the time to understand your audience is key.

Top Tip: understand exactly what you want your channel to help you achieve, and think about how each decision you make will push you closer to your goals.

2. Don’t Order Your Content by Popularity

Wanting to demonstrate how many views one of your older videos achieved is natural, but don’t give into temptation. Instead, focus on promoting the content that effectively reflects your current message. Ensuring that you still have something relevant to say will encourage your audience to keep coming back to your channel regularly. There are many ways you can learn how to get more views on youtube channel or videos.

Top Tip: you never want to look or feel stagnant. Recognise when you need to switch things up and act quickly.

3. Keep Creating Consistently

Consistency is integral to every strategy and its importance here cannot be overstated. Whether you’re going to upload every day or once a week, your audience need to know when they can expect to see something new from you. Establish a schedule and stick to it.

Top Tip: check in with your analytics data and see when your target audience is most likely to want to watch some new content. Tailor your upload schedule to the most popular times and days of the week, to ensure your message reaches as many people as possible.

The post How to Build a Powerful YouTube Channel appeared first on SmallBizTechnology.

As a freelance digital marketer consultant and Facebook ads specialist, this is THE most frequently asked question I hear.

It’s a really bad question (I’ll explain why) and also impossible to answer with a specific monetary value.

When it comes to advertising on Facebook, or even social media in general, it seems like many business owners and entrepreneurs have heard too many stories about ‘going viral’ or some other miracle.

In reality, advertising on Facebook is just plain old business. Forget about digital marketing metrics like reach or virality or impressions—money spent on advertising is supposed to create revenue for you. If the ROI on your Facebook advertising campaign is good, you’ll spend as much money as you need to.

But to figure out the ROI of your Facebook ads, you’ll need a few things:

1. A quantifiable goal (or goals)
2. A digital marketing funnel
3. A hypothesis to test

With those three things in hand, you don’t have to ask me how much money to spend on Facebook ads—you can know and spend according.

And I’ll show you how, right now.

How to set a business goal for Facebook ads

One of the great things about Facebook advertising is that you don’t need an ecommerce store, or even a way to accept payments online, to have success. You can generate business results offline, too.

To make it interesting, let’s use lead generation as your business goal—you want an email address or a phone number to follow up personally and close a deal.

Before you launch your first Facebook campaign, come up with a goal for lead generation by asking yourself these questions:

1. How many leads do you currently generate in a month?
2. How many leads does it take to close a customer?
3. How many leads can you realistically handle?

If you currently generate ten leads per month and close one of those into a customer, but you can handle four more paying customers, your goal for Facebook ads is to generate 40 leads per month with Facebook ads.

10 organic leads + 40 leads from Facebook ads = 50 leads

50 leads x 10% conversion rate = 5 customers

Too easy. Now for the tricky part.

Setting up your digital marketing funnel with Facebook ads

Web visitors aren’t exactly begging to become leads, especially if your website isn’t optimized for conversions. Think about your own online behavior—do you fill out a form any time somebody asks? Probably not, or your inbox would never see the light of day.

So if you want somebody to become a lead, you have to nurture them through a marketing funnel.

Start by using Facebook ads to send paid traffic to an awareness-level blog post. By “awareness-level,” I mean a blog post (or other content, like video) that helps them clarify their problem or need.

Once that person has read your blog post, you can retarget them to a more conversion oriented asset, like a landing page or better yet, a Facebook Lead Ad.

Because you’ve already introduced your brand and provided value for free with the awareness-level content, these retargeted visitors are far more likely to convert than if you had sent them straight to your landing page.

Note: In order to use retargeting and conversion tracking, you’ll need to have your Facebook Pixel properly installed and configured.

With either landing pages or Facebook Lead Ads, you can set what information you get from your lead—email, phone number, etc. If you’re taking in a large volume of leads, you can add additional qualifications to help you prioritize.

Digital marketing funnels are not as complex as they seem, and you can start with a simple one like the example above to test the viability of Facebook ads for your business.

Now to create and test your hypothesis…

How to create and test your hypothesis

You should never invest a significant amount of money into ANY advertising channel without testing it first. Here’s how you would test the viability of Facebook advertising; we’ll continue to use the same example from above.

Let’s say the average lifetime value (LTV) of a customer for your business is $1,000.

You create Facebook ads, drive traffic to a landing page, and measure conversions.

Your budget is $500 and your cost-per-click (CPC) is .50¢—this means you drove 1,000 visits to your landing page.

200 people (of the 1,000 visits) filled out your form, so your conversion rate from landing page visitor to lead is 20%. (Which would be incredible!)

Of those 200 people, 5 of them become customers (10%, again, very good).

Using your LTV, you’ve just made $5,000 of a $500 investment in Facebook ads.

That’s a 900% ROI.

By using the process described in this blog post, the question “How much should I spend on Facebook ads” now seems like a really, really dumb question. The answer is obvious:

If you’re seeing a 900% ROI on an advertising channel, you spend every penny you can get your hands on.

Now here’s the fun part—by breaking your digital marketing funnel down into individual pieces and looking at the metrics associated with each piece, you can improve on them one at a time with A/B testing:

• CPC too high? Try different ad creative or different targeting.
• Coverversion rate too low? Spruce up your landing page with better images, more compelling copy, fewer form fields.
• Leads not converting into sales? Try adding another qualifying step in your marketing funnel to not waste time on bad leads.

Start seeing ROI on your Facebook advertising campaigns by asking the right questions.

The post How Much Should I Spend On Facebook Ads? appeared first on SmallBizTechnology.

Social Media giants like Facebook, twitter and instagram have not only reduced distanced but provided an opportunity to entrepreneurs to connect with real audience.

Social media is not just an opportunity to market your brand but a game changer for your online business. You will find many entrepreneurs like you, who have built a huge audience and run a successful business. You can also follow tips of aboriginalbluemountains to become a successful businessmen

The trick is to learn from their success and use social media to drive your own online business.

This article aims to help those entrepreneurs hunting to understand the behavior of social media traffic and measure the success of their social media campaigns through google analytics.

Getting Started With Google Analytics

The internet is full of guides on how to install google analytics, so I am not going into the very basics. I would rather outline the important prospects to get started with google analytics. Below are the few simple steps to to follow which will direct your website traffic to google analytics.

1. Create a google account
2. Sign in to google analytics
3. Fill your website information
4. Get the analytics tracking code
5. Paste the code on your website
6. Verify setup

Once you complete the above steps, you should be able to see the real traffic coming to your website.

Why Every Website Owner Should use Google Analytics

Google analytics is a free traffic analysis tool and is used by millions of website owners to segment and analyze user behavior. Below are few most important reasons why every website owners should use google analytics:

1. You can measure your website’s objectives by defining goals
2. You can track specific actions on your website like pdf downloads or video plays
3. The user interface is very simple and easy to navigate between different reports
4. You can track your ecommerce transactions
5. You can track your social media campaigns and see the most engaging social channel
6. Measure how users interact with your site content
7. You can see the geographic location of your audience
8. You can create your own customizable reports
9. You can use your google analytics data for remarketing in adwords

There are several more important things you can do in google analytics according to the type of your online business. All you need is to get along well with metrics and dimensions.

Tracking Social Media Campaigns

Social media campaigns play a vital role in driving valuable customers to your business. The crucial point is to figure out which social media campaign performs exceptionally and which doesn’t.

Tracking social media campaigns is a painless and straightforward process in google analytics. The only requirement is that you should be tracking your website traffic with google analytics.

UTM tags in google analytics come handy when you are tracking any custom campaign. It consists of three very important parameters which send visitor information to google analytics. These tags are embedded at the end of the campaign, beginning with a question mark(?) and separated by ampersand(&).

http://example.com?utm_source=social&utm_campaign=winter_sale&utm_medium=facebook

The parameters utm_source, utm_medium and utm campaign builder are required for every custom url and the order in which they are placed doesn’t matter. While tracking your custom campaigns, it is recommended to use a url builder tool.

One of my favorite url builder tool is utm.io, because it is more user friendly and easy to shorten urls once you tag them.

Using a tool doesn’t only embed utm tags but also shortens long customized urls. When you start your social media campaigns, you can then view campaign reports in google analytics by navigating to Acquisition >> Campaigns >> All Campaigns.

Understanding the Analytics Reports for Social Media Marketers

For a social media marketer, it is important to be able to understand the google analytics social media reports. It contains data related to traffic coming from all social media channels and how different social media channels contribute towards a conversion.

Segment Social Media Traffic

The social media reports are already included within the channel reports(Acquisition>All Traffic>Channels), but to get a better understanding of your social traffic you can create a segment to isolate all of the traffic originating from social sites.

Identify Top Social Media Channels

One of the biggest challenge would be to determine the top social media channels which drive more conversions. The Google analytics social media reports feature is useful in determining which social channel to focus on and which to say good bye to.

As you can see in the above picture, YouTube is driving a huge chunk of traffic as compared to other channels. But, when we look at the avg. session duration and pages/session it is clear that youtube visitors don’t interact much with the content.

Although Facebook, reddit and google groups have less sessions their users have a higher interaction percentage with the site content. From the above data, we can assume that our potential customers are coming from channels with more website interactions. We would tend to focus more on these channels to drive more traffic and hence conversions.

To verify which social channel drives most conversions navigate to Acquisition >> Social >> Conversions.

Understand behavior of Social Media Visitors

A catchy title and a picture is enough to drive traffic from social media channels but understanding what this group of visitors do on your website is a bit difficult.

Luckily, user flow report in google analytics displays the journey of social media traffic on your website. What was the landing page for the particular session, where they navigate next and finally the exit page.

You can access user flow reports in google analytics by navigating to Acquisition >> Social >> Users Flow.

This chart displays the social media channels which are driving traffic and the behavior of each channel’s visitors across your website.

From the social network drop down menu you can change the dimension to set ‘Campaigns’ and see which campaign is more engaging. In the essence, you can determine which channel works out for you and which one is only consuming your valuable resources.

You can further explore user flow reports to build funnel for any page and understand which set of pages a user views to achieve a specific goal.

The post How to Measure the Impact of Social Media on Your Business appeared first on SmallBizTechnology.

Social media automation comes at a cost, even if you stick with basic software. Is it worth it?

Email automation comes with a monthly cost; does it earn enough to justify the cost?

Where should your marketing dollars go? Is email dead as a dodo? The crowd says social media, and especially Facebook, but have you checked for yourself?

Marketing decisions are always about choosing the most efficient channels for conversion into customers. When you look at your typical customer profile, the decision may appear obvious; Facebook if your customer profile is less than 30, and email if he is over 30. But is that an over-simplification?

Comparing Reach

Facebook follower numbers are high, but that means nothing because communicating with them is nigh on impossible. Facebook’s filtering mechanisms. Brian Boland from Facebook in the UK wrote about why organic reach is headed for zero.

Sharing helps to increase your reach and to put your brand in front of new faces, but the increase is from such a small base that it is always going to be a low number.

It takes more effort to acquire email subscribers, but every subscriber will see your email, though it might be in the promotions tab.

The Facebook Process

Someone is interested in you and clicks a link to follow your Facebook Page. You hope they will see some of your content in their feeds.

In reality, your organic reach to Facebook followers is very low for two reasons:

• Facebook limits organic reach because they want you to pay for ads
• There are so many possible items that can be shown in users’ feeds

If someone follows you, even then they don’t see your page in their feed.

Your page is hidden away behind the Pages link as highlighted above. Only if the individual shrinks the page or scrolls down will he or she see more than the top few pages they have followed.

The chance of one of your followers going through this process to see what is happening in your business is effectively zero.

The Email Process

Someone has to go to a bit more trouble to sign up to your email list.

You can make your signup page attractive and outline all the benefits people will get by clicking that button.

A subscriber needs to go to a bit of trouble to sign up, but there is nothing unexpected, and it just means a few clicks if he is using an autofill app.

You can then direct the subscriber to any page you choose. You have his attention, so use it to good effect.

From here on the subscriber sees every message you send. Yes, you need to work hard to make them interesting enough that they are worth opening, but the same can be said for a Facebook Page post. At least with email, you know people will see your marketing messages.

Advantage Gmail

Email has one other advantage. If you are using a gmail account you can personalize your signature. You can do this using the Settings link in your account, but the email signature you get is boring and does nothing for your marketing.

What would you give to have an email signature like one of the above? WiseStamp is a gmail signature app that will let you design the email signoff of your dreams.

Facebook Automation vs. Email Automation

Facebook automation possibilities are limited. Yes, you can use Hootsuite to upload a series of posts, but remember only 7% of your followers will see your post unless you pay to promote it.

Personalization is not possible with Facebook posts, further limiting their conversion rate.

Email automation possibilities are endless. The smart autoresponder from GetResponse allows you to build multiple lists and to divide each list into segments so you can target particular groups more easily.

You can also send unlimited personalized emails and develop automated workflows you can use time and again.

Check out this SmallBiz Technology post for further advice on choosing a marketing automation provider.

Your Takeaway

Customer acquisition is a combination of reach and engagement. One without the other is worthless. If your message reaches one million people, but no-one clicks on the link, then all that reach was wasted. Facebook has too many distractions to be an effective final stage marketing vehicle. Its best use is to persuade Facebook users to subscribe to your email list.

Build your email list, and use an autoresponder to send multiple messages to your subscribers. Be open and be yourself because people buy from people they trust. Emails and the blog posts they link to are excellent tools in the trust-building process that must precede any sale.

The post Battle of the Giants – Facebook vs. Email appeared first on SmallBizTechnology.

Facebook Ads

One of the best options offered by Facebook Adds has to be audience targeting. Facebook currently has over 1.86 billion active monthly users and over the years, it has collected a massive amount of data about them. Google targets its users based on keywords and topics, but Facebook has gone a step further than that. Third ad system targets people based on their beliefs, behaviors, habits, demographics, ideologies and particular set of values they uphold. Facebook interest targeting allows for a very precise audience targeting based on a number of different characteristics.

Another strong point of Facebook Ads is the social engagement aspect. The platform itself encourages potential customers to interact with, comment on and share numerous types of interest based content. With this information in mind, advertisers can create entire campaigns focused on generating more comments, likes, and shares. This makes the Facebook platform rather effective when it comes to not only company branding but also interacting and engaging with current customers, as well as potential ones.

Although Google has a lot of potential when it comes to local marketing strategies, Facebook has specific ad types such as Lead Ads and Local Awareness which offer some exclusive opportunities for marketing which aren’t easy to replicate with Google AdWords. Furthermore, Facebook Ads have a far lower cost per click (CPC) when compared to Google AdWords, with the average CPC rarely costing more than $2. Granted, AdWords do have a somewhat higher conversion rate, but it is possible to regulate a decent conversion rate using Facebook, especially due to cheaper clicks.

Facebook Ads Pros

To summarize, the pros of Facebook Ads include:

• Easy setup
• Capability to reach users early in the buying process
• Cheap cost-per-click
• Easy to track campaigns
• Excellent control over maximum CPC and daily budgets
• Instant traffic influx
• Immediate ROI
• Numerous targeting options
• Use of graphic and video Ads in order to pique the interest of the target audience

Cons

• It can be far more expensive than Google AdWords if not setup and maintained properly
• Lower conversion rates due to reaching customers so early in the buying process
• No option for Ad timing (times of day, week, month)
• Only really applicable for B2C companies

Google AdWords

Keyword targeting is one of the main points separating Google from Facebook. Being the biggest search engine on the internet, Google also has the most available users. This allows for targeting customers which are looking for your service or product specifically and those with high intent for purchasing. With AdWords, you can create ad groups and campaigns which revolve around a certain keyword and produce ads relevant to the search queries users actually make.

And that is exactly the main difference between Google AdWords and Facebook Ads. Facebook helps customers find you, while AdWords helps you find potential customers. And locating potential customers is fairly easy for Google, as its Display Network currently covers over 2 million individual websites. Potential audiences can see the Ads in mobile apps while browsing their emails and while watching videos on YouTube.

Creating video ads is simple with Facebook, but the one feature which distinguishes Google from it is, of course, YouTube. It currently has around 1 billion active users and AdWords allow you to create specific marketing campaigns based on interests, demographics, particular ad placements, specific keywords people use, etc. Not only are video ads excellent four generating brand awareness, but they can also allow users to interact with them in numerous ways. Although Google AdWords allows for better reach and higher conversion rates, some of the keywords you target can be rather expensive when compared to Facebook Ads.

Google AdWords Pros

• Enormous potential audience
• Easy-to-track campaigns
• Excellent control over daily budgets and maximum CPC
• Instant traffic influx
• Immediate ROI
• Better conversion rates
• Different targeting options such as time of the day, week, specific regions and websites
• Numerous advertising options

Cons

• Very costly if not set up correctly
• Time-consuming setup and maintenance
• Limited ad space
• Depending on the industry in question, very high CPC

Remarketing and Retargeting options

Google AdWords remarketing allows advertisers to display their ads to users which have already visited their website. It’s a powerful marketing technique which ensures that advertisers stay connected to their target audience even after they leave the website. With Google’s vast network, marketers can present ads to potential customers even when they’re browsing different parts of the internet, which further improves brand exposure and increasing trust in your product or service. With the cost per click being lower for remarketing than it is for normal marketing campaigns, Google remarketing is an excellent tool to further increase the conversion rates.

Facebook also has a remarketing solution called Facebook Custom Audiences. Similar to Google, the Custom Audiences platform represents a lists of users who have already interacted with your brand. These include past buyers, current customers, high-value customers, etc. The biggest strength of Facebook Custom Audiences is the narrowness with which potential customers can be targeted, allowing for carefully created ads to be displayed to a number of selected individuals.

Both of these advertising platforms have their strengths and weaknesses. Picking one over the other can be quite difficult, as both offer unique results which mostly depend on your specific advertising goals. Facebook allows for very narrow targeting options, but Google’s keyword targeting is hard to beat when it comes to offering your products and services to a much broader audience. Instead of choosing one specific platform, it is best to use them in a complementary way. The best advertising strategy is one which uses all available assets in order to produce the best results.

The post Facebook Ads vs. Google Ads and Remarketing appeared first on SmallBizTechnology.

Facebook is constantly evolving its platform. Recently it upgraded the capabilities and integrations of Facebook Pages to enable you to do more and better engage with your customers.

These upgrades include better integrations with multiple service providers such as:

• Start Order – Accept orders with delivery.com or Slice.
• Book Now – Book appointments with HomeAdvisor, MyTime and other services.
• Buy Tickets – Sell tickets with Ticketmaster.
• See Showtimes – Provide show schedules and sell tickets with Fandango.

Other updates include managing bookings and inquiries, easier ways for customers to refer and recommend your business and more.

Facebook is an important part of your marketing, be sure your Facebook page is fined tuned to perform as best as it can.

The post Facebook Business Pages – Why You Should Constantly Tweak Your Facebook Page appeared first on SmallBizTechnology.

Better Business Networking

Networking is a vital part of small business success because you never know where a new connection will lead you. As guest contributor, Jen Slaw, says, “Our connections will become our clients, team members, strategic partners, mentors, and advisors.” By networking, you can form relationships that will better your business. If networking isn’t your thing, take a look at this article. Jen Slaw is sharing five things you can do to immediately expand your business network.

Click to read 5 Steps to Form & Nurture Business Relationships

Relationships with Contractors

No matter how hard you try, you can’t do it all yourself, small business owner; you will occasionally come across tasks that are better handled by an expert rather than using a DIY approach. One such example is app development. More and more small businesses are understanding the benefits of creating their own app, but lacking knowledge of coding and design requires them to hire out. This article can help you form a better relationship with your app developer so you can clearly communicate your needs and help to create a stunning end product.

Click to read 5 Tips for Working with an App Developer as a Small Business Owner

Social Media Relationships

Social media is an ideal place to cultivate your relationships with your customers, and no one knows more about this subject than Ted Rubin, the Chief Marketing Officer of Brand Innovators and creator of the concept “return on relationships.” In this article, Ted offers tips to help you make better digital connections using social media.

Click to read Ted Rubin’s Advice on Building Personal Relationships through Social Media

Bonus Article: Workplace & Employee Relationships

Forming strong relationships with employees involves creating a culture within your small business where team members know they are valued and love to come to work. To create a better workplace environment, check out this article by guest author Randy Stocklin, the founder of One Click which was named one of Inc. Magazine’s 50 Places to work in 2016. Randy is sharing four tips that will help you build stronger relationships and culture in your business.

Click to read How to Build a Rock Solid Company Culture

So how are you doing on relationship management in your small business? Check out the articles above to get help in these specific areas! You can also get more advice at SmartHustle.com – or spark up new relationships with your business peers by joining the Smart Hustle Community.

The post Smart Hustle Recap: Tips for Stronger Small Business Relationships appeared first on SmallBizTechnology.

New Business Has Slowed? Here’s Why

The key to business growth is acquiring new customers, so if you’ve noticed that things have slowed down, it’s time to take notice. While slow business growth can happen for reasons like an economic downturn, there are often business missteps that are to blame. In this article, sales guru Adrian Miller is sharing five reasons why you might not be seeing the new business you’d like. Figure out which are applicable to your situation, then use her advice to fix it.

Click to read 5 Reasons Why You Might Not Be Winning New Business

Connecting with Customers via Facebook Live

Video marketing is a hot trend right now, but do you know what is even hotter? Live video. The thought of appearing live and unscripted on camera in front of your customers might sound daunting. However, when you understand the benefits of live video (and the fact that your fears are largely exaggerated!), you’ll be ready to take the first step into this promising area of marketing. In this Smart Hustle interview, social media expert Kim Garst shares the benefits of Facebook Live and five tips that will calm your fears and get you prepared for your first live video.

Click to read 5 Tips for Using Facebook Live to Get Closer to Your Customers

Enhance Your IT Security Today

A sobering statistic for you: in a recent survey of 500 IT professionals, 30 percent said they believe there is nothing they can do to protect the security of their company. If you’ve ever felt the same way, it’s time to eradicate that self-defeating thought and take charge because you definitely CAN improve IT security at your business! In this article, cloud service LogMeIn is sharing four simple things you can do to greatly enhance the security of your company.

Click to read How to Improve IT Security in Four Simple Steps

So what is troubling you these days? Winning new business and sales? Forming better relationships with your customers? The security of your business data? These articles are sure to help, and for more tips and advice, catch new content over at SmartHustle.com.

The post Smart Hustle Recap: Winning New Business, Facebook Live & IT Security appeared first on SmallBizTechnology.

Word-of-Mouth Marketing

Businesses large and small love free marketing, where customers are willing and eager to sing your praises based on the positive experiences they’ve had with your company. But besides just providing great products and services, how do you drum up word-of-mouth marketing? This article explores five actionable things you can do to get more people talking about your business.

Click to read 5 Ways to Get People to Talk about Your Business

Instagram for Business

As a newer social media platform, Instagram still has many business owners scratching their heads. How exactly do you use a platform that focuses on pictures and hashtags to grow customers and awareness? The launch of “Instagram Stories” is actually opening up new marketing potential for small businesses, provided you know how to use it. This article explains what Instagram Stories is and how you can leverage it for your biz.

Click to read How to Market Your Business with Instagram Stories

Small Business Video Marketing Ideas

If you follow marketing tips, advice and news, then chances are that you run into the subject of video marketing all the time. Unfortunately, many small businesses aren’t sure where to get started. We’ve covered basic tips in other articles, but this one gives you specific videos you could create to promote your business, including new product teasers, customer feedback, and more. It is sure to give you some great ideas to help create your first marketing video.

Click to read 6 Engaging Video Marketing Ideas for Small Businesses

Bonus Article: Must-Have Financial Roles

As promised, we also wanted to share an informative article for business owners who feel like they already have control over their marketing – and who couldn’t use a finance lesson now and again? This article, written by finance expert Jonathan Ankney, covers the three financial roles that you must have for your small business – and what happens if one of these crucial roles is missing.

Click to read 3 Financial Roles Every Business Needs to Maximize Success

Smart Hustle readers asked for more marketing articles, and we have been happy to deliver pieces on word-of-mouth marketing, Instagram, videos and more. What other topics would you like to see us cover on Smart Hustle? See what’s available on SmartHustle.com then share your opinion over at the Smart Hustle Community.

The post Smart Hustle Recap: Marketing via Word-Of-Mouth, Instagram Stories, and Videos appeared first on SmallBizTechnology.

Using Google Analytics to Track Social Campaigns

Even though there are several social media management tools, the richness of Google Analytics reports make it ideal for tracking your social campaigns. Did you know that you can use Google Analytics to track network referrals, conversions, landing pages, and social plugins? This article tells you how to get started with Google Analytics, set up goals, and five top Google Analytics reports to look at to understand how your social media campaigns are going.

Click to read How to Track Social Media Analytics with Google Analytics

Recovering from a Sales Slump

Unfortunately, everyone will experience a sales slump at some point in his or her career. Biz expert Adrian Miller says the first important thing is to understand why the slump happened so you can address the cause! However, if you find yourself in a slump, there are plenty of things you can do to recover. Adrian reviews four of the best things you can do to get the sales ball rolling again.

Click to read How to Revamp Your Business in a “Sales Slump”

Small Biz Owner: Don’t Focus on Going Viral

The gold standard in content marketing is a phenomenon known as “going viral” – when your content (whether it is a blog post, video, social media message, or something else) gets the attention of mass audiences who flood to your site and “discover” your company, making you an overnight sensation. While going viral is definitely a good thing, there are many reasons why small business owners should not focus on going viral. This article explores the reasons and what small business owners should do instead to make sure their content is a hit among the target market.

Click to read Content Marketing 2016: Why Small Businesses Shouldn’t Focus on Going Viral

Smart Hustle Magazine is committed to helping small business owners through all the twists and turns of running a business – the high points (like going viral), the low points (like experiencing a sales slump), and all of the experimentation that goes on in between (including tracking campaign analytics on platforms like Google Analytics). For more advice – no matter what stage of the game you’re at – check out SmartHustle.com or join the discussion in the Smart Hustle Community.

The post Smart Hustle Recap: Google Analytics How-To, Recovering from a Sales Slump, and More! appeared first on SmallBizTechnology.

Snapchat Announces a New Advertising Option

If millennials are your target market, you probably know about Snapchat by now. This social media platform is a hit among 18-34-year-olds, who use the platform to share pictures and videos. Snapchat has offered various advertising options for a while now, but on June 13^th, they announced a brand new option that shows promise for reaching the millennial market. This article explains your new Snapchat advertising option, and also presents an infographic full of tips on how you can use Snapchat to market your business (both organically and paid).

Click to read New Snapchat Advertising: Target Millennials with Video Ads

Pitching the Media

Another way to market your business is to get coverage in the media. Although small business owners typically don’t have the budget to hire a PR person, the DIY strategy can work when executed properly. This article shares tips on how to pitch the media, including where to pitch as well as the length and timing of your pitch.

Click to read 3 Ways to Pitch Your Small Business to the Media

Improve Your Sales with Negotiation Skills Training

Sales are the most important aspect of building a successful business. Think about it – no matter how great your marketing is, you won’t get very far if your sales team can’t seal the deal. In the days of fierce competition, your sales team must be able to build a strong argument for your product and service, but they also must be prepared to negotiate the final terms and price. This article presents six reasons why you should provide negotiation skills training to your sales team to set them up for success.

Click to read Negotiation Skills Training: Why Startups Need It

Growth Hacks to Try in Your Small Biz

Growth hacking refers to a wide range of activities spread across marketing, sales, programming, and design that help a business grow FAST. Taking examples from successful startups like Apple, Google, Dropbox, Pinterest and more, this article shows you how you can also use growth hacks like referrals, email signatures, communities, piggybacking and more in your small business.

Click to read 9 Growth Hacks from Your Favorite Startups (And How to Use Them)

What do you say – are you ready to market your business and bring your sales to the next level? Get guidance in the articles above and for more ideas and inspiration visit SmartHustle.com.

The post SH Recap – Market Your Business, Improve Your Sales, and GROW! appeared first on SmallBizTechnology.

This article is brought to you in partnership with Verisign, the global leader in domain names and internet security

When today’s customer wants to learn more about a business, the first place they usually turn is the Internet. This has made an online presence essential to a brand’s success. Setting up both a website and social media accounts means when customers enter search terms in Google, information about your company will appear.

But merely having an online presence isn’t enough. Studies have shown that businesses that actively engage customers can expect to grow 40 percent faster than they would if they didn’t have an online presence at all. The first step is to online success is choosing a domain name, but the work only begins there. Here are a few steps you should take to build and maintain an active online presence.

Putting Your Domain Name to Work

Once you’ve registered a domain name, you’ll likely begin immediately working to publish a winning website. But there are several different ways you can use this domain name to build your business’s online presence. Building and launching a new website that shows off your products or services is one of the most common ways. But there’s another option.

Instead of building a new website, you can actually redirect your domain to an existing website. This could be an existing platform for your business, like a WordPress or Blogger blog. However, you can also redirect a new domain name to a social media site, which can act as your business’s temporary landing page. While having both a website and social media presence that work together is ideal, sometimes new businesses can’t realistically do both in their early, more formative days.

Starting on Social Media

For any new business, social media is a great way to set up on an online presence at no cost whatsoever. Social media sites come with a built-in base of potential customers, making them the perfect outlet for testing the online waters. However, unlike your own website, you won’t have the level of control you’ll have with your own website. By registering your business’s web address and directing it to point to one of your social media accounts, you’ll be able to set up your online identity, build your brand, and market your business with a professional web address that customers can easily remember.

Of course, social media is at its best when it’s being used as a marketing tool. As soon as possible, though, brands should begin working on developing and deploying a website, which will give a brand optimum control. With so many drag-and-drop-based website development tools, businesses can create their own websites without even calling upon a design professional to help. Once a website is in place, a brand will have the benefit of a scalable online presence that can be updated as needed.

Once designed, your business’s website should serve as your central hub, providing a place for customers to go when they need information. All of your other marketing efforts should drive customers to that website to engage, learn, and, hopefully, buy. Over time, your website and social media presences will serve to complement each other, offering similar information but in different ways; At https://www.salesforce.com/blog/2019/01/how-to-create-a-customer-centric-experience.html you can learn how to take advantage of it to provide a good customer centric experience.
Your business should use its website alongside its social networking efforts to connect with customers and get the word out about the great work you’re doing.

This article was written in partnership with Verisign, the global leader in domain names and internet security. All opinions and experiences expressed are my own.

The post Social Media and Websites: How Businesses Can Get it Right appeared first on SmallBizTechnology.

You know that live video is exploding – from teens doing silly videos to local consultants sharing their expertise. Dear business owner, live video is what’s hot and will be “the thing” for years to come. Get used to it and learn to do live video right.

1. Hold your camera the right way – vertical in most cases
2. Be cognizant of those around you – don’t capture innocent people in your live shot
3. Have good audio – don’t do a live shot with lots of noise (if you can help it)
4. Be prepared, Daymond John does a weekly Facebook Live chat and is well prepared for what he’ll share
5. Have fun and learn.

The WSJ”s Jaonna Stern writes, “Rule No. 1 of live streaming: Have a purpose. Show us a concert, a breathtaking view, a ride on your electric scooter, your new Wi-Fi connected juicer—it’s all about sharing something cool or unique. I maintained 50 live viewers on a horse and buggy ride through Central Park. But making kale salad? My viewership fell to low single digits.”

You can read more about Facebook’s Live video updates here.

The post Live Video. It’s Not A Fad. It’s A Serious Business Tool. appeared first on SmallBizTechnology.

Small Business Week Events

Small Business Week is an initiative of the SBA so they are running a special series of Small Business Week events which includes live events (with live streaming online) and webinars to educate small business owners. However, many other companies are joining in on the fun with their own events, including contests, promotions, training, and dedicated content. This article covers all the main events so you can participate.

Click to read Small Business Week 2016 Events.

The Importance of Follow-Up

In this interview with SCOTTeVEST founder Scott Jordan, he tells us about what he says is the “one reason for my success” – following up on every opportunity that comes his way. He explains how follow-up is important in nearly every aspect of your business, whether it is customer and advertising inquiries or daily business operations. The informative audio interview is bolstered with a list of Scott’s top 6 tips for successful follow-up.

Click to read Follow-Up: The Most Powerful Tool for Your Small Business Success.

New Tool to Generate PR Buzz

As it stands right now, the PR process is pretty messy. Businesses want media coverage, but reporters often feel ‘spammed’ by PR teams who fill up their inboxes with pitches. At SXSW 2016, Ramon learned about a new tool called Babbler that is aimed at improving the process. Babbler works like a social media site and helps to connect business marketers with right reporters who are looking to cover stories on that topic. The result – reporters get content they need to make great stories, and businesses get the media coverage they are looking for.

Click to read How Babbler Can Help You Generate Buzz about Your Business.

It’s Time to Grow Your Business

In this video interview, Ramon gets the opportunity to chat with Amanda Holmes, CEO of the business growth company Chet Holmes International. The video full of tips on how to take your business to the next level. In the article, we’ve also pulled out some of Amanda’s tips as the must-follow rules for business growth. This article is sure to put you on the path to success.

Click to read 5 Rules of Business Growth from CEO of Chet Holmes International.

What Small Business Week events will you be participating in? Which interview are you going to check out first?  Let us know in the comments and check out SmartHustle.com for help on your other small business questions.

The post Smart Hustle Recap: Small Business Week Events + 3 Amazing Interviews appeared first on SmallBizTechnology.

Smart Hustle Small Business Community Launched

Smart Hustle is proud to serve the small business community by providing informational articles and inspiring stories. Earlier this year, we conducted a survey to find out what other things our readers would like to see, and an overwhelming majority relayed their interest in more community activities. This week, Smart Hustle answered the call by launching a small business community on Facebook. Everyone is invited to join this group, where you can ask questions, give advice, discuss small business topics, participate in live video chats, and even win prizes!

Click here to join Smart Hustle’s Small Business Community

Peter Shankman Joins Smart Hustle

Peter Shankman is the epitome of a smart hustler. As a successful entrepreneur, Peter created HARO (Help a Reporter Out), a service that helps journalists connect with small business owners (who can then benefit from free marketing). He is also an author, speaker, consultant, and an entrepreneurial investor whose projects include SCOTTeVEST.  This week, Smart Hustle announced that Peter will be joining the Smart Hustle team as an advisor and contributing expert. Stay tuned for great things – Peter Shankman and Smart Hustle will be an unbeatable team!

Click to read Celebrity Author & Entrepreneur Peter Shankman Joins Smart Hustle Magazine as Contributing Editor & Advisor

The Little Steps that Lead to Success

Have you ever given up on a dream because you were intimidated by the journey you would have to take to reach that dream? It’s true: our biggest goals are the hardest to reach, taking countless days, months and even years of our blood, sweat, and tears. That shouldn’t stop you, though. In this interview with Chris Capehart, you’ll learn about his new book that breaks down the ‘proverbial mile’ to your goal into smaller, achievable steps. As Chris explains, if you focus on the small steps instead of the long journey, you can reach any goal you have.

Click to read Pursuing Your Dreams One Small Step at a Time – An Interview with Chris Capehart

Team Collaboration with Intraboom

Today’s technology has made it easier than ever to collaborate with your small business team members. The problem is that there are so many collaboration tools to choose from that it can be difficult to know which will work best for your business. In this article (and video interview) we learn about a new collaboration tool called Intraboom which offers features such as messaging, calendars, file sharing, a main dashboard and more.

Click to read SXSW 2016 Interview: How Intraboom Is Changing the Way Teams Communicate

As I mentioned, it was a very busy week for the Smart Hustle team! In addition to the articles and announcements listed here, there were several other articles and interviews, including what you need to know before starting a business, how to create a positive work environment, Kevin O’Leary’s 3 rules for giving a perfect business pitch, and so much more! Check out the Smart Hustle website to catch up on these and other stories.

The post Smart Hustle Recap: Small Business Community Launched, Peter Shankman Joins the Team & More! appeared first on SmallBizTechnology.

If you’re still looking for marketing ideas to try (and master) then this is the Smart Hustle Recap for you! Today we will be featuring a number of marketing strategies that work for small business owners, including developing a return on relationships, designing personalized products, creating a stunning business logo, and using hashtags to your benefit.

Marketing Strategies that Work #1: Return on Relationships

You have likely heard of ROI, or return on investment, but what about ROR? ROR stands for return on relationships, and in this Smart Hustle interview, Ted Rubin (who coined the phrase) will tell you what it is, how you can grow ROR through social media, and how ROR will impact your bottom line.

Click to read Ted Rubin on How to Maximize Your Return on Relationships (ROR)

Marketing Strategies that Work #2: Personalized Products

In this second Smart Hustle interview, we hear from Gustav Reyes, who has found success creating wooden rings. In addition to inspiration, the article will teach you about the benefit of creating your own niche, including personalizing the customer experience with customizable, intimate gifts that are sure to draw the customers in.

Click to read How to Pursue Your Business Dreams – An Interview with Gustav Reyes

Marketing Strategies that Work #3: Business Logo

Your business logo gives your company a visual identity. It sends a message about what your business is about, and it helps customers recognize your brand when they see it. Certain elements of the business logo, (like meaning, color, representation, design contrast, and a timeless appearance) should be planned out in advance to get the biggest impact. If you’re just starting out (or looking to rebrand with a new logo), this article has the essential design information you need.

Click to read 5 Essential Elements of an Eye-Catching and Memorable Business Logo

Marketing Strategies that Work #4: Hashtags

Hashtags were made popular on Twitter almost a decade ago, but now they are a staple of all social media sites. Used correctly, hashtags can help categorize and publicize your social media messages to reach a wider audience, but if done wrong, they can scare your followers away. If you’re still struggling with hashtags in your small business, this article offers 3 simple ways to use them effectively.

Click to read Hashtags Can Help Your Small Business Be One of the Big Guys

Marketing will always be somewhat of a mystery because it is not an exact science, but if you take the time to do your research, you can create a solid marketing plan for your small business. Explore the above articles to learn about these marketing strategies that work, and for help with other marketing and business questions, check out the Smart Hustle homepage.

The post Smart Hustle Recap: Marketing Strategies That Work Including Return on Relationships, Hashtags, Logos & More appeared first on SmallBizTechnology.

It’s GREAT that me, you and millions of others can now Tweet more stuff. It’s great that we can expand from “micro blogging” with 140 characters to “full blogging” with thousands more characters.

However, here’s what’s not so great.

Having a LIMIT on what you can write in Twitter has forced all of us to THINK and be better writers. Snap Chat and Instagram’s SHORT videos force us all to be brief and succinct and be focused on our message.

Snap Chat and Instagram’s SHORT videos force us all to be brief and succinct and be focused on our message.

140 character limit stimulates our creative writing. We think in “hash tags” sound bites.If you only have 140 characters then you need to really be creative about how you’re going to deliver your message.

If you only have 140 characters then you need to really be creative about how you’re going to deliver your message.

So, when you get the chance to write 10,000 characters on Twitter, force yourself to THINK like 140 characters and you’re writing will be better.

There’s room for long form writing, of course. But there’s also a beauty in short writing that has a strong message. Seth Godin does both of these quite well.

The post Twitter Says Good Bye To 140 Character Limit. Here’s Why It’s Both Bad and Good. appeared first on SmallBizTechnology.