Social Media - Express Writers

The Best Times To Post on Social Media (NewsCred’s Recent Study)

December 31, 2020April 20, 2015 by Adam Oakley

Looking for the best times and content types to post to social media can be a time-consuming activity for any company. There are several articles out there with their own opinions that can really help. In addition, there is now an incredible new study by NewsCred on these questions. It shows concrete examples of excellent sharing times and the content that can help bring in more clicks, traffic, social shares, and revenue. I am going to sum up this study just for you to help you learn all that you need to and also give some points to help you apply this study to your own social strategy. What is NewsCred’s Social Media Study All About? NewsCred decided to team up with two different companies to create a study to see what type of content was shared most, and when. This was a way to not only help the companies come up with great content ideas and when to post them, but to also help other companies figure out how to change their content for maximum results. They looked at Fractl and BuzzStream’s social content over the months of June through November 2014. By looking through all of the data, NewsCred, Fractl, and BuzzStream were able to see the most successful content formats and what months were the best for different formats. I am going to look into their findings and help you learn different ways to share you content and get the most out of your social media campaign. What Types of Content Get Shared Most? Some of the more popular content formats for Fractl and BuzzStream were list posts and how-to articles. They also saw significant success with videos for their clients, as well. However, the type of content and its success varied from month to month. Posts that focused on a “what” instead of a list, how-to, or why tended to not be as popular until October. While this might not seem like it shows much, it does show that you need to make sure you are mixing up your content formats to match each month and get more traction. It can be easy to get settled into one format such as a list, but that can become detrimental if you don’t mix it up with how-to articles or explanation posts about products, services, and more. However, this does show that if you are not focusing on sharing lists or how-to articles, you should make some changes. These are great because they offer value to all readers, and it is easier to read through a list and share if the person is busy or on a commute. NewsCred also notes that evergreen content did the best because it was a theme that remained constant and offered value to readers no matter the month or year. Evergreen content is a great idea for all business blogs because it can be just as valuable years from now as it was on the day it was posted. It will help your search engine rankings and will bring in high traffic for your website throughout the coming months and years. What Months Should You Post Certain Content to Social Media? Learning the best times to post to social media can be helpful but sometimes you might be wondering if certain content does better on certain months. This is what NewsCred looks at and shows the variations of content and the months that did the best. Let me break down their findings to help you learn a few great tidbits of information: (Note that the months are listed from most successful first.) Fractl and BuzzStream saw that list posts did very well in June, September, and October. They saw that posts referring to travel or entertainment were shared most, accounting for 25 to 32 percent of social shares. Posts that answer a “why” question were shared more during November, September, and October with 22 percent of the shared posts referring to travel or news. Videos did great in September, November, and October, especially those with an entertainment or educational factor. How-to posts were most often shared in October, November, and August with how-to articles in news, entertainment, and business getting the most shares. Posts answering a “what” question were shared October, November, and August with posts that focused on news, technology, and entertainment accounting for 15 to 26 percent of social shares. The findings show that October was a very popular month for all social shares with everything but videos ranking in at over 20,000 shares. While this is incredible and a great insight into consumers’ minds, you should make sure that you don’t limit yourself to these findings. You don’t want to keep all of your marketing for fall, nor do you want to ignore certain months entirely. This formula and these findings might not work for your business, which means you need to tweak and change things to find months that are perfect for different content types and social shares. However, this is a great starting point. Which Platforms are the Best for Social Media Use? While the NewsCred article does not go on to explain the social platforms you should use, I have found an excellent infographic from QuickSprout. Social media is an interesting marketing format because there are many different variables to consider with each of the major channels. The best social channels to use for businesses that have a B2B model are Twitter, LinkedIn, and Google Plus. These provide you with a quicker access point to your customers and other businesses, helping them find you and choose your business for their needs. If your business is more visually driven, channels such as Facebook, YouTube, Instagram, and Pinterest are a great option. You can share pictures of your products with links to blogs, products, or services. You will have a higher likelihood of getting things shared on those channels if you utilize images or videos, providing excellent visual content for your clients. However, it is important to … Read more

The Top 10 Ways to Improve Your Tweets and Make Them Awesome

December 31, 2020March 23, 2015 by Adam Oakley

Twitter is an awesome tool that can help you generate more followers, and bring in more clicks and eventual revenue for your business. You know it is powerful, and you want to make sure you are doing things as best as possible, right? Well, I’m here to help you further improve your tweets and Twitter outreach with a few awesome tips. Let’s take a look at what can really help your Twitter account out, getting more engagement and clicks! 10 Ways to Improve Your Tweets There are several great ways to get the most out of your Twitter account, and I am going to look at 10 different ones! 1. Use Your #Hashtags Properly. Hashtags are a great part of Twitter, and can be incredibly powerful. There are many different ways people use hashtags ranging from simple business ones to incredibly powerful hashtag moments. When it comes to Twitter, you need to use your hashtags, and use them well. Many people aren’t entirely sure how to use hashtags, but a great way to approach them is to think of them as SEO for Twitter. What are your top keywords, what do you use in your web content and blogs? Use those words for your hashtags, and start grabbing people’s attention. While you use hashtags as SEO, you should also consider making a few fun ones that are unique to your business. A great illustration of doing this is BioWare’s Twitter account for Dragon Age: Inquisition and their #DAIFanQuisition: This week: Amazing Flemeth cosplay, and fun with digital art! http://t.co/knbbz5rZOS #DAIFanQuisition pic.twitter.com/OMiooa1hk3 — Dragon Age (@dragonage) March 17, 2015 2. Make Your Tweets Short and Fun Instead of Dry and Professional. The one thing with Twitter is that you want to make sure you stay fun and informal, even if your company is more professional. This is because you will find that it is easier to get engagement on Twitter if you are fun, laid back, and still reflect your company than when your tweets are constantly dry and boring. You need to loosen up a bit and just have fun because that is one of the main reasons people love social media, especially Twitter. We get enough professional sounding things through work documents, the news, and other professional settings, but Twitter lets people loosen up and have a fun time. Sassy is currently the new fun, and there do happen to be some hilariously sassy Twitter accounts out there to gain inspiration from: “Shorts weather” is a state of mind. http://t.co/dRLlYabUMb pic.twitter.com/DdCVEHQn4I — Orbitz (@Orbitz) March 16, 2015 Thousand island dressing doesn’t come from 1,000 islands, right? Seems like a lot of islands for one dressing. — Arby’s (@Arbys) March 17, 2015 3. Find the Best Time to Post Your Tweets. A great way to make sure you are using Twitter correctly is to make sure you know the best time to post your various tweets. When it comes to the perfect time, it does depend on your client base because people use social media differently. However, there has been some awesome research done to help companies find an optimal starting point for their tweets and when to post them. It is suggested that you post to Twitter mainly on Mondays through Thursdays before 8PM, as this seems to be when people are more active, and if you post on Fridays (which you should), research says to post before 3PM. While this can help you get started, there are two major things you need to do. One is to make sure you are actually reaching people during those times, and tweak your posting times if you aren’t. Two, you need to make sure you share images because people enjoy images on social media. 4. Make Sure You Optimize Your Twitter Profile. Optimizing your social media profiles is really important no matter what site you use, and it can be pretty powerful for Twitter. There are several great brands out there that optimize their Twitter accounts amazingly with incredible photos, a great bio, and a link to their webpage. This is all very important because it shows that an actual person is using the Twitter account, and that the account is your company’s. A bio can help people know more about your business, and that link sends them directly to your webpage. Never leave any aspect of a Twitter profile empty – always fill in any and all information. 5. Don’t Hesitate to Use Twitter Ads. A great way to use Twitter for more of an impact is to make sure you use Twitter Ads. Some companies might be a bit wary to start using Twitter Ads when they would normally just rely on hash tags, but the ads can really help you get more exposure. In fact, Twitter makes sure that people who would be interested in your company will see the promoted tweet, instead of people who wouldn’t be interested seeing it. You can also grow your followers by promoting your account and increase lead generation with ads. Try it out, and you might just be surprised how many people it brings to your Twitter account and eventually your website. 6. Don’t Be Afraid of Acronyms and Emoticons! You can’t go anywhere on the Internet without seeing many acronyms and emoticons. However, many businesses wonder if this is something they can benefit from or if they should simply stay away. I believe that acronyms and emoticons are perfect to use for your business because it can help you create a connection with your followers. In fact, many people react to a smiley face emoticon as if it were a real face – interesting, no? Learn a few acronyms, and use some great emoticons and test just how well they work. Chances are, you will be able to boost engagement, which can lead to more people coming to your site and purchasing from your company. 7. Use Some Psych 101 When Crafting Your … Read more

7 Ways Adagio Teas Wins at Awesome Social Media

December 31, 2020March 18, 2015 by Adam Oakley

Social media can be a tricky field for many businesses, but there are some out there who know how to use it, and they use it well. Have you heard of a smaller, yet big-reach company that has a powerful social media campaign—Adagio Teas? Adagio Teas is a wonderful place with both a physical location on the East Coast, as well as a major Internet presence. They work diligently to bring in more online customers through their social media campaign. Let’s take a look at how Adagio Teas uses social media and see just what you can learn from this small business. A Social Media Success: Adagio Teas I am going to take a look at the top ways Adagio Teas wins at social media, with a few things hopefully you can takeaway for your own social media campaigns. They Have a Great Social Media Presence With Twitter. Adagio Teas knows that the place they are going to get their clients is through social media, and they make sure to have an incredible Twitter presence. When you take a stroll on their Twitter feed, you see the company consistently tweeting about offers, contests, as well as re-tweets from their followers. In fact, Adagio regularly encourages people to use Twitter and it is always nice when you get your tweet re-tweeted by the company. I am going to look into their usage of Twitter further on in this blog, but they do have an incredible presence there, and one that is definitely a great inspiration for small businesses.Twitter is an amazing social media site for small businesses because it allows you to talk to your clients in “real time” and it makes the interaction feel more personal. When it comes to other social channels, people are used to having to wait for a response, but Twitter is where the action is at. If you don’t have a Twitter account, set one up, and get to tweeting and talking to build great relationships with your clients. They Utilize Pinterest to Share Teas, Recipes, and Quotes. While they have a great Twitter presence, they also make sure to utilize their Pinterest account. Pinterest is a great place to share a wide variety of content all the way from memes to product pictures, recipes, and even quotes. Adagio Teas knows how to use Pinterest well and they regularly update with some great photographs of products. They also share some fun, cute little sayings that always involve tea and sometimes include the one thing that pairs with tea nicely – books.Pinterest isn’t a social channel for every business, but it can be useful for some. Many people use this site as a place to collection great DIY tips, as well as fun quotes, sayings, and recipes. If you are in a niche market that can give people DIY tips such as how to brew the perfect oolong tea, then this is a great site for you. If you are in the financial industry, Pinterest might not be the social channel for you. It is always best to keep your channels down to what you will use as well as what will give you the best impact. Adagio Creates Fun Contests Involving Social Media Channels. Back in February, Adagio Teas created a great contest for their fans about the teas people love. The contest rules stated people had to create an individual Pinterest board titling it “I <3 Adagio Teas” and then share the top ten items they loved from Adagio. This was a great marketing ploy because it got hundreds of people to share their favorite products, which meant all of their followers saw it. But how did Adagio make it worthwhile for clients? Obviously not everyone could win the grand prize, but if you created a board, you could email them with a link to your board and get a $10 gift certificate. Overall this was pocket change compared to what Adagio could make with this promotion, and it made all of their clients pretty happy.This is a perfect example of not just setting up a contest or giveaway, but also making it worth your clients’ time and energy. Not many people would have made a board if it weren’t for that gift card. Give your clients something free when you run a promotion to spice things up and add a favorable image of you in their minds. This will help produce customer loyalty, and happy, loyal clients are more than willing to help promote a business that helps them. As Social Media Examiner writes, you don’t always have to use Pinterest; Facebook, Twitter, or any other social channel can work just as well for a giveaway or contest! Tweet About Adagio and You Get Points! One of my favorite ways Adagio uses Twitter is that they encourage people to tweet to receive points. These points add up to a money value, which can take a significant amount of money off of an order. You can only tweet about them once a day, but this is a great incentive for clients to promote a company while getting something in return. Again, this is another great example of encouraging your clients to help promote you while making it worth their time and energy. Allot Points for Social Media Reviews. Outside of just tweeting on Twitter, Adagio also offers points if you review a product and post it to their Facebook page. Facebook reviews can really help a company out, and many people are willing to do this for a business they like. You will find that they are definitely willing to review things if you give them something in return. Each review gives the reviewer 6 points towards a gift certificate that can be used together with the points mentioned above. Everything about Adagio is about promoting the company while helping the customers, which creates an incredible atmosphere for the workers and clients alike. Adagio Knows that Email is Still Vital. While not a … Read more

Should You Use Acronyms and Emoticons On Social Media? A Brief Guide

December 31, 2020March 2, 2015 by Adam Oakley

Acronyms and emoticons are a vital part of the Internet and many have been around for a really long time! There are quite a bit more now than the basic A/S/L (age, sex, location), TTYL (talk to you later), and BRB (be right back). It seems each and every day a new one (for instance, most recently BAE) makes its way to Internet-land. What does BAE mean and should you use acronyms on social media? What about emoticons? All of your questions will be answered in this blog. Let’s take a fun little adventure through Internet-land and learn a bit about popular acronyms and emoticons. Are Acronyms Really That Important? The importance of acronyms is completely up to the business, social site, and followers. They can be very useful if you want to say a lot with as little characters as possible, but you need to make sure you use them correctly. You can always use regular, trendy acronyms for your posts or use some business-specific ones. However, if you use business acronyms, make sure your followers know what they mean. You don’t want to give them a lot of jargon and confuse them! Acronyms are a great way to not only save on character length, but can help your followers read through posts quicker, which many people love. They are also a great way to connect with an audience by using lingo they are used to. How Can You Use Them? You can use acronyms in a variety of ways. When it comes to social media, you should lean more towards using common and trendy acronyms instead of business ones. However, you don’t have to shy away from using business acronyms like CTA (call to action) in your posts. Just make sure your audience knows your business acronyms! You should also make sure your audience knows the others, as well. As you’ll see later in this blog, not everyone knows the most popular acronyms such as BAE. What Are Some Acronyms You Should Know? Now that you know that acronyms are totally cool to use on social media, you might be wondering about a few of the more popular ones out there. I’m compiling a list just for you, and also came across an amazing acronym list from Buffer. If you see something online and just can’t figure out what it means, head on over the Buffer’s guide and search! Let’s take a look at some of the top acronyms you are likely to come across on social media. IG – Instagram. This is pretty basic and something that you definitely need to know if you use or plan on using Instagram. When you refer to people following your Instagram account, just simply use IG instead! Easy, right? MT – Modified Tweet. Have you seen a few of these floating around and are a little confused? It simply means the tweet has been modified from what it originally said. This is important because if you retweet a client, and then make changes, you need to make sure people know. People can get pretty upset if you change their tweet and don’t include MT. AMA – Ask Me Anything. AMAs are trending right now. It is simply where you hold an online question and answer session and have people ask anything. This is really hot with popular celebrities and authors, and is usually held over on Reddit. SMH – Shake My Head. You might see this if someone is upset or confused. An example is when Benedict Cumberbatch was announced as Dr. Strange – many fans tweeted their displeasure followed by SMH. If someone says this to you about your service or product, it’s time to do some reputation management! IMO or IMHO – In My Opinion or In My Humble Opinion. If you’re stating an opinion online, simply add IMO or IMHO to your update! Sometimes this is used in a sassy manner, but other times, it is a great way to ensure people know it is your opinion, but not a solid fact. HBD – Happy Birthday. Are you planning on saying, “Happy Birthday” to your clients online? A quick, easy way to do this is simply to tweet “HBD” their way! It doesn’t seem super personal, but is rather common to see whether a business is saying it or a friend. BAE – Before Anything Else. I have to admit, I didn’t know what this meant when it first became popular. If you’re seeing people referring to someone or something as bae (or BAE), this is what it means. But don’t worry, you aren’t the only one who is behind on the acronym times, Johnny Depp is too! DFTBA – Don’t Forget to be Awesome. Thanks to the Green brothers, we have an awesome acronym and phrase that is sure to make people smile. DFTBA means “Don’t Forget to Be Awesome,” reminding people that they should, well, always be awesome This is a great reminder, IMO (see what I did there?). Add this to your tweets to connect with a younger audience, and, of course, remind people that they shouldn’t forget to be awesome! F2F – Face to Face. This is not only an acronym that is popular on social media, but within businesses as well. This simply refers to having a meeting or seeing another person face to face instead of talking through emails, chats, or texts. FTW – For the Win. Did your company do something awesome? Then tweet about it and add FTW! This adds a fun little twist to exciting posts and sends a mental image of you doing a Mario leap in celebration. An Emoticon Can Say More Than You Think Now that we’ve discussed a few of the trendy acronyms online let’s look at another super trendy thing – emoticons! Emoticons started “way” back in 1982 when someone stated that “:-)” become a joke marker. From there we’ve moved on to a wide variety of emoticons from the rock star … Read more

35 of the Best and Most Powerful Hashtag Moments of 2014

December 31, 2020January 15, 2015 by Adam Oakley

Are you in shock that it’s 2015 already? It seems like 2015 is going to be a great year for social media and content. Although they say looking back is not a good thing, when it comes to Twitter, looking back can be a wonderful experience. They’ve created a custom domain just for the 2014 tweet moments of history that occurred last year. So, let’s sit back, enjoy some coffee or tea, and take a look back at 2014 at some of the best and most powerful hashtag moments. Ready? Here Are The 35 Best Hashtag Moments They range from silly ones like #RoyalTweets to remembering some wonderful people we lost such as Robin Williams. The 2014 hashtags also saw an incredible turn towards moving discussion around various social issues, and many things such as protests around the world, may have been overlooked had it not been for the social site. Let’s take a look at some of these hilarious, sobering, and amazing hashtags from 2014. (Review all 2014 hashtag moments on the collection from Twitter.) #FirstTweet. You might think that everyone should already be on Twitter by now, but 2014 saw several new faces. All tweeted out their first tweet, complete with the accompanying hashtag. The Twitter newbies ranged from news sources and businesses to fans of Iron Man and Iron Man himself, Robert Downey Jr. #Marvel. 2014 sure was the Year of Marvel. Throughout 2014, the studio released film name after film name and made major waves in the comic and film industry. You can expect a huge lineup of amazing superhero movies in the next few years, including Captain Marvel and Doctor Strange, which just so happens to be starring Benedict Cumberbatch in the title role. #NewYearsEve. This hashtag is self-explanatory, but it was a popular one nonetheless. Tweets ranged from showing pictures around the world, Times Square, or people talking about their wild night in with Netflix, a mug of tea, and their cats. #GoldenGlobes. One American pastime is watching different sports; another is watching tons of award shows. When award season comes, the trends start rolling out. Last year, thousands of people took to live-tweeting the Golden Globes giving their opinions or making snarky remarks throughout the show. Snarky retorts are the lifeblood of the Internet! #RIPPhillipSeymourHoffman. While 2014 was a great year for many, it came with its fair share of sad news, one being the death of the beloved actor Phillip Seymour Hoffman. It was a sad day for many, and people took to Twitter to remember the Capote actor and all of his amazing successes. #SuperBowl. I featured an awards show, so naturally I am going to feature sports for you sports lovers out there! Football is one of America’s favorites, and the Super Bowl brings everyone together (even non-football fans) for great laughs, amazing football food, and of course those hilarious (or powerful) commercials. #Sochi2014. Does it feel like Sochi happened last year? My, how time has flown by! In 2014, we were privy to the various disasters and puppy adoptions of Sochi as well as Olympians showing us what they are made of. It was a great time for Twitter, and of course, how can anyone forget that ring not opening? #ALSIceBucketChallenge. It seems impossible that anyone could forget this trend just yet! The ALS Ice Bucket Challenge took over our social channels for weeks, and provided those of us in hot summer climates the chance to cool off for a cause. People dumped ice water all over themselves to raise money and awareness for the ALS Foundation, which became quite successful for the foundation. Even Stephen Hawking participated in the event! #DoctorWho. Series 8 of the 50-year-old show began in 2014 with a new face as the Doctor. It was met with a blend of excitement and criticism, but the one thing we can all tell for sure is that Doctor Who is still strongly winding through the Time Vortex to our televisions. #Oscars. I’m not sure there is any way we can forget the Oscars of 2014 all because of Ellen’s awesome selfie that broke Twitter records. Not only did the Oscars have the selfie moment with Ellen, but also Benedict Cumberbatch’s epic photo-bomb of U2. #BringBackOurGirls. Earlier in 2014, the world received the horrible and sad news of the kidnapping of over a hundred girls ages 15 to 18 in Nigeria. A group called Boko Haram, which means, “Western education is a sin,” was behind the kidnapping and subsequent murdering of school officials. People all over the world reacted negatively to the news, and the campaign to “Bring Back Our Girls” began. #BlackLivesMatter. 2014 had its ups and downs, but it also was a big year for major social issues. One issue is that of white cops killing black individuals and never receiving an indictment. The Black Lives Matter trend began after the police officer that shot Michael Brown was not indicted. The trend gained strength when the cop, who killed Eric Garner by placing him in a chokehold, was also not indicted. The trend is still going strong into 2015. #YesAllWomen. Another social issue hashtag is that of Yes All Women. The hashtag was in response to the Santa Barbara shootings and the manifesto left behind by the shooter. Women grouped together on Twitter and shared their stories of sexual harassment, abuse, and rape as well as other problems they have faced due to being female. #RIPMayaAngelou. The world of literature lost a bright spot when Maya Angelou passed away. Amongst everyone mourning her loss, we were all treated to quotes from her poems, stories about her triumphs and reminders of the impact she left on the world. While it was a sad time for us all, the #RIPMayaAngelou was a great chance to celebrate the life of one of the greats. #WorldCup. 2014 also saw the World Cup come back around, with people cheering for their teams. One of the first things everyone was … Read more

Driving Social Media Engagement: 13 Copywriting Hacks

June 19, 2024November 13, 2014 by Adam Oakley

Social media engagement is not only vital to your content marketing, but it can also be extremely fun. When you get people commenting on your posts, re-tweeting your content, and sharing your Facebook posts, you might go ahead & do a little jig. Social media engagement is what can propel you from just another business to a viral sensation, as we’ve all watched over the last few years. But how do you get great social media engagement that not only brings people to your website, but also helps you on the road to viral content? Let’s take a quick look at a few quick copywriting hacks that can help you out! 1. Follow The Four C’s. Isn’t it nice when someone not only gives you some great tips, but also gives you an easy way to remember the tips? Well, Buffer does just that with a great blog post about driving more social media engagement. What are the four C’s? They are: Clear Concise Compelling Credible Let’s unpack this for a bit. What does it mean to post clear, concise, compelling, and credible content on social media? It means that you need to make sure your audience knows what you are talking about, but you need to keep it short. Longer posts on social media might get your post skipped over, and Twitter doesn’t allow for lengthy posts! You also need to have content that is compelling so that you get shares, likes, and comments – engagement. Credible content is vital no matter what content it is; this will help keep you as a trusted source, instead of one that people question. 2. Name A Problem And Solve It. Another great way to drive engagement is to name a problem that is common for your readership, and answer or solve it. When you state the problem, make sure to agitate it a bit before solving it. This can get more people to read your post. You don’t want to give too much away, but this is a great opportunity to get your social media content shared, which can bring in more clients. 3. Follow The Four U’s. In the same Buffer article I mentioned in point one, another great formula is the four U’s. Again, this is a great way to remember an important and helpful formula and is great when you go about crafting a Twitter post. Just what are these U’s? Let’s take a look! Useful: If you don’t tweet something useful to your followers, you are likely to be skipped and not receive much engagement. Urgent: Urgency on social media can really help get the clicks and shares from your clients. Unique: You want to make sure you stand out from your competitors, so offer something unique that people will enjoy seeing. Ultra-specific: Being specific can really help with writing Twitter posts. Specific posts can help you stay within or below the 140-character limit. 4. Curate Some Incredible Content. Social Media Today says that when it comes to driving engagement on social media, you need to make sure you are curating some great content for your various channels. You want to keep things fresh and interesting for your viewers, which is why content curation is key to having a successful campaign. Consider having a bookmark folder of great content ideas for your social media campaign. This helps you keep it all together in one, organized location. 5. Use Those Memes. When it comes to social media, you have to make sure you are staying up on the latest trends. This means, don’t hesitate to use memes. If you take a quick glance at your Facebook or Twitter feed, you will see that many people seem to enjoy memes quite a lot. You can create your own by finding meme generators or using stock images for your own quotes or jokes. People like to share images, and you will find that you get more engagement on images than on posts without any pictures. 6. Make Customer Involvement Easy As 1-2-3. When you have something such as a giveaway, make sure it is easy for your customers to get involved. You don’t want to have them jump through numerous hoops to get to the place they want to be simply because they are likely to leave. If you encourage people to follow you on social media for an entry into the giveaway, you might see that you get an increase in social engagement and more people following and sharing your items. 7. Give Shout Outs To Customers. One thing that sets social media apart from any other form of marketing is how you can make it personal, according to Social Media Examiner. You don’t have to get chummy with people, but simply by doing something such as giving a shout out to a customer can really boost your engagement. A shout out is simply just mentioning your client by name or Twitter handle, and thanking them. You will find more people are willing to use your company if they see that you are willing to talk to or give a shout out for others. When you give a shout out, make sure you do something that isn’t too generic. Give it a personal, friendly feel! 8. Hold Live-Streamed Google Hangouts. Another way you might be able to increase engagement is to live-stream your various Google Hangouts you have with clients or coworkers. You can give a talk on a particular subject, linking to a live video of your discussion. When you do this, make sure that people know that they can send in their questions if you want to encourage discussion. This can be a great way for customers to ask important questions and get a live, personal answer from you! 9. Use Quality Images And Videos. Quality is not just for written content but is also for image and video content, as well. According to Jeff Bullas, high-quality images can help you stand out from your competition. … Read more

Meet The Newest Social Network, Ello: What Is It & Should You Join?

June 19, 2024October 3, 2014 by Adam Oakley

There’s a new social network out there that makes everyone sound like the little worm from Labyrinth, “Ello! Wouldn’t you like to come in and meet the missus?” However, this is more than a Jim Henson character’s accent, it is the new wave of social media. Just what is Ello? Well, you won’t see any little worms asking you to come to tea (sorry to disappoint you). This blog is going to explore what this new social network is, why everyone is going cuckoo for Ello, and whether or not you should join it. What Is Ello? Ello is a new social media site that has yet to leave the beta (or testing) stage. With the popularity of social media, new social sites are always popping up with things such as Path, Snapchat, and others that aren’t quite as popular. However, Ello has a significant draw to it. First of all, it is a new social site that helps connect you with people who have similar interests, as well as those you know in real life. Second, it is ad free and promises to not have all of the annoying posts people see on social sites like Facebook or Twitter. If you get consistently annoyed with how many odd Facebook memes your uncle or third cousin shares, you can either not add them on Ello, or simply file them away under the “noise” portion of the network. As for being ad free, they are keeping it this way by making sure it stays a private company and giving people the ability to purchase add-ons for their profiles. Ello also offers a great guide to help newbies out with their site, helping people understand the difference between the “friends” and “noise” sections. Just a quick explanation, the “friends” option is for people you want to see regular posts from, the “noise” section is for those who you feel you need to add, but don’t want to see everything they post. It is obvious from the design down to the titles of their pages that they are reaching out to younger generations. All you have to do is take a gander at the title of their help section “WTF.” Not every generation is going to get a kick out of that, but Millennials, many Gen-Xers, and new generations for sure will. Why Is Everyone So Crazy About Ello? Ello is receiving almost 40,000 requests every hour for an invite and there are currently over 1 million people waiting for an invite to the beta stage. There are only a few people who are lucky enough to know someone already on there with a few invites available. Just why are people so crazy about this site? Well, because it is pushed as a completely ad-free social site. In their manifesto, they make sure people understand that Ello is not like an ordinary social site that collects your data and sells it to further their company. They want to create a genuinely great place for online social interaction that doesn’t revolve around which ad they can choose specifically for you. Should You And When Can You Join Ello? It might be quite beneficial if you can join it soon, but the main problem right now is whether or not you will get an invite. Sure, you can fill out a request for one, but you are going to be waitlisted for quite a while. No one really knows when you will be able to get onto the social site without an invite. However, one thing to keep in mind is that this is, as we mentioned, the beta stage of the network. This means that those who are on the site right now are bound to see several major and small tweaks that aim to make this page the best ever. Another thing about the beta stage is that current users can help Ello develop the best site possible for its official release, prepping it to be ready in time for you to join. They even inform those who have recently joined that there will be several changes every day and week until it is ready through emails sent out to users. The Pros Of Ello Obviously, the biggest pro to this site is the fact that it is ad-free and it doesn’t sneakily gather up your information to improve the site and advertisements like Facebook and Twitter do. They do mention that they have the option for you to allow them to gather data, but you can choose to not have that happen. This caught a few people off guard, but Ello points out Facebook and Twitter never give you the option to opt out. If you are simply looking for a new, personal social space, this might be the thing for you. There are already several users who have said they are switching to Ello simply to get away from the family posts, political posts, and advertisements they see every day on Facebook or Twitter. However, what about pros for businesses? You might be worried that you can’t share your ads on Ello because it is “ad-free” but according to Marketing Land, you are more than able to do this. The great thing about sharing your ads on Ello is that you aren’t being charged for them like you would be on Facebook and Twitter. When you get a chance, you can set up a page for your business and start using it to your advantage. The Cons Of Ello While you can share any of your ads that you would like to for free, a major drawback for small businesses would be no promoted ads, yet. You would have to encourage people through your other social accounts to follow you on Ello to see your ads and updates. The problem with this is that you could very likely be filed under the noise category. Basically, you will have people who follow you, but they won’t see your updates unless they … Read more

When Should You Post Your Social Media Content? Is There A Magic Time?

January 1, 2021July 11, 2014 by Adam Oakley

How do you successfully get the most views to your social media updates? It seems almost impossible and can be a major letdown when you see someone randomly go viral. Just how does one do that? Did they use a different word than you? Or, did they simply find a magic time to post to social media? When it comes down to it, many people realize that they need to find that social media time sweet spot, but it is, yet again, something that seems unattainable. In this blog, we are going to talk about the various social media networks and when is a good time to post to each. When Should You Post To Facebook? Facebook is something we all know as a social site that helps us waste time when we no longer want to be in the office or to pay attention to things going on around us. Many office workers find that they will start to peruse Facebook when they are in a workday slump, especially towards the end of the week, according to Buffer. In fact, engagement rates on Facebook are at about 18% on Thursdays and Fridays – you know, those pesky days that stand in between you and the weekend. This is an optimal time to post your information because it has a higher likelihood of being seen. Buffer also points out that 86% of posts are made Monday through Friday, with a few posts on Saturdays. Buffer does say that another study points out that while actual posting is down on Saturdays, engagement with businesses is up to about 32%. These statistics show that the optimal time to post on Facebook is towards the end of the week. When Should You Post To Twitter? Twitter is a hard social media network to pin down when it comes to optimal posting times. It seems more people use Twitter on their mobile devices, which gives them quicker and easier access to view tweets. Because of this, many people will check their accounts multiple times a day. Regardless of this difficulty, Hubspot was able to get a decent amount of statistics together to help find optimal posting days for Twitter. It seems Twitter gets the most views Mondays through Thursdays around 1 to 3PM and the worst times to post are every day after 8PM and Fridays after 3PM. While this is all up in the air depending on your client base, Hubspot also points out that they can truly say what brings about more interaction – posting photos. Here are some fun stats about tweeting photos: You have a 36% increase in clicks. A 31% increase in site visits. A 41% increase in retweets. A 48% increase in favorites. A 33% increase in changing visitors into leads. A 55% increase in leads. While you’re working to find that sweet spot for timing, know that it is solid fact that you will bring in more views and leads simply by posting a photograph. When Should You Post To LinkedIN? Because LinkedIN is specifically used for businesses and business professionals, it is oftentimes used right before the workday begins and right after it ends, according to Entreprenuer.com. Entrepreneur also says that it is often used on Tuesdays and Thursdays around those times. If you make a post during normal working hours, it is less likely to receive views or bring in any clicks and visits. Try posting your LinkedIN material on Tuesdays and Thursdays specifically at around 7-8:30AM local time and avoid posting Mondays through Fridays between 1 and 5 PM. When Should You Post To Google+? G+ is yet another social media site that is best posted to in the morning. On the same infographic provided for Twitter, Hubspot says that the usual time people are on G+ is 9 – 10AM. The best time to receive the most engagement on your G+ updates is Wednesdays at 9AM. You will get more interaction and +1’s for posts made on those days. The worst time that Hubspot found for posting on G+ is very early mornings when people are either commuting to work and are too groggy to function fully or in the evenings when they are spending time with their family. An important fact about G+ and demographics is, according to Hubspot, it is growing rapidly with people between the ages of 45 and 54 years old. Keep this in mind as you post to G+ and make it friendlier for that demographic. Learn Which Times Work The Best For Your Social Media While these statistics are really helpful, it is wise for you to learn what times work the best for your specific audience. You can give the above a try, but if you notice you have little to no engagement on the suggested times, you should start to tweak it. Try earlier, if that doesn’t work, try later. The times vary for each business and person. Some people have more luck with posts made late at night because their audience is still awake while some have luck with early morning posts. Either way, you have to make sure you know what your audience wants and when they are online. You can find this out by looking at your analytics, or by simply asking your clients what times they are usually online. In fact, this is an integral part to having a successful social media strategy; your clients can help you improve everything regarding your social media presence. Try these times out and start tweaking until you reach the time slot that works the best for you!

The World’s Largest Webinar: #WLW14 with Hubspot, LinkedIN, Facebook & Twitter Leaders

January 1, 2021April 24, 2014 by Adam Oakley

Were you in the loop on the webinar that happened this Wednesday? Over 34,000 people signed up and listened in, breaking the world record for 10,899 participants, set by Hubspot just a few years ago in 2011. The Best Social Media Webinar of All Time We were there, and the event was worth the hype. No less than three of today’s top social media platforms had a senior director or marketing head present during the webinar, with Hubspot hosting: Russ Laraway, Twitter’s Senior SMB Director; Jed Clevenger, Facebook’s Global Head of SMB Channel Marketing; and Scott Engelman, Head of Online Marketing at LinkedIN. The host was @Dan Zarrella, Hubspot’s own Social Media Scientist. Check out the event page on Hubspot. Since the webinar was not recorded, we took direct notes while listening in. Here are our favorite tidbits from the experts who spoke. Enjoy! Twitter Company Page tips shared from @Russ Laraway: “Your first impression on Twitter counts. Use your bio to be descriptive and reflective of your business. Give people a compelling reason to follow your account. Include URL to an important landing page, your store hours, and anything that makes it easy to find you. Feature your logo and visual elements to describe your company. @Bonobos is an excellent example that does all of this for their Twitter profile. Be relevant on mobile. Twitter was born on mobile; 75% of users are mobile; think of your Twitter profile as your mobile website.” Business Facebook Page tips by @Jed Clevenger: “We have over 1 million active advertisers. Setting up your Facebook page is huge for your business. Three things to get started: Fill out complete and accurate information about your business: type, location, hours, URL, contact information. This establishes your business on Facebook, makes it indexed to search. Have great cover pictures and cover photo. Customers want to see that you’re legitimate. Use our free Facebook tools: contact importer, where you can upload all your contacts, and friend invites, where you can invite all your friends. Test new types of content and spend time in your Page Insights to get information on your posts, audience, and traffic. SweetHaus used no advertising dollars to grow their account to over 3,000 likes: promoting to existing customers and finding new customers.” LinkedIN Company Page tips from @Scott Engelman: “Write a company page that is informative and engaging. Use keywords that are relevant to your business to get your company in search results. Think of what image to use—an eye-catching image that invites visitors to learn more. Once it’s set up, invite your company network to follow. Engage with your followers by posting updates.” Of course, we loved this question: So much of marketing in social media is copywriting. Should my Twitter campaign copy be different from other copy? Russ, Twitter guru, answered: “The short answer is no, but it’s safe to acknowledge that Twitter offers constraints – 140 characters. Generally speaking, consider email marketing. I bet everybody here does this. With email marketing, you’re creating and constantly refining a list of interested parties; create content; send it out regularly, with minor adjustments, you can use this for your Twitter audience. Your followers are your lists. Work on shorter-form for Twitter. Most of you will create bigger content pieces like blogs, newsletters, e-books, think of these as base documents that you can carve into bite size pieces and use Twitter to drive those bits. For example, take a newsletter. Instead of tweeting the link with “check out the newsletter,” tweet a tip about the newsletter, a series of tips all day, and link to it or that excerpt in it. You can get a lot of mileage out of what you’re already producing this way, just modify it to make it work on Twitter.” How do you get engagement with your tweets? A great question, and it got a great answer from Russ Laraway: “Forgive me for being obvious, but you can get more engagement with your tweets by giving your audience what they want. Really think about the 80/20 rule. 80% of your content should NOT be focused on what you are selling. Non-direct selling, direct offering of value that is informative and helpful. What can your followers benefit from? Best practices, industry trends, are examples of great kind of content. Tweets that include rich media are more than likely to be shared. If you upload an image that tweet will do twice as well. 20% of your content SHOULD be focused on what you are selling.” I can’t seem to grow, how do I get a relevant following? Russ answered: “It is true that it is really important to build a great follower base on Twitter. Remember, followers are optional. The users on Twitter regularly refine who they follow. There is no friction to stop following an account. So, users are very careful about the accounts they follow. Your followers will be interested to hear from you with regularity. Use the profile tips from earlier for a compelling profile, and jump in on industry conversations with hashtags—like the smart marketers hash-tagging #WLW14! For example, if your target audience is educators, reach out to Alexander Russo and build a relationship with them. If you just tweet out valuable content in order to get a retweet, you’ll get more relevant followers over time.” How do I target content for Facebook industry audience? Jed says: “A lot of the same principles from Russ for Twitter can be applied here for Facebook. We encourage you to start testing your way into great content. We have tools similar to A/B testing. From your page, any post you publish can be available to the public, but not all the public. Target your post by location, country, state, city, language, gender, relationship status, educational status, age—there is a ton of targeting option. Speak with an authentic voice to reach core audiences.” How do I use hashtags successfully? Russ said: “Hashtags are best used for tweets driven for … Read more

How The New Facebook Paper Could Help (Or Hinder) On Curating News Content

January 1, 2021March 8, 2014 by Adam Oakley

Image credit: Facebook Paper website You might have heard of Facebook’s newest attempt at revamping the newsfeed, or maybe you saw it in the app store on iTunes and wondered exactly what it is. Paper is a standalone app launched by Facebook, their first app with Creative Labs, alongside the tenth anniversary for Facebook itself (according to Informationweek.com). It’s a new way of reading the news, as well as a new way of looking at your Facebook newsfeed. The Content of the Future As content writers and marketers, we find all kinds of (both weird and normal) tools online to help us create content—and Facebook’s Paper app may just be a new avenue for pulling great content ideas, if you can use news-based and centered topics as ideas in your content strategy. Let’s delve into how Facebook’s Paper works a bit further. Just What Is It? When you download this app, you’ll have your Facebook newsfeed on a new interface. You scroll side to side to go through items instead of up and down and each item is on its own screen. There’s a ton of new ways to look at things, including new multigestures you have to learn as with any new app you download. You can then add other news streams, like you would with other news aggregator apps. The only difference between them and Paper is that this app includes your personal Facebook newsfeed. You then add new streams by category (which looks like tiles). Each stream shows up as you scroll through it in your “queue.” It looks a little bit like the Windows 8 interface—if you’re a PC geek. And the idea of adding things by category will probably remind you a little bit of Pinterest. Facebook’s preview and information page at Facebook.com/paper can give you a better idea of the look and feel of the app, or you can download it and see for yourself. Why Should I Download Paper? According to Forbes.com, the Facebook Paper app is no different from any other newsreader. It looks nice, it gives you what you want, and it adds your Facebook newsfeed where you can also post updates, pictures, and links to Facebook. Forbes makes a good point though, “It turns out your friends are not terribly good photographers, headline writers or even spellers when forced to compete with the professionals.” When you look through your regular Facebook newsfeed on the computer, these things don’t seem to make a difference. The meme reposts and funny e-cards have always been a good distraction during your coffee breaks before, but in this new app these things can look “jarringly out of place.” The Positives of Creating News Content Using Facebook’s Tool If you’re a content marketer or involved in any way knee-deep in content strategizing, you might find Facebook’s Paper useful because of a personalized feel. Your Facebook newsfeed is right there in the queue with your other news. The interface is beautiful. Tilting the screen to pan photos, better view for reading articles and blogs, all easily utilized to make sure that your content is what readers want to see. You choose what you want to see. As a content marketer, you can streamline your own newsfeed and take this opportunity to gain more followers and put your page at the top of the list for Paper readers. An opportunity to better learn what your readers want. Find out what posts are best liked with this new interface and create more content like it. Learn what your readers want to see when they use this app and you can come up with a killer content strategy. And the Negatives But could this be distracting, or a good thing, for your news-based content ideas? You might find another app that DOESN’T feature your friends’ activities for the day to be a little, well, less distracting. Pointless content that looks bad and is just annoying. The constant posts from games, the quizzes, and various lists and cartoons could flood out your news-based content. Pages for small business. You can utilize this app by posting coupons and other promotions but there is the chance your Facebook page could get lost in the other content floating around. Your content may not work for this app. Perhaps the news-based content that you post relies on lists, surveys, and other text content besides articles and it won’t look right on its own screen the way that Papers shows it. Limitations of Facebook’s Paper The biggest limitation is that this app is only available on iPhone. The screen size is small and the market is limited since Android users are missing out. If you have a site or business that is mostly made up of Android users, this app will be of no use to you. Informationweek.com talks about five wishes they have for this app and some of them are definitely needed. One of these wishes is a content search for the entire app. Paper’s search function only searches your Facebook content, the same way as the Facebook app does when you type something in the search bar. InformationWeek makes a good point that this limitation can be very frustrating. They also talk about Pinterest integration and customizable subtopics. These limitations are not as annoying as the search function only searching Facebook, but they could add a lot more to the app for future updates. The categories that are included work well for a news aggregator, so it’s not so bad, but for an app that says it wants to personalize – it could use some work. So What Does The Bottom Line & Future Look Like for Paper? Facebook’s Paper just came out. It might have some similar features to other apps, but it is something new. The interface looks really cool, and when you scroll through each item from side to side the way that it does, you feel much more like you’re … Read more