Instagram - Express Writers

Optimizing Social Media Content: Which Platforms Are the Best to Optimize and How?

Optimizing Social Media Content Header

There’s no denying that social media can be a powerful tool for your brand. Showing up consistently with helpful and unique content for social platforms helps you generate awareness for your brand. It also attracts leads and sales. But this can be tricky as you navigate social media algorithms to get your content noticed. That’s where optimizing social media content comes into play. By being strategic with the kind of content you’re creating, you stand a better chance of boosting visibility and engagement. If you’re concerned about catching up on social media optimization, have no fear. We’re covering all of the basics of optimizing content. You’ll learn what it means and how to optimize based on each separate platform. Let’s dive in! Optimizing Social Media Content: What Does This Mean? Since social media generates awareness for your brand through exposure to a wider audience, optimization lets you capitalize on that. You use various social platforms to spread your brand’s message and establish your online presence. You spend time analyzing and auditing your strategy, factoring in social media best practices, and what’s performing well with your audience. Meaning you develop the most effective strategy possible. But what does it mean when you’re optimizing social media content? It comes down to being strategic about the content you publish. When using social media as a brand, you don’t want to post just anything. Your content should still center the interests of your target audience. In addition to considering what your audience is into, you will also want to align your content with what performs best for each separate platform to get better results. Doing social media optimization properly can help you reap a ton of rewards. The benefits speak for themselves about the value of optimizing your content: You’ll Develop an Effective Social Media Strategy: When you know how to create strong content for each social media platform, you can effortlessly craft a strategy that will help you be more consistent with posting. You’ll always know what kind of content to share, where to share, and when. It takes all the guesswork out of managing your social media presence. Your Engagement Will Increase: When your content is optimized properly, there’s a good chance it’ll see a greater reach, therefore, increasing your visibility. This means your brand could get discovered by tons of new people. And you boost engagement (such as comments, shares, and website traffic) to attract new followers. You’ll See a Greater ROI Across Platforms: Odds are, you use social media as a tool to help you achieve some of your larger business goals. Generating sales is a common one, for instance. Another is increasing brand visibility. With successfully optimized content, you increase your chances of reaching those goals and boost your ROI. Plus, seeing those analytics is a great way to see your hard work pay off. At the end of the day, the social media accounts that end up being successful are those that understand trends, the types of people on the platform, and how to take advantage of their existing content library to optimize it across accounts. They become masters at their platforms and create content their audience can’t get enough of. As a result, they’ve built engaged, loyal followings. Which Social Media Platforms Are Best to Optimize? It’s easier than ever to find a social media platform that’s an ideal fit for your brand because there many are available. You want to ensure you invest time and energy into the platforms that showcase your strengths while putting you in front of your target audience. Otherwise, you risk your content going unnoticed or getting seen by the wrong people. Source: Gainchanger If you’re going to be creating content for several platforms, you want to make sure you enhance that content for the different goals of that platform so it stands a better chance of performing well. Once you become a master at social media best practices, this will become second nature to you. To get started, you should make sure that you have defined your business goals for social media. This means choosing strategies that align with those goals. For example, if you want to improve SEO for a B2B business, you might choose LinkedIn because over 50% of companies in the B2B arena find clients on the platform. Alternatively, if you want to increase visibility for your brand, you might go with Facebook. Their ad features make it easy to target the right segments while making sure people still see your content and posts. What are the Best Tactics for Social Media Optimization? Broadly, there are a ton of things you can do to optimize your social channels. By using some of these simple strategies, you can make a big dent in getting your business out there and noticed by the right people. But what are the best ways to optimize your social media? We’ve chosen a few general fixes and high-level improvements you can make to help your business’s pages. Never Stop Thinking About Your Audience Your audience is the most important part of your social media presence. They drive your engagement. This means their interests and pain points should always be top of mind. And the demographics for your audience could be different across your different social channels. That’s why you should regularly take the time to check out the types of followers you have in your analytics. Write Snappy Bios Your bio is one of the earliest things someone will see when they check out your profile. It sets the tone and establishes who you are. So, make sure your bio covers what you do, your industry, and nails your brand tone quickly. Having a great bio can encourage a potential client to reach out to you, so you want to ensure you make a good impression while being aware of their attention span. Consider the Time You Post Tons of hours have gone into studying the best times to post on social media … Read more

How to Write the Most Engaging Social Media Posts

How to Write the Most Engaging Social Media Posts

Writing a social media post doesn’t seem overly complicated. Should be pretty straightforward and simple to do, right? Actually, copywriting to attract the right audience from a business standpoint is a little more methodical than you might expect compared to writing social media posts as an individual. There’s a lot more at stake for the business, including a meaningful impact on the brand’s perceived authority, its reach to potential new consumers, engagement rates, and more. Globally, as of July 2021, there are an estimated 4.48 billion social media users (almost 57% of the world’s population). Facebook still reigns supreme with an estimated 2.853 million users, followed by YouTube in second place. Here’s where it gets tricky – each social media platform has its own tips, tricks, algorithms, and best practices. Content that performs well on LinkedIn isn’t likely to see that same success on Twitter or Pinterest if posts are simply copied and pasted uniformly across every channel. Not to worry… we’re here to share the best advice for each social outlet so your content performs no matter where it’s posted. When done correctly, a marketing strategy on social media can reach a lot of people to bring in leads, raise brand awareness, and create conversion opportunities. Need some help writing content for social media? Our experienced, social-media-savvy writers are just a few clicks away with social media content packages. [bctt tweet=”Copywriting to attract the right audience from a business standpoint is a little more methodical than writing social media posts as an individual. (There’s a lot more at stake! ?) Learn how to write posts that won’t fail ?” username=”ExpWriters”] How to Write Social Media Posts That Won’t Fail The good news is, you don’t have to rely on too much trial and error to nail down the best methods for the various social media channels. Why? Because a lot of other people have already done it for you! You can (and should) still monitor your social media analytics to see which posts engage with your unique audience the most, but as far as coming up with a tried-and-true formula, there’s no reason to reinvent the wheel. Follow these tips to rule your social media campaigns. 1. How to Write Facebook Posts That Get Liked and Shared The #1 social media platform isn’t exactly a one-and-done content formula because it handles multiple types of media, and different posting techniques can work well depending on the goal you’re hoping to accomplish. To find success on Facebook, you need to “read the room” and respond to your audience. These guidelines with help you do just that: Video is the best performing content. However, Facebook campaigns are most effective when you vary your types of posts, so mix it up with photos, infographics, text, gifs, memes, blog posts, press releases, links, et cetera. The ideal length for a post is around 40-80 characters. As a general rule, short posts on social media perform better than long ones. End with a question. People are more likely to engage when you reach out to them for their opinions or feedback. Post interesting content, even if it doesn’t pertain directly to your brand. Facebook’s audience has a limited tolerance for self-promotion, which means if you want to keep your followers engaged, it doesn’t hurt to post about more than just your business. Be sure to keep your topics related to your niche, though. Make it visual. Text is easy to scroll past, but graphics help to make people pause while they’re skimming through their newsfeed. Even if you’re publishing a post that’s strictly text, Facebook makes it easy to transform it into a visual graphic. 2. How to Write Effective Tweets on Twitter Posting on Twitter requires smart, concise word choices to convey your message within a limited space. It can take a little extra practice, but once you get the hang of it, your tweets will take off. When posting on Twitter, take this advice into account: Front-load your tweet. Most people on Twitter are skimming through a massive amount of content. Put the most important information at the beginning of your tweet to catch their attention. The ideal length for a tweet is 240+ characters. Twitter increased its character limit from 140 to 280 in 2017, and users seem to appreciate the extra room to express themselves. If you need more than 280 characters, create a thread or add a link to a blog post. Tip: Use a free tool like Bitly to shorten your url and maximize your space. Don’t go overboard with hashtags. Real estate for your tweet is limited – you can’t afford to spend it all on hashtags rather than your actual message. Limit yourself to 1-3 relevant hashtags. Tweet shareable content. Twitter’s audience loves to retweet breaking news, statistics, quotes, jokes, and gifs. Timing is important on Twitter – you don’t want to be the last one to share yesterday’s news. 3. How to Write Engaging Instagram Captions Instagram is all about visual content, but that doesn’t mean you can skate by with insufficient captions. If you want your audience to interact with your content, your words do matter. Start with a bang. Instagram allows up to 2,200 characters. However, it’s important to keep in mind that no more than 125 characters will show beneath your photo. If you want your audience to read your full post, you need to entice them to click “more.” Use emojis. Instagram + emojis = ? For real, though, emojis have proven to be incredibly effective on Instagram. Use relevant hashtags. You’re allowed up to 30 hashtags, but don’t just pick the ones that are currently trending (especially if they don’t really pertain to your media). Instead, try to vary your hashtag use. Select a few broad, popular ones but also mix in some niche-specific hashtags, plus one or two branded ones. For example, Coca-Cola created the branded hashtag #ShareACoke for an Instagram campaign. Break up long text into paragraphs. Instagram … Read more

#ContentWritingChat Recap: Instagram Stories for Business with Sue B. Zimmerman

#ContentWritingChat Recap: Instagram Stories for Business with Sue B. Zimmerman

Are you using Instagram Stories for your brand? If not, you should be! And if you’re wondering how to get started, our latest #ContentWritingChat is perfect for you. If you missed out, dive into the recap below, which is filled with awesome tips brands can use to impress on Instagram Stories. #ContentWritingChat Recap: Instagram Stories for Business with Sue B. Zimmerman Join us for #ContentWritingChat on Tuesday, April 11th at 10 AM Central Time to chat Instagram Stories with @SueBZimmerman! pic.twitter.com/zqqS8QRVGy — Express Writers (@ExpWriters) April 4, 2017 Our guest host this week was the Instagram Expert herself, Sue B. Zimmerman. Sue is no stranger to posting content on Instagram Stories, so she shared her tips on how we can all be using it to connect with our audience and grow our online presence. Q1: Is it important for a brand to be present on Instagram Stories? How can it help your brand? Is it really necessary for a brand to be using Instagram Stories? And how exactly can this Instagram feature help a brand’s online presence? Find out what our chat participants think about it below: A1 Instagram Stories are great for brands if you have a strategy that your audience will be interested in watching #ContentWritingChat pic.twitter.com/AYPgTi7rsk — ★TheInstagramExpert★ (@SueBZimmerman) April 11, 2017 Sue feels Instagram Stories can be great for brands if they have a strategy their audience would be interested in watching. After all, it comes down to having interesting content that your target audience would want to tune into. A1 Stories are mostly for real human story which #Millennials & all other loves. You can’t ignore #InstagramStories #ContentWritingChat https://t.co/DMowno4UZz — Varun Kumar ? (@DigitalVK) April 11, 2017 Varun knows that millennials and many others connect with real, human stories. Instagram Stories provides a great way for you to share that with your audience. A1: I think IG stories can really help personalize your brand, we need to jump on board & do it. #ContentWritingChat https://t.co/Hj4P2JdG6L — editorr® (@editorrapp) April 11, 2017 It’s a great way to personalize your brand and allow your followers to get to know you. When they get to see who you are and what you’re all about, they’ll form a stronger connection with your brand. A1 Instagram stories bring your audience up close and personal with your brand! Don’t fail to utilise it! #contentwritingchat pic.twitter.com/sUycYUWXl6 — HeyOrca! (@HeyOrca) April 11, 2017 You can easily bring your audience up close and personal with your brand through your Stories content. Q2: How do you know if Instagram Stories is right for your audience? Should you also be using Snapchat or stick to just one? Before you begin using Instagram Stories, it’s important that you consider if it’s right for your brand and your audience. While it may work for someone else, it might not be the ideal move for you, so you have to think about it first. Check out this advice on how to know if it’s right for you and if you should also use Snapchat: A2 I think #InstagramStories can be use for any business as long as it aligns with your core business values #ContentWritingChat — ★TheInstagramExpert★ (@SueBZimmerman) April 11, 2017 Sue said Instagram Stories can work for any business, as long as it aligns with your core business values. A2: Go to where your audience is! If you’re followed on Snapchat, use that plaform, if it’s Instagram, go there! #contentwritingchat — Digital Natives Cast (@DgtlNativesCast) April 11, 2017 When choosing between Instagram Stories and Snapchat, you want to consider where your audience is. Use the platform that they’re actively using so you stand a better chance at getting seen. A2a: Do your research! Are your customers on IG? Do your competitors do well on IG? Don’t be there for the sake of it! #contentwritingchat pic.twitter.com/x1JaVtAdqx — Traffic Jam Media (@trafficjammedia) April 11, 2017 Take the time to do your research before investing the effort into another platform. Ask yourself if your customers are spending time on Instagram Stories. Are your competitors doing well there? These are important things to consider before diving in. A2: If IG audience likes your Stories, head over to SnapChat to see if it resonates there, too. If not, no biggie.#ContentWritingChat https://t.co/ZAx01ScsfL — ThinkSEM (@ThinkSEM) April 11, 2017 If your audience likes your content on Instagram Stories, Snapchat may work for you as well. If you want to find out, the best way is to just give it a go and see what happens. A2 I’d recommend testing all that your audience uses-see where you get the most engagement, not just views #ContentWritingChat https://t.co/Kaic6Wjafy — LUCYrk (@LUCYrk78) April 11, 2017 Lucy also recommends testing to see which platform is ideal for your brand and audience. Try sharing content to each and see which one gets the most engagement. A2: Don’t just blast the same content on both channels, especially if your audience is on both. Shake it up a little! #ContentWritingChat pic.twitter.com/lESGqF9MVx — Mallie Rust (@malliefe2o3) April 11, 2017 As Mallie said, it’s important that you don’t share the same content on both channels. If you have people following you on Instagram Stories and Snapchat, it’ll be repetitive. Find ways to change it up so that it stays fresh and interesting. Q3: What kind of content should you create and post to your Instagram Stories? Once you’ve made the decision to commit to Instagram Stories, you need to decide what you’ll post there. After all, you can’t just post any old thing. It has to be relevant and appealing to your audience. Here’s some helpful advice so you can create amazing content for Stories: A2 Make sure you are sharing EXCLUSIVE content in your IG Stories so people come back every time they see the rainbow #ContentWritingChat — ★TheInstagramExpert★ (@SueBZimmerman) April 11, 2017 A3 Share a Raw, Informal Glimpse Into Your Business #ContentWritingChat Real & Raw is what connects others to YOU — ★TheInstagramExpert★ (@SueBZimmerman) April 11, 2017 Sue recommends sharing exclusive content to … Read more

#ContentWritingChat Recap: Smart Instagram Strategies for Your Business with Sue B. Zimmerman

#ContentWritingChat Recap: Smart Instagram Strategies for Your Business with Sue B. Zimmerman

Did you miss #ContentWritingChat this week? We have good news for you! We have a recap of our latest Twitter chat, which was packed with amazing tips on effective Instagram strategies for your business. Are you ready to dive in? Just keep reading! #ContentWritingChat Recap: Smart Instagram Strategies for Your Business with Sue B. Zimmerman Welcome to #ContentWritingChat! Today’s guest host is @SueBZimmerman. She’s joining us to talk all about Instagram for your business. pic.twitter.com/HihWi3CRHE — Express Writers (@ExpWriters) October 18, 2016 Our guest host this week was Sue B. Zimmerman. Sue is a speaker and a top Creative Live instructor. She’s also known as the “Instagram Expert,” which is why she joined our latest chat. She shared a ton of amazing tips for building a presence on Instagram that you’ll want to put to use today. Q1: How can you determine if Instagram is the right platform for your business? With so many social media platforms available today, it can be tricky to determine which ones are best for you to invest your time and energy into. So, how can you figure out if Instagram is right for you? Keep these things in mind: A1 I think it can work for any business since people process visuals 60,000 faster than text #ContentWritingChat pic.twitter.com/tBWd69EeMC — ★TheInstagramExpert★ (@SueBZimmerman) October 18, 2016 Sue feels Instagram can work for any business. People process visuals faster than text, which can make it a worthwhile platform for you to use. @ExpWriters A1 – Are your customers there? Are your competitors there? Can you devote time to posting regularly? #contentwritingchat — globalHMA (@globalHMA) October 18, 2016 Are your customers on Instagram? Are your competitors active there? Can you actually commit to building a presence there? Those are questions you need to answer when deciding whether Instagram is right for you. .@writingchat A1: if your target audience hangs out on Instagram, then it’s where your business should be. #ContentWritingChat — Tracy Willis (@tracywillis_) October 18, 2016 Tracy agrees! If your audience is on Instagram, your business should be there. @writingchat A1: Understand your customer demographic. If they don’t use the platform than it makes no sense to use it. #ContentWritingChat pic.twitter.com/EaJYCgxsB7 — Keystone Click (@KeystoneClick) October 18, 2016 It all goes back to knowing your audience! Are they on Instagram? @writingchat A1 You have to really think about if you can ACCURATELY & effectively represent your brand on that platform #contentwritingchat — My Life, Taylor Made (@life_taylormade) October 18, 2016 Can you accurately and effectively represent your brand on Instagram? You want to make sure it’s the right fit for your brand. A1 Beyond knowing if your audience is on #Instagram, are you able to actually provide them valuable content there? #contentwritingchat — Bill Skowronski (@BillSkowronski) October 18, 2016 Bill raises a solid point. Can you provide value to your audience on Instagram? A1: Try it! Decide how you want to portray yourself, and give it a go. Look to what others have done that “works”#ContentWritingChat https://t.co/MIFgShceTF — ThinkSEM (@ThinkSEM) October 18, 2016 As Sarah said, try it! You won’t really know if a platform works for you unless you give it a go yourself. Q2: What are key strategies for growth on Instagram? What do you need to know to see growth on Instagram? We have the answer! Check out some of the tips the chat participants shared on Tuesday: A2 You have to have an Instagram Mindset and make taking great photos a priority #ContentWritingChat pic.twitter.com/DdiQHB3FSk — ★TheInstagramExpert★ (@SueBZimmerman) October 18, 2016 Sue recommends having an “Instagram Mindset.” She said you need to make taking great photos a priority. After all, Instagram is a visual platform and your followers expect to see quality posts. A2) As with any social channel: Consistency, quality content and commitment! #contentwritingchat — Liliana H ??‍♀️☕️️ (@Liliholl) October 18, 2016 Liliana said consistency, quality content, and commitment are three things you need if you want to see growth on Instagram. A2. The right mix of hashtags – some move too fast, some are too small to matter. And consistency, of course. #contentwritingchat — pamelahughes (@pamelahughes) October 18, 2016 We all know hashtags are a must on Instagram. Pamela recommends choosing the right mix of hashtags. Pick those that are popular (but not so popular that your post will get buried in seconds) and align with your audience. Consistency is key, too! A2: Want Instagram growth? Post great content and engage with your audience. You need to BE PRESENT! #ContentWritingChat — Rachel (@redheadrachel) October 18, 2016 Make sure you’re posting great content and actively engaging with your audience. You have to be present if you want to see results. A2 #Instagram needs great visuals, relevant #hashtags, Engagement w/ others & trend analysis #ContentWritingChat https://t.co/2pS1ZXlVM1 — Varun Kumar (@varunkr842) October 18, 2016 Varun said Instagram requires great visuals, relevant hashtags, engagement with your audience, and trend analysis. A2 Post when your audience is likely to be on, utilize relevant hashtags, follow like-minded accounts. BE SOCIAL! #ContentWritingChat — Father. Food. Fun. (@FatherFoodFun) October 18, 2016 Optimize your Instagram strategy by posting when your audience is actively using Instagram. Don’t forget to add relevant hashtags and be social with others. A2: Knowing what your audience likes, interacts with, AND which hashtags they’re following. Hashtags are HUGE on IG. #ContentWritingChat https://t.co/FqBWtrzjU1 — ThinkSEM (@ThinkSEM) October 18, 2016 It’s simple! Know what your audience likes, what they interact with, and which hashtags they’re using. A2: In addition to great visuals, consistency is ?, and like any other social platform – don’t post and run, be social! #ContentWritingChat — Sherri Johnson (@FlyGirlFMP) October 18, 2016 Sherri knows consistency is key on all social media platforms. You need to post regularly and engage with your audience. A2 #1 Consistently great visuals. Instagram is a visual driven platform. #2 Relevant hashtags and links in profile! #ContentWritingChat — Julia McCoy ? (@JuliaEMcCoy) October 18, 2016 Julia said you need to consistently post great visuals, add relevant hashtags, and include a … Read more

The Launch of Instagram Ads for Business

The Launch of Instagram Ads for Business

Scrolling through your Instagram account you hit on a Ben & Jerry’s photo of the most delicious ice cream you’ve ever seen. You have to have it. Now! (Warning: scrolling below may induce frantic, mouth-watering-till-you’re-foaming, ice cream cravings.) At its core, it’s amazing. Photo by @cookingkitty007 A photo posted by Ben & Jerry’s (@benandjerrys) on Sep 8, 2015 at 8:45am PDT (It’s fine – we understand. Go ahead, leave us and grab that tub, come back to snatch a spoon and carry on scrolling.) More Instagram-ming. Hey, you didn’t realize Levis has a new design out. Wonder when the sales are on? And on you scroll. See what Instagram does there? They pave the way for possibly the most non-intrusive ads we’ve ever come across. There they sit, right in your feed, not flashing out at you from a sidebar. You can click on the image and go straight to the brand’s profile, share the ad, like it… just the way you would for your friend’s photos. This has got to be the most open and engaging platform for advertising yet. What Are Instagram Ads? Instagram ads are your typical Instagram photos or videos. The company took the decision to keep the Home browsing experience completely undisturbed for users. What distinguishes the ads from other photos is the “sponsored” mark just above the top right corner of the image. Why Would Anyone Want to Advertise on Instagram? Check out this infographic with an analysis of Instagram users. The report shows that the platform is extremely attractive to advertisers. This is thanks to the platform’s young, relatively affluent user base. A user base that keeps on growing. In fact, Instagram has revealed that their active user base has reached the 200 million mark, making it one of the fastest growing social sites on the planet. With numbers like this, it’s little wonder advertising on Instagram has snow balled. Who Can Advertise on Instagram? There was a time when now just any brand could appear in Home feeds, only those with an existing and successful following. There’s good news: Instagram ads are now open to all businesses, all around the world. No matter the size. It has been working to open up ads to more types of businesses on an easy self-serve basis. So now any size of business can run a campaign on Instagram. Best of all, ads have been opened up to over 30 new countries, including India, South Korea, Italy, Spain and Mexico. By the end of this month, ads will launch in markets around the globe. Using technology that leverages the very best of Facebook’s ad infrastructure, advertisers can now effortlessly target their messages effectively, reaching people based on what they’re following and what they’re interested in, be it food, cars, fashion or sports. Advertisers are also able to access new ad formats that will help with achieving various objectives and allowing people to learn more about something of interest or shop for something – right from the site. So now businesses of any shape and size can test their capabilities. Tests that have already been conducted have yielded positive results with areas like travel, e-commerce, entertainment and retail seeing significant demand. Using Ads to Drive Objectives People browse Instagram for visual inspiration. Advertising in this incredibly impactful platform has the power to inspire and touch people. Just look at the figures: 97% of measured campaigns on the platform have spawned weighty lifts in ad recall. By adding new formats, marketers have started achieving a variety of objectives, from mobile app installs to website clicks. For example, Gilt Groupe made use of the site to recruit customers. The company ran an ad campaign that saw an astounding 85% increase in app installations. Made.com, a designer furniture retailer, saw their ads yield a 10% order value increase. 4 Ways to Do More With Instagram Thousands of businesses worldwide are using Instagram as their showcase. The platform is making it easier for them to do more, too. Here’s how you can boost your business with Instagram. 1. Add videos. Businesses can now add up to 30 seconds worth of video ads to engage in much richer storytelling. 2. Landscape videos and photos. These help unlock creative opportunities and gives followers a cinematic feel. 3. Delivery and optimization tools. These help to manage and drive the best performance of campaigns on the site. 4. A new product from Instagram, it helps drive mass awareness while expanding a brand’s reach in a very short time-frame. It’s perfect for product launches or movie premieres. The Cost of Advertising on Instagram One of the unique things Instagram offers is the ability to measure ad recall. Businesses can do this by leveraging Nielsen technology. The goal here is to grab a user’s attention with concept-driven creatives that are tasteful and relevant. Initial beta testing partners have been buying on a CPM (cost per thousand) basis. Larger scale budgets have been seeing a CPM of around $20. Smaller CPMs are coming in at $13. To date, CPCs have not yet been discussed but will be made available as more objective based campaigns start using Instagram. The Top 4 Instagram Ads It’s really tough to choose the best Instagram ads so our list is by no means exhaustive. 1. @LexusUSA   Honestly, he’s a bit overdressed for a road trip. #LexusIS #LexusLens #vegas A photo posted by lexususa (@lexususa) on Nov 26, 2013 at 9:25am PST The affluent vehicle brand uses Twitter ads to highlight and showcase their existing campaigns. One campaign that stands out is the #LexusLens campaign where the brand took photos of various vehicle models on road trips across the nation. It set the benchmark for future brands to hashtag campaigns and grow their likes and followers. Lexus was actually the only brand of the first businesses to advertise that used location tagging. 2. @DunkinDonuts   The Perks of Summer—not over yet. Dark Roast is now 99¢ for DD Perks Members w/ an enrolled DD Card. (Offer ends … Read more

20 Brands That Blow It Away On Instagram & What To Learn From Them

20 Brands That Blow It Away On Instagram & What To Learn From Them

Have you ever snapped a picture, applied a filter, and shared it to your followers with a fun hashtag describing your feelings as you post? Then you’ve used Instagram. Instagram is an amazing social channel that provides people with the ability to give their followers a glimpse into their everyday lives. Many times this means a ton of cat pictures, selfies, and the occasional food and beverage shot. However, there are businesses and brands out there that are taking their Instagram game to a whole other level, hitting it out of the park with their strategy. I am going to look at these amazing brands, helping you find some great Instagram inspiration for your own strategy. 20 Brands that are Amazing on Instagram What are some brands that can give you excellent Instagram inspiration? I am going to take a look at some of the top ones when it comes to excellent content. 1. John Deere Tractors, farming, spending time with family, and living off of the earth are all things that John Deere shares on their social channels. When you look at their Instagram page, you can immediately tell what they sell, and how much they value family and hard work. This is a great illustration of a brand knowing their audience base, and creating images to share that will easily connect with fans, followers, and customers. 2. Billboard Magazine Keeping up with the latest music news is something everyone loves, and Billboard Magazine helps with that. They provide their followers with “insider info” and give behind-the-scenes looks at various projects, concerts, and more. BTS is a great way to interact and engage with your audience. 3. The White House It’s pretty obvious that the White House staff is pretty stellar at social media. They understand that working with the public is a great way to bolster positive attitudes, which is a great inspiration for everyone, including businesses. Work to promote positivity, and you’ll start to notice more positive change around you. 4. NASA NASA has a variety of excellent Instagram accounts, giving followers and fans excellent content that they all want to see. You can follow their main account, or you can choose different ones from different laboratories, space centers, and missions. This guarantees that you will be able to get the content you want, without having to sift through other content you aren’t interested in. 5. Intel Seeing the latest innovations in technology and watching as awesome things are created can be an exciting thing for many people. When it comes to showing these, Intel is tops, giving all of us a great look into the future of technology. In addition, we see great behind-the-scenes elements, which creates great personal connections with all fans, followers, and customers. 6. Virgin America Airlines Virgin is known for their swanky airline, and their Instagram shows just how awesome it is. Just a short, quick look at their pages shows some awesome photos of the airline, all with the signature purple lighting that everyone associates with them. This is a great illustration of keeping something consistent, whether a particular color scheme or voice, when it comes to using any social channel. 7. Taco Bell You don’t have to like their food, but it is pretty hard for anyone not to laugh or enjoy this brand’s epic social media and advertising campaigns. They utilize humor in some of the best ways possible, making great connections with their fans and customers. But, like I said, even people who aren’t fans of their food still love their hilarious approach to all marketing. 8. Warby Parker Warby Parker is a great place if you want designer glasses, as well as having a passion for helping those in need. The company knows that the main customer base they want to reach incorporates the younger generations, and their Instagram shows that. They truly are masters at creating content that young shoppers are likely to enjoy. 9. Macy’s Fashion and fun are two major aspects of Macy’s Instagram account, and they capture it all amazingly. From giving suggestions on how to style the best minion outfit to celebrating the USA women’s soccer team, Macy’s knows how to connect with their audience. They are an awesome example of just how to utilize something that is currently trendy, as well as something that can bring everyone together in joy and celebration. 10. Game of Thrones Whether it is when the show is airing, during a convention, or when the snow drifts start piling up, the Game of Thrones Instagram is on the ball. You get great behind-the-scenes looks at the series, plus fun photos of the cast at various Game of Thrones events. This really helps make all GoT fans feel like they are involved in this awesome series. 11. Starbucks What’s Instagram without a picture of food and a Starbucks coffee cup? Their Instagram is filled with photos of the current marketing campaign, pictures of store locations, videos, and, of course, those coffee images. Starbucks is a great source of inspiration, no matter your industry, when it comes to social media. 12. GoPro From an impactful bio to great fan-made images and videos, GoPro is an excellent example of involving clients and using Instagram to the fullest potential. You can expect to see amazing fan-captured items that are sure to make anyone want to use a GoPro camera. How can you implement anything from such a popular company? Simply by involving your clients and sharing media that is created by your client base; just share images they send in and have a blast. 13. H&M H&M knows that their client base is one that appreciates fashion, fashion tips, and fashion industry news. And this is exactly what they share with their 8.4 million followers. You can see great style ideas for Bohemian-chic, how to relax at the beach, and the latest from whichever fashion week or show the brand is at. With fun videos, great behind-the-scenes looks, and excellent product images, H&M is definitely a leader in the world of Instagram. Take … Read more

5 Ways to Correctly Use #Hashtags on Instagram & Twitter

5 Ways to Correctly Use #Hashtags on Instagram & Twitter

Hashtags are an incredible part of social media. They are what connects people during incredible or tragic moments, bringing the entire world together on social media. They provide excellent opportunities for discussion and are excellent for businesses. However, you might be wondering just how to use them, and use them correctly, on Twitter and Instagram. Let’s take a look at hashtags that will help you create an excellent Twitter or Instagram campaign. Crash Course: How Does A Hashtag Work? Hashtags are becoming vital to any social media campaign, but many people still might not know just what a hashtag is. Here is a quick rundown and reminder: a hashtag is a word or phrase used on social media that follows the pound or number sign (#). This helps to tie posts together with others and makes it easier for clients and readers to browse through the hashtag to find relevant information. This is a great way to index and categorize posts to make it easier for those with an interest in the specific keyword. For example, if you are selling artisanal coffee and want people who aren’t following to see your posts, you can use a hashtag such as #artisanalcoffee or a keyword that you use more often on your site. This will help connect you, and broaden your reach. Why Should You Use Hashtags? I briefly stated a benefit of hashtags in my example above. You need hashtags because they help direct people to your posts if they are not within your network. Let’s say you are a company that sells your product worldwide; you may have a few local customers, but how can you connect with someone in England, Australia, or America? Simple answer: hashtags. In addition to broadening your range and reaching out to more customers, you can also use hashtags as a way to engage with your clients, potential clients, and industry leaders. In fact, researchers find that tweets that utilize hashtags get two times the amount of engagement as a regular, non-hashtag tweet; interesting! The biggest thing about social media is being social, and you can do just that with hashtags directed at being social. I am going to take a more in depth look at this to show you just how you can correctly use your hashtags, especially when it comes to Twitter and Instagram. Companies That Should Be Using Twitter or Instagram Twitter is a great social channel for many businesses to use because it can connect you with a broader range of individuals. It can also provide you with the chance to host online chats, which I will discuss later. Twitter is a great social channel for small businesses and is also a great tool that B2Bs can use. Now, when it comes to Instagram, it is important to sit down and think about what your company does. If you don’t have much visually driven content and don’t focus on it too much, then Instagram is not for you. However, if you do have visually driven content or product, Instagram is perfect. If you are looking for some tips on how to use Instagram for your business, Social Media Examiner gives some excellent points to guide you in the right direction! How To Correctly Hashtag Your Content on Instagram and Twitter Now that I’ve taken you on a crash course reminder on hashtags, their importance, and if you should use Twitter and Instagram, I am going to help you learn how to use them. Remember, when it comes to social media and hashtags, you will need to tweak and grow to find the best ones for you. Let’s take a look at a few ways you can correctly, and awesomely use hashtags. Use Weekly AMAs or Hashtag Chats. Many businesses use something known as an AMA or an Ask Me Anything. Ask Me Anything is a really popular concept for many celebrities and users on Reddit, but it is slowly catching on for many businesses on other social channels. Most of the time, a business will adapt it into a chat instead of using AMA, but the concept is the same and helps develop communication and dialogue. A great example of a business chat is that of SEMRush’s #semrushchat that they hold to talk about various concepts. They discuss various questions with their readers and followers and then post the discussions on their blog. This is a great way to answer some of the common and current buzzing questions clients have while also creating excellent blog material. Create Unique Hashtags. This is a perfect way to get your posts to stand out while directing people to your accounts and site. You will need to use trendy hashtags that will get noticed, but throwing in a unique hashtag created by you will help put all of your posts in an easy to find spot. It can also help when people start discussing things with you, using that hashtag instead. This will direct more people to the discussion, and eventually direct people to your Twitter account, or website. In addition, a unique hashtag can also help you keep your business related photos in one spot on Instagram, giving people the chance to see all photos you’ve posted throughout your whole Instagram usage. Follow Specific Hashtags to See More Discussion. When you are using Twitter, it is a good idea to make sure you follow specific hashtags to see discussions and anything your clients might be talking about. This is especially necessary if you create your own hashtag to get people involved in discussions. It won’t work if you don’t keep tabs on it to talk with clients. The best way to follow specific hashtags is to utilize social media tools such as Hootsuite, Tweetdeck, or others that allow you to create columns for certain keywords and phrases. Utilize Trending Hashtags for Easy Advertising. No matter if you are on Twitter or Instagram, using trending hashtags for advertising is a great method. Most of … Read more