Byran Weiner, CEO of Comscore, once said that ‘social marketing eliminates the middlemen, providing brands the unique opportunity to have a direct relationship with their customers.’ So how can you nurture and build those relationships? What does it take to improve your online presence in 2020?
1. Present yourself as human
In 2020 people like brands who appear as human and authentic. They don’t want corporations with no relatability or personality. When you’re posting content on social media, keep it down to earth, fun and transparent. It could be in the form of memes, TikTok videos, or articles that showcase your values.
2. Live stream
Live streaming on social media is an excellent way to improve your reach, increase engagement and connect with new audiences. Facebook Live and YouTube Live are a great place to start streaming. According to Vimeo, ‘ live streaming is going to be a $70.5 billion industry by 2021.’ They also reported that ‘48% of consumers have shared a brand video on their social media profile.’ Live Streaming allows you to speak to your audience about a topic that means something to you. You might prefer to demonstrate a new product.
3. Analytics tools
If you want to improve your successes on social media, you’ve got to have some way of analysing your performance. There are plenty of social analytics tools out there which can help you to do that.
Google Analytics: GA is a great tool which can help you to monitor your social media campaigns and track your social ROI.
Snaplytics: Snaplytics is an analytics tool for Instagram Stories and Snapchat specifically. Here you can view various metrics and see where your engagement peaks and or decreases.
Above all, your content has got to be creative to boost your online presence. With lots of similar brands in competition, it’s important to set yourself apart from the rest. So how can you make your Instagram photographs stand out?
Aerial photography: Using drones can allow you to get some seriously stunning and original photographs! For more information about drones take a look at www.drdrone.ca. Perhaps a member of your team fancies a go at taking a few drone shots? If not, you can always hire a photographer!
When it comes to writing your blog posts, you need to provide content that brings something different to the table. If you’re short on ideas, you can use ‘Answer the Public’ to search for the more obscure questions that people are asking online!
5. Customer Generated Content
People love customer-generated content because it’s authentic. It’s not always about heavily photoshopped images, but real people using your products and having a good time! CG content is inexpensive, and many customers will produce it naturally (and then tag your biz)! Employee generated content is similarly effective to improve your credibility and extend your reach. Of course, you need to set your employees guidelines about what they can and cannot say while using your social account. (Without instructions, EG content can fast lead to a social media scandal)!
Launching a program or product for the first time is an exciting step in your business. As a core component of your overall business strategy, it deserves the same level of commitment, planning, and attention-to-detail that you invested in creating the product (or program) itself. In fact, the launch itself could be the sole factor in determining your overall success. Some entrepreneurs have lamented that launch planning takes more time than creating the product itself! Because the launch is so important, we’ve broken down the process into four critical steps. Follow these steps, and you’re on track to a successful launch.
Determine your launch plan.
The first thing you need to do is understand the scope of your launch project. Every new product or program launch requires a buzz in order to attract early adopters. Questions you’ll need to ask yourself, in order to generate that buzz, include:
· Who is my target market and what sort of content will resonate with those prospects best?
· What resources will I need?
· Which part of my marketing funnel will I target?
· Which key performance indicators will impact my business the most?
Telesummits are a prominent way to boost your brand. With a telesummit, you can assemble an innovative panel of thought-leaders and industry experts to help you drive your brand’s credibility, visibility, and the curiosity of your target audience. This is an incredibly effective way to reach a broader audience, gather more prospects, and get people talking.
Define clear goals and objectives.
Once you’ve established a launch plan, it’s time to determine the metrics you’ll use to measure your success. Clearly defining your launch goals ensures that everyone on your team is working towards your desired outcome. Good goals are specific, measurable, have actionable steps, and a defined time-frame. Types of goals you may want to consider:
· Sales goals
· Prospect goals
· Product awareness goals
· Customer goals
If you’re unsure which goals you should be pursuing, your best bet is to start with the end in mind and work your way backward. For example, if you’re attempting to determine a prospect goal, you would look at your desired revenue, determine the number of customers required to achieve that revenue, then, using your past sales, determine the number of prospects you’d need to reach to achieve the “win rate” you’re seeking. Once this has been established, you’ll create an appropriate way to measure the goal.
Outline a support plan and secure resources.
After your goal planning is complete, it’s incredibly common to come to the realization that you’ll need additional assistance to execute properly. Assess your current team based on your launch plan and your goals then determine whether they have the skills and time to execute your plan flawlessly. If that’s not the case, now is the time to begin delegating and outsourcing work. If you’re feeling low in confidence, don’t be afraid to hire a launch consultant to guide you through the process. Project Managers can be another helpful resource that allows you to focus on the work you do best while ensuring that the launch process flows smoothly. It’s also a great idea to consider having freelancers on standby, should you need help on short notice. A virtual assistant, copywriter, graphic designer, or other freelancer can help you ensure that you meet deadlines without having to do everything yourself.
Create a promotion strategy.
How you present your program launch depends on your target audience as well as your product type. There are a variety of ways to get your message across, and often the best promotions present information to your audience using various platforms and channels. If you have an audience that is seeking more details than a simple ad campaign or video can provide, telesummits are an ideal medium to add to your strategy. Virtual summits provide your audience with an opportunity to engage with your brand and its promoters. They also provide you with a platform to gather additional information from your audience via surveys, social listening, or direct conversations. These types of “audience-centered” activities allow you to tailor your messaging and strategy directly to your target market, which in turn fosters more conversions.
Launching a product or program is a serious but exciting endeavor. It requires commitment, hard work, planning and dedication if you’re intent on reaching your goals. To avoid becoming overwhelmed, you’ll want to ensure that you fully understand the scope of the work before you dive into your launch. When you’re able to approach the launch in a calculated manner, you provide yourself with the stability of knowing what to expect, when to expect it. As a successful entrepreneur who has created a stellar product or program, you’ve already got what it takes! It’s also important to realize that you don’t have to bear the weight of the entire launch process by yourself. If you’re interested in exploring a telesummit as part of your strategy, schedule a free consultation with us. We’d love to help you reach your launch goals and share the successes we’ve had with others. Happy planning and launch day!
Everyone is trying to get their products and services in front of users online. But with such limited space, being effective is a constant challenge. You might have a great business, but spreading the word is notoriously difficult.
What you need is a trick – something you can use to shoehorn your pages into the line of sight of your target audience – but that doesn’t break the bank.
Your rivals are becoming more sophisticated in their approach. That doesn’t mean, though, that they’ve exhausted all opportunities. Even small businesses can get the edge with the right know-how.
Are you struggling to get noticed online? Check out these little tricks that can make a big difference to your marketing.
Create Punchy, Innovative Content That Surprises
Many companies put their professional hat on and churn out lengthy white papers they hope will garner attention. Rarely, however, is that an approach that works in reality. Most audiences already have all the informational resources they need. You could wind up wasting a lot of time putting together something comprehensive that people don’t want.
What’s the solution here?
The answer is to make your content innovative, punchy, and surprising. Most audiences don’t realize it, but the thing that they really want is novelty. They want to experience the feeling of the unexpected. It’s that immediate sense of gratification when they try something new or hear something funny, which is the kicker.
TikTok is an excellent platform for doing this. Just do something fun that appeals to your customer persona and wait for them to come flocking. Providing information is great, but being entertaining is even better.
Make Your PPC Ads Bigger
PPC ads are something of a godsend for small businesses. Without them, you’d be completely stuck. Organic SEO takes time. They are an easy way to get people flocking to your site without putting in months of work building links, creating content, and optimizing.
A lot of companies, though, don’t understand how to do them right. They believe that once they create the ad copy, their job is done. Sorry – but it’s not.
Even if you haven’t heard of these, you’ve almost certainly seen them when browsing the internet. They’re essentially additional details you tack onto the bottom of your PPC ads that provide more information to prospective customers. And they make a big difference.
Experts think they’re super effective for two reasons:
They provide additional information, making your company seem more legitimate and professional
They make ads physically larger, enhancing visibility
Try adding them and see whether you get more traffic. Almost certainly, you will.
Make Links With People Who Can Get The Word Out
New websites get buried in the mountain of content on Google, and there’s not much you can do about it. Fresh businesses have to bite the bullet and just work their way up the ranking like everyone else. It takes time.
Making links with people you know to get the word out, though, is something that you can do right now to boost your appeal online. The more people you rope into helping you, the better.
If you have a great product, this shouldn’t be too much of a challenge. There’s bound to be an influencer out there somewhere willing to give you a platform. Think carefully about how your product might help their audience and then sell it as hard as possible.
Team Up With Another Company
Similarly, you can try teaming up with another brand and offering a co-product with them. Often companies will allow you to tack your brand onto theirs, immediately increasing recognition.
Create Facebook Ads
Facebook ads are very different from regular PPC. Here, you’re not looking to sell immediately. Instead, you’re trying to create more brand impressions, introducing people to what you do.
People use Facebook for different reasons than search. They’re on there to talk to friends and generally chill out. Rarely are they on the hunt for products. Businesses, therefore, need to adopt a slightly different strategy with their advertising methods.
You can think of Facebook as the first stage in the sales funnel. It’s the tool you use to make it, so people know what you do. Once you’ve built the groundwork, you have a better chance of thinking about you when they want what you have to offer.
Getting noticed online can be a significant challenge for new businesses. But with the right approach, you can boost who sees you, increasing your revenue immediately.
In the U.S. alone, there are 1.6 million people working in the gig economy. No matter what type of business you own or what industry you’re in, hiring an independent contractor can save you time, money, and a lot of effort.
But, as with anyone you hire for a job, it’s important to find the right people for your business. Maybe you’re new to a certain industry, like construction or machinery and you need someone here who knows how to operate certain machines. Maybe you own a marketing business but you’re not artistic and you need to hire a designer for a project.
Whatever the case, it can be beneficial to hire a freelancer or independent contractor. But, you have to know how to hire the right ones to fit your needs.
With that in mind, let’s look at a few steps you should take to find the right gig workers for your business.
Figure Out the Scope of the Job
Before you consider hiring someone, consider the scope of the work you’re trying to accomplish. This includes what the task actually is, what you expect, what the freelancer will do, milestones they’ll meet along the way, and what the finished project should look like.
Not only will this help you to “weed out” potential gig workers from the pack, but by sharing it with the person you hire, they’ll have a better idea of what you need and want. As a result, they’re more likely to do the job the right way the first time.
What Are Your Minimum Qualification Requirements?
Some independent contractors have branched out on their own after years of working in a specific industry, so they have a lot of experience. Others are just starting out and looking to build up their experience through gigs.
You have to decide ahead of time what the qualification requirements are going to be for the gig workers you hire. Do you want them to have a college degree? Years of experience? A flexible schedule? A low rate?
Again, determining the minimum qualifications you’re willing to accept will help you to eliminate a lot of applicants right away, leaving you with the ones that meet your qualification standards.
Narrow It Down to Five Candidates
No matter how many applicants you receive, try to narrow it down to five applicants after going through resumes and cover letters. When you instantly shrink the group of applicants, you can give more focus. Don’t rush yourself through those five applicants. The hiring process can take several weeks, so give yourself time to really decide who fits your needs and who can do the job the way you want it. Candidates should expect to wait and not get an answer right away, so don’t feel like you’re missing out on someone just because you’re taking a while to respond.
If you have specific jobs that need to get done professionally and with a unique perspective, it’s a good idea to consider hiring from the gig economy, rather than hiring a full-time employee. Be careful and thorough in your hiring process, and you might find an independent contractor you’ll want to come back to again and again.
We are currently in the midst of a global crisis, and if you have no idea what we are talking about, you have either been living under a rock or on the moon. Yes, we are talking about the coronavirus or COVID-19 pandemic that is currently sweeping the planet. It is causing whole countries to go into lockdown. Of course, while this is having the desired effect that very slowly it is reducing the number of cases and deaths, it is also bad news for many businesses.
If you are trying to run a business from home and are worried about how you will stay on top of things and keep your head above the water, fear not. In this article, we will briefly cover some of the things that you can do to take some of the pressure off so that you can concentrate on keeping you, your family, and your business safe during these challenging times.
Create a virtual office
You may not be able to open your physical office for obvious reasons, but that does not mean you can not get all of your employees in one place in a ‘virtual office.’ While your staff probably don’t want to be on a video call all day, particularly if they are juggling looking after children and trying to home school at the same time, regular group check-ins using an app such as Microsoft Teams or Zoom is a great way to stay in touch. It allows everyone to talk as a team, bring up any issues and socialize, albeit through a screen!
Delegate
You may be balancing childcare and homeschooling as well as trying to keep your business afloat, and this may mean less time to dedicate to your business. If this is the case, instead of trying to do it all and failing miserably, delegate some of the tasks. This might be to other members of your team or outsourcing to a third party. Tasks that you could outsource include accountancy, HR and payroll, social media management, and even reception work – Ruby Receptionist can take over this role on your behalf.
Utilize workflow management software
Trello and Asana can be your friend here. It is easy to lose track of who is supposed to be doing what, but by putting it all into a workflow management system, everyone will be able to see what they need to do and mark when it is completed, so all jobs get done, and nothing gets duplicated.
Use ‘the cloud’
You may well be using this anyway, but if you aren’t, why not? By storing relevant documents and information on your company cloud, whether a free one such as Google Drive or a more professional one, your staff can access the things that they need to be able to work remotely, negating the need for them to be contacting you constantly to get hold of documents.
Even after this pandemic has passed, some of these tips can help you to remain organized and take some of the strain away.
