It can seem kind of tedious right out of the gate with a brand spanking new Instagram account. You post all these fantastic selfies but no one is liking them, what gives?! Have no fear, if you’re in this situation, this blog will really help you.

Content is king

Screenshot of Instagram app displaying a photo from user daniel_kruzel.

Just because you’re posting A LOT of content doesn’t mean you should be getting likes. Even though the latest selfie at the beach may be glamorous to you, does it really look great to others? Look at the composition of the shot, is it flowing or is your face the ONLY thing in the frame? A good reference when composing shots (yes, even for Instagram) is to follow the rule of thirds.

The other thing to consider in relations to content is make sure that the lighting is good. Yes, you have lots of filters and third-party apps you can use to correct the image but without a strong starting point, you won’t be able to succeed.

Short and eloquent description

Screenshot of Instagram app users photo.

Lets start by saying that every person has their own unique style of content writing. Some like short and direct while others like to tell stories. For the case of Instagram it is important to remember the saying “a picture says a thousand words.”

SEE MORE: Why blogging is still important in a world of micro-blogging.

With that being said don’t have the description describe the image. Individuals are looking for the users unique perspective on what this image invoked within them, pushing them to create a caption that holds the emotion behind what they saw before the lens.

Hashtags – Yay or Nay

There is a lot of debate about hashtags currently among social media marketers. To many and you’re pushing limits, to few and you’re breaking a rule. The typical agreed upon number of hashtags for a  post now is between 2-3. With Instagram however, you can push that a bit. Don’t hashtag so much that your content disappears but between 5-10 hashtags are appropriate. If you can use less though, do so!

SEE MORE: Three things to KNOW about hashtags

When choosing hashtags pick ones that will add value to your content. For example, a photo of a cup of coffee from a local coffee shop in Santa Monica, CA, make sure to utilize #local or #santamonica. People search for hashtags all the time, which is how they will discover your posts and you.

Screenshot of Instagram photo.

When it comes down to it, all these things will help you gain followers! However the other important factor here is to go out and discover others photos on Instagram. Yes, finding your friends and liking them is great, but search for hashtags of niche interests you may have and start liking photos from there you like and following repeat IG’ers that you like.

It is not a quick thing to grow your following organically but following these tips will certainly help get you going in the right direction.

Looking to grow your online presence with Instagram and other social networks but not sure where to start? Contact us today for a free consultation.

Have a question for the author or want to add your own tips, do so below in the comments. 

5 Effective Ways I Use to Tame Social Media Distractions

How long can you go without checking your phone? Does your screen light up every 15 seconds with a notification, some enticing invitation to pick up your device and respond RIGHT NOW? How long could you go, realistically, without checking your e-mail, updating your Facebook status or replying to a Tweet? A week? A day? Maybe about half an hour or so? Don’t be ashamed, social media and smart phone notifications have risen to near obsession status in many people’s lives. You are not alone.

WomanCheckingStatus

It was bad enough when social media sucked up all our time by being entertaining but now that we use it to expand our businesses as well, we are connected to it almost constantly. If you let it, the compulsion to engage in social media activities will consume your entire day. In addition to all the business and personal e-mail (not to mention Spam and Junk-mail) we get, there are countless notification coming at us from all directions as well. Each social media site, game and tool we use now wants permission to send us notifications whenever the slightest update is made.

The infinite stream of digital stimulation is easy to get lost in, but there is a way out! You can become a productive member of society once again by following these 5 pieces of advice for taming social media.

1. Get Zen And Shut Out The Distractions

Freedom Logo.

The first step to taking back the hours in your day is to make a firm commitment to limit distractions. Here’s the key, you have to really mean it! Consider how much more work you could accomplish each day if you didn’t jump onto your social media sites every time you got a notification or you were not so inclined to answer every e-mail on the spot? If you have a big deadline approaching and can’t seem to practice self-control, don’t worry, there’s an app for that!

Try a website blocking tool like “SelfControl” or “Freedom” to literally lock yourself out of Facebook for an entire day – you’ll be surprised how easy it really is to go a full day without reading your news-feed!

2. Narrow Your Focus

Narrow Your Focus - How to Tame Social Media Distractions

There used to be just the one or two main social networking sites, now there are literally hundreds. Of the ten or so major ones, which ones do you really use and follow and which are just collecting internet dust and sending you pointless notifications you don’t respond to? If you’ve signed up for everything under the sun but only really use 1 or 2 sites consistently then you are inundating yourself with extra notifications for no good reason.

This is especially true if you are using social media for business. It is better to really master and get known in one or two platforms rather than to have empty accounts all over the place. Pick your favorite few and delete the rest!

3. Trim Back Notifications

Notifications of mass proportions on phone.

Speaking of notifications – you don’t really need them. The notification acts as a trigger. You’re minding your own business; your brain focused on the task at hand, when suddenly you hear a tell-tale chirp from your phone and immediately grab it to see what the latest update is. So let me ask you this, how important is it for you to be immediately alerted every time someone Tweets about what they’re having for dinner or posts a new selfie on Facebook ? Is this something that requires your immediate attention, or can it wait until your work is done?

Chances are, the notifications are just distractions and it’s time to cut your ties! Go into the account settings and turn them off, or at least limit them to a select few.

4. Time Blocking – It Works!

Helpful tips graffic.

Now that your notifications aren’t dinging at you all day long, you can create a manageable plan for when you will check your social media sites and answer your e-mail. Time block your online activities and schedule this time as if it were a meeting on your calendar. This way you’ll always know that you have time to get to it eventually which will cut way down on your social media withdrawal symptoms.

Time blocking is a powerful time optimization tool that you can use to make your entire day, week, month and life more productive. If you haven’t tired it already, I highly recommend it!

5. Be A Social Media Ninja – Schedule Posts For Later

Hoot Suite logo.

If you’re using social media for business you probably have already come up with several very plausible excuses as to why you need to be connected to social media 24/7 in just the time it took to read this article. One of those reasons is probably that you want to regularly be posting content to your social media sites. No problem!

Even if you’ve time blocked yourself into only 1 hour of social media time per day you can still post to sites like Facebook and Twitter every hour if you want to – by using scheduled posting. Facebook and Twitter both have their own free in-site scheduling options but if you have multiple accounts and want to make life easier you can also use an app or tool like HootSuite to help you manage your social media posts.

Don’t get me wrong, I love gadgets, social media and all things web but the very things that are designed to help us get more done can also hamper our productivity which is why I had to cut out the distractions. How are you taming the distractions? I’d like to hear your story – Please comment.

Three things you need to understand about hashtags

Called a “pound sign” on your phone and a “hashtag” on social media, this one little symbol (#) has helped unify posts on the World Wide Web but if misused can also become a source of great annoyance. In order to learn how to use hashtags effectively across different social media platforms there are a few things you must understand.

A little goes a long way

Spam with red line crossed through it.

One hashtag is enough per post. Many people mistake hashtags as being the one and only search term for their post. Every word in your post is a search term no matter if it has a # sign in front of it or not. You do not need to put a hashtag in front of every keyword you use. Brands that over use hashtags are seen as spam and in fact the abuse of hashtags in your post makes it very easy to identify and skip over leading to far less views than you intended.

Hashtags are not just for searching

#AmericanIdol search results.

So if hashtags are not the way to identify keywords for searching then what are they for? Hashtags are just another way of grouping posts on the same topic within a social media platform. One of the most popular tag lines for Twitter is “Join the conversation.” If you are watching a TV show, sporting event or even the news you can use a hashtag to jump into a community conversation. Posting, “I can’t believe this show is still on the air. #AmericanIdol” will help share your thoughts with everyone else posting about #AmericanIdol. Hashtags on Twitter are clickable links that will take you to a stream of posts about the same topic.

You can use hashtags for your brand to collect posts and images related to your company or you can even use them to host contests. Have users include your promotional hashtag in their posts for a chance to win a prize. Starbucks does this, encouraging people to post photos of their red Starbucks cups around the holidays.

Not all platforms use hashtags in the same way

LinkedIn logo.

Social network, LinkedIn does not support hashtags.

If you use multiple social media platforms it is important to understand that not all websites use hashtags in the same way. Twitter started the hashtag movement; people expect the tags and know how to use them. Facebook, on the other hand, only recently enabled hashtags and people use the tags more for inserting sarcasm into their posts than they do for grouping like-posts. In fact, some studies have shown that hashtag use on Facebook can actually result in fewer views per post. Make sure to keep the platform you are using and your audience in mind when coming up with a strategy for hashtags.

Get social with your web design

Keep your website fresh with live streaming content from your social media accounts and make sharing a snap with colorful easy to use social sharing buttons. These days your company’s social media accounts are just as important as your main website; so why not pack a double punch and integrate the two?

Individual sharing content via social media on a mobile device while standing in the desert.

Individual sharing content via social media on a mobile device.

 

Customers thrive on status updates from companies

Many customers are relating to brands and businesses via social media these days. Checking our news feeds has become such a part of daily life it is there that customers are most easily connected to you. If you are diligently updating your social sites you can take advantage of these views by integrating your social media and website. You will create more continuity, a larger fan base and help boost your SEO.

Allow social sharing to be as commonplace as the update itself

Individual sharing content via social media on a tablet.

Make sure your accounts are linked and you have adequately marketed your social media accounts on your website. Link to your accounts using the popular logos of your favorite social media platforms that people can easily identify. There are lots of free and paid logos of various styles you can use to create a more cohesive look with your brand.

In the mobile era, updates should be available everywhere

iPhone with Siri loaded on screen.

Rather than simply sliding in a link to your social media account you can go one step further by adding a live feed to your Facebook or Twitter account. Depending on the type of business you have than Instagram or Pinterest feeds might be relevant as well. This way there is a part of your website that is consistently refreshing and populating with new content. You can even allow users to “log in” to your website using their Facebook or Twitter accounts for a customized experience.

Content optimized to share will increase SEO

Social media optimization.

Make your content easy to share by including a great title, eye catching photos and a prominent set of social share buttons. You can easily add sharing options with apps, widgets or by asking your favorite web designer to include them for you. You’ve already worked hard to create share-worthy content so don’t take a step backwards by making it difficult or cumbersome for a user to spread your content like wildfire!

The Internet has changed the way companies interact with their target market. Today, brands and consumers get together on different social media platforms, including Facebook, Twitter, and Google+. Social media marketing means more than just gaining followers and posting your products and services on social networks. To maximize your networks, you need to focus on customer engagement and brand credibility. These elements will help you reach your online marketing goals easily and enjoy higher ROI.

Here are our top four ways of improving your brand’s online credibility and customer engagement.

Get to Know Your Audience

It’s important to learn about your target market when starting a social media marketing campaign. This can make or break any kind of advertising efforts and your brand’s credibility. When you don’t know the right way to interact with your audience, you won’t get a good reception. It’s similar to attending a party without following the dress code. People will ignore you, worse, stare at you with accusing eyes. To avoid this social media marketing blunder, spend time learning about your audience before going social with them. You can start with the demographics: age, location, gender, and profession. This information will give you an idea of the language to use with your customers. Additionally, knowing your market’s demographics lets you discover the type of content to share with your network. By posting interesting and relevant content, customers will more likely to think that you’re a thought leader.

Set Goals and Maximize Social Media Tools

Before starting any campaign, make sure you understand the importance of social presence in your business. What can it do to improve your business? How do you want to benefit from it? To help you achieve your goals as soon as possible, think about using social media tools. Use applications that will make it easier for you to have a continuous presence online, such as a posting scheduler. In addition, think about using tools that can analyze your campaign. This way, you can tweak your marketing plan and ensure its success.

Be Regular

Becoming a credible brand doesn’t happen in an instant. Credibility is a result of careful planning and consistent online presence. Spurts of activities on your network won’t take you anywhere. You don’t have to be always on it. You just have to be regular with your activities, otherwise, your market will forget about you. For instance, you may post 3 to 5 times a day or roll out a 2-week promo every month. Space out your activities at a manageable level.

Interact with Your Audience

It’s called social network for a reason. Don’t be the kind of brand that just constantly features their products and services. Interact with your network; reply to inquiries. Favorite or retweet tweets users share with you. Like or share posts of other Facebook users. By interacting with others, you’re telling them that you’re more than just a company that wants to get some sales from the network.

Social media marketing offers many opportunities for different types of businesses. Whether you’re a startup, a medium-scale business, or a large corporation, you can drive sales and engagement through a carefully planned and executed campaign. It all starts with improving your online credibility.

 

Many companies have their ways of managing social media use in the workplace. Some block social networks, including Twitter and Facebook, while others allow their employees to log on to these sites during break times. Regardless of these policies, however, businesses have no way of controlling what their employees say about them during non-work hours. This is where problems start for employees and employers.

Majority of the Workforce is Online

Research says seven out of ten employees use social networks. These users spend an average of 15 ½ hours on social networking sites monthly. Furthermore, one out of four social network users don’t set their privacy parameters. This means anyone can see their posts on anything – from updates on their busy schedules to complaints about their job. Many employees don’t see any harm in this. It’s their social network, after all; they can say whatever they want to say on it. But can you really?

Effects of Your Social Network Activities on Your Career

There are no stopping employees from airing their feelings about their companies on social networks. This is why many businesses are now vigilant in monitoring what their employees say about them online. Sure, the First Amendment protects employees from legal actions of protected speech. This doesn’t mean, however, that you won’t deal with negative effects. Let’s think of it this way, you wouldn’t dare insult your employer to his face, for fear of getting fired. Right? Posting an insult on your social network is quite the same thing.

Here’s what can happen when you vent your dissatisfaction at work on your social networks.

Future Consequences

Using social networking sites irresponsibly can cost you your career. Getting fired, however, isn’t the only consequence you have to deal with. You may face lawsuits, especially when you gave away confidential details about your company and their business processes. You may also have a difficult time looking for another job. Apart from monitoring their brands, companies use social networks to find potential employees. When they don’t like what they see on your profile page, they won’t even invite you for an initial interview. Furthermore, many hiring managers conduct online background checks on their future employees. According to a study, about 70% of job recruiters reject applicants after doing online investigations.

Creating a Good Online Persona

Your online profile is an extension of yourself in the real world. What you do on social networks say many things about your personality offline. While your employers can’t control what you post online, your actions can very well shape your career. How you use these social networking sites can either boost or ruin your profession.

It’s easy to create a good online persona. When you can’t stop ranting on social networking sites, think about fixing your privacy setting. This can effectively limit the things you share publicly. It can also prevent future employers from thinking you’ll be a bad hire for their companies. You can get your foot through the door and the chance to let them know you can be an asset to the company. At the end of the day, responsible use of social media can help employers and employees achieve their goals.

Do you want to learn more about social media? Contact us for more information on social media marketing and management.

 

When you think of social media oftentimes customer service isn’t an immediate related concept. Social sites like Facebook and Twitter after all are more geared towards conversations and advertising for a business, but in recent years the two business departments have slowly but surely grown closer and changed together. The question is: how and why?

Social Media’s Effect on Customer Service

As more and more companies and people in general get tapped into the internet on nearly every aspect of life, from purchasing products to talking to friends and family, the online world becomes more of a go-to for people worldwide… even customer service issues and social media has paved the way for this new way of dealing with customer service. The natural inclination in years past when dealing with a brand, service or product issue was to go to the business in person or call, but in a technology driven world that has changed, leaving more and more people seeking out resolutions to their business related issues online. From Facebook to Twitter, Google+, YouTube and more, social networking proves to be a driving force when it comes to customer service resolution.

The Ways in Which Social Media & Customer Service Have Changed Together

In the recent How Social Media Is Changing Customer Service (And Why Big Brands Must Try Harder) infographic the concept of how social networking sites have changed customer service is explored. Using statistics acquired from social networking site users the infographic provides a startling glimpse into the ways that the two driving business forces have combined… and how a business must evolve with it to stay current. In the few years since the concept has come on the scene, social media has proved to be a lasting concept and if these stats are correct it will be influence countless other business departments as well.

Social media today is the stuff dreams are made of… at least in the business world. More and more companies are getting on the social networking bandwagon to bring their marketing and advertising into the 21st century in truly successful ways. Of course, just saying that it’s happening more frequently doesn’t prove why it is necessary for a business today, so we’ve put together a list of the top 6 social networking statistics for why you’re company should partake in the marketing craziness that is Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Google+ and more.

Reasons Why Social Media Marketing is of Necessary for a Business

Reason 1) 67% of Twitters users have given a clear preference for buying products and services from companies they follow on the site.

Reason 2) 61% of B2B companies find that they are more successful at getting new customers when they use LinkedIn in their marketing plan.

Reason 3) 42% of social media users have mentioned brands in their posts on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, etc.

Reason 4) 80% of all customers prefer to get their coupons, deals, discounts and so forth on trusted social networking and media sites.

Reason 5) 61% of marketing professionals in 2012 generated sales leads on Facebook, 48% on Twitter and 29% on Google+.

Reason 6) Businesses that use Facebook generate and close 2.6X more leads than those who don’t use the site and businesses using Twitter create and close 1.9X more sales than those who don’t.

Why You Should Use Social Media

When it comes to successfully selling and branding your business sites like Facebook and Twitter continually show themselves to be a virtually limitless resource for customers just waiting for a brand to get behind. Whether you’ve got a business that is front and center like a restaurant or less flashy like a paper company, social media can provide a solid base for marketing and advertising to new and long standing customers.

Social media today is a large ever growing collection of people, groups and businesses that have all joined together to talk, share and enlarge their own social circles. For businesses this environment is the perfect place to engage and grow their own customer base with targeted customers that best suit the needs and goals of the business. Like with any business, there is a right sort of customer base and a wrong one. There are those customers that may not be interested in the products or services, those who lack the financial means to purchase them, those who do not meet the requirements of certain services/products and so forth… it is the way of business to target the right customer base that will ensure a profitable and successful marketing/advertising strategy. With social networking sites like Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and Instagram are no different.

Social Media’s Ability to Help Businesses Grow Their Customer Base

Growing a customer base can be difficult as a business navigates the perilous and murky waters of the business world. Whether the business has a small, distinctive customer base or a large, varying customer base, finding customers who are willing to buy a business’  products/services and talk about it can be a trial in and of itself. However, as social media becomes more and more of an everyday activity for the world’s population, businesses can adapt to this newest form of marketing/advertising and truly begin to grow their customer base through conversations, viral videos, social networking sharing and so forth. With certain social platforms such as LinkedIn that potential customer base can be refined to find the potential customers-in-the-rough that could rocket a businesses success exponentially.

Social Media Statistics of the Affluent

In the article “Nearly 90% of Affluent Consumers Use Social Media [Study]” the author talks about the ways in which social networking sites like LinkedIn offer a startling gateway for businesses into the lives of the affluent. Whether a business uses Facebook, Twitter, Google+ or StumbleUpon, social media sites are a resource for the right customer base that shouldn’t be ignored.

As a Chicago social media agency we often get asked about tips on how to use Twitter by local businesses. Social networking sites as a whole are global and oftentimes local businesses can find it hard to make a dent in the global conversations going on and make their efforts successful. Whether they are a big business that has its hands in countless local pots or a small business just starting out, Twitter can be used effectively you just have to know how to navigate the murky waters.

The Chicago Social Media World

The Chicago social media world is much like any other arena in the world as it has an ebb and flow of conversation and information that local businesses can tap into. It is similar to the high school scene in a way… you have to know who’s popular, who can help you get connected and where the best connections/conversations can be found. The social networking scene may be a little more quiet and unassuming, but it can be just as cut throat as any high school cafeteria in America. The trick is to just get in where it best suits your business and keep a hold of that spot.

Twitter Tips for Businesses in Chicago Social Media

In the article “5 Essential Tips For Local Businesses On Twitter” you can get invaluable tips on how to navigate the cutthroat waters of the social media scene to your benefit. Whether you are looking to just dip a toe in the water or go in with a full head-on dive, the Chicago social media scene requires a little skill and finesse to effectively navigate.