Social Media Archives | Online Marketing Solutions for Business

5 Little Changes That’ll Make a Big Difference in Your Social Media Presence

February 18, 2019

When was the last time you analyzed your social media presence?

I mean really took a good look at it.

Once we set up our social media profiles and pages, we get so absorbed or even harried about keeping up with our postings that we forget to review our:

avatars
banner images
bios
overall review of our updates
return on investment (ROI)

So, let’s talk about these items.

Steps to Improving Your Social Media Presence

Social Media Avatars

When was the last time you updated your avatar?

If you took a selfie in the past or had a friend snap a picture of you, it’s time for you to hire a professional to take some shots of you.

While she’s at it, have her take a picture of you writing and reading. And in other poses as well. You can use these additional shots on the back of your book.

Remember, an avatar needs to be a close-up shot of your head. Don’t wear sunglasses or hats when you take this picture. They will obstruct an image of your beautiful self and won’t let your readers see you clearly.

Banners Are Critical to Your Social Media Presence

Don’t ignore social media banners (header on Twitter) and just put up anything. Use Canva.com to create your banners or use a graphic artist or social media manager to do this for you.

Here’s a lovely carousel of images for Exchange Bank’s Facebook page. The carousel includes five images but I’ll just show you my two favorite.

Here’s another great image.

The images are fun and convey important messages.

Your banners needn’t be static. On Facebook, for example, it’s a good idea to change the images quarterly. Whatever schedule you choose to upload new banners, always keep them fresh.

La Rose Tequileria & Grill in Santa Rosa also uses a slider for four images. My favorite is this one:

Is Your Social Media Bio Still Current?

When was the last time you revised your bio? Keep in mind your bios need to be identical on all social media platforms. That rule applies to avatars and banners as well.

I haven’t changed my bio in a while, but I’m still happy with it. It includes my mission, describes what I do, and most importantly, it has a call to action to sign up for an email course.

Your bio should also include a call to action to sign up for your email list in your bio, assuming that you are building an email list for your email marketing.

Jeff Bullas is a high-powered social media expert. His bio substantiates his place in his field — at the top.

#1 Content Marketing Influencer,Social Media Marketing Strategist & Speaker,Forbes Top 10 Social Media Influencer,#1 Global Business Blog.

Mari Smith has the title of the Queen of Facebook. Here’s her Twitter bio:

Go to Twitter and Facebook, search for your favorite authors or writers you admire, and review their bios. Then mimic the best ones.

Review Your Social Media Updates

Now it’s time to scrutinize your social media posts.

Do you always add pictures to your Facebook updates? Images increase engagement so don’t even think about posting anything online without adding an image or video.

Next, how often do you post updates? On your Facebook page, it’s ideal to post updates twice a day. At least, post once daily.

If you use Twitter — and I don’t recommend that small, local business should use this platform, I suggest you at least tweet five times daily. Don’t use all of those tweets to talk about yourself. Promote the books of your colleagues and your followers’ tweets.

On Instagram, post once daily or at least four times a week.

Constant Contact recommends that you pin images on Pinterest at least five times a day but not more than ten. I only pin images when I publish my blog posts. In between those days, I might pin a few photos a week.

What Is Your ROI?

You spend a good deal of time updating your social media profiles and pages, right? So you need to determine what your return on investment is.

Look at your ROI in terms of engagement. Facebook pages, Twitter, Instagram business accounts, and Pinterest business accounts provide free analytics. Take advantage of them to determine if you need to change what you’re doing or if your updates are working.

A simple way to boost engagement on Facebook would be to purchase advertising. Be sure to test some ads with your selected custom audiences.

Is your social media up to date?

Frances Caballo is an online marketing consultant and the author of six books on social media. Click here to schedule an appointment with her. Writing a book can serve as the best possible business card you can possibly have and establish your authority in your field. Once you publish your book, learn to market it by visiting my other website, SocialMediaJustforWriters.com.

Using Video Marketing? Why It’s Important and 3 Apps to Try

February 11, 2019

I keep telling business owners that video marketing is huge, especially this year.

Why?

There are several reasons why you need to incorporate video into your marketing. Here are a few:

According to Comscore, adding video to your website can increase the chance of a front-page Google result by 53 times. To find some video SEO tips, read this post from Vidyard.

Video Marketing Is Popular and Effective

People love videos and videos tend to be more successful in capturing consumer attention. Okay, now think about all those videos you watch on Facebook, for example. Aren’t they more fun to watch that the posts you have to read? I rest my case.

Video attracts more engagement on social media. Think back to Facebook again. Videos more often that posts go viral or at least draw thousands of Likes. People love video.

According to BrainShark, 65% of viewers watch more than three-quarters of a video, which is more than I predict people read of text. So with video, consumers (readers) pay attention to more of your messaging.

Create Strong Emotional Connections

With video, you can create strong emotional connections. Remember the Budweiser commercial featuring the blonde Lab? That video had me in tears. Video, according to Vidyard, is the “most powerful way to evoke emotions online.” Vidyard goes on to say:

It’s King because it offers a slew of attributes above and beyond traditional content like tone of voice, face expressions, and music, to name a few.

Finally, video has a higher conversion rate than text and is excellent at lead generation.

2 Video Apps to Make Production & Editing Easy

Producing video needn’t be expensive. You don’t need to hire a videographer for every video you post. Here are some apps you can use.

Wave.video

With this online application, you can make video ads and videos for social media. The app offers 30+ formats optimized for every social media platform.

A cool aspect to Wave.video is that it has a 200-million stock video clips library at your access. It also has 300,000 royalty-free audio clips that range from symphonies to piano tracks and more.

You can customize your videos with fonts and watermarks.

Afraid you’ll be overwhelmed by this app? It offers tutorials and workshops to teach you how to create and edit your videos.

Pricing starts at $39/month.

Wideo

Use Wideo to create animated videos and presentations. According to Wideo, “More than 50% of marketers are already using some animation maker software to tell their stories.”

Wideo claims you can make a video in just five minutes. Then you can share it directly to Facebook or YouTube from Wideo.

I must say that animated videos are fun to watch and use in presentations.

Pricing starts at $19/month.

Animoto Is Still a Popular Choice

Animoto

The video applications has been around for a long time, and social media influencers love it. It’s a certified partner of LinkedIn Marketing Partners, Facebook Marketing Partners, YouTube, Instagram, Twitter, and HubSpot. That is an impressive list.

This app claims that no video editing experience is needed to create videos with Animoto’s drag-and-drop video maker.

With Animoto, you have access to more than a million stock photos when you select its professional and business plans.

Pricing starts at just $9/month. With this price, you have access to 350 music tracks, twelve pre-built storyboards, three standard fonts, and thirty color swatches. Unfortunately, at this price, the Animoto logo appears at the end of the video.

With the professional option, you can either pay $65/month or pay the annual fee of $396, which works out to $33/month. At this level, you’ll have access to 2,000+ music tracks, more than 1 million photos, and 50 pre-built storyboards. Also, the Animoto logo won’t appear on your video.

This app is a solid, economical choice for small business owners.

Are you using video in your marketing this year?

10 Facebook Pages to Review and Maybe Emulate

February 4, 2019

I tell businesses, “Facebook is tough.” Specifically, I am referring to Facebook pages. The poor organic reach — how easily your posts make it into your fans’ newsfeeds — makes it difficult to gain traction at times.

Like it or not, your posts organically reach just 2% of your fans’ newsfeeds.

That’s horrible.

HubSpot (an all-in-one inbound marketing and sales platform) agrees that organic reach on Facebook business pages is dismal:

“In January 2018, according to Facebook’s Head of News Feed Adam Mosseri, Facebook began to “shift ranking to make News Feed more about connecting with people and less about consuming media in isolation.”

“As a result, marketing content was poised to take a backseat to content by friends and family — a value that Facebook says it originally had, and that it’s trying to return to. What this means that of the number of people who have Liked your Facebook page, about 10% of them see your posts. This also means that if you want more of your fans to see your posts, you need to provide great content consistently and plan to have a Facebook advertising budget.”

However, worldwide, there are over 2.32 billion monthly active users as of December 31, 2018. With that many users, it’s difficult to ignore Facebook.

And Facebook’s advertising feature is impressive and works exceedingly well and you can use it to boost your reach and find members of your demographic on Facebook. With its custom audiences, you can target just about any person, cause, and geographical region with your message.

So let’s take a look at some Facebook pages that are doing well and others that have room for improvement.

Facebook Pages from Some Big Guns

Here is a review of some Facebook pages from big brands. There’s a lot you can learn from their examples.

L.L. Bean – 1.1 million Likes

The clothing company has a colorful, family-friendly Facebook page. Its logo is its avatar, which is appropriate for a major brand, and its banner image shows a family, complete with a dog, enjoying the snow.

L.L. Bean posts videos and fun images. This post triggered 1,200 Likes, 79 comments, and 129 shares.

Here’s a picture of L.L. Bean customers who are soulmates and “sole mates.” It’s a great play on words.

In this example, L.L. Bean’s social media staff replied to a customer with a complaint. Customer relations is an essential part of social media marketing.

Check out L.L. Bean’s Facebook page for yourself because there is plenty to emulate here.

ThredUp 2.1 million Likes

ThredUp is a different kind of clothing retailer. It resells used clothing similar to a consignment shop. As you might expect, it has a loyal following. Here’s a post of a mother and son, presumably wearing ThredUp clothing. It garnered 99 Likes and seven comments.

This is a fun post supposing how Lorelai from Gilmore Girls afforded her cool clothing. The post triggered 232 Likes, six comments, and eight shares.

On Martin Luther King Day, ThredUp showed its social consciousness with this post, which triggered 328 Likes, three comments, and 107 shares.

TOMS 4.2 million Likes

I’ve always appreciated TOMS’ Facebook page and, of course, its company. In case you’re unfamiliar with this company, its founder, Blake Mycoskie started TOMS after encountering shoeless children in his travels. His company began with a mission: to match every pair of shoes purchased with a new pair of shoes for children who need them.

In the past, TOMS would post pictures of shoeless children smiling when they received a new pair of shoes.

Lately, the company has taken up the cause of gun violence also. Check out this post. It received 446 Likes, 49 comments, and 101 shares.

TOMS featured a video featuring young people from the Southside of Chicago whose drill team is redefining hope in the fact of violence. That video triggered 630 Likes, 24 comments, 83 shares, and 21,000 views.

There’s a lot to like about and learn from TOMS’ Facebook page.

Toyota 4.2 million Likes

Let’s look at another big company, Toyota. Its avatar is its logo, and its banner image features a single car.

Toyota shows that it too has a social consciousness. During the government shutdown, it featured this post, which garnered 157 Likes, ten comments, and thirty-eight shares.

Its recent post about the new Tacoma generated 175 Likes, 45 comments, 31 shares, and 16,000 views.

Etsy 3.4 million Likes

It’s no surprise that Etsy has 3.4 million Likes. Its website is popular among creatives and those looking for a handcrafted item or something unique.

Its logo is an E, and its banner image has a springtime appearance to it, despite the fact it’s January.

Recent posts feature customized bookmarks, a gorgeous earring, and this post of a knit blanket purchased through Etsy. The post triggered 398 Likes, 26 comments, and 11 shares.

Sonoma County Facebook Business Pages

Sole Desire 3,673

With three stores in Santa Rosa, another in Petaluma, and two others in San Rafael, Burlingame, and Greenbrae, it’s essential for a company like Sole Desire to have a Facebook page and purchase Facebook advertising, which it does.

It posts some fun updates. Look at this one:

Sole Desire should be posting more often, featuring happy customers, and showing its commitment to the community in the way that some of the “big guns” demonstrate its social consciousness. However, its images are beautiful and really show off their excellent products.

Vintners Inn and John Ash & Co. 5,544 Likes

The famous chef John Ash started this restaurant in Sonoma County. It has a luscious setting, a phenomenal bar, and an excellent kitchen.

Its Facebook page is a lovely mix of its restaurant and bar, food, and pictures from weddings held at this venue.

A post from January 30, featured clients at its bar. On January 27, it posted a picture of a breakfast dish.

An adorable image from January 8 featured a bride and her grandmother. That post triggered 180 Likes, three comments, and five shares.

During the Christmas season, it posted two warm images and an update that encouraged its fans to take a break from shopping and visit The Front Room & Bar Lounge.

All of its images are colorful and tasteful – everything you’d expect from this restaurant, bar, and inn.

The company does an excellent job at branding itself and posting tasteful, professionally captured images. The only missing element is its commitment to the community, which I know it has. Showing its good deeds and posting updates of satisfied and smiling customers would enliven the page.

Aside from that, Vintners Inn and John Ash Co. does an excellent job managing its Facebook business page.

Russian River Brewing Company 116,451 Likes

Russian River Brewing Company is legendary. It started in Santa Rosa and now has locations in Rohnert Park and Windsor.

This local company demonstrated its commitment to community perfectly in raising money for the Camp Fire Relief Fund. The post generated 558 Likes, 14 comments, and 21 shares. Here’s the post:

It also knows how to have fun with its Facebook page.

Check out this Facebook page. There’s a lot to like here.

Kendall-Jackson Winery 152,320 Likes

Kendall-Jackson is a local Sonoma County winery with a considerable presence nationally and internationally. It has one of the biggest Facebook pages among Sonoma County wineries.

I like how it takes a fun approach to its Facebook marketing. While its avatar is its logo, its banner is a creative and somewhat hilarious video. On a plain yellow background, there’s an emoji looking for the perfect drink to accompany a crab dish.

The emoji smiles with heart-shaped eyes when a glass of white wine appears.

The winery posts numerous videos and updates about its wine and food. An image comparing its 2009 bottle of chardonnay to the redesigned 2019 bottle of chardonnay triggered 1,100 Likes, 57 comments, and 107 shares. That’s decent engagement.

I think the page could flourish even more if it included pictures of customers at its tasting room or from some of the charitable events it supports with its wine. It could also demonstrate how it helps the local community, which I know it does.

They don’t need to brag about its community support but show how the community benefits or how it cares about specific issues similar to how TOMS does.

Redwood Credit Union 31,119 Likes

Redwood Credit Union doesn’t have the type of engagement I would expect from this well-liked credit union.

It posts community-related images taken at the Napa Chamber of Commerce. It also publishes tips, such as how to get more sleep and how to stop procrastinating, which seemed odd.

Similar to Toyota, it posted an update on what to do if federal employees were affected by the government shutdown. That post triggered twenty-six Likes, two comments, and fourteen shares.

A San Francisco restaurant week post fell flat as did its budgeting tool post.

If I were managing this account, I would drop their TipTuesday series of unrelated tips, and post more images of actual people getting car loans and its support at nonprofit events along with its banking-related updates.

It was nice to see some posts for the Martin Luther King holiday, but I know that Redwood Credit Union supports nonprofits and cares about local community issues. It needs to demonstrate their commitment on its Facebook page, which would increase engagement.

Personalizing their page would help as well.

Tips for a Facebook Page that Thrives

Are you wondering how your Facebook page compares to the ones I’ve reviewed? To make sure that you are on the right track, read my tips right here.

Invite your Facebook employees, colleagues, and customersto visit your Facebook page and Like it.
Consider adding a Facebook Like Box to your website or at least a link to your Facebook page.
Cover the basics. Complete the About section, upload a branded banner image or video, and use your logo as an avatar.
The next time you prepare an e-newsletter, remember to include a Facebook social share icon and Like icon in it.
Add a link to your Facebook page to your employees’ email signature.
Include a call to action at the end of each of your blog posts that encourages your blog visitors to Like your Facebook page.
Remember to add your Facebook page web address on the bottom of all press releases.
Post your updates regularly. Ideally post twice daily but at least once daily.
Remember that even though Facebook rewards original content, people still like to be entertained. Strike a balance by posting serious content and fun updates.
Do not use a plugin that automatically generates a status update on your Facebook post. Facebook downgrades auto-posted updates, which means that very few to none of your Facebook fans will see your new content.
Share videos and captivating images.
Add a Sign-Up Link to your Facebook page to grow your email marketing list.
Show your company’s commitment to the community and causes.
Upload photographs of happy customers, when appropriate.
Demonstrate through videos and pictures how your customers use or benefit from your products or services.

Social Media Weekly Update – February 1, 2019

February 1, 2019

Welcome to this week’s Social Media Update. There’s a lot to like in the blog posts I found for you. Be sure to look at Andrew Hutchinson’s infographic on marketing trends for this year and Lilach Bullock’s post on how to develop a social video strategy. It’s stellar.

12 of the Best Social Media Analytics Tools (and How They Can Help Your Business) by Aleh Barysevich: “Analytics is at the core of any marketing strategy, and social media marketing, of course, is no exception. Quite the opposite – digital marketing, with its array of platforms, ad and promotional options might actually require more measurement and analysis than any other marketing activity.”

Learn From the Best: 8 Inspiring Content Marketing Examples from Content Marketing Institute: “People learn by creating connections between the familiar and the possible. So it should come as no surprise that, as content marketers, we often approach the task of developing new ideas and initiatives by referencing, analyzing, and iterating on the creative experiences we know and love – standing on the shoulders of giants, so to speak.”

7 Digital Marketing Trends That Will Rule 2019 [Infographic] by Andrew Hutchinson: “As we near the end of the first month of the new year, you’ve no doubt read through a range of predictions and analysis posts mapping out the probable digital marketing road ahead.”

25 Free SEO Tools to Help Your Website Rank Higher on Google [Infographic] by Mark Walker-Ford: “Even with the broader focus on social media marketing, search engine traffic remains critical for most brands, and optimizing for discovery is a key consideration. Google’s estimated to facilitate more than 3.5 billion searches every single day, presenting significant opportunity to connect with interested consumers at the right time in their buying journey.”

8 Effective WordPress Security Plugins And Tools To Keep Your Site Safe from Blogging Wizard: “You know that it’s a nasty world out there with malicious actors just itching to get their dirty hands on your WordPress website. You also know that you should probably be doing “something” to keep your WordPress site safe from all those baddies.”

How to Develop a Social Video Strategy: Tips and Tools from Social Media Examiner and by Lilach Bullock: “Need to add more video to your marketing? Wondering how to use video strategically? In this article, you’ll discover tips and easy-to-use tools that will help you incorporate video into your marketing campaigns.”

Social Media Weekly Update – January 25, 2019

January 25, 2019

Welcome to this week’s edition of the Social Media Update. There seems to be something for everyone in this week’s post. You’ll find information on Pinterest marketing, LinkedIn, Facebook contest rules, and how to monitor your social media. What’s not to like?

I hope you enjoy the posts and that you have a fantastic weekend.

How to Create a Pinterest Marketing Strategy that works for You by Kate Ahl: “In the last podcast episode, we dove into how to make Pinterest work for your business. If you’re struggling to find your groove while creating your profile, boards, or pins, go back and listen to that episode. That will give you a really good foundation to jump into this week’s episode, where we’ll focus on how to create a Pinterest marketing strategy.”

LinkedIn Unveils New Additions to Company Pages, Including Employee Insights from Social Media Today: “A few months back, LinkedIn announced an overhaul of its company pages, which included improved management capacity via mobile device and new options to utilize a variety of file types within your business updates. Part of that change also saw LinkedIn upgrade its back-end systems which support company pages and groups. That means that, in future, the platform will be able roll out updates faster, and facilitate better integration between its various tools.”

New Report Shows Nearly a Third of Americans Interact with Social Media Content 10+ Times a Day by Elaine Fogel: “There are more than 2.7 billion social media users worldwide, representing around 35% of the worldwide population. And with more users coming on board every year, it’s important for organizations to stay abreast of their target audiences’ habits.”

8 Facebook Competition Rules You Should Never Ignore from ShortStack: “To keep your Facebook Page compliant, you need to make sure that you adhere to all of Facebook’s competition rules. Go over this list before you launch your next contest to ensure that you get the exposure you want without risking your account.”

How to Make Your Web Copy Suck Less (Very Specific Advice) by Gill Andrews: “Why is there so much boring blah blah on your website? I’m not trying to mock you. I’m genuinely curious. How do I know? I have 2 bookmark folders in Chrome. One called “Website examples: Bad” and another, “Website examples: Good”. I used to bookmark business websites I come across among my new subscribers, LinkedIn connections, Twitter contacts, etc.”