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Easily Add Video Content To Your Social Media Marketing Strategy

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You’ve probably heard about this trend: simple blogging is heading out the door. Video marketing is the new king of content.

For the most part, that statement is correct. Although, that doesn’t mean you should drop blogging and traditional content creation altogether. What it does mean, however, is that your business should be pivoting toward adding video to your marketing strategy.

Video content is the most consumed form of content on the internet today. In fact, according to YouTube, almost 5 billion videos are viewed on their website every single day. Not only that, in just one month, users have watched 3.25 billion hours of video content.

Those numbers are staggering, and when we start adding in the number of hours users watch Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Snapchat videos, it grows exponentially. It’s hard to comprehend just how many hours of video content exists on the internet, but from these statistics, it should be obvious that it’s time for your company to dive into using video content as well.

Getting Started

In order to have video content for your social media accounts, you’ll first need to create your own video content.

There are lots of great and easy to use video editing software available, and many computers come preloaded with simple editing programs, like iMovie or Windows Movie Maker.

There are also great programs that won’t cost you an arm and leg to purchase, such as Movavi.

And if you are really serious about creating videos, and have someone who’s willing to put in the time and effort, Adobe Premiere Pro and Final Cut Pro are high-end options that offer amazing tools and features to make your videos look as stunning as Hollywood blockbusters.

All of the video editing programs offer helpful tutorials to walk you through the basics of editing and exporting your video creations.

If you need even more help, YouTube is a wealth of knowledge when it comes to tutorials, and they are completely free!

Where To Post

After you’ve created your video, the next step is to decide where to post it. YouTube is the most obvious destination, and anyone serious about creating content for the internet should have a YouTube account to store all of your videos in one place.

But that doesn’t mean that YouTube is the best place to upload your content if you’re wanting to share videos on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, etc.

Facebook has re-engineered its News Feed algorithm many times over the years, but one of the major changes that is important for guaranteeing your content gets seen is its treatment of YouTube links.

Facebook penalizes direct YouTube links on its website by making sure that these links don’t show up in users’ timelines as often as video files that are directly uploaded to Facebook. When posting your video to Facebook, always make sure you’re uploading the video file directly to Facebook. This also guarantees that you’ll be able to view the analytics of your video, to see how many views it’s gotten, how much engagement, etc.

Twitter and Instagram work in the same way, although with Instagram you will have to upload your video content through a mobile device, such as a cellphone or tablet.

Uploading and posting your video content directly ensures that they will be made a priority on users’ timelines, and gives them a greater chance of being viewed by your customers.

Sponsored Content

So what do you do if your video content isn’t performing as well as you’d hoped online?

Sponsored content is the answer you’re seeking.

Whenever you want to boost your post and make sure it gets in front of more people, Facebook and other social sites usually offer a paid sponsored content option.

For Facebook and Instagram, you can set up your sponsored post for both websites from one hub, since Facebook owns Instagram. Usually, Facebook will suggest you boost a post if it is doing well, or if it’s not getting as much interaction as it should. There will be a button that says “Boost Post” on the post itself. Here’s a handy guide from Facebook to get you started.

The great thing about sponsored posts is that you can also target certain groups of people with your video, including those in certain age, gender, and regional groups.

Video content will only continue to grow year by year. Start implementing it into your social media marketing strategy and watch it change your company for the better!

Facebook Insights Shows You When Your Customers Are Online

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Knowing when to post on Facebook can be a hard decision to nail down.

Thankfully, Facebook Insights is here to help. The Insights of your Facebook Page are easy to access, as long as you have an active Facebook Page for your business, and have been posting on it consistently.

Your Insights can tell you a lot about your posts, from which ones get the most engagement, to what your demographics for your followers are, and how that can help you market your business on social media.

Facebook Insights also makes it a lot easier for you to know when your customers are online, and when will be the most likely time for them to see your post organically in their timeline.

Knowing when your customers are most active on Facebook can help you to grow your post reach numbers and, subsequently, your engagement numbers.

So, where do you go to access your Page’s Insights? It’s pretty simple, actually. All you need to do is go to your Facebook Page and then click on the tab at the top of your page that says Insights.

When you get to your Insights page, you’ll see lots of data about your Page that Facebook has compiled for you, including Page Views, Reach, Page Engagements, and more.

To the left of the screen, you’ll see a row of options for different segments of Page data that you can view. You’ll want to click on the option that says Posts to view the date for all the posts you’ve published.

Data on when your fans are online is one of the first things you will see on this page and the main focus that we want to talk about today.

The data that is shown to you on this page is from a 1-week period of time, so you’ll see that it has the data divided up by each day of the week, Sunday through Saturday.

If you hover your mouse over each day, you will see the data line on the graph below move to show you the number of people who were on Facebook at different times during the day.

If you don’t hover your mouse over the days, and just look at the Times graph by itself, it shows you a weekly average of the times that your followers are online. And if you hover your mouse along the graph, you can see an average of how many people were online at any given time during the day.

Data like this can help you determine what times of the day you should be posting your content so that the maximum amount of people can view it. If you’re like most small businesses, a.k.a. ones that don’t have the time or resources to have more than one post a day on your Facebook Page, then you have to make sure you’re posting at the optimal time.

Facebook Insights gives you a lot of easy-to-analyze data that can help you learn about your followers and when they’re online. Make sure you’re utilizing all the free tool that Facebook gives your Page so that you can make the best of it and keep your customers engaged.

Build Up Your Facebook Presence With These Simple Tips

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Facebook can be a great marketing tool; it’s not just for sharing cute pics of your dog and arguing about politics anymore.

But like any marketing tool, if you aren’t including good information and updating it to fit the needs of your customers, then it’s useless to you.

It can be easy to forget to manage your  Facebook page with everything else going on during the day. However, it will only take a little bit of time and effort to make these important changes to your Facebook page strategy.

Here are a few simple tips you can use to boost your Facebook page, which will lead to a better overall experience for your customers, and help to boost your online reputation.

Update Your Info

Do you keep the info on your Facebook profile always up-to-date and accurate? When’s the last time you checked it to make sure it still accurately tells customers what your business is about?

A lot of us will either write a quick bio when we first setup the Facebook Page and never look at it again, or skip the bio altogether!

Both of these options, however, are not good for your Facebook Page. Your About tab of your profile is where all the most relevant info to your customers is housed. Everything from contact info to your company’s Story, to your Mission statement and the products you offer, are located in the About section of your profile.

Go back over this information regularly to ensure that customers are getting the best information about your business. Having good info reduces customer questions about simple things, and it also increases the trustworthiness of your company.

Make It Look Good

What have you done to make your profile look pleasing to visitors?

One easy way to spruce up your page is to make sure you have a good profile picture and a cover photo. Many people assume that the profile pic needs to be a picture of their products, or maybe even themselves. But if you’re a business with a professional Facebook Page, you need to make your profile picture your business’s logo.

Similarly, you need to always make sure you have a cover photo for your Page. A cover photo is a photo that occupies the space at the top of your Facebook Page. It allows you to upload a much larger photo to your Page, and it’s a great place to show off some of your awesome products.

Take a look at our Facebook Page for an example of how you can use the cover photo section of your Page.

Regular Posts

How often are you posting on your Facebook Page? You need to make sure you are regularly posting on your page to keep your customers interested and aware of your brand.

As a general rule for Facebook, it’s best to post at least 1 or 2 times per day during the week, and maybe once for the entire weekend. That’s because people tend to get on Facebook, scroll through their news feed a bit, and then get off. The way Facebook’s news feed algorithm works, it is going to show you the most interesting or relevant posts for your first, which means that you have a good chance of showing up at the top of a customer’s news feed if they interact with you a lot.

You don’t want to overwhelm people with too many posts. If all they are seeing are your posts clogging up their feed, they are more likely to Unlike your Page or Unfollow you so they don’t see your posts.

Share It

Last, but certainly not least, you need to share your Facebook Page! What good is having a social media page if no one knows it exists?

Just like you share your contact information and, hopefully, your URL with all of your customers on any piece of marketing material, you also need to share your Facebook Page with them.

Do you have a website? Place a button link to your Facebook Page on it! You need to be promoting all of your social media accounts, not just your Facebook Page, on anything you are showing customers.

Social media can be a great way to get people to your website and buying your products or services.

Facebook is a great way to market your business online. Don’t be afraid to use the platform that over 1 billion people worldwide are using each and every day. Just use these four simple tips to make sure you’re getting all you can get out of your Facebook Page.

How To Setup A Facebook Messenger Bot To Answer Customer Questions

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Message based AI’s, sometimes called chatbots, are a growing trend in marketing and sales. You’ve probably encountered a chatbot before when looking for answers to a question online, or through one of your work group chat tools, like Slack.

Many of us also carry around our own advanced helper AI’s in our pockets every day, through software like Siri, Google Assistant, Alexa or Cortana.

Chatbots and AI assistants are a growing trending in the world of marketing, and it’s helping convert sales at a faster rate than ever before, by funneling customers to wherever you want them to go. But don’t worry about the complexities of setting up your own chatbot to help your conversion rate and drive more sales; one of the most popular social media messaging apps, Facebook Messenger, makes it simple for any business to create their very own chatbot!

This article will help you setup a simple chatbot for your Facebook Page, and then show you a few other online services that can help you set up a more advanced chatbot.

Messenger Chatbot

Facebook has its own basic chatbot that lets any business setup a simple chatbot to respond to customers. Facebook’s chatbot is great for letting customers know you are away from your computer right now but will be responding to them as soon as you can.

Giving your customers the reassurance that you will get in touch with them as soon as you can is important for building trust. It can also help increase your response time to customers’ messages, which shows up on your page to let people know how well you respond to inquiries.

To setup your simple chatbot on Facebook, you first need to go to your Facebook Page and then click on Settings. Then, go to your Messaging settings. This is where you’ll find the basic chatbot settings to turn on your instant replies, and customize your messages.

There are three main settings for your messaging bot: Instant Replies, Away Message, and Messenger Greeting.

Instant Replies allow you to instantly send a response back to customers whenever they message your page. You can customize this message to fit your business.

Away Messages are similar to Instant Replies, but they also allow you to keep your responsiveness rating high. These types of messages are great for when you’re away from your phone or computer, but still want to reassure customers that you will reply soon.

A Messenger Greeting is a message that pops up whenever a customer starts a chat with you. It’s a handy little tool that you can use to let customers know what kinds of questions you can help answer for them.

All of these messages can be customized by first turning on the type of response, and then clicking on Change to customize your Messenger bot replies.

Chatfuel

Chatfuel is a helpful third-party application that allows anyone to create a chatbot, without having to mess with tricky and complex coding.

To get started with Chatfuel, you’ll first have to connect your Facebook account that associated with your Facebook Page. Then, select the Page you’d like to use your chatbot with, or, if you don’t currently have a Facebook Page, you can also create a new Page with the help of Chatfuel.

Once you get your Page connected and your free account setup, you can start adding different elements to you chatbot.

Your chatbot can do lots of things for you, including answering customers’ basic questions for more information, sending them to specific links, or helping them buy a product directly from their Messenger app!

Like most chatbots, Chatfuel works based off of recognizing keywords that your customers types out, and pulling information that’s relevant to their questions based on those keywords. You can customize lots of different elements of your Chatfuel bot, and most information can be customized with a simple text box and drag-and-drop feature.

Botsify

Botsify works in the same way that Chatfuel does, with easy to customize blocks and text boxes. They have a basic free version that anyone can use, but they also have tiered paid versions, if you happen to manage more than one Facebook Page or you’re the social media manager of a much larger company.

Not only can you create simple and effective chatbots for your Facebook Page, Botsify also allows you to create a chatbot for your website, for an affordable price.

There are tons of cool features available from Botsify to get your up and running with your brand new, effective chatbot for business!

Chatbots are a fantastic new tool for marketing that tons of businesses across the globe are integrating into their marketing strategies.

Experiment with chatbots and see how they can help funnel your sales and earn you more business than ever before.

Using Instagram Ads To Boost Your Business

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Instagram is quickly becoming one of the most popular social media platforms available, surpassing both Twitter and Pinterest in the number of daily users, according to a study by the Pew Research Center.

It’s also the second most popular platform for millennial users, with 59% of those surveyed between 18-29 saying they use Instagram, second only to Facebook, with 88% saying they use it.

It’s clear that Instagram has a huge influence over consumers, and businesses should be coming up with strategies to take advantage of the great marketing opportunities afforded by this platform. One of the ways to engage with customers is through advertising on Instagram.

If you’re new to Instagram Ads, don’t worry, we’ve got some great info today that can help get you started and on the path to earning yourself more business.

Different Types of Ads

With Instagram, you have a few different options for advertising your products and services to customers. Instagram is primarily a photo sharing platform, but videos have been growing exponentially in the service, thanks to the addition of minute long videos, live streaming, and Stories.

Routine picture posts are the simplest way to show off your products on Instagram, but videos are better at showing a more accurate representation of what you’re selling and keeping people interested in your post for a longer time. However, be careful when you post a video. If you don’t grab a user’s attention within the first few seconds of a video, then they’ll scroll right on past your content.

With Instagram’s new Multi-Upload feature, you can now add up to 10 photos to one single post, leaving the door open for lots of unique advertising opportunities.

And let’s not forget about Stories, Instagram’s unabashed clone of Snapchat’s own Stories feature. Certain brands have access to advertising capabilities in Stories and feature their ads in between a user’s follower’s Stories, but this is only open to a select few companies right now. Instead, think about using the normal Stories feature to give your followers something exclusive to check out, like behind-the-scenes access to your business operations, or exclusive promotional codes.

How To Setup An Ad

Sponsored posts in Instagram work a little bit differently than in other places. In order to set up an Instagram Ad through their service, you first have to have a Facebook Business Page. Facebook and Instagram advertising are tied together, which makes sense when you consider that Facebook bought Instagram back in 2012.

You’ll also need to make sure your Instagram account is set up as an official business account.

You’ll need to connect your Instagram account to your Facebook Page by clicking on Settings on your Page, and then going to the tab that says Instagram Ads on the left side of the screen. Connect your Instagram account using your username and password, and then add the accounts you want to Advertise on to finish up.

Next, navigate to the Ad Creation page, and then select your marketing objective from the list of options. Facebook makes it easy for anyone to create an ad, even if you’ve never done one before. If you’re unsure what one of the marketing objectives is on the list, hover over the “i” icon and Facebook will give you a brief description of what each type of objective does for you.

The next step involves selecting who your target audience for the ad will be, based on various demographics such as location, age, gender, interests, and more. You’ll also have to decide how much you want to spend on your advertising campaign, and whether you want to increase your engagement or impressions. Don’t worry if you don’t know what to do here; Facebook makes it very easy to set up a campaign and explains every part of the process in great detail.

The last thing you need to remember, and maybe the most important thing, is to add appropriate and engaging captions and Call-To-Actions on your advertisement. The ultimate goal of an ad is to drive users to your website to make a purchase, right? If you publish an ad with no CTAs to lead them to clicking on a button or making a call to your business, then your ad will be unsuccessful.

Lead your customers from your Instagram post, to your website, to making a purchase on your website. It’s all about conversions with advertising, and Instagram ads provide a new tool for you to get more sales!

What An Ad Can Do For You

Users on Instagram are far more likely to engage with branded posts than they are on both Facebook and Twitter. In fact, Instagram is known for having an extremely high engagement rate compared to other social media platforms.

According to data collected from YotPo, 30% of Instagram users have bought something they first spotted on Instagram. Not only that, visitors from Instagram stay on a site for an average of 192 seconds, meaning they’re a much more engaged audience than Facebook or Twitter users.

Instagram ads have proven year after year that they’re the kings of online engagement. Try advertising on Instagram today and see what it can do for your business.

For more on getting started with Instagram Ads for Business, check out their help page.

3 Ways Millennials Use Social Media To Research Products Before Buying

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Millennials can seem like a tricky age group to target. Lots of companies have found a way to target this niche group with their marketing strategies, but others have tried and failed, which ends up making them seem inauthentic in the process.

If you’re trying to target millennials, inauthenticity is the absolute worst first impression that you could make on them.

You could make arguments on either side whether you think social media is an authentic or inauthentic place for people to gather, but there’s no denying that it’s where most millennials go to find their information. And now, it’s also the place where most of them go to check out your products before committing to making a purchase from you.

Social media is the new way that people are researching your products. Here are three popular social media platforms, and the ways that millennials are using them to search for your products.

Facebook

Most businesses have a Facebook Page. If they don’t, well, a lot of millennials won’t even consider buying from them. That might seem like a harsh reality, but it’s the truth.

A Facebook Page is more than just a place to give updates on your business. It’s also a hub for reviews, photos, videos, customer complaints and more; all things that millennials consider when deciding whether to buy your products.

These buyers will come to your Facebook page to see what other customers are saying about you, how your products and customer service have been reviewed, and whether they can find videos and pictures of your products being used. In some cases, if you have the options enabled, people can also buy directly from your Facebook Page through a custom Facebook Store.

Instagram

Facebook might be the most popular social media service among millennials (41% of millennials say they use it every day), but Instagram is quickly becoming a powerhouse in the social media world. This is partly due to its simplicity, and fun new features, such as Stories, that have been added in the past few years.

Instagram is like a stripped down, bare bones version of a Facebook Page. It’s where millennials will look to find helpful short videos and, of course, pictures of your products in action. Millennials can also smell a company that’s trying too hard on their Instagram post from miles away. Remember to keep your posts authentic and grounded, so your customers know they can trust you when buying from your business. Like Facebook, Instagram also has a Buy Now shopping option so customers can buy directly from your account. Lead them into buying from you through a great post showing off your amazing products.

YouTube

YouTube is often seen as a video sharing service, but it’s so much more than that. Did you know that YouTube is also considered one of the most popular search engines, in the same vein as Google and Yahoo?

That means that, like most search engines, people are using YouTube as a way to search for answers to their questions. YouTube is full of tutorial videos ranging from the popular makeup tutorials to more obscure interests like how to make your own McDonald’s Big Mac sauce.

Companies use their personal YouTube accounts to show off how some of their products work, troubleshoot problems through help videos, and promote something new that they’re selling. Millennials are more likely to watch a video tutorial than reading a lengthy written tutorial. Videos save time, they’re more interactive, and they’re more fun. Consider creating some interactive and informative videos to attract millennial consumers to your page.

Millennials are the age group of instant access and quick info. Cater to their needs, just as you would any other generation of consumer, by properly utilizing all the helpful features of your social media accounts.

6 Growth Hacks That Will Change Your Business

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Everyone loves a helpful hack, especially businesses. If there’s an easy way to do something, that results in more customers and more growth, what’s not to love?

Growth hacks, as they’re called by marketers, are simple ways to get great results that grow your business. Today, we’ve got a few tips that can help you “hack” your own business and grow it exponentially.

Recycle Old Blog Posts

When you publish a blog post, it’s fresh, interesting, and new content for your website. But, over time, that blog post that once was bright and new, can become old and outdated. It’ll eventually stop ranking as high as it once did, and will become lost among the hundreds of other blog posts you publish in a week, a month or a year.

Try recycling your old blog posts by updating the content on it, adding different keywords, and reposting it on your social media accounts.

Create Video Content

Video content is the way of the future, as far as content marketing goes. Think about when you scroll through your Facebook or Twitter feed these days. Do you see more video content or links to a website?

If your feed looks anything like mine, video content takes up more than half of all the content I see posted each and every day. And studies have shown that people are more likely to pay attention to video content rather than a link or picture post. You can also embed videos into pages on your website, or attach them to blog posts. Try integrating video content into your marketing strategy and see how it can boost your social interactions and your website traffic.

Focus On Keywords

Have you researched how important certain keywords are for your websites search engine ranking? Specific keywords help search engines to pull up your website whenever people search on Google or another search engine for specific things.

For example, if you spread keywords like “wholesale,” “organic,” and “Made in the USA” throughout your website and in blog posts, you’re more likely to be found by people searching for those specific keywords when they’re on a search engine. Try boosting some of your old blog content with new, fresh keyword and see if it increases traffic to your website.

Invest In Social Advertising

Advertising is a marketing tool that’s as old as shopping itself. If you want people to buy from you, you have to make yourself known to them and show them why they need your product.

Advertising in the modern age has moved away from traditional mediums, such as billboards and magazine ads, and focused more on digital advertising on places like websites, search engines, and social media. Invest a few extra bucks into social media sponsored posts on places like Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram to target those customers who you might not be able to reach through old-school advertising methods.

Talk To Sales/Customer Service About FAQs

When’s the last time you asked your sales or customer service teams what kinds of questions they get the most from customers? They probably get a lot of the same questions over and over again. You can take this information, and craft your next blog post or email around it.

Find out what the FAQs (frequently asked questions) are for your business, and craft an amazing blog post around those questions. Your customers will appreciate seeing that you’re listening to their questions, comments, and complaints.

Make Email Interesting Again

How’s your email marketing going? Do you find yourself thrown into your customer’s spam folder more often than you’d like to be? Are people responding positively to your sales emails? You might need to rethink your email content.

Try changing up the way you speak to customers through your emails. Maybe take a more lighthearted approach to marketing, and craft the tone of your emails in a more conversational way.

It’s also important to check your emails for its spam risk. There are lots of free services out there that can help assess your email for its spam risk, but a general rule is to make sure you have a higher text to picture ratio in your email to avoid being accidentally tossed into the spam folder.

These six growth hacks aren’t the only ways to boost your sales, but they’re a great first step. Explore more growth hacks in your business, and see what works for you.

Stories: Facebook vs. Instagram vs. Snapchat

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Finite content, a.k.a. content that only appears for a short amount of time to certain followers before disappearing forever, seems to be the hot new trend in social media. Snapchat popularized the format, beginning with its instant disappearing messages sent between two or more people, and evolving into 24-hour pictures and videos that all followers can see, called Snapchat Stories.

Instagram was the next social media platform to jump on the Stories bandwagon, releasing Instagram Stories in late 2016. Instagram Stories follows the same basic format that Snapchat popularized, with a few variations in what you could do with it. So it’s no surprise that Facebook, the most popular social media platform and the one that more than 1 billion people across the globe choose to use, recently decided to jump on the Stories train. Sidenote: Facebook bought Instagram in 2012, so it makes sense that Facebook Stories appear almost identical to Instagram Stories.

With all these new versions of Stories appearing on various social media accounts, it seems like this is the new way that people will be interacting with social media in the future. Whereas sites like Facebook, Myspace, and Twitter paved the way for the idea of connecting millions of people online in an instant, that idea is no longer unique. There are now thousands of different ways to instantly connect with anyone you want to in the world, and consumers are looking for something different. Stories are more interactive than traditional social media posts are, incorporating photos, videos, and live streams to create a new form of social media.

There are now thousands of different ways to instantly connect with anyone you want to in the world, and consumers are looking for something different. Stories are more interactive than traditional social media posts. They incorporate photos, videos, and live streams to create a new form of social media.

But which one is best for you and your business? Should you go with the one that started it all and use Snapchat Stories, or target more people using a more established form of social media like Facebook?

Don’t worry, we’re here to answer your questions about the exciting new ways you can connect with consumers using Snapchat, Facebook, and Instagram Stories.

Snapchat Stories

Snapchat was the pioneering company for 24-hour Stories that anyone who followed your profile could see. Snapchat came out with Stories in 2013 as an addition to their already popular disappearing messaging feature.

Adding a Story to your Snapchat accounts works in the same way that sending a Snap to your friends works. When you capture a photo or video, you can choose whether to send that Snap to your friends list, save it to your phone, or add it to your Story. To add a Snap to your story, simply press the button that looks like a square with a + symbol in the corner.

Snapchat Stories
Snapchat Stories

Once you’ve selected the button to upload a Snap to your Story, you can choose to either add it to My Story, which is your personal Snapchat Story, or Our Story, which is a global Snapchat Story where millions of people all over the world can upload their Snaps together. Our Story Snaps are usually grouped together based on certain topics.

If you’re a business looking to connect with your customers through Snapchat, My Story is your safest bet for reaching your customers directly, but Our Story is a great resource for increasing your company’s reach across the globe, and maybe bring in new customers. However, you can choose to upload your Snap to both My Story and Our Story. So why not use both to maximize your visibility?

Instagram Stories

Next, is Instagram Stories. Although Instagram has been around a lot longer than Snapchat (it launched in 2010) and popularized photo sharing, it has only recently joined in on the Stories phenomenon.

To add a picture or video to your Instagram Story, you’ll have to first navigate to your newsfeed in your Instagram account. Then, swipe right to access the Stories section of Instagram. This screen will look a lot like how you upload Snaps to your Snapchat Stories, but with a few small changes.

Whereas Snapchat allows you to either take a picture or video to upload to your Story, Instagram gives you a few more options. In addition to pictures and videos, Instagram lets you upload a looping gif to your story, called a Boomerang. You can also easily start a Live video from the Story section by clicking on Live Video. Your followers will get an instant notification whenever you start a video, so it’s great for letting people know as soon as you start your content.

You can add filters, stickers, and text to your picture or video upload, just like on Snapchat, but Instagram’s button for uploading content to your Story look slightly different. When you snap a picture or capture a video, you can either send the content to someone you follow, save the content, or upload it to your Story.

You’ll notice that the Your Story button is clearly labeled on the screen, and is a circular symbol instead of a square. After uploading the content to Your Story, followers of your account can view your story by clicking on the circle with your profile photo at top of their newsfeed, or by clicking on your profile photo on your profile page. Just like Snapchat Stories, the content upload to your Instagram Story disappears after 24 hours.

Facebook and Messenger Stories

Finally, we come to Facebook Stories and Messenger Stories. Although Facebook could be considered “late to the game” when it comes to Stories, they’ve made great strides in bringing this new feature to their userbase. Facebook launched their version of Stories on their separate Messenger app first, but have now brought it over to the main Facebook app as well.

Again, Facebook and Messenger Stories work in the same way that both Snapchat and Instagram Stories function. Pictures or videos are uploaded to a hub area where your followers are able to view your content for up to 24 hours. After that, the content disappears forever.

In Messenger, you can access your Story functions by clicking on the circle in the bottom center of the app, or by clicking on the “Add To Your Day” button under the Shared Days header. After snapping a pic or video, and adding fun doodles and filters, you can add the content to your story by clicking on the arrow in the bottom left corner of the app screen.

Facebook Stories works in the same way, except you add content to your Stories in the same way that you add it on Instagram. You can either click your profile picture at the top of your newsfeed, or you can swipe right to access the Facebook Camera.

Your Story will disappear after 24 hours but will be viewable for as many times as your followers want during that time period.

Marketing to your customers is all about fostering unique relationships, and Snapchat, Instagram, Facebook, and Messenger want to make it easier for you to do this through Stories. Try each of these services out to see which one will work best for your business and your customers.

Marketing To Generation Z: How To Reach The Youngest Demographic

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Have you heard of Generation Z? They’re the generation that follows the Millennial generation, and they’re the next big marketing demographic that businesses are beginning to focus on.

Experts estimate that there will be 2.51 billion social media users in 2017. With a world population at just over 7 billion, that means that approximately 35% of the world’s population has a social media account of some sort.

It’s obvious that social media isn’t going away anytime soon. And why should it? Social media is where most people get their information these days, and it’s a prime place for marketers to target key demographics for buying their products and services.

So, now we come to Generation Z, the generation directly following Millennials. Gen Z are those born between 1996 – 2010. They are consumers who are just now reaching the age where they can start making their own financial decisions.

If you’re looking to market to this up-and-coming generation (especially on social media) check out a few key facts about Generation Z.

Gen Z quick facts:

  • Born between 1996 – 2010.
  • 67% regularly use Facebook.
  • 23% say they use Snapchat constantly.
  • You only have 8 seconds to engage with them and get their attention.
  • 63% prefer real people over celebrities in marketing and advertising.
  • The optimal time to engage with them is on Thursdays and Fridays, either when they first wake up or right after school.

Be Authentic

Much like Millennials, Gen Z cares about authenticity, and how connected they feel with the brand they’re spending their money on. Gone are the days when advertisers and marketers tell you about their product and expect you to buy it.

These days, people need to feel like they are interacting with a real person. Customers, especially those from Gen X, Millennials and Gen Z, don’t want to buy from a company they see as robotic, secretive, and unapproachable. Your social media is the best way to appear authentic to your customers.

Keep It Quick and Simple

If you can’t grab a Gen Z customer’s attention within 8 seconds, then they’re going to scroll right on past your post. If that seems like it’s super quick, well, it is.

We live in a very fast-paced world, where information is abundant and can travel across the world in an instant. You have to craft your content to be attention-grabbing to draw customers into your business and make them click into your website.

You have to make your content simple and easy to digest, as well. On some platforms, such as Twitter, you have a limited number of characters that you can use to get across your message. Gen Z’ers are wanting to be able to get everything they need to know about your business at a glance. Make your social media posts easy to understand, and end it with a strong call to action that funnels them directly to your website, online store, or storefront!

Generation Z is the next generation of shoppers. If you’re not prepared to market to them, you’ll be left behind by your competition. Get to know this great generation of future buyers, and keep your business thriving for generations to come!

Source: https://www.socialmediatoday.com/social-business/how-market-different-generations-social-media-infographic?ref=zest.is

LinkedIn Pulse: What It Is and How To Use It

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LinkedIn is known as the professionally-minded Facebook. It’s a social network for users who want to keep their business and personal lives separate. It’s a great way to find jobs, connect with our professionals, and share interesting articles that other professionals would be interested in.

Recently, LinkedIn has been working to improve the quality of their social media platform and make it more accessible for new users. Along with a complete redesign of the website that not only makes it faster but also easier to use, LinkedIn has added new features that make it simpler for you, the user, to share new content with your followers.

One of these features is the Pulse. Although Pulse has been available for a few years to certain users, it was only recently made available to every user. Pulse is a blog publishing platform that’s exclusive to LinkedIn users. It makes it easy for anyone with a LinkedIn account to publish their own blogs, with some really robust features and tools.

Publishing your own blogs on Pulse is not only a great way to bring in new users to your website, but it’s also a great way to give customers insight into your business. After all, transparency is a hot trend in the business world these days, and social media is a key part of promoting healthy customers and business relationships.

Here are a few tips for publishing on LinkedIn Pulse.

Login To Your Account

In order to start publishing on LinkedIn Pulse, you first need to login to your LinkedIn account. If you don’t already have a LinkedIn account, now is a good time to sign up. You can’t publish on Pulse without first creating a LinkedIn account. But don’t worry, signing up is free and easy. For more on how to create and use your own LinkedIn account for business, check out our previous blog post on the subject.

Write An Article

After logging in to your account, you’ll need to start creating your article. To create a Pulse article, simply click on the button that says “Write An Article,” which is located at the top of your news feed where you usually post status updates.

You’ll be brought to the article editing page, where you can begin writing your Pulse post. You’ll see multiple options for creating your post, including giving it a headline, adding a cover photo for your post, and adding the body of the blog post.

Use Tools To Optimize Your Article

If you want to add media element to your blog post, just click the box with the + sign to bring up multiple media options, like images, video, slides, links, and snippets.

You can also change the font style and size of your body text, as well as options to make your text bold, italicized, and underlined. You will see many of the same options that you are used to in most text editing programs, such as Microsoft Word or Google Documents.

Publish

After you’ve finished writing your article and adding some interesting media elements, just click the Publish button in the top right corner of your post. Before it’s published, you will see a preview of how your article will appear to your followers. You can write a status update to go along with your article, but this isn’t required. Click Publish again once your status is exactly how you want it to be, and your article will publish as a status update to all of your followers.

LinkedIn Pulse is a great new way to connect to all of your followers on the social network. Transparency is a big trend in today’s business world, and connecting to your customers through blog posts on Pulse is a great way to be more transparent.