What Are The Best Times to Post on Social Media?

Are you sending out your social media posts at the right time? Do you feel your posts aren’t getting noticed?

 

The best time to post on social media is very common question but is quite difficult to answer. There are a number of factors that can affect this such as the type of business you are, the social networks you are using, or even your target demographic.

 

There are certain noticeable trends when it comes to timings though and QuickSprout have put those together in the infographic below.

 

 http://blog.red-website-design.co.uk/2015/01/07/faq-what-are-the-best-times-to-post-on-social-media/

 

The 7 Top Social Media Trends That Will Impact Your Marketing In 2015

2014 saw the world of social media take some new turns; some for better, others for worse. We’ve seen mobile use skyrocket; activity on social media during TV shows rise (according to research by Virgin Media) and the arrival of shopping via Twitter.

 

 

But with the year coming to a close, it’s time to have a look at which of these social media trends will take centre stage in 2015’s social landscape.

 

1. Mobile as Priority

 

According to Roger Katz of clickz.com, carriers’ shelf space for mobile handsets with screens sized 4.7 inches and over has grown from 4% to a third, whilst the number of daily active mobile users on Facebook has grown 15% in 2014 alone. If these stats aren’t enough to send a clear message, consider that the number of mobile-only users on Facebook grew by 34% – a startling spike that suggests mobile is no longer a secondary channel. It’s fast becoming first-choice.

 

Taking Facebook as a guide, Katz suggests ‘mobile-aware’ should become ‘mobile-first’ and think about how their social presence can cater to the mobile user. Big platforms have already been doing this, with Facebook creating its separate Messenger app and purchasing smaller mobile apps like WhatsApp, Instagram and Karma.

 

Twitter, on the other hand, recently purchased the MoPub ad exchange platform in 2013 and even Google Adwords is focusing more on mobile-centred display ads.

 

2. Paid Amplification

 

A recent Forrester report stated that organic interaction on Facebook brand posts has shrunken to just 0.073%. For a while now, Facebook has been pushing its promoted posts feature as a way to further monetize the platform and allow businesses to increase their outreach. And Twitter’s promoted tweets, have become more prevalent, attracting more users with each quarter (Thomas Armitage, site-seeker.com).

 

Katz believes brands ought to “ditch thinking about social media as a free-place market”, and instead take the time to think about audience segmentation and the needs of their particular audience.

 

Once brands have chosen carefully which social platform(s) to focus on, they can invest money into expanding their reach; capitalising on promising demographic and/or encouraging engagement from otherwise passive users.

 

3. Social Shopping

 

The idea of shopping via social media is probably an obvious one in hindsight, but it wasn’t until Twitter rolled out the idea earlier in 2014 that marketers started to consider it as a realistic possibility. With the integration of a ‘Buy’ button in certain tweets, visible only to a small segment of users, Twitter was able to test out the service through select brands like (RED) and Rihanna.

 

Facebook soon followed, rolling out a ‘Buy’ button trial of its own, and even microblogging site Tumblr recently announced it will try out the feature.

 

If engagement rates are satisfactory and there’s no decline in user-base, the chances are companies could be making more of this new feature. And for good reason too – social ‘buy’ buttons would potentially enable them to increase their sales; acquire concrete revenue figures from specific social media activity, and involve users in their brand in a whole new way.

 

4. Vlogging

 

Vlogging is becoming an increasingly common advertising channel for brands both large and small, giving blogging a run for its money as consumers’ go-to platform for reviews and advice. With the growing emphasis on unpolished, human-centred and consumer-generated content, companies are realising that customers want to hear the truth from other customers – not so much brands themselves.

 

YouTube is a platform with over one billion unique monthly visitors, and the second largest search engine according to Laura Harrison of Socialnomics. It has a wide demographic of 18-54, and videos are known to be shared “12 times more than links and text posts combined”.

 

A brand can either host its own vlogging channel or offer indie vloggers free goods in exchange for reviews and exposure. With the rise of young ‘celebrity’ vloggers like Zoella, Alfie Deyes, Tyler Oakley and Lily ‘Superwoman’ Singh, it’s now a strong contender for engagement that brands would be crazy not to take advantage of.

 

5. Social Wallets

 

Earlier in 2014, a Stanford student leaked hacked photos that revealed a line of code in Facebook’s Messenger app that suggested a payment and transfer platform could be on the cards. The payment system would allow Facebook users to not just make payments for goods over social media (hence the integration of a ‘buy’ button) but also send money to friends via direct debit.

 

The concept yet remains inactive, but if it were to come to fruition it would make social media a financial arena as well as a social one. Were users to trust Facebook and other networks with their money, these players would certainly enjoy increased power as a result (and brands would no doubt be able to cash in on this new relaxed willingness of users).

 

When we consider the rise of mobile contactless payment systems such as Apple’s iPay and EE’s Cash On Tap, combined with social media users’ shift towards mobile, the idea of social wallets makes perfect sense.

 

6. Interest-Based, Not People-Based

 

The last couple of years have seen a wave of new social platforms enter the foray; from image-based sites like Instagram, Pinterest and Tumblr; to Google+ and Ello. The changing trend here has been in how we consume our updates (images over text-based; short GIFS and videos etc). But a new trend emerging is altering the kind of updates we choose to consume.

 

Newer platforms like Foodie, Fitocracy and PlantWorking are geared towards individual audiences rather than taking a ‘everything, everyone, everywhere’ approach. While Foodie is a place for chefs and cooks to share and explore recipes, Fitocracy allows gym bunnies to share workout plans and talk fitness, while PlantWorking is a social network for gardeners.

 

The main takeaway here is that new social networks are likely to be more interest-focused in 2015, uniting users through common hobbies and passions.

 

7. Continued Quest for Personal Privacy

 

With an increasing level of publicity surrounding data sharing and privacy on the internet, several platforms have tried to step it up a notch in 2014 by promising more privacy to their users.

 

Newcomer Ello, for example, promises never to sell user data, whilst Snapchat, Whisper, YikYak and Telegram have each taken a different approach to the social stratosphere. These platforms allow users to engage in conversations privately among their friends, or in some cases, connect with strangers while still keeping their identity private.

 

However, incidents such as the Snapchat hacking and Whisper’s secret compilation of posts and locations (for use in its own search database) have proven that the battle for privacy is not yet won. Ryan Holmes of Time.com has commented that the pressure for privacy will only grow stronger in 2015.

http://www.jeffbullas.com/2014/12/24/the-7-top-social-media-trends-that-will-impact-your-marketing-in-2015/

 

5 Ways to Boost Your Online Sales with Social Media

Social Media offers an opportunity to gain new customers, engage existing customers, and increase your knowledgebase about what customers are looking for to better service their needs. According to a report from Aberdeen Group, 55% of sellers and retailers successfully expanded their customer base and promoted their business with the help of Social Media. With the holiday season upon us, there’s no better time than now to use all your resources and fully leverage your business through Social Media. Check out our top 5 tips for mastering social media this holiday season:

1. Identify Your Primary Social Media Networks

You will need to be active in multiple Social Media networks in order to fully take advantage of opportunities hidden in each, but it’s important to identify which networks address your specific needs. Facebook, Twitter and Instagram are the most recognizable networks, but there are dozens of niche social Networks markets should know about. If you’re selling portable Bluetooth speakers, for example, a good idea would be to find communities for music lovers, starting musicians or even backpackers who want music on the go.

2. Grow and Nurture Your Community

Building a loyal and engaged community is paramount to social media success.  Embrace your community’s feedback. Read every email, comment and suggestion, and reply to them!  Offer promotions, push engaging content, offer customer support. Nike, for example, isn’t just selling shoes that perform well for runners. It has created communities around Nike+, an experience with the brand and other runners with shared interests and purpose.  An engaged community will inspire your consumers to purchase products and share with friends!

3. Identify Your Influencers

Social media influence is about nurturing, building and growing an online network or community.  When promoting your store or product on any social network, you will begin to notice active customers who are buying your product, sharing links on blogs or forums, commenting and reviewing, and in short – creating buzz and activity. It’s important to seek out these community influencers and nurture those relationships in order to develop brand ambassadors who will help you drive traffic and sales. Check out these Social Media monitoring tools: Sprout Social, Hootsuite, Brandwatch, Viralheat.

4. Use Images to Draw Customers

When it comes to social media, there is no denying that images have a huge impact on how a product is perceived.  For retailers, this means a massive opportunity to leverage the power of visual marketing.  In fact, photos on Facebook generate 53% more likes than the average post.  Make sure to utilize hashtags and keywords so make it easier for potential customers to find your products when browsing. Top brands like Pottery Barn ,Topshop, Whole Foods have mastered the art of imagery. 

5. Avoid Overselling

While sharing special sales and new items is great, self-serving promotional posts should only make up a small percentage of your content. Instead, look to engage your audience without selling to them. Include a mixture of contests, inspiration and tips. Ask questions and encourage discussions and sharing of ideas.  Think about what your customers are interested in, and focus on sharing content they can connect with and will be inspired to share with others.  Make sure that only about 20% of your content is promotional in nature.

 

Social media marketing is all about knowing your customers. Be smart, focused and consistent in your efforts and never stop measuring results to see how you can increase your success. Good luck this holiday season and let us know if you have any tips to add!

 

Here’s an infographic with details on how other marketers are spending their resources on social media this holiday season:

http://blog.payoneer.com/5-ways-to-boost-your-online-sales-with-social-media/

4 Festive Tips for Holiday Social-Media Marketing

The holidays are a special time of year, highlighted by the three F’s – family, food, and … fighting? I don’t mean fighting over who gets the last drumstick or whether Home Alone is better than A Christmas Story. I’m talking about retailers and brands fighting for consumer attention during the busiest shopping time of the year.

 

The month between Thanksgiving and Christmas is the biggest opportunity brands and retailers have each year, but it’s also incredibly competitive, so it’s crucial to reach and communicate with your customer audience in the correct way.

 

One way to do so is through social media. The holiday season is filled with social posts about gifts bought, deals found, and complaints of poor customer service. Now like never before, brands and retailers have the ability to connect directly with their customers and create a more personal shopping experience.

 

Here are four tips for how brands can get savvy with their social media marketing during this year’s holiday madness.

 

1. Drive That Local Cheer.

 

The holidays experience in New York is different than in San Francisco. Your messaging should reflect that. Leverage geo-targeting tools to know from where your customer is. Then you can create content they can relate to and messaging that resonates with a personalized brand experience.

 

2. All I Want for Christmas is User-Generated Content.

 

How do you connect with audiences when they are already inundated with advertisements? You make them the hero. Businesses that can actively leverage user-generated content are the ones that will drive deeper connections with fans. Most people today are programmed to ignore ads. Showcasing authentic photos of your audience drives your intended message while encouraging a deeper, emotional interest from new and loyal fans alike. Relate to them with real people, in real moments, using your product and services.

 

Your featured fans get credit and interaction, audiences find trust in real people using your product or service, and your brand will better understand what motivates your audience. Everyone is jolly.

 

3. Deck the Social Walls.

 

The best way to harness a viral lift is to showcase your interactive experience. Remember, the more observable you make a campaign, the easier it is for your fans to imitate.

 

Create a social hub with aggregated content from multiple social channels on your website or microsite to capture audiences online. Your consumers can then share with their social community when you feature them, extending your reach. But don’t forget about in the store. Providing social displays, with easy calls to action at physical locations, are a simple, yet effective way to generate engagement.

 

4. Multiple Chimneys Equal Multiple Presents.

 

Facebook is still expected to be the channel of choice for holiday social spend, as 92 percent of marketers are planning extensive campaign efforts for this one platform. But 73 percent of marketing professionals think Instagram is going to be the breakout platform for this year’s holidays.

 

Don’t silo yourself to one social-media platform. Instead, create content on the appropriate channels for your audience, each with native content focused exclusively to that channel. Your Facebook posts, Instagrams and Tweets should drive the same idea, but the content should be customized to resonate best with each channel’s unique community.

 

Think of your various social media channels as your own little elves, and put them to work for you this holiday season. Utilize these tips and you’ll win the holiday retail battle while leaving your customers filled with joy.

 

http://www.entrepreneur.com/article/240217

 

How Photos Can Make or Break Your Marketing Campaign

I'm trying to find a word other than revolution to describe what's going on with the use of images online these days. It may sound overblown, but I can't think of a better term. More than 300 million photos are uploaded to Facebook every day, so in the five minutes it has taken me to write this, a million more were added--not to mention the charts, graphics, illustrations, doodles and other images that were pinned to Pinterest or posted to Instagram, Twitter, foursquare, Tumblr and Google+. The fundamental shift toward the visual was punctuated this year by Facebook's $1 billion acquisition of photo-sharing app Instagram.

 

image credit: Shutterstock

 

So how do you put visual content to work for your company? Rather than relying on boring stock photos, the smartest businesses are employing images that help them evolve their brand and tell a visual story of who they are.

 

Marketing is all about communicating your value. Tapping into the visual zeitgeist is an excellent opportunity to create messaging for your business that is, well … nothing short of revolutionary. Here are some guidelines.

 

Why go Visual?

 

Online publisher Mashable and EyeTrackShop recently found that participants in a webcam eye-tracking study spent less time looking at Facebook wall posts and advertisements and more time looking at the cover photo on brands' timelines. So this stuff matters. As every brand becomes a publisher charged with creating content to attract customers, the quality of that content becomes increasingly important. In other words, you have to produce stuff that helps you stand out.

 

Your own website or blog is an excellent place to start sharing images that craft your narrative. So are social media networks; some of the top platforms positioned for sharing rich visual stories are Pinterest, Instagram, Google+ and, of course, Facebook, whose Timeline update this past spring gave all of us -- including businesses -- the ability to produce more aesthetically pleasing pages.
 

See Content Moments Everywhere.

 

Many organizations have photographers they contact in times of need -- for events, product launches, etc. "That won't suffice anymore," says brand strategist Nick Westergaard of Brand Driven Social in Coralville, Iowa. "Photography can't be an afterthought."

 

The key is to see content moments everywhere. How about showing a behind-the-scenes peek of your warehouse before a big shipment, the way T-shirt company Threadless does? Or look at how the small U.K. company McKay Flooring gives itself a bigger digital footprint by using Pinterest, Instagram and its blog to display cool flooring materials such as leather, reclaimed bowling lanes and whiskey barrels.

 

This approach even works for business-to-business companies that sell inherently unphotogenic products: At MarketingProfs, we share photos on our Instagram feed of industry events attended by our staffers, or we give a peek into how the proverbial sausage is made by showing our webinar training videos from our point of view, documentary-style.

 

You have a great fount of inspiration right in front of you, if only you train your eye to look for it. Take active photos that show real customers or staffers doing real things -- as opposed to staged shots or logos.
 

Show How Your Product Lives in the World.

 

Consider how Ben & Jerry's integrates images on Instagram, Tumblr and Facebook to showcase the beauty of doing business in Vermont. The ice cream maker also uses Instagram to recognize customers by calling out a favorite pic on "fan photo Friday."

Even old-school General Electric has used online photo sharing to create excitement and build momentum. Last year, GE encouraged social media users to take photos inspired by the company's missions of Moving, Curing, Powering and Building. The fan with the best photo was awarded a trip to the U.K. that included a chance to photograph a world-class jet engine facility.

 

Embrace Images as Brand Art.

 

For a lot of businesses, content equals text. But photographs and other visual materials should be staples of your marketing mix. Share your company's history on Facebook Timeline with visuals from your archives, for example. Or better yet: Populate your e-mails, blog, website and marketing collateral with your own images. To capture attention and entice engagement and click-throughs, you need to have bold, unique visuals in your corner.

 

http://www.entrepreneur.com/article/224229

 

4 Ways to Improve Your SEO and Increase Your Traffic on Etsy

We use Google, Yahoo, or Bing for hunting down a variety of places, items, and information and probably don’t really concern ourselves with how the info at the top of page one got there. Or why, for that matter, the sites that we expected to find aren’t there.

 

The art of getting found in a search engine’s results is big business. Depending on the type of site, organic search traffic is usually one of the biggest traffic drivers for all websites — the art of which is called Search Engine Optimization (SEO).

 

Search Engine Optimization is a mouthful, but don’t let the title put you off. Sure, if you read up on the subject, it can seem very overwhelming, but SEO is actually a simple series of steps that can make a huge difference to attracting free traffic.

 

Are you ready to get started? Here are four simple steps for increasing your chances of being found in search engine results pages.

 

1. Know That Content Is King

 

Search engines love unique content — they use it to determine what a web page is about and then match up a page to a search query. As an Etsy seller, there are several main content components areas you need to concentrate on:

• Create unique and strong product titles. Think about keywords that shoppers would use to search for your product and include them in your product titles. If you carry similar products, ensure that each product title is unique. For example, if you have two black tote bags featuring slightly different patterns, don’t call them just “black tote”; instead, add details, such as “Black Tote Bag With Blue Diamond” and “Black Tote Bag With Red Design.” Be obvious about what you’re calling something and use standard terms. Don’t use excessively long product titles — instead, aim for about 80 characters. If you’re unsure what people are searching for, Google’s keyword research tool can help you find out.
• Flesh out item descriptions. Use less obvious terms to describe your shop items and expand your product titles.
• Fill out your About page. This will tell the search engine all about your shop.

2. Get Link-Happy

 

Because search engines use links to determine ranking order, links have always been one of the most important elements of SEO. There’s no rule on how many links will help, as each link will have a different value. For example, a link from CNN to your Etsy shop might be worth more than 10 (or 100) small blog links. But all links (big and small) help. Here are some simple tips to help draw in links:

 

• Do you have a blog? Don’t be shy about self-promotion — don’t go overboard, but certainly link to your Etsy shop/listings where possible.
• See your items featured outside Etsy? If the blog doesn’t include a link to your item, contact the editor to request a link; they might say no, but no harm in asking!
• Link between listings on your site. Internal linking helps pass link authority from one page to the next, giving search engines signs that pages are also related or grouped.
• Network. If you know sites that are seeking content and guest blog posts, volunteer to put your content on other people’s sites.
• Don’ts: Never buy a link and don’t use spammy techniques such as third-party forum postings or directory listings — search engines can see through dodgy link building practices.

 

3. Put Your Social Media to Work

 

Social media’s not just great for being social; it’s a great way to showcase your shop listings. Using Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, LinkedIn, and Google+ are great ways to show search engines that people are talking about your shop or listings. Yahoo and Bing particularly use social signals as a ranking signal, so if you have one of these channels running, use them to promote yourself. The other secondary bonus is people may link to you from your social promotion.

4. Be Patient and Don’t Obsess

 

SEO can take time to take effect, so be patient. Also, you’re not the only Etsy seller tweaking pages, so you might see your pages start to rank slowly and see some ups and downs. While search engines like fresher content, don’t think this means you should tweak your pages each day. Keep pages reasonably static (for example, no changing unless you have to). Also, try to use pages several times; if your listing sells out and you’re able to restock, try to reuse this page when it’s back.

 

Importantly, don’t stress about Google’s PageRank value. This is a rather old way of viewing pages and is too generic to mean much in today’s SEO. PageRank is often misunderstood and not necessarily accurate now.

 

https://blog.etsy.com/en/2013/4-ways-to-improve-your-seo/

 

7 Marketing Mistakes to Avoid

Crafty, creative businesses like yours are making and selling unique goods people want to buy. But with millions of products to choose from, it’s critical that customers can find your shop — and understand what sets it apart. These common marketing mistakes could be keeping your business from reaching its full potential. Here are some tips for making the most of your marketing efforts.

 

Photo by Catshy Crafts

 

Mistake #1: Spreading Yourself Too Thin On Social Media

 

It can be tempting to want a presence on every social media platform out there. After all, more eyes on your message means more customers, right? But, trying to do too much can cause unnecessary stress and take away from creative work.

 

“Recognize that the time you spend on social media to connect with customers and promote your business is really different than the time you spend connecting with friends,” says Kari Chapin, author of The Handmade Marketplace. “Know what your end goal is. What value are you putting out there to your customers?”

 

Chapin recommends monitoring your traffic from social media sites in your Shop Stats and focusing on the platforms where your customers are most engaged (in other words, where they’re commenting, clicking and liking) and skip those that don’t work for your business.

 

“I market on Instagram and Pinterest, because I know that my customers are there,” says Marika Reppas of Love, Meeksie, an Etsy shop based in Los Angeles that sells handmade fabric button earrings and tiny studs. Reppas maximizes her time on Instagram by searching for hashtags that buyers of her gemstone earrings might be using and commenting on and liking their photos.

 

Mistake #2: Thinking Like Yourself Instead of Your Customer

 

When writing listing descriptions, titles or tags, ask yourself, “What does my customer need to know?” “Even if you think a detail of your product is obvious, you can’t guarantee that the customer does as well,” Chapin says.

 

Shannon Kennedy, founder of Winter Park, Florida-based Etsy shops Sass and Peril and The Paper Cub, turned to friends when she needed help marketing her whimsical, screenprinted baby goods and prints. “I didn’t have kids, so I wasn’t thinking about it as someone who has a child,” Kennedy says. “I consulted with my friends who had kids and asked them what they would type in if they were looking for baby gifts.” As a result, Kennedy made her titles and tags more descriptive, adding terms such as “new baby” or “shower gift.”

 

Mistake #3: Not Explaining Why Your Product is Special

 

Giving customers a peek into your process and telling your story on your About page and through social media are great ways to make your business stand out in the marketplace. “When people make a decision to buy something handmade or one of a kind, they’re looking for something more,” Chapin says. “That something extra is generally emotional. You’re giving them something from your own two hands that they can’t get anywhere else.”

 

Kennedy recognizes that customers might not be familiar with the process that makes her prints special. “Since a lot of my work is screenprinted, it is my job to convey that to the customer,” she says. “It’s the value of what I do.” In her listing descriptions, Kennedy describes the unique texture screenprinting gives her prints and cards and emphasizes that each piece is screenprinted by hand, which results in one-of-a-kind variations.

 

Shannony Kennedy’s listing description for this card in her shop, The Paper Cub, emphasizes that it is hand printed, and, as a result, no two are alike.

 

Mistake #4: Hiding Your Personality

 

Another part of what makes buying on Etsy special is that customers know they’re spending their money supporting a real person with a passion for creating. Make sure your presence is felt in your shop. Reppas of Love, Meeksie infuses her positive personality into her shop through the cheerful colors on her packaging, fast and thoughtful customer service, and even her shop name, a play on her nickname. “In my item descriptions, I use a lot of ‘I’ statements to convey why I love my products,’” Reppas says. “People think differently about an item when they feel like they’re talking to the person who made it.”

 

Marika Reppas of Love, Meeksie uses cheerful yellow packaging to give her shop a friendly vibe. Including her shop name and web address in the images without using a watermark is a creative way to increase brand name recognition.

 

Mistake #5: Focusing on One-Time Sales

 

Making a sale feels great, but turning a one-time buyer into a loyal customer feels even better. Including your brand name on packaging, or even on your product itself, will ensure that customers remember where they purchased something and keep your name on the tip of their tongue. Be sure to include business cards or other promos in your packages as well. “When I bought my first handmade bag, the seller asked if I would like extra business cards,” Chapin says. “Over the course of our 10-year relationship, I’ve had to ask for more cards. She empowered me to talk to other people about her products.”

 

Kennedy uses her design skills to create memorable marketing materials, including a bulletin-board-worthy “Thank You” card featuring her popular animal designs and stickers printed with her web address. She uses simple materials to keep the costs down.

 

Shannon Kennedy’s sweet fox postcard is a nice “freebie” customers can hang onto. A coupon code on the back encourages repeat purchases

 

Mistake #6: Falling Out of Touch

An email newsletter can be another great way to keep customers engaged with your brand or even turn curious observers of your shop into buyers. But many sellers worry about annoying their customers with too many emails. That’s a big mistake, Chapin says. “Not being able to stay in touch with the customers who purchased from you is a big impediment to continuing to sell or grow,” she explains. “If someone signs up for your list, it means they want to hear from you.”

 

Kennedy collects email addresses for her MailChimp newsletter using a link in order confirmation emails and on her Facebook page, and through a paper sign-up sheet at selling events. Her advice? “Keep it short, keep it sweet,” she says. “A big graphic above the fold will entice people to click.” Kennedy says she typically sends one newsletter a month to promote new product lines or promotions, saving smaller shop updates for social media.

 

Mistake #7: Looking Unprofessional

 

Just like a real-world storefront, your virtual shop should look like a place people can feel comfortable spending their money. One way Reppas instills a sense of trust in shoppers is by including customer feedback in the body of her listing description. “It gives buyers a feeling that other people liked the product, which makes them feel safer about buying it,” she says. It also has the added bonus of helping customers imagine how a product could be used — for example, one customer described the earrings she had purchased from Reppas as “perfect for daily wear.”

 

Having thorough Shop Policies is a great start to making your shop feel trustworthy. “People will see [your professionalism] in the care you put into your listings,” Chapin says. “If you have typos, or haphazard capitalization, people might feel like you’re not really into it. That’s definitely sending a message about how you treat your business.”

 

https://blog.etsy.com/en/2014/7-marketing-mistakes-to-avoid/

 

6 Tips for Using Social Networks to Increase Sales

Social networks like Facebook, Twitter, and Google+ are a marketer’s dream.

 

When utilized correctly, you can get your products or services in front of a highly targeted consumer base while simultaneously building brand equity.

 

Here are six tips for getting the most from social networks and sales.

 

1. Choose the Right Network.

 

Because the demographic of social media sites can vary, you should focus on the networks where your target audience is. Before launching a campaign, perform some demographic research among top social networks to point yourself in the right direction.

 

2. Update Content Consistently.

 

With a healthy amount of competition in most industries, it’s easy to be overlooked or forgotten without a steady stream of fresh content. It also shows that you’re on the ball, and it can be helpful from an SEO standpoint. On Twitter, it’s smart to update almost every day. On Facebook and most other sites, anywhere from two to five times per week should suffice. Just be sure not to go overboard to the point where you’re clogging your followers’ feeds with excessive content.
 

3. Include Images.

Consumers are attracted to visual stimuli and it naturally captures their attention. Capitalizing on this phenomenon by including images whenever possible is often the first step in getting potential customers to explore your product or service further. With image-centric sites like Pinterest, Tumblr, and Instagram, this is a given.

On other networks like Google+ and Facebook, you should take the time to add an image with each post to maximize clicks and generate interest. Also, make sure you’re only using high-quality images, no matter which network you’re posting on.

 

4. Curate Content.

Besides sharing promotional content, provide followers with relevant content from other resources. This could include products or services from other businesses that your audience might find useful. Another idea is to add articles or blog posts featuring information from your industry that’s entertaining or useful to your followers. Doing so is an effective way to network, prove that you’re not entirely self-serving, and gain credibility. Just ensure that all content you curate is genuinely valuable.

 

5. Offer Social Share Buttons.

One of the most simplistic yet effective ways to maximize exposure is by making it convenient to share your content. Social share buttons allow people to quickly post your products, services, or any other content to their platform of choice with one or two clicks. From there, this will appear in the feed of everyone in their network, which means the potential for even more shares. If you’re a WordPress user, browsing through the social media plugin list will provide a wide range of plugins that will add sharing buttons to your content.

 

6. Use Relevant Tags on your Posts.

Another way to increase exposure is to include relevant tags whenever possible. Although the tagging systems will vary from network to network, it’s important to insert them when you can. When deciding which tags to use, think about what consumers would naturally be searching for and take keywords into consideration.

This will make it easier for users to find your content on social media sites and potentially on search engines. Twitter allows you take this one step further and include hashtags into posts. If you can correlate your content into a trending topic and use a relevant hashtag, this can lead to a brief surge of exposure.

Social networks and sales can go hand in hand and be an excellent marketing technique when used correctly. The best part is that this type of campaign can be executed on a shoestring budget while reaching a massive audience. Following these tips and delivering great content should ultimately get your products or services in front of the right consumers, expand your reach, and lead to a higher sales volume.

 

http://www.businessbee.com/resources/marketing/6-tips-for-using-social-networks-to-increase-sales/

 

Instagram Video Ads Go Live Because Everything Good Must Come To An End

Instagram has at long last debuted video advertisements after rigorous testing and hands-on work with brands. And because they are advertisements, none of that rigorous work really matters because we simply hate advertisements.

© Provided by TechCrunch

With video ads, the potential for high levels of suckage is high, as brands have a total of 15 seconds to capture you, as opposed to the half-second glance they get with a photo. The same is true for regular users, which is why I never thought video was a good idea for Instagram.

 

But, as it often goes with incumbents, Facebook-owned Instagram seemed to become more reactive, launching video after Twitter-owned Vine made waves in the space.

 

Today, Instagram continues to work on the video side of its product, with the launch of a standalone app called Hyperlapse, that speeds up and stabilizes your mobile video.

 

Whether or not you agree with me about video on Instagram, it’s hard to disagree with me when I say that social networks are often marred by advertisements.

 

It’s not necessarily the ads themselves that are the problem. In fact, Facebook worked them in so well that for a long time I never noticed the change. Obviously, advertisements pay for the services we enjoy (for now) and are tolerable enough for users of platforms like Twitter and Facebook and Instagram (and now Snapchat) to bear.

 

But ads are a simple reminder that the social connections and interactions you’re having are actually the main source of income for a global corporation. For some reason, it just feels a bit less special.
 

And Instagram was special to me. And so I mourn the launch of Instagram video advertisements, because it feels like the end of an era. But… all good things come to an end.

 

http://www.msn.com/en-gb/news/techandscience/instagram-video-ads-go-live-because-everything-good-must-come-to-an-end/ar-BBc4Eao

 

Facebook Experiments with Vanishing Posts

Facebook has been attempting to rival Snapchat by releasing photo-messaging apps with automatic deletion

Facebook is following in the footsteps of messaging app Snapchat by testing a feature that allows users to schedule the automatic deletion of their posts.

The social network said the option, which offers expiration settings ranging from one hour to seven days, was "a small pilot" for its iOS app.

Facebook often tests new capabilities.

It faced criticism in June for one experiment that "manipulated" the content of nearly 700,000 users' news feeds, to gauge emotional responses.

The BBC understands that the expiration option was introduced after Facebook users expressed an interest in automatically deleting posts which are only relevant for a limited amount of time.

Posts for which an expiration time is chosen cannot be subsequently shared by other users.

The option is currently limited to users in New Zealand, where Facebook and other tech companies have tested products and services in the past.

Chasing Snapchat

Snapchat, the popular ephemeral messaging app that Facebook reportedly tried to buy for $3bn (£1.8bn), has mushroomed in the three years since its founding in 2011 - a growth rate that has sent its rivals clamouring for similar success.

Time-limited messaging is increasingly popular among teenagers, the very demographic coveted by many large tech firms.

In June, Facebook unveiled Slingshot, a photo-messaging app in which images received from friends must be unlocked by "slinging" a different photo back to the original sender.

All messages are deleted once sent and users can scribble or type over their photos.

One month later, the Facebook-owned Instagram also revealed an app that allows users to send photos which are deleted after being viewed by the recipient.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-29156436

Six Tips for Small Business to Use Social Media Effectively

SOCIAL media is a tricky business for small businesses — how do you build a virtual following and engage your audience, without annoying them?

It’s a fine line, say experts, who claim it’s all in the delivery.

 

Make sure you know the ins and outs of social media because that’s where your potential customers hang out. Source: News Limited

 

It’s not called ‘social’ for nothing.

Business coach and social media specialist Des Walsh says you wouldn’t choose to be intrusive or boring at a barbecue or lunch, so don’t do the same online.

“Find out how to participate in conversations on social media — share information and ideas without constantly saying ‘buy my stuff,” Walsh says.

“That way you will build trust and people will recommend you.

“Don’t follow the businesses who see social media as just a kind of bigger megaphone.”

He says social media is another way of saying ‘the world of business has changed forever’.

“If that is a problem for you, get over it, or accept that if your way of doing business does not adapt — your customers will drift away sooner or later."

 

Be the boss — in a cool way

“Take the lead,” Walsh says.

“One of the biggest mistakes businesses make is to leave the social media part of the business to junior staff, on the basis that they know how it works.

“They may, but they don’t know your business, your products, your services, the way you do.”

He says you have to be willing to learn, and don’t be afraid to ask your younger staff to show you how outlets things like Facebook and Twitter work.

“You might be surprised when you realise they think it’s cool that you want the firm to move with the times!” he says.

Learn to move with the times. Source: ThinkStock

 

Only fools give up

“Be strategic and play the long game so you don’t get disappointed when you don’t get instant results, because you almost certainly won’t,” he says.

“If someone comes and offers you social media services, get them to demonstrate to your satisfaction that their approach fits your business and your priorities.

“Once you get into it, there is no magic about social media — get confident in using one platform at a time.

“You don’t have to worry about making a fool of yourself: at the start, just listen, then listen some more, then when you feel confident, join in the conversation. “You will be way ahead of your competitors who think they can learn how to use social media from going to a business breakfast or a lecture somewhere.”

 

Don’t be a jack-of-all-trades and master of none

Social media expert Michael Grierson from BuzzNumbers says you have to choose the best network to suit your business and your audience — and it may not be Facebook or Twitter.

“Instagram is currently the best-performing social network for marketers and Pinterest generates more referral traffic for goods retailers than YouTube, Google+ and LinkedIn combined,” he says.

“Teens are spending their social time on Snapchat and Tumblr as they look to hide from their parents who hang out on stuffy old Facebook.

“Whatever choice you make, it’s important to be fully committed to your new asset.

“A brand page that looks like a ghost town with old content and unanswered questions from customers will do a business more harm than good.”

It pays to have friends everywhere when you are running a small business. Source: News Limited

  

Check in, and start a conversation — and take shortcuts

“People aren’t just going to magically start following your new asset — you need to make yourself visible in order to be found,” Grierson says.

“Look for where people are having conversations about your product or service — join in the conversation and show your expertise, share customer satisfaction stories and generally build positive and lasting awareness.”

He says Facebook check-ins are an important tool to use, and equate to word of mouth in overdrive.

“Your customers’ locations will then be seen by their online friends and will be perceived as endorsements,” he says.

“Set up signs to remind people to check in and consider offering a small bonus for those who do — the results will be worth any small investment.”

 

Remember, it’s not all about you

“When posting to social media, you are interrupting people in their leisure time,” he says.

“They don’t want to be sold to when relaxing at home or bored on the bus.

“Offer content that adds value to your potential customers’ social media experiences.

“Behave just like one of their friends — friends who constantly yell ‘20% off this week’ or ‘buy one, get one free’ are ignored and unfriended very quickly.”

He says if you must sell, save it for special occasions or big sales.

“The boy who cried wolf affect is present in social media — do it all the time and it loses its impact,” Grierson says.

“Act like any other Facebook friend and offer content that is of value to your network.

“This often will not be about your business, but things your fanbase might find interesting.”

 

http://www.news.com.au/finance/business/six-tips-for-small-business-to-use-social-media-effectively/story-fn5lic6c-1226832802503

 

 

Small Business Tips: How to Use Social Media to Boost Business

 

Social media is transforming the way business is carried out. A recent study by the Internet Advertising Bureau UK found that nearly 80% of consumers would be more inclined to buy more often in the future because of a brand's presence on social media.

 

For small firms, knowing how to capitalise on this is crucial. Julia Bramble, founder of social media consultancy Bramble Buzz, says: "If businesses haven't got the right [social media] presence then they're really going to be missing out, because customers are expecting to find businesses and brands on there."

 

What SME owners must focus on, says Bramble, is their target market: "The key message is to think about who your customers are, think about everything you know about them, where they live, what their lifestyles are, what their interests are, business wise and outside of business, and that'll give you big clues as to the social networks they're likely to be using."

 

Once you've got your social media strategy in place, she adds, you need to think about how this is going to translate into sales and development for your business. Will it drive traffic to your website? Get bums on seats at an event? Or drive footfall into stores? "How does all that fantastic activity and buzz translate into tangible results for the business? That's the key to getting social media to grow your business," she says.

 

Claire Mitchell, founder of The Girls Mean Business, saw the conversion of her Facebook 'likes' into a business venture as an opportunity she couldn't let pass her by. Having done some business coaching already, she decided to use The Girls Mean Business brand to offer coaching programmes, webinars and e-books for women entrepreneurs.

 

Using Facebook has expanded her reach on a global scale. Her page now has nearly 14,000 'likes', from countries as far and wide as Canada, Australia, the US and South Africa as well as the UK and the rest of Europe. She says: "The Facebook page really took on a life of its own, which was wonderful."

 

Knowing what to do with social media in order to be successful is key and Mitchell found several things to be vital for engaging customers: asking users questions – whether general or business-related – sharing users' quandaries with others, putting feelers out for advice and solutions, and posting inspirational quotes. She says: "I get great feedback that it helps people, because when you're sitting there in your house running this business and trying to juggle it with kids or other jobs, it's a really lonely place to be sometimes and it just makes people feel as though they're not alone."

 

For Adam Ball, owner of the design company Concept Cupboard, Twitter made it possible to expand his network. He says: "Twitter gives you a free platform to let the world know who you are and what you do. When you're looking to approach someone for potential partnerships, meetings and so on, this can be a great tool to reach out to people. A lot of professionals use the platform and it can be a great way to introduce yourself, as long as you're not just spamming people. I've had quite a few meetings set up from a conversation that started on Twitter."

 

While Facebook and Twitter are social networks with the emphasis on social, Kimberley Waldron, co-founder of SkyParlour PR, has found LinkedIn, which is aimed at professionals, to be instrumental in building contacts internationally. She says: "In the past 12 to 18 months it's generated some real opportunities for us. I spent five weeks in New York in February this year going around meeting potential customers and trade bodies, and 90% of all the contacts and meetings I had were set up via LinkedIn."

 

One feature of LinkedIn that has been particularly fruitful for Waldron is the recommendations: companies or individuals can recommend someone as a potential colleague or client. Having a visible online reputation creates an instant transparency and, Waldron believes, makes potential clients more likely to trust you. She says: "We pitched to a big business earlier this week and straight away the guys we pitched to checked out my profile and added me on LinkedIn. They feel that they trust me because they can see my career history and the recommendations from other people, so it takes away a little bit of the, 'Who is this person?'"

 

Emerging social media platforms are also making a huge difference to how small businesses market themselves. Rebecca Mortby, for example, co-founded Greenfinch Graduations, a graduation planning service for the families of international and online students in the UK, in March this year. She has been able to tailor Pinterest to meet her company's specific needs: "We started to share hints and tips on everything from graduation outfits and hairstyles to getting around on the day, useful posts and links for international and online students and news and motivational quotes and stories."

 

Pinterest has also allowed Greenfinch Graduations' customers to tailor their package how they like. Mortby says: "The option to set boards to private has allowed us to share ideas and visions with our clients. They and their family can also then add ideas to the boards and effectively communicate their vision without the need for lengthy phone calls, email exchanges or even a shared language."

 

The success of Pinterest is an example of how effective images are as a stimulus. Instagram is another social media platform which has exploited this, as Lyndsey Haskell, who owns the gardening retail site What You Sew, has found. She says: "Instagram has really helped What You Sow go from strength to strength. I post styled pictures of my stock as well as on-brand images of my gardening adventures; plants, flowers and gardens I've visited. A large part of the What You Sow identity is lifestyle orientated, so not only can people see images of things I'm selling, but they get a real sense of my gardening inspirations too."

 

Bramble adds: "I think the whole world is waking up to how powerful social media can be in terms of growing business."

http://www.theguardian.com/small-business-network/2013/aug/29/social-media-boost-business-tips