Social media is a vital part of any internet marketing campaign, and one of the big decision points for many online marketing companies is determining whether or not to outsource these services. No one knows your business better than you, which would suggest that running social in-house would be preferable – but there are several situations where this just doesn’t make sense.
What are some warning signs that you should be outsourcing your social media, and what are the key reasons why this might be the right idea? Let’s take a look.
A lot of companies enter the social media world with one of three serious errors in their approach:
Now let’s look at the reasons why outsourcing is a good idea in many cases.
Social media is storytelling, not just a brand. What you say on social will have just seconds to capture your audience – just a logo and some basic information or coupons isn’t getting it done. You need someone willing to put more into it.
Social media is just as much about building relationships and communicating with potential customers. If these things are done well, sales will follow. But people don’t go on social media to see sales pitches – they go to see new, unique things that pique their interest.
Did you know that nearly 90 percent of social media requests go unanswered by brands? This leads to consumers heading right to the competition. You need someone who can be responsive and timely.
If you think one person can handle all of the above as a side job while also handling other tasks, feel free to go for it – but we’re here to tell you that this often ends badly. A dedicated, outsourced social media manager can bring your social side to new heights.
Want to learn more about social media, or interested in any of our SEO services? The experts at SEO Werkz are standing by.
Blog posts are a vital part of the content landscape for any internet marketing company, and as a website manager, you’re always looking for ways to get more eyes on these posts. One great way to do it? Via social media platforms.
What goes into successfully cross-promoting blog posts across the top social media platforms, and how can this benefit your online marketing efforts? It’s not as simple as broadcasting the same message via each network – each platform needs its own unique look. Let’s dive in.
Facebook allows for promotion on your profile and pages, plus within groups. Remember that while posts can contain up to 10,000 characters, only the first 480 are visible on the timeline (the rest are hidden behind the See More link) – so make sure your message comes across in these first 480.
Posts with images work best – consider uploading an image and then putting your link in the text field instead of using the automatic link preview post, to increase the reach. In general, the best times for Facebook posts are between 1 and 4 PM, 6 to 10 PM, and on weekends. Posting frequency should be around once a day.
Twitter allows great searching and networking options via hashtags and handles. Add up to four hashtags to make tweets more searchable for trending keywords. Add a call to action, including asking for retweets. Best posting times are 8 to 10 AM, 11 AM to 1 PM, and from 4 to 7 PM. Tweet lifespans are only about 18 minutes, so share a blog post on Twitter more than once a day, at varying times.
LinkedIn allows up to 600 characters, but all but 150 of these will be truncated, so keep that in mind. Share blogs with an image and a link, and make text personal and engaging. Best post times are 8 to 10 AM and 4 to 6 PM.
Pinterest is all about the image – the description is to convey what it’s about. Keep descriptions between 150 and 300 characters, and include searchable keywords as hashtags in the description. Best posting times are from 12 to 2 PM and 7 to 10 PM, and on weekends. Share the featured image first for initial promotion, then post shareable images from the gallery successively over upcoming days and weeks.
Lifespan of images on Instagram is much shorter than Pinterest, and you want to communicate the essence of the post in the first 155 characters. Hashtags are important – some captions are only hashtags, in fact, and you can add up to 30. You can add URLs in captions or point users to the URL in your profile, which helps draw traffic. The best Instagram posting times are midday and in the evenings after work times.
Want to learn more about maximizing blog post traffic via social media, or any of our other SEO services? The pros at SEO Werkz are standing by to assist you.
The visual element is a vital part of any internet marketing campaign, and social media tools like Instagram play a big role. At SEO Werkz, we utilize Instagram and other social media outlets to help increase your business’s reach and optimization.
There are a few features within some of these platforms that often go woefully underutilized in our industry, however. Today, let’s take a look at multiple-image posts in Instagram – how to make them, how they differ from typical posts, and how they can benefit you.
To create a multi-image post on Instagram, you first click the same “+” sign you’d normally click to navigate toward adding an image. If you have the new post feature, you’ll next see an icon of stacked squares – this represents a photo carousel post.
Once you tap this icon, you’ll be able to select up to 10 different images or videos for the same post. A number will pop up in the right corner of each image or video to tell you how many you have selected. Once you’ve chosen all you need, click “Next.”
From here, you’ll be able to edit images and apply filters. You can either do this image by image, or for all the selected images at once. You can also reorder the images into a slideshow by simply tapping and dragging images to the right places. Finally, you’ll enter any captions on your final screen, and tag any users who you might want to add in individual images. You tap “Share” once this is done, and you’ve made your multi-image post.
Here are a few dynamic ways to use this feature of Instagram:
Want to learn more about social media within SEO, or any of our other search engine optimization services? The experts at SEO Werkz are waiting to assist you.
In a decision sure to excite teens and youth all over the world, Google has revealed that it will once again begin including emoji in search result snippets after originally deciding against it. This isn’t just exciting for our kids, however – the decision could have a real impact on search engine marketing and internet marketing as a whole.
Let’s look at the history and present of Google’s stance on emoji, and what it all might mean for your business.
Google initially embraced the idea of the emoji, along with basically the rest of the internet world. However, in 2015, after noticing that many brands were heavily over-indulging in the trend, Google decided to take a different approach – they removed them from their results completely.
Like keywords and some other common SEO features, sites had begun to try and game the system. They’d stuff emoji throughout title tags and meta descriptions, trying to draw more attention than just text-only results. This practice is still used in many app store descriptions.
First of all, note this: Google is not totally changing their position, but rather tweaking or softening it. They’re not just reverting back to the exact same system, instead using a limited form of this capability. They’ve incorporated filtering capabilities into their RankBrain machine learning algorithm, meaning that over-stuffed emoji posts will be filtered out and better, more organic results will remain. Google is also leaving open the possibility that they’ll ban emoji again if too many brands use them in the wrong contexts.
For marketers, there could be major advantages here. Certain queries might be even easier to match with result snippets using emoji, with more accuracy. However, the waters will need to be tested here – both from a user-benefit standpoint, and from a Google-benefit standpoint.
Firstly, there’s no way to figure out Google’s preferences for certain types of emoji search until they’re tried out. The types of businesses that will benefit from this sort of thing also have to be ironed out.
Secondly, we have to assess whether these strategies will actually yield and positive engagement results. In both these cases, getting started on testing early is the name of the game – early observations on things like ranking, impression and CTR trends can cause the first experimenters to reap the rewards first as well. Google clearly isn’t going to let things go back to the way they were before 2015, but there will be major value in finding the pressure points they’ll allow now that emoji have returned.
Want to learn more about emoji, SEO or any of our other online marketing services? Speak to the pros at SEO Werkz today.
Social media efforts within online marketing are all part of the larger goal to increase sales, and Facebook advertising is one of the best examples. Facebook ads are great for every stage of the sales funnel, and Facebook Pixel allows you to track how people engage directly with your brand – allowing you to send them unique ads based on which stage of the funnel they’re currently in.
How can you use Facebook specifically to increase ad sales? Here are a few tactics.
Most people use Facebook to socialize, not make purchases. With that in mind, you want to put your product in front of a targeted audience to get the proper resonation. So if you’re selling products for expecting mothers, you naturally want to immediately remove men from your target audiences.
More than this, though, look to play around with the details, such as the “Interests” field. This tool helps you locate all relevant categories and pages that an audience cares about, and you can narrow your interests selected to target a more specific audience. Combining multiple narrow interests in your niche will create a die-hard audience.
If someone has purchased products “A” and “B,” look to target them for product “C.” It’s easier to sell to people who already have bought from you and have a good impression of your brand, so you can get a great return on your ad spend for these kinds of campaigns.
Facebook ads often contain referral programs, and these encourage customers to convince their friends to also become customers. People are more likely to open this kind of referral via Facebook than via an email, and this is a great way to offer discounts and special programs to attract new customers.
Combining content marketing and Facebook ads can create a powerful beast. Content can be funneled to particular audiences, and then remarketed if people engage with the post. The most times someone interacts with your brand, the better.
Look to target people who have visited your product page and added products to their cart, but then abandoned their checkout. These people often only need a small nudge to complete their offer, or may have even forgotten to complete the purchase. You can tailor discounts based on how long ago they left their cart, to help re-engage customers with your brand.
To learn more about how Facebook marketing can improve ad sales, or about any of our SEO marketing services, contact the experts at SEO Werkz today.
In October, Facebook announced big changes to its rules surrounding ad transparency. These rules are some of the foundations of Facebook advertising, and these changes could have a profound impact on many online marketing and social media efforts.
What are these changes, and how should you react? Let’s take a look.
Starting November, users visiting a business page will be able to select an option to “View Ads.” This will allow them to view ads for the business on that page, regardless of whether they fall into the audience these were originally intended for. On most pages, users won’t be able to see impression details, clicks or targeting information, and they won’t know if that ad generated large impressions. But they’ll get a full overview of the ad content on that page.
Facebook has been under huge pressure from governments and the public to provide more transparency around its advertising, particularly since ads served by Russian-backed pages found 10 million Americans leading up to the 2116 presidential election. Facebook originally denied this, but finally did admit that it was true.
It was troubling to think that a country could influence another country’s election using this kind of platform. The response was a large part of the reason behind these transparency changes.
Both the government and the public can draw specific benefits here, and both will be appeased. Advertisers, though, are nervous – they’ve invested a lot of time and money on certain strategies, and this new development makes it easier for these to be ripped off.
If you think about it, though, this is no different from what can occur across other marketing channels. TV or print ads are public, and their themes can be ripped off. Only active ads being served for a page will be visible to users, which will help heavily regulated industries like finance stay within the rules without losing a big chunk of their reach.
This program is currently being tested in Canada, and the hope moving forward is that transparency will continue to be important to Facebook. These changes should be rolled out globally by early 2018.
For more on Facebook’s big ad changes, or to find out about our SEO or web design services, contact the experts at SEO Werkz today.
Within the world of internet marketing, drawing traffic to blog posts is a vital consideration. If you’re trying to draw more traffic to your blog, Facebook is one excellent outlet to think about.
How can you optimize your shares of your blog content for both visibility and reach using Facebook? Let’s go over a basic step-by-step plan.
The kinds of Facebook posts that catch attention have a few common qualities: Catchy headlines, eye-drawing design and text above the image that makes the reader want to continue with the article. Pique interest with the headline, text and the link description – Facebook automatically pulls these from your blog when you make a post.
From here, grab attention with your visual. Use large images to show infographics and charts, and be sure to add a link to the blog.
Once you’re happy with your post, publish it during a time when most of your fans are online – to find this out, navigate to Page Insights and click Posts. This will show you the optimal times to publish. Also, have your team members like and share the post to reach more people organically.
Next, target one of two audience groups: People who like your page (and their friends), or people who have engaged with your page in the past. In the latter case, you’ll need to create a custom audience, which is done in the Facebook Ads Manager under the Audiences page.
Also be sure to set a budget and duration for any boost promotions. You don’t need a huge budget – a single-day amount of $20 is usually fine to start with.
Wait a few hours for results to come in after posting, and then expand the promoted post audience. People are more likely to trust your content if they see a few people have already like it before you promote it. To broaden your reach, target blog readers, customers, warm leads and people interested in topics related to your business.
Finally, check a Facebook promotion after a while to see how it’s running. Look at the Boost Post report on your page, which will give you metrics you need to see. Additional rate metrics can be found in the Facebook Ads Manager under Customize Columns.
For more on how to use Facebook to broaden your blog reach, or to find out about any of our SEO services speak to the pros at SEO Werkz today.
After years of expanding into seemingly difficult areas, Facebook is taking another big shot at a new theme. Facebook’s Watch feature, debuted on August 31, is basically a programming guide to episodic shows that will be hosted directly on the site’s platform. The service went live after a three-week beta run.
How will this new feature work, how will it assist online marketing efforts, what is the strategy and will Facebook succeed at drawing an audience? Let’s take a look.
The Watch guide will consist of several hundred shows, featuring scripted, reality, documentary and sports content from various companies and creators. These will be available through the Watch tab and through a new Facebook feature called Show Pages, which is meant to provide specific features for this platform.
Over time the goal will be for anyone to be able to produce a show that has a chance to make it to the Watch feature. Some of the shows are already paid for, while other are still in formulation.
According to Facebook’s publicity efforts, the long-term strategy here is not to acquire or produce content, but rather to demonstrate the “larger ecosystem” of what’s possible in this field. All shows will have a “community” element that lends themselves to discussion and sharing.
At the same time, Facebook is clearly pushing to vie with YouTube as a home for longer-form video. They’re using frequent 15-second ad breaks to steer users to content, and using several connected-TV platforms.
For many years, though, Facebook users have generally consumed smaller bursts of content on the site. Will they be able to draw large numbers for this new feature?
The company is confident it will. Early tests of engagement was more than expected, and one of the primary goals is creating new user behaviors that will make it easier for this kind of video to spread. Facebook will share ad revenue from Watch, with 55 percent going to the creator or publisher. It’s still in the early days of testing midroll ad breaks and other kinds of ads, but there should be multiple options available here.
For more information on Facebook Watch, or to find out about any of our internet marketing or web design services, speak to the pros at SEO Werkz today.
If you’re like most marketing people or small business owners, you’ve heard the saying “you can’t manage what you can’t measure,” but for many executives, the tools and metrics used to measure digital and social media success are often obscure. If you are having trouble justifying the money and time you spend marketing online, or you simply want to know that your marketing dollars are well spent, here are some key social media metrics you can track.
It’s important that before you even begin to track metrics for your social media marketing, you have a clear definition of your social media platforms and properties. The “big five” social media sites often used by advertisers today include:
The reason social media is so critical for businesses today is a matter of critical mass: there are more than 1.5 billion active users on Facebook, and the average user spends about 50 minutes on there each day. There are also about 65 million active Twitter users in the U.S., and a growing number of users (and promotional opportunities) on social media sites such as Pinterest and Instagram. Advertisers should also take note: YouTube has over 1 billion users—about 1 in 3 people on the Internet—and reaches the demographic groups of 18-30 and 31-49 better than any cable network today.
As you dive into a social media strategy, here are a few things you should be measuring:
All these metrics can help you identify how to get more out of your budget for marketing and advertising online, optimizing the money you spend for maximum impact with the right audience. To find out more about social media strategies and what you need to know about tracking its success, call an online marketing company in Salt Lake City.
When using online marketing products or businesses through social media, one of the most important factors is the ability to track the success of your efforts. Especially if you’re making large investments in internet marketing, you want to know those dollars are going to good use.
With so many metrics and tracking services out there, though, it can be hard to properly gauge the success of online marketing for your business website. Here are a few of the best metrics to follow to help track your social media growth.
Whether they’re known as fans, followers or page likes, the number of unique individuals directly seeing the social media content you post is the most important single factor there out there. Different social media services use different ways of tracking these, so you’ll need to be familiar with the differences between Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and others.
Each of these services also offers you the ability to track all forms of response available on your posts. These can take the form of likes, mentions, shares, comments and more.
Reactions such as likes and shares are good for tracking volume, and things like comments and mentions can give you an idea of specific opinions your customers may have about your products. Used correctly, these bits of information can not only help you gauge your social media presence, but also help you improve details of your business based on customer response.
Engagement times are one of the best ways to help you tailor your future posting habits optimally to your audience. All major social media outlets have ways to track exactly when your posts receive the highest rates of engagement, and you can use this information to target certain pockets of time for your posts.
Facebook, Twitter and other services allow you access to analytics on your audience demographics – how they group by age, where they live, what they’re interested in, etc. They also allow you to see how many people your posts are reaching, both for people who follow you and people who don’t.
Click rates are different than raw reach, and in many cases they’re much more important. You want to know not just who is seeing your posts, but who is interested enough in them to interact with them and learn more.
Down similar lines, Google analytics allow you to see how often people are clicking onto your website from social media links, or being “referred” to your site. You can use this information to target posts optimally, or to shore up weaker areas of social media.
At SEO Werkz, we’re experts at properly utilizing social media to help your business website thrive. Contact us today to speak to our professional staff and set up a free consultation.
