It doesn’t matter what size or even what type of business you own, influencer marketing can be a huge benefit to you. If you think about it, famous people have been selling things to the masses for years, whether through commercials or print ads. Influencers just represent a new age of celebrity, and compared to traditional celebrities or commercial actors, social media influencers are actually seen as much more relatable to the average consumer.

In fact, data from MuseFind shows 92% of consumers trust an influencer more than an advertisement or traditional celebrity endorsement. I mean come on, do you really think Jennifer Anniston colors her hair with an at-home box dye kit? ????

Influencers are seen as more trustworthy because they post real thoughts and moments from their daily lives, so their followers actually build a virtual relationship with them, so much so that many would consider themselves to be virtual friends!

Okay that’s all good and well, but what does it mean for your business?

Why You Should Work With An Influencer

Influencers can…

Okay that sounds intriguing…

6 Steps to The Perfect Influencer Partnership

So how do you actually BEGIN to work with influencers? We have 6 simple steps to get you well on your way!

1. Determine Campaign Goals

What are you trying to accomplish by working with an influencer? Brand awareness? Increase product sales? Encourage more user generated content? Before you can properly choose an influencer to represent your brand, you need to know exactly what you want your business to be known for and what you want to accomplish with your campaign.

2. Define Your Campaign Audience

What kind of audience are you trying to reach? It’s important to learn about and identify the exact type of customer you’re going after to help you determine what type of content and which influencer will best appeal to them. You likely know exactly who your target audience is, but you may need to dig a little deeper to understand what type of media your audience is consuming. You want your target audience to align with the influencer’s following.

3. Set Your Budget and Choose An Influencer Type

There are So. Many. Different. types of influencers on social media today, all with completely different followings. There are macro-influencers like actors or Youtubers who have MASSIVE followings, but if you’re not one of the few companies that can afford the $500,000 Kim Kardashashian reportedly charges for an Instagram post, there are other plenty of other options for you! There are also micro-influencers (i.e. stay-at-home moms who share their favorite life hacks with a couple thousand followers). Each type of influencer has its own benefits. So if you’re struggling to get responses from celebrities/influencers, or if they’re asking for more money than you have in the budget, micro-influencers can be a great option for you. In fact, they’re just as or even more effective because of the trust they’ve built with their following and their dedication to building a larger audience. Working with a micro-influencer also allows you to test multiple markets at once to see which get the best ROI. (You can also check out our blog on how to choose the right micro-influencer for tips on getting started.)

4. Choose Your Influencer & Review Their Work

After you find an influencer that works for your brand, take time to look over their page and try to get to know them. Look at what they are posting for other brands to make sure it’s high-quality and they keep their end of other deals they make! Then begin liking, commenting, and replying to their posts to get them familiar with your brand at least a few weeks before you message them. Make sure to include a unique message that directly references things they’ve posted in the past. Some influencers are being bombarded with hundreds of messages a day so you’ve got to find a way to stand out.

5. Finalize Campaign Expectations With Your Influencer

Alright, you did it. You have an influencer and they’ve agreed to post for you! You’re done, right? Unfortunately, not quite. You should be friendly, open to suggestions, but also be extremely clear what your expectations are for the campaign. (Pro Tip: get it in writing and have them sign it!) There’s nothing worse than spending weeks trying to find an influencer and then their post goes out with incorrect or insufficient information about your brand. Or even worse, they never even post (It happens A LOT unfortunately). Don’t forget to thank, compensate, and support your influencer’s posts even after the campaign is over! This helps to build trust with them to keep doors open in the future.

6. Measure Your Results

You’re almost done! Lastly, it’s a great idea to measure your results and determine the level of success you had in reaching your audience with the help of that influencer. How many people did it reach? How many of those people followed your brand after seeing the post? Did the campaign bring in conversions? If the influencer’s reach went above your expectations, make sure to let them know and show your gratitude! If it didn’t meet your expectations, it’s okay! Just take that information and let it guide your decisions going forward about who you choose to work with.

Final Thoughts

OK, so maybe it’s not THAT simple. Influencer marketing requires a lot of time and well thought out planning, but the ROI can be well worth it. If you need help, we’re always here for a one-on-one strategy session. Hit us up here.

If you’ve been in a #MOOD ever since Instagram took away the Recent Hashtags tab in November during the election and stayed there through what we’ll lovingly call the “December Drop” in engagement, we’re here for you. (Isn’t that what businesses are supposed to say now-a-days? ????) But for real… we are.

Every year in December, Instagram rolls out shiny, new changes to everyone’s favorite thing: the algorithm. Add in the distraction of holidays, and this leads to an annual period of low engagement across the board.

Is There Something Wrong With Me If My Engagement Is Down?

This is really annoying, but it’s nothing new, so trust us… there’s nothing wrong with you if your engagement has been down, and it will level out eventually. But in the meantime, we have some tips that may help you boost your engagement, and maybe even get it higher than it was before the recent slump!

Before we get to our #tips for boosting engagement, let’s bust some algorithm myths we’ve seen circulating the interwebs. Is it too soon to say #fakenews? Got it. Let’s get to the list.

The Current Top 3 Instagram Algorithm Myths:

Myth #1 — Instagram Will Punish You If You Edit Your Published Posts

There’s a rumor out there that Instagram will punish you if you edit a post after it is published. There’s even a popular post with what we’re guessing is just anecdotal evidence showing two posts with drastically different engagement, one of which was edited. Here’s the thing. Instagram will not punish you for using a feature they provided to help you. There is tons of evidence showing that editing posts doesn’t hurt engagement. And at the end of the day, if Instagram didn’t want people to edit their posts, they would have never added an edit button. Looking at you, Twitter.

Myth #2 — Instagram Will Punish You If You Use Too Many Hashtags

Here’s another case of “why would Instagram punish you for using a feature they provided?” Instagram currently allows accounts to use up to 30 hashtags per post. If they wanted you to use 10 hashtags, that would be the max. So our advice is to maximize reach by using as many hashtags as you can.

Myth #3 — Instagram Will Punish You If You Use A Partner App To Schedule Posts

Different rumor, same answer. Instagram allows a few official partner apps to schedule and auto-publish posts to their app. Official Partner is code for $$$. Considering Instagram is making money through these apps, it’s highly unlikely that they would punish the apps on their platform. That’s just bad business.

The Current Top 3 Instagram Algorithm Boosting Tips

Tip #1 — Be Consistent

It’s no secret that the algorithm encourages posting as much as you can. But if you don’t have the margin to post quality content every day twice a day (because literally who does?), the next best thing to posting all the time is to be consistent over time. Our advice is to post consistently at the same time over a long period of time, post 3x per week on the same days each week, or posting every other day. Do this for a while and see if anything changes!

Tip #2 — Use Reels

Specifics about the algorithm are usually debated, but one that is agreed upon across the board is that Instagram Reels are currently boosted and favored in the algorithm. If you’re not posting Reels, the algorithm is going to punish all your posts. If you post Reels, the algorithm will reward you with engagement across all of your posts, not just Reels. So if you have the margin, get your creativity on.

Tip #3 — Use #AllOfTheFeatures

Instagram likes when you use all of the things, and we mean all of the things. Feed posts, Stories, Reels, IGTV, Shoppable posts, lions, tigers, and bears… oh my, that was a dad joke. Sorry. Anyway, this includes special features on Stories like the “I Voted” sticker, polls, sliders, etc, etc. So buy in… do all the things… make a deal with the Devi— Okay too far. I think we may be in a #mood, too.

Final Thoughts

We know this seems like a lot. If you can’t do it all, don’t go crazy trying to keep up with the Algorithm Joneses. Just do what you can when you can. Try some of these tips. A little change is better than nothing. And as always, if you’ve thought about outsourcing social media for your own sanity and to maximize your ROI, we’d love to help!

Business owner, if you’re not utilizing email marketing, you may be missing out on a ton of new and even recurring business. In fact, according to a recent study, email marketing produces more conversions than social media, and email campaigns result in 28.5% higher ROI compared to direct mail.

While weekly or monthly emails are one of the most common ways for companies to update and connect with their audience, they can be difficult to pull off really well. You have to not only create compelling copy, but also use clear CTAs, design eye-catching templates that work across multiple devices, and more.

If that sounds like a lot, don’t worry. We’re breaking down the dos and don’ts of email marketing below—

The Top Four Do’s of Email Marketing

1. Use Eye Catching Design – Eye catching graphics are what pull the reader’s eye to your important email content. So, make sure your images and other graphics are bold and draw your readers attention to the content you want them to read.

2. Make it Mobile Friendly – Designing your email for mobile-first viewing is crucial in today’s world. It’s important to create an email design with a width of 600px to ensure it appears correctly on any screen size.

3. Provide Clear CTAs – Great content and design are super important, but they won’t ultimately close business. To drive conversions, your readers should immediately know what action to take next and how to take it through clear Call To Action buttons. The CTA button should be front and center and have straightforward expectations, such as “Read more,” “Download now,” or “Email Us.”

4. Send a Test Email – Always always always send a test email. Then go through it and double check every element of your email including grammar, typos, and links!

The Top Three Don’ts of Email Marketing

1. Write a Vague Subject Line – A great subject line often makes the difference between an open and a “Move to Trash.” You want to develop a subject line that’s both catchy and concise, with 9 words or fewer. The average modern consumer has an extremely short attention span, so your subject line needs to not only grab their attention, but also entice them to take the time to open your email and see what it contains.

2. Forget about Accessibility – Over 2.2 billion people live with a form of vision impairment, so accessibility online is super important. You want to make sure you don’t alienate members of your target audience, while also missing out on potential business. To learn more about online accessibility, you can read our Online Accessibility Blog!

3. Ignore the Metrics – Repeat after me: metrics are your best friend. Most email platforms provide free full analytics reports that can really benefit you. Checking your delivery rate, bounce rate, open rate, click-through rate, website visits, and more can help you see where you may need to improve your campaign!

Also, if you want to take a deep dive into analytics and really improve your campaigns, consider A/B testing your emails to determine the most effective subject lines, CTAs, time to send, and more.

Conclusion

Email marketing is a proven marketing tactic that can have a great ROI. But running a successful email campaign isn’t as easy as writing content and hitting “send.” Need some additional ideas for your next email campaign? We’d love to help!

Maybe you’ve been wondering how to effectively use Instagram Stories for a while, and now you’re overwhelmed with the newest Instagram feature, Reels. ????

Maybe you have no idea what types of content are better suited for each different feature on the platform. Why should your brand care about them? And, most important, how can you take advantage of these features to grow your business?

You’re definitely not alone! And we’re here to help. Let’s start from the beginning…

What Is an Instagram Story?

A Story is mobile content shared in vertical orientation that’s only visible for 24 hours once posted (unless it’s made into a Highlight). Stories formats include: photo, video, boomerang, text, GIFs, and livestream. You can then add filters, polls, sliders, stickers, GIFs, and text to make your Story stand out!

Why Use Stories?

The biggest positives of using Stories are:

  1. They’re given the highest priority spot when a user opens Instagram. Before a user ever scrolls, they have the option to view Stories, and many users watch Stories before ever scrolling down their feed.
  2. Stories are a full-screen format which allows for a distraction-free viewing experience. It’s a chance for your brand to take up a user’s entire screen, which is rare on social media.

F8 is an annual conference held by Facebook, intended for developers and entrepreneurs who build products and services around the website. According to a presentation from Facebook at F82019:

What Makes a Great Instagram Story?

Here are some tips for making great Stories directly from Facebook also shared at F8 2019:

  1. Get Creative – creativity can make or break your Stories.
  2. Use high-resolution Visuals – 56% of a brand’s sales lift can be attributed to the quality of the creative.
  3. Feel the Need for Speed – Capitalizing on quick, dynamic content allows brands to meet users’ expectations and sustain their attention. Think “burst mode” rather than “long take.”
  4. Keep it Vertical – Creating your content in a vertical format makes the most of the screen real estate you have available.
  5. Use Clear CTAs – As much as possible, give a Call to Action. The more clear it is, the higher the chance that you get the response you want.
  6. Test and Learn – Stories are a great chance for a free focus group. If you’re not yet seeing the results you expect, it’s definitely worth trying different things and switching it up to understand which stimuli your audience best responds to. Use Story Polls and Question Boxes to ask them what they want to see more of!

What are Reels?

Reels is Instagram’s latest feature that launched at the start of August 2020 to compete with the highly popular TikTok app. Instagram users can now create bite-sized videos sharing tips, inspiration, or light-hearted content.
What Should You Share in Reels?

Your Reels content doesn’t have to be brand new. You can use existing content from your blog, podcast, and social channels and simply adjust it to work well on Reels.

  1. Educational Content – Do you share informational or educational content in the captions of your main Instagram feed posts? Great. And if you’re not, you definitely should!???? Just take those points, condense them into bullets, and share them on a fun video!
  2. Behind-The-Scenes – Is your team working on a fun project? Doing a team-building exercise? Watering your office plants? These are all fun things to share in short BTS videos.
  3. Your Brand Differentiators – What makes your company unique? What sets you apart? Share that with your following in an engaging video!

Conclusion

Stories are tested and here to stay, while Reels are super fresh. The jury’s out on whether or not Reels are around for the long haul, but brands that invest in this trend will definitely reap the rewards in the algorithm! ????

But hey, don’t feel like you have to do it all. If the only time you can commit to Instagram is by posting regularly in your main feed, do that and do it well! If you have 3 minutes to film a quick “Hello!” on your Stories weekly or snap a pic of some new products when they come in, that’s great, too!

However, if you know you want to utilize these features to grow your brand awareness and your bottom line, but you don’t have the time to commit to it, a social media marketing company or freelancer can be a great asset for you!

If you’re a business owner, you probably know Google reviews are important, but you may not know how to get them.

If you’ve been stumped about how to get more positive Google reviews, we can help! We’re breaking down not only how to get more Google reviews, but also why you need them.

The Benefits of Positive Google Reviews

According to a recent study, 54% of consumers said that the average star rating is the most important factor when researching a company, while 46% consider the quantity of reviews as the second most important.

Google reviews are basically modern-day word-of-mouth advertising. They’re trust indicators for many online buyers, so in short, the higher quantity and quality of Google reviews you have directly translates into higher credibility for your business.

As you get more positive reviews, you should start to see several benefits for your business, such as:

How to Get More Google Reviews

Are you ready for the big secret? There are two extremely important steps to get great Google Reviews. Here they are:

1. Provide a Great Product or Service.

2. Ask for a Review!

That’s it. That’s the big secret. Seems simple enough, right? ????

Most consumers tend to be passive when it comes to leaving reviews, especially positive ones. Online shoppers are far more likely to leave a negative review if they have a horrible experience! So, if a business has hundreds of positive reviews, that probably didn’t happen naturally, they just simply took the time to ask for them.

So, if you provide a great service, you may just need to give your loyal customers a little nudge, and when you do, the majority of them will be more than willing to leave you a positive Google review!

Who Should You Ask for A Review?

Before you dive in head first and ask anyone and everyone in your database to leave you a review, stop and find your biggest brand advocates and most loyal customers first.

Once you have those initial reviews, you can spread out your “ask” to the rest of your database over several months. It’s important to mention that if you go from 0 to 100 reviews in a week, Google will flag this ‘unusual activity’ as potential spam, and it may hurt you more than help. So, play the long game and it’ll benefit you in the end!

How to Curate Your “Ask”

1. Keep it Simple – It’s no secret that people are less likely to read longer emails, so if you really want your audience to get to the CTA, keep it short and sweet!

2. Be Specific – If you want 5-Star Google reviews, ask for that! If you want Facebook reviews, ask for that. Be as specific as possible to get the results you’re looking for.

3. Show Appreciation – Make sure to thank your customers for patronizing your business. Let them know how much they mean to you! And don’t forget to thank anyone who gives you a great Google review, too.

4. Create an Easy Link – Don’t expect people to leave their email app, open a browser, type in “Google,” find your business, and click “Write a Review” on their own. That’s way too many chances to lose them in the process. ???? The fewer steps the better. Did you know you can actually provide them an easy link to click and leave a review straight from your email? It’s true. Here’s a quick how-to for that.

How to Handle Negative Reviews

We know what you’re thinking— What happens if you ask for reviews and get negative ones? That’s a legitimate fear… and the reality is, it’s somewhat unavoidable.

So, if you do get a negative review or two, don’t panic! We’ve got you covered. Check out our blog on how to manage negative reviews here.

Conclusion

If you’re not currently asking for Google reviews, it’s definitely time to start! It’s an easy way to increase your online visibility and conversions.

How much time should you spend getting good reviews? Simply decide how important they are for your business… and that’s how much time you should spend getting them. And we think they’re pretty important. ????

As always, if you need help with consulting on any marketing topics, or if you need to outsource email marketing or a Google review campaign, we’d love to chat!

Stuck pouring money into traditional advertising channels only to get zero leads? We get it. We love figuring out creative strategies for our clients, because no two businesses are alike. So why advertise them all the same way? And especially for small business owners who don’t have big ad budgets, every single dollar matters.

So we’ve put together a list of a few “outside of the box” and more budget-friendly advertising ideas that usually have a pretty good ROI, if done the right way. Shall we?

Micro-Influencers

If you’re aiming at acquiring and retaining new, local customers, the most effective form of marketing is hands down word-of-mouth. Influencer marketing is essentially word-of-mouth online, albeit a bit less organic.

Simply put, an influencer is someone who either gets paid to promote a product or service on their own social media channels, or someone who trades free goods/services for the same promotion. A micro-influencer is a niche influencer with fewer than 100,000 followers and usually a large local following. And for a small business owner, that’s really what you want! Choosing a reliable and professional micro-influencer is so important, and in fact, we wrote a whole blog on micro-influencers last year if you want to go check it out!

If you don’t want to read a whole blog, here are the cliffs notes:

1. Make Sure They’re Legit— Do the influencer’s followers seem legit? Are they local? Real people? Are they regularly engaged on their posts? It’s a good idea to make sure their following is genuine and actually engages with their content, that way you know they’ll see it and be interested when that person posts about you!
2. Set Clear Expectations— Have an agreement ahead of time for how often you want the micro-influencer to post about your brand on social media, what platforms the posts should be on, and what they should include.
3. Use a Contract— Have them agree to the partnership – this can be done with a verbal agreement, software forms and tracking, or a formal contract committing them to meet the established expectations.

Brand Ambassador Programs

Brand ambassadors are pretty similar to micro-influencers, but there are a few key differences. While an influencer will only work with a brand initially through a formal relationship, brand ambassadors are often people who already engage with your brand naturally… they’re your biggest online or word-of-mouth advocates. What sets them apart is they love having genuine one-on-one conversations with people who are interested in your brand and products, rather than sticking to a script, like some influencers. Brand ambassadors are people who love your brand, who want to see your brand succeed, and who actively use your products in real life.

A brand ambassador program simply makes your relationship with those people who already love your brand official, and brings them on board with promotions. You can even incentivize them with discounts or points towards products/services for everyone who uses their referral or even a code to shop.

Podcast Ads

Podcasts are increasingly becoming a more and more popular media, because of their on-demand and accessible nature. Listeners can fine tune their interests (there’s a podcast for everything) and they can listen whenever it’s convenient…whether it’s on a morning commute, a mid-day walk, or an evening jog. All these combined have turned into 73 million American podcast listeners, and according to recent data, that audience is projected to grow 81% by 2022.

Needless to say, podcast ads are a multi-million dollar industry at this point… but do podcast sponsorships deliver a solid return on investment? The answer is definitely yes, if done right. So why do they offer so much potential?

According to a recent report by the Interactive Advertising Bureau, 67% of listeners could recall products and brands featured in ads. Even better, 61% actually paid for a product or service they learned about on podcasts.

It’s important to note if your target audience is listening to podcasts. If they are, you may want to seriously consider this form of advertising, instead of continuing to dump dollars where there is no name recognition or conversion whatsoever!

Blip (Billboard Ads)

Blip billboards are no minimum contract digital billboards that allow small and medium-sized businesses to advertise at their budget level. The good thing about Blip billboard ads is, you can get started on any budget. They’re very similar to social media ad campaigns in that you can choose what level of visibility you want based on what you want to pay, and they’re capped when you hit your budget limit.

A blip is anywhere from 7.5 to 10 seconds on a rotating billboard. The cost depends on the location(s) and time(s) you choose.

Conclusion

When you’re a small business with a small budget, it’s so important to get the best ROI for your advertising dollars. You don’t just have to keep dumping money into Google Adwords or other marketing strategies that aren’t getting you conversions.

Maybe it’s time to get creative and look outside the traditional advertising box to reach new audiences…

As always, if you want help with strategy or even execution, we’re here to help.

Podcasting has been around since 2004 but has recently gained a lot more popularity, and with good reason. Podcasting is the new talk radio. It’s where many people go for news, entertainment, and education on a long drive, a slow morning, or even a walk.

For a while, making podcasts seemed to be reserved for the few and famous voices in certain fields, but over the last year or so we’ve seen a rise in local, micro-podcasters. (Is that a term? If not, we’re inventing it.) Think of it in a similar way to how famous influencers opened the door for local, micro-influencers working with brands.

All that said, have you thought about starting a podcast as an off-shoot of your business? Not only is it a good tool to increase your following & therefore your customer base, but it’s also a way to supplement your income.

Why You Should Podcast

For both small and large businesses, podcasts can be a great opportunity to tap into an untapped market and reach an even larger audience, one that seems to be constantly ready for fresh content.

So, why should you start a podcast?

1. It’s Another Way to Reach your Target Audience – If you have educational or even entertaining content related to your field of business that would be useful to people, podcasts are a good way to deliver that content. If you want to reach more of your target audience in addition to social media or on your own blog, tapping into the podcast market is a great way to do that.

2. It’s Cost Effective – There is of course the initial cost of some audio equipment and software, but after that, podcasts are pretty inexpensive to produce. The biggest factor is usually time. So, if you have the margin to add podcasting to your monthly or weekly to-do list, the low cost associated with recording them means they could definitely have a good return on investment.

3. It Increases Your Name Recognition – We tell our clients all the time, the more you can get your company’s name out into the community, the better. Name recognition is a great way to grow your business organically. The more of a following your podcast gains, the more people will know about you and your business. Even if people don’t listen to your podcast, maybe they’ll have heard about it and think of you if there comes a time they need someone in your industry.

4. It Can Increase Your Income – Your podcast most likely won’t make tons of money right away, so make sure at first you think of it as an investment or passion project. However, if you’re patient, you can eventually earn a side income from your podcast through avenues like Patreon or even sponsored ads during your episodes once you have a solid base of listeners.

Why You Shouldn’t Podcast

1. It Would Stress You Out – It’s no secret that business owners are busy. So, if you’re already working 60 hours a week and adding another thing to your plate would stress you out, it’s not worth it!

2. You Are Too Shy – Podcasting won’t be for everyone. It takes a certain personality and skill to deliver content verbally in an engaging way. Some business owners won’t feel comfortable making the switch, and that is completely okay!

Conclusion

If you feel comfortable with your blog as a means to educate and connect with your audience, by all means, keep that up!

However, if you have the margin and personality to take your business to the next level through podcasting, we think it could be a great avenue to grow your name recognition and ultimately your income.

The COVID-19 virus is something that clearly can not be ignored. As our small business clients have asked us how they should handle this situation, our team delved into research to come up with some time-proven strategies for how businesses can best weather an international health crisis. The result of our labor is the following plan.

1. Create An INTERNAL Plan

Whether you have one employee or one hundred, you know that the success of your business depends on your team! So start by simply talking with them. Ask about their needs and concerns; then figure out how you can address those challenges. For example, you may need to adjust schedules for those who have children, as schools are unexpectedly closed. Maybe your staff just needs encouragement during this worrisome time.

Also, no matter how stringent your cleaning standards normally are, your team should adopt additional measures to ensure your business remains sanitized and safe. This can include more frequent hand washing policies and wiping surfaces with bleach more often than health code would ever require. By addressing your employees’ needs and setting expectations, they will be better equipped to continue serving your customers during this pandemic.

2. Share Your Plan EXTERNALLY

By now, your inbox has likely been flooded with emails from every corporation you have ever visited. While you may have disregarded some of them, these emails do help customers feel more confident in continuing to shop at these businesses. As a small business, you should also communicate with your customers so they know what to expect from your business during this time. Are you changing your hours or closing additional days? If not, make sure customers know you will still be there to serve them!

Also, share the updated hygiene and cleaning standards that you and your staff decided upon. People want to support small businesses, so you need to let them know how. If people can’t continue to visit your business because of COVID-19, then consider offering another option; perhaps customers could buy $50 gift cards for only $40.

Finally, consider how your business can demonstrate its commitment to the community as a whole during this time. I have seen many restaurants, such as Tropical Grille and Biscuit Head, offering free meals for children, who typically have lunch provided at school. On the other hand, a wedding dress boutique, The Poinsett Bride, committed to donate $50 to local food banks for every wedding dress they sell over the next two weeks, as many people are expecting food shortages. What can your business do to show love for the community?

3. Stay Calm

Many small business owners are afraid right now. That is to be expected. Sales are down as people stay home more, and the stock market doesn’t seem to know which way is up or down. However, things will calm back down. As business owners, we need to keep a steady hand and a positive outlook on what is to come.

If you have ever studied economics, you know that the stock market is largely dependent on emotions, often called “consumer confidence.” On a micro level, small businesses can help balance the local economy by simply offering positivity to their customers and employees. In order to show that you have confidence in your small business and the others in our community, simply continue to share on social media and serve your clients the best you can.

Once this chaos settles, you will be glad that your processes are still in place and your business can jump back in to growing and serving!

As a brand operating in 2020, it can be really easy to get caught up in your social media follower count, but we’d like to propose that even more so than followers, engagement should be your main focus. Having a ton of followers on social media is meaningless if none of them are engaging with you, telling people about you, or buying from you.

Engagement is important because it indicates whether what you’re posting is of value to your audience. And it can even affect your ability to grow your audience. Let’s dive into it…

Why Is Engagement Important?

1. The Infamous Algorithms – Facebook and Instagram both use algorithms to determine what content to show users based on a range of factors, and the most significant one is engagement. If your followers aren’t engaging with your posts, this essentially tells the algorithm that your content doesn’t resonate with your audience. And vice versa. If you get a lot of engagement, the algorithm will reward you with even more reach.

When that happens, the algorithm may end up determining that your posts are not relevant and therefore reduce your reach, meaning it will actually hide your posts from your followers. And alas, this just perpetuates the cycle of low engagement. If people aren’t seeing your posts, how can they engage with them? (How do you get out of the cycle? We’ll get there…)

2. Engagement Builds Content Builds Sales – Engagement is important because it ultimately helps build relationships that are sustainable. And building sustainable relationships with your customers is critical to the success of your sales funnel.

If your audience is engaged, it means they like you! Congrats. And a lot of times when you have an engaged audience, a really, really cool thing starts to happen— they start creating user generated content. This is the dream, y’all! When users create content about your brand of their own volition, for free, and post it to their page…. it promotes your brand to their extended network. It’s essentially free word-of-mouth advertising.

So How Can You Boost Your Engagement?

1. Interactive Stories – Give your followers a reason to engage. Stories are a super easy way to do this. Create a poll. Open up a question box. Let them in on your processes. Ask them their opinion! People want to feel a part of something, especially brands they love.

2. Calls to Action – Give your followers a reason to engage in your captions. Give them a reason to comment. Ask a question. Ask them their favorite emoji, their favorite memory of your brand, or their favorite product! Ask what they want to see more of on your page.

3. Giveaways – This one is a great way to grow your following and your engagement at the same time. Plus your followers get free stuff. In the business we call that a win-win-win. (Get it? Someone will win…the giveaway…that’s the third win. ???? We’ll see ourselves out.) Pro tip: make it easy and fun. The more steps needed, the less likely your audience will join in.

Conclusion

If you have low engagement now, you really don’t need more followers, you need more engaged followers. Building engagement takes time, so don’t get discouraged if it doesn’t happen right away. Get to it. Stick with it. And have fun! Social media is a lot better when it’s fun.

The very first thing we do with our clients is always to figure out their target demographic, AKA their ideal customer (which we talked about in this marketing blog, if you want a refresher). This is such an important step because, depending on who you want to reach, the way you go about it will be completely different. If 75% of your clients are Baby Boomers… odds are, SnapChat is a waste of time, but ads on search engines and targeted email campaigns are a great place to focus your marketing efforts. If your target audience is Millennials or Gen Z, you virtually HAVE to be on Instagram. But we’ll get to more of that later… Basically, before you do anything else, you need to figure out who you are currently selling to and also who you want to reach, then determine where those people are buying products or booking services: digitally or in-store? And if digitally, what platforms are they using?

Where Is Your Target Customer?

One thing is true across every generation—consumers are buying online. According to a recent study, 2/3 of Millennials prefer buying online vs. in-store. While Gen X is about 50/50, and Baby Boomers are 60/40 in favor of buying in-store over online.

So everyone is online, but where exactly are they? The term “online” is too vague for today’s world. Where are they buying? Social media? Amazon? Google? Email?

Social Media use is declining across the board with Millennials and Gen Z except on one platform: Instagram. Gen Z is also continually present on SnapChat. However, Gen X is the most active on Facebook, while Boomers are also active on Facebook but make many of their purchasing decisions from emails or results on search engines.

While numbers may be down, Millennials and Gen Z are still absolutely using social media, mainly Instagram, to purchase products. And Gen X and Baby Boomers are also on social media, but they’re less likely to use it as a tool for shopping decisions. So where are the older generations purchasing online?

Here’s a closer look at different statistics and strategies by generation:

Baby Boomers

Many people assume Baby Boomers don’t buy online, which couldn’t be further from the truth. They absolutely do. In fact, the top 3 ways to reach them are television, search engines, and email marketing. Baby Boomers are actually way more likely to purchase from search results on Google or Bing than from social media.

While print-based direct marketing is often used to target Baby Boomers, recent studies show that they aren’t engaging with direct mail and brochures/catalogs like they used to. Print materials and radio are no longer likely to get Baby Boomers to move online to learn more. However, television has still been found more effective in getting Baby Boomers to find out more information about what they saw, and then purchase online.

So, if your target audience is between the ages of 55 and 75, you should absolutely be upping your SEO and email marketing strategies and using your marketing budget there rather than on print collateral or social media ads.

Gen X

Generation X is a fancy name for people born between 1965 & 1980. This generation has way fewer people than Millennials or Baby Boomers… but don’t count them out. Even though they’re a smaller generation, they have huge purchasing power. On average, their income is higher than the national average as well as the averages of all the other generations.

Gen X-ers still have a fondness of traditional TV and newspapers, but they also research online. So, if you’re running TV commercials or even newspaper ads, you’ll still want to make sure your online presence is strong. If your online presence is weak, Gen X won’t buy.

Here are some recent Gen X statistics:

Since such a high percentage of Generation X-ers use Facebook, this is the social media platform to use to market to them.

One great thing about Gen X-ers is that they are extremely brand loyal. So, if you can get them in the door and give them a good experience, they will stay.

Here’s a tip—make sure to reward loyalty in some way, whether it’s a discount or fee item after a certain amount of purchases, or just with a nice thank you email. This will go a long way with Gen X.

Millennials

So, how do you get and keep the ever elusive Millennials?

Well, we can tell you for sure that sales isn’t it. Millennials are a tough crowd to please, and if you push too hard for a sale, they’re bound to pull away, because most Millennials are turned off by traditional sales and ads.

Millennials are definitely not going to be “sold to” easily. They need to believe in something to purchase it. And Millennials, more than any other generation, use multiple sources of information to form their opinions. For example, they’ll look to reviews, comments, friends’ opinions, and more to decide what products they can trust.

Millennials love to be involved and feel a part of a community with a brand. They often want to feel they are a part of co-creating something useful or relevant.

So find ways to include them…. Ask their advice via Instagram comments, engage in polls in your Instagram Stories. Maybe do a giveaway or contest for the best idea. Millennials will give you GREAT ideas, and they’ll also feel a part of a community. That’s a huge win for both of you.

So, whether you grab their attention via Instagram, Facebook, or email marketing, Millennials want to know your “why.” They want to hear your story because that’s largely what draws them in. Once you’ve drawn them in, they’ll stay if you continue to offer them great customer service and a great product.

Influencer Marketing is a great way to catch them because the influencer is often sharing your story with them as well as a personal note about why they love the product or service. Here’s a recent article on Influencer Marketing if you want to learn more about that. Influencer marketing is a new word of mouth tactic that has worked very well with Millennials and Gen Z. Additionally, brand ambassador programs are hugely effective if positioned correctly.

Gen Z

Speaking of Gen Z, AKA anyone born between 1996 and 2010, it is a BIG generation, outnumbering Millennials by about a million. Gen Z is also the first truly digital generation from birth. Gen Z-ers spend almost 75% of their leisure time online. Let. That. Sink. In. That’s a lot of time! They’re constantly bombarded by content and advertising and have been their whole lives, so a lot of it can easily become white noise.

Gen Z, more than any other generation, sees technology as a tool for social change. Unlike Millennials who have historically complained online, Gen Z makes moves.

Gen Z wants to change the world, and brands will need to take note. Social and environmental causes have been a big deal for Millennials, but they are almost necessary for Gen Z. Think sea turtles and plastic straws. Gen Z has made HUGE moves in changing brands, and we aren’t talking small companies. We’re talking Starbucks, American Airlines, and United to name a few.

All this to say, marketers must think about social causes when engaging with Gen Z-ers. They want to know you care about waste, fair wages, sustainability, and other causes. So show them that you do.

They’re not reading the paper or watching cable… but you can grab them on SnapChat, Tik Tok, and Instagram. And get some influencers on board with your team.

Conclusion

So again, where are your people? Go there. What works for one age can make another one run, so learn about them and meet them where they’re at. Here’s a recent article that highlights the amount of time each generation is spending on different platforms.

And as always, if you need help, you know where to find us. ????