There is a lot to know actually about how to use it effectively. If you have a business and are looking for ways to expand your reach, then this is it. In this article you can learn many of the best practices to help you become an Instagram master!

1. Branding with Instagram

1.1 How to get followers on Instagram and compete with others in your industry.

1.2 Optimize your Instagram profile

1.3 Share Instagram Stories to Facebook

1.4 Use Instagram Features

2. Get an Instagram Business Profile

2.1 Run Stories ads

2.2 Have a definite objective

2.3 Use recommended ad dimensions

3. Incorporate UGC & EGC

3.1 User-generated content 

3.2 Run Instagram contests

3.3 Employee Advocacy

4. Use Hashtags

4.1 Create Behind the Scenes Videos

4.2 Categorized Stories highlights.

4.3 Use Instagram Stories Templates

5. How one small business grew substantially using Instagram

6. Some tips to increase engagement

Introduction

In 2004 Facebook came on the scene and was just something you added to your marketing strategy, maybe. In just a few years “Social Media Marketing” became a thing and just as important as any other marketing strategy.

Competing with a long list of other social media apps and sites, in 2010 Facebook offered a new obsession, Instagram, which quickly gained millions of users. It wasn’t the best social medium for business, more for people who wanted to show personal pictures such as their vacation, food or their pets.

Then on August 2, 2016, Facebook introduced “Instagram Stories” and became a more effective social media platform for business. With the addition of Stories ads, now there are over 2m monthly advertisers on Instagram. But you don’t have to pay for ads to make it useful for your brand, you can use it to get followers on Instagram just posting for free.

Instagram Stories allow you to capture and post related images AND VIDEO content in a slideshow format that appears in your followers’ feeds. With the addition of text, drawings, and emoticons, images, and video clips, there are a lot of creative possibilities to promote your brand.

Similar to Snapchat, stories only last 24 hours from the time of posting. Still, there’s plenty of creative freedom that your business can take advantage of to get your message out. Followers can also view Skippable Ads in between your stories.

One advantage of Instagram Stories is you can show more content in one place without creating a lot of individual posts on your Instagram page.

Get your story told!

If you are not promoting your business with Instagram Stories, you should. Using stories to connect with your audience is an easy decision when you look at these Instagram statistics.

● 1 Billion+ Instagram accounts are active every single month worldwide
● 500 Million+ accounts worldwide are active every day
● 80 Percent of accounts follow a business on Instagram
● 500 Million+ accounts use Instagram Stories every day
● Only Facebook and YouTube have more people logging in

Source: https://business.instagram.com/

The Purple Circle

If you update one of your Stories, Instagram puts it the beginning of your feed with a purple circle around your profile photo. Followers will then know you’ve recently updated your Story. You can save your Stories as “Highlights” to your homepage as static content. These Stories stay as content that doesn’t disappear on your Instagram page.

Now that you have a better idea of what the story is on Instagram Stories, here are best practices to make your Stories come to life and encourage engagement.

Best Practices of Instagram Stories for Business

Branding with Instagram

To get followers on Instagram and compete with others in your industry, create content that is high-quality, visually pleasing, and valuable. Viewers will see content as ‘valuable’ if it is:

● Educational
● Entertaining
● Interesting
● Motivational

Optimize your Instagram profile

• Use a high-quality profile picture that represents your brand.
• Use your bio to precisely describe what your business does, how you serve clients and why you are expert in what you do. This will determine if someone will turn into a follower.
• Use your business name, not your personal name if possible. One that is consistent on all the platforms you use and accurately represents your brand.
• Add relevant Instagram hashtags to target your audience to help people understand what you do and what you offer so they will want to engage with your content.
• Instagram only allows one link in your bio, so maximize its use by sending traffic to your website or landing page.
• Instagram is a mobile platform so make sure you have a landing page optimized for mobile     
• To boost engagement, create a branded hashtag for your business
• Add a call-to-action to encourage followers to subscribe, to shop on your feed or to visit your website or landing page

Share Instagram Stories to Facebook

Facebook owns Instagram so you can post Instagram Stories to Facebook Stories. Just create your Instagram Story, click the send to button, and then tap the sharing options button at the top of the screen. You can turn on Facebook Story sharing for all posts or just the current one. This practice will increase your reach by a good deal.

Use Instagram Features

Creative touches such as unique captions and overlays make Stories different from traditional posts. You can use a variety of Apps for Instagram to make your photos pop such as Boomerang, Hype Type, Over and Adobe Spark that all have features specifically made for Stories. Take advantage of Instagram features like Questions Sticker and Polls, and share the results of the polls to make your Stories interactive.

Live Video – You can do live videos on Instagram just like on Facebook. Followers receive a push notification letting them know you’re going live. They can comment on or like your Live Video stream in real-time. after your video ends, it is gone and doesn’t save to your account.

Get an Instagram Business Profile

If you want to have your personal profile recognized as businesses, you can get a free Instagram Business profile that has additional features. You will need to have an Instagram personal profile first, but you will get additional features such as:

● Ad targeting
● A contact button
● Additional contact info: website, email, address, phone number
● Instagram Analytics
● Promoted Posts (Like Facebook “boosted” posts)
● Call-to-action buttons
● And more

Instagram analytics is a very useful extra feature that provides data that shows who your followers are when they’re online and more. Performance metrics on specific posts and stories provide insights into how your audience is engaging with your posts. Over 15 million companies are using Instagram Business, don’t be left behind your competition.

Run Stories ads

Using visual ads is vital, and it helps to be running a promotion that will interest your customers. In addition, you want to test multiple advertisements and advertising formats, including Instagram story video ads, Instagram story image ads, and Instagram story carousel ads. You can even incorporate Instant Experiences.

Go through Facebook Ads Manager and there you can create a new campaign and choose the Story placement.

To make sure you have a good ad promotion and are using great creative content that will convert:

Have a definite objective

Think about what you want to achieve with your ad campaign. Choose from these Stories ads objectives:

• Reach
• Brand Awareness
• Traffic
• Engagement
• App Installs
• Video Views
• Lead Generation
• Conversions

Use recommended ad dimensions

The same ad dimensions won’t work with all platforms. IG recommended ad sizes will make your feed ads and Stories ads have the most visibility.

Incorporate UGC & EGC

User-generated content (UGC) and employee-generated content (EGC) are great ways to build relationships with your audience with little work.

User-generated content

User-Generated Content is any content that has been created and added to your profile by followers that promotes your brand. It can be pictures, videos, tweets, blog posts, testimonials or other content
People love creating and sharing free content for brands, so it is cost-effective — you don’t have to spend money producing or promoting. Moreover, content posted by a customer is trusted more than content produced by the brand itself. Try adding UGC to your ad campaigns to give it extra credibility.

Run Instagram contests

One of the best ways to get a lot of user-generated content is to run Instagram contests because they rely solely on UGC. Instagram contests inspire followers to create the best content they can make about your brand or product to win a prize. Just make sure to monitor and moderate entries to keep control of your brand image and keep inappropriate pictures posted on your hashtag.

Employee Advocacy

Employee-generated content (EGC) such as videos, images or blogs, promoting your brand values, differentiators and benefits of your business are content that can build a deep relationship with your audience. Showcasing your employee’s content is motivational for them and gives your company a chance to stop talking about itself and demonstrate the content its experts are producing.

Use Hashtags

Hashtags you include in the caption of a specific Instagram post or in a comment are clickable and increase engagement expose your content to many more viewers. Users can click through directly from your photos to see other posts that use that hashtag. Also, make sure you create a branded hashtag for Instagram User Generated Content and encourage followers to post with that hashtag. hashtags than without using them.

Create Behind the Scenes Videos

Audiences like to know what happens behind the scenes in your company. Even if your business is successful, showing behind-the-scenes videos helps create a personal relationship with viewers. You can go live or post an IGTV video to gain instant attraction.

Categorized Stories highlights

Categorizing stories with headers make it easier for viewers to look through different events, products, and services of a business. Highlights are the perfect example of balancing all your resources into a single page. Highlights are just like a dashboard that comprises all the vital glimpses of your business from where viewers can select as per their requirements.

Use Instagram Stories Templates

Instagram Stories templates are pre-made layouts with graphics, text or animations you can edit to fit your stories. By using the same (or similar) templates for your Stories, you can create cohesive, branded stories that align with your business. They are a great starting point for creating your own stories posts and it makes it easier to work as a team on your Instagram account.

How one small business grew substantially using Instagram

HYDRO FLASK

This insulated water bottle company created ads in Instagram Stories and realized a whopping 80% increase in revenue!

Hydro Flask says their double-wall, vacuum-insulated, stainless steel water bottle keeps liquids “Colder. Hotter. Longer.”

How did they get their message out on IG so effectively?

To increase awareness and sell more of their products, this small business worked with a performance marketing agency to run ads on Instagram Stories. The Hydro Flask team followed best practices and created branded, engaging vertical videos promoting upcoming sales, new insulated water bottle colors, and a limited-edition Collection.

To reach the right audience they showed the video ads to lookalike audiences based on their most valuable customers. To increase the audience size more, they also added other interest-based audiences that aligned with the Hydro Flask brand and its ideal customers.
From November 2018 to February 2019, Hydro Flask realized the following compared to the previous 4-month period:

· 12,000 purchases
· 80% increase in revenue
· 16X return on ad spend

Impressive don’t you think? Let this and other success stories inspire you to add Instagram Stories to your social media marketing campaign. Read many others like this on Instagram Business Success Stories.

Some tips to increase engagement

When posting your Instagram stories do these things:
● Plan a cohesive story ahead of time
● Choose the best time to post
● Add a link to your website
● Add a poll sticker
● Crowdsource opinions from customers
● Give viewers a unique offer
● Go behind the scenes
● Include focused hashtags
● Make an impact in the first 4-5 seconds
● Shoot your story vertically
● Turn one long video into multiple stories
● Use calls to action
● Use Geo-tagging to specify your audience
● Share time-sensitive deals and specials

Let’s hear your story!

If you need help with social media marketing with Instagram or Facebook, at PrimeView we have a whole team ready to serve you! Let us help you create your Instagram stories and spread the word about your brand. We can certainly help you achieve your goals.

Contact us today or fill out a request for proposal and we will get back to you ASAP.

User-generated content caught people by surprise. This is why some call it a phenomenon of the digital age. By definition, it’s when the users are the ones who provide the content of a page. It consists of reviews, comments and chat forums among others. It has become a category in SEO because user-generated content has been, believe or not, more trusted by other people than regular content.

Several business owners make the crucial mistake of focusing their energy on products and services, not recognizing that the key to success is not just from what the business offers. Reaching success is also present in your ability to reach customers and how you can persuade them to invest. In a nutshell, marketing is the essential element to any business’ success.

Before the Internet took the world by storm, marketing, especially to the masses, was challenging and expensive. Although the Internet and its accessibility have changed drastically in the last decade, it does not mean there is no place for traditional marketing strategies alongside Internet marketing.

Allow us to weigh the advantages of these two marketing methods:

Understanding Traditional Marketing

Traditional marketing (now referred to as offline marketing) is a broad category involving the promotional strategies used before the Internet. Today, it is still the most recognizable marketing method, which encompasses advertisements we see and hear every day. The majority of traditional marketing strategies fall under one of four categories, including print, broadcast (radio and television), direct mail, and telephone.

Benefits of Traditional Marketing

Even in the digital age, there are great reasons to incorporate old-school marketing strategies, including:

• Reach hard-to-get customers. Believe it or not, 11% of U.S. adults do not use the internet, according to a survey conducted by Pew Research Center. Seniors are the primary age group unlikely to go online, and traditional methods may be the only means to reach this particular group of consumers.

• Woo your clients in person. Internet marketing is convenient in a sense that you rarely have to travel to communicate with a client in person. However, you should not underestimate the effectiveness of traditional face-to-face marketing. Meeting in person allows you to do impressive demonstrations and later read their body language to see if they are genuinely interested in working with you. Furthermore, many customers prefer doing business with people they have met personally.

• Billboards are not a thing of the past. Each week, the average American drivers spend 20 hours traveling over 200 miles. Furthermore, 71% of Americans consciously look at billboard messages while driving, and those who learn about an event or restaurant via traditional ads later pay to visit.

• Hard copy material provides tangible information. Search engine optimization and paid media do great jobs of attracting leads and prospects, but there is still something unique and compelling about a meeting sealed with a business card exchange (which they can refer to at their leisure). This type of traditional marketing makes it incredibly easy to provide information on the go.

Understanding Digital Marketing

Digital marketing, also known as internet marketing, e-marketing, or web marketing, is an all-inclusive term for promoting products and services online.

While the more obvious purpose of internet marketing is to sell goods, services, or advertise your brand over the Internet, your business can build itself by conduct competitor analyses and by learning from your online customers’ feedback and preferences. Online marketing is a very effective way to identify your target market or discover a marketing segment’s wants and needs.

Today, every brick and mortar business can (and should) use the widely available Internet to their advantage and leverage it for marketing purposes.

At PrimeView, we offer a broad selection of digital marketing services, including web design and development, search engine optimization (SEO), social media management, content marketing, pay-per-click advertising, video optimization, email marketing, and reputation management.

Benefits of Digital Marketing

Marketing via the Internet allows your business to reach target audiences more efficiently. Other pros include:

• Measure your marketing success (and failures). Tools like Google Analytics can help you see which methods are bringing prospects, leads, and conversions to your business, including which ones are not. This way, you can alter your marketing practices and focus your efforts on what works.

• Engage and network anytime, anywhere. Social media is a powerful tool that not only allows you to communicate directly with your market, but also share relevant news and information for absolutely free. It is by far the fastest and easiest way to build direct relationships with your clients and prospects. Further, it is an excellent platform for receiving quick feedback on what your target market likes and dislikes.

• Spend less money. Traditional marketing billboards can cost anywhere between $300 to $30,000 per four-week period, which equates to $3,600 to $360,000 per year. Although digital marketing strategy prices may vary depending on which services you integrate into your business, many online marketing tools and methods are free.

Which Type of Marketing Is Best for Your Small Business?

A company can leverage both traditional and digital marketing methods to achieve their goals. It does not have to be one or the other because while one approach might be more effective at drawing leads and analyzing results, it does not mean the other is any less effective. For instance, a television ad might pull in many prospects, but so can the same ad on YouTube for far less money.

The real question should not be what type of marketing is best, but instead, which method offers the best way to reach your audience and convert them into customers. Fact is, there are strategies in both traditional and Internet marketing that will work to your advantage.

Speak with a Professional Marketing Strategist Today

Are you having a hard time figuring out which method – traditional or online – works best for your business? PrimeView, a pioneering digital marketing agency in Phoenix, AZ can help determine which option is the best for your audience. Dial 480-970-4688 to speak with our strategist about improving or rebuilding your company’s marketing strategy. You may also complete our online form to receive a free quote. We look forward to hearing from you.

Several people on the internet gain thousands, if not millions, of loyal followers who buy whatever product or service the influencer posts or writes about. As a small business owner, you can now leverage on this new form of marketing technique.

Role of Social Media and Content Marketing

Influencer marketing campaigns often goes hand-in-hand with two other forms of marketing: Social Media Marketing and Content Marketing.

In campaigns that include social media, influencers use their personal accounts to talk about a brand. Some of today’s most popular social media channels for influencer marketing include:

• Instagram.

  This social media powerhouse boasts a 3.21% engagement rate compared to the average of 1.5% across channels.

• Youtube.

  According to 18% of consumers, this leading video sharing site impacts purchasing decisions.

• Pinterest.

  This often underestimated platform is not only full of consumers, but 87% of its users admit to having purchased something because of Pinterest.

Content marketing is also a crucial component of an influencer campaign. Several influencers gain rampant popularity for their natural ability to sell or promote products. Thus, you can either give an influencer complete creative freedom, or ensure that they hit the high points of your brand by providing a script.

Why Your Small Business Should Invest in Influencer Marketing

Whether or not you like it, influencer marketing is today’s hottest social media marketing trend. In fact, 23% of marketers across industries and countries plan to increase their influencer spending by 30-50%. If you are not among them, here are nine reasons to include social media influencers in your next marketing campaign:

1. Maximize the power of word of mouth

Even you can attest that people trust the opinions of friends and family over the direct messaging of brands. 90% of consumers claim they value recommendations from people they know. Although consumers may not know an influencer personally, their biggest advantage is that they are trusted by their followers and can impact buying decisions. This is the very reason brands hire big-ticket ambassadors and endorsers — because people love and trust them. However, instead of appearing on televised commercials, which costs quite a pretty penny, hiring someone influential to post about your brand on widely available and free platforms is less expensive and yet still effective.

2. Establish trust and loyalty

Did you know only 4% of consumers trust marketing tactics? Fortunately, if there is one thing influencers have successfully established, it is the trust and loyalty they have with their audience — an essential marketing tool.

3. Advertise authentically

Aside from your own marketing and advertising efforts, you can admit that other online ads get on your nerves, too. In fact, internet users around the world are growing increasingly frustrated with online ads, which manifests in the rising popularity of ad blockers. Social media influencers have perfected the art of selling authentically with their personalized approach, which rarely appears too sales-like. Many social influencers are famous for being unapologetically themselves, which can help you overcome the trend of robotic, rehearsed marketing.

4. Get high organic reach

At the beginning of 2018, Facebook announced a major algorithm change that decreases brands’ organic reach in favor of more “meaningful” person-to-person interactions. If you work with influencers, you barely have to worry about this algorithm tweak. Since influencer content generates high engagement, it can help your brand surface in news feeds organically.

5. Deliver your message to a niche audience

Several launched websites and businesses remain unaware of their identity and target audiences — especially the niche ones. Social influencers specialize in magnetizing niche communities in one place and can significantly help your brand appeal to smaller, more specific user groups. Partnering with an influencer with a diverse audience can spark new life into your brand, as their endorsement will reach different types of individuals. Once they start promoting your brand, their followers will become more and more interested in learning about your brand. Over time, you are sure to see increased growth in a new, valued audience or market.

6. Generate quality leads

50% of marketers claim that influencer marketing paved the way to attracting quality leads to their business. Since social media influencers allow you to tap into precise audiences with tailored content, there is a great possibility that your message will resonate and drive conversions.

7. Boost your revenue

Better quality leads can only mean more conversions for your business, and more conversions result in higher returns on investment. In fact, a study concludes that incorporating influencers in your marketing strategy can boost your revenue by 11 times, which is tangible proof of the effectiveness of influencer marketing.

8. Improve your SEO ranking

There is so much more to social media influencers than posting photos or videos about a brand. You also have the option to collaborate on their blog sites. Having an influencer mention your brand on their blog can generate high-quality backlinks to your website, which will improve your Google search engine page ranking.

9. Level the playing field with your competitors (or get the upper hand)

92% of marketers found working with influencers incredibly useful in 2017, and 39% of marketers plan on increasing their influencer marketing budget in 2018. These numbers prove that several businesses are already reaping the benefits of working with influencers. If you are not one of them yet, it is time to practice more modern marketing strategies to ensure that your business survives the digital age.

The Takeaway

No matter what industry, state, or country you operate in, leveraging on the undeniable prowess of social media influencers will help you achieve your marketing goals engagingly and creatively. Whether you need help finding the perfect influencer for your brand, or seek aid in building your marketing strategy from the ground up, PrimeView is the leading provider of e-solutions in Phoenix, Arizona. Get a free quote today by calling us at 480-970-4688.

Social media is not and never will be limited to sharing personal experiences, and a lot of business entrepreneurs have caught on. Social media plays a significant role in online marketing. It gives marketers a way to communicate with existing customers and prospects through a medium that acts as their voice. It personalizes brands and helps spread messages in a relaxed and conversational way.

In 2017, 71% of internet users were social network users, and the numbers are only expected to grow. But what exactly is everyone using right now? Take a look at this updated roundup of social media sites to see which ones are currently dominating the 21st century.

Facebook

There’s no question that Facebook is one of the top social networking sites on the web. With more than 1.59 billion users, Facebook dominates with the largest blend of demographics for any social platform. For business entrepreneurs, Facebook provides an extraordinary medium to connect with prospective customers from all over the world. From an advertising perspective, it’s also the easiest platform to manage and allows for the best possible targeting.

Youtube

When it comes to uploading, watching, and sharing online videos, no other website can compete with Youtube. Despite being owned by Google, YouTube is the second largest search engine and is recognized as a separate social network from its parent.

From personal vlogs to music videos and movies — YouTube has it all. Aside from the ads that pop up in almost every video, everyone’s a fan of how Youtube provides a space for internet users to watch quality content for free. YouTube also has a premium subscription option called YouTube Red, which removes all advertisements from videos. More recently, the thriving social media beast also offers YouTubeTV, a separate live streaming subscription service.

Instagram 

Ever since its release in 2010, Instagram has continued to grow as one of the most popular social networking sites for photo sharing, particularly on the mobile web. It is also the ultimate platform for sharing real-time photos and short videos while on the go.

Instagram is also a leading advertising platform for brands and influencers who generate income through the social media site.

Though initially, the app was limited to the iOS platform, it grew in popularity and expanded to Windows and Android, along with the web. In 2012, Instagram was bought for a whopping $1 billion by Facebook.

Twitter

Twitter is known as a public microblogging network where news breaks first. Most users loved it for its original, iconic 140-character limit (now 280 characters), and unfiltered feed that showed users absolutely everything in the form of tweets or short sentences.

Over the years, Twitter has changed dramatically. Developers have faced critique for altering the platform to look and function almost exactly like Facebook. Besides Twitter Card integration, which makes it easy to share all sorts of multimedia content through tweets, you can also expect to see algorithmic timelines coming to Twitter.

Reddit

Reddit is one of the few popular sites that never really had the most intricate design. But don’t let that fool you. Reddit has a robust and smart community of users who come together to discuss their topics of choice while sharing links, photos, and videos relevant to the subreddit thread they’re participating in.

Reddit AMAs are another unique feature, which allows users to ask hosting celebrities and other public figures questions. Reddit functions by displaying submitted links that get voted up or down by users and the topics that receive the most upvotes will get pushed to the first page of their subreddits.

Pinterest

Pinterest proves just how significant visual content has become on the internet by becoming a major player and game changer both in social networking and in the search world. As the fastest standalone site to reach 10 million monthly unique visits, Pinterest’s unique and intuitive pinboard-style function is one of the most enticing and helpful resources for collecting the best images, which you can easily categorize into separate boards.

Pinterest is also a growing e-commerce platform by featuring “Buy” buttons on pins of products sold by retailers.

Google+

Google+ became the fastest growing social network on the web when it debuted in the early summer of 2011, but nobody wanted another Facebook, which is why Google+ had been widely criticized for being a social platform that nobody ever uses.

Towards the end of 2015, Google+ had a makeover that aimed to differentiate them from Facebook. Google’s team decided to put more emphasis on their Communities and Collections features, which ultimately gave existing users more of what they wanted.

LinkedIn

If you are working in a B2B field, LinkedIn is the social media network for you to focus on. LinkedIn is like an online curriculum vitae, which is the ideal platform for professionals. Anyone who loves making new connections in order to advance their careers should take advantage of its features. Each profile is designed to look like a detailed resume, with sections for work experiences, achievements, certifications, educational attainments, volunteer works, and all sorts of other work-related information.

LinkedIn users can promote themselves and their businesses by establishing connections with other professionals, posting job ads, applying to jobs, interacting in group discussions, publishing articles to LinkedIn pulse, and so much more.

Snapchat

Snapchat is an entirely mobile-based social networking application that thrives on instant messaging. It’s one of the fastest growing apps out there and is the first to introduce something new to the table in a very long time. Building its popularity on the idea of “snaps,” you can send a photo or short video as a message to a friend, which automatically disappears a few seconds after they’ve viewed it. Snapchat also has a one-of-a-kind feature called Stories, which allows users to share snaps publicly whenever they want, but would disappear after an allotted 24 hours.

Unfortunately, when Snapchat CEO Evan Spiegel refused to sell the app to Facebook for $3 billion, the concept behind Snapchat was instead integrated into Instagram and Facebook’s systems. Nonetheless, people still love the app because of its originality.

Stand out in social media today.

Social media marketing assists in validating your brand. Your social media presence, when done correctly, tells consumers that your brand focused on thriving communication. If you require assistance in this field, PrimeView can help you strategize and find ways to maximize your social media visibility. Call us today at 480-970-4688 to request a free quote.

In a previous blog, we talked about the pillars of social media marketing, such as social media optimization, social bookmarking, social networking, and blogging. Today we will talk about the other components that help make a successful campaign – such as press releases and video distribution.

Press Releases

Social media press releases can be likened to traditional press releases, although in this sense they are distributed into social media. These press releases have the added benefit of being shareable, easily viewable, and distributed to a larger range of audience. For instance, your press releases can be found on search engines when someone looks for a query – and if they like your content, they can share it with their friends, too.

Now, the rule of the thumb when it comes to creating press releases online is to make them enticing to read. Experts say that press releases with images and videos tend to be more embraced by the public, over a press release that is purely text alone. Adding images and graphics to a press release can, therefore, increase the odds that it would be shared by a mile.

Now, here are a number of ways through which you can write a compelling press release:

• Have a catchy headline – Why do you think those click-bait articles work? Precisely because their headlines are about things that people want to read about! Having an interesting headline will make more people click the press release and read your message.
• Keep it short and sweet – There’s a reason that this has become a saying among journalists. Keeping your message concise and sweet is a great way to ensure that your audience is not bored with the content. Add all the pertinent on the first paragraph, then break down your press release into segments. This way, your readers would not be overwhelmed by the amount of information you have provided.
• Be credible – You can do this by citing references, presenting hard facts and numbers, as well as adding quotations from industry experts. This would help your content be recognized as a resource and not just clutter on the Internet. Likewise, add your contact details to the end of your content so that your audience would know where to reach out should they have any questions.
• Add share buttons – This is perhaps the most important thing you can do to keep your content more engaging – give people the option to share them! Giving people an easy option to share your content is a great way to spread your message since it can be shared with a single tap of the button.
• Think mobile – When you add buttons, images, videos, and other items to your press release, remember that majority of the people who would be reading it would be doing so from their mobile devices. Therefore, make sure that you do not clutter their mobile with unnecessary bandwidth. Display only what needs to be displayed, and make sure that the information would load even in the most challenging situations, such as when there is a poor internet connection.

Now that you know how to write an interesting press release, here’s what you need to know about the other pillar of social media marketing, video distribution.

What is video distribution?

Video distribution is the act of harnessing video-sharing websites such as Youtube to increase your brand retention, reputation, and spread your message. The world of videos continue to grow to staggering heights – just think of popular YouTubers and how big their following has become. However, it is not as simple as sitting in front of a camera and acting goofy: when you’re running a business, you need more than that to be viral.

How so? A good social media marketing campaign harnesses the power of video. Some companies tap advertising companies and big production houses to create compelling video advertisements for them. These advertisements are catchy, and, depending on the brand, can also be heartwarming. Other brands prefer their videos to be edgy and sophisticated.

When it comes to video distribution, one of the ways through which you can ensure that your video would get millions of views is to have a compelling storyline. If you’re trying to build brand retention, then you can have a video that talks about what you do and what sets you apart from your competitors. However, remember that there are millions, if not trillions, of videos on the internet today. You would have to ask yourself what would actually help your video stand out from the rest.

This is where a good interactive marketing and web design company can help you with. A good company will be able to help you create an engaging video that would speak volumes about your brand while at the same time foster engagement among those who will view it. How so? These companies know your audience and would understand what would be relatable to these audiences. For example, if you are a repair shop that specializes in farm trucks, then the web marketing company can come up with a witty storyline that talks about how having working farm trucks helped families survive.

At the end of the day, it all boils down to your messaging. Of course, a video is just a small part of a social media marketing campaign – but it is one of the factors that can easily sway your campaign in your favor. After all, there is nothing people like more than a good story – and if you can create a video in such a way that makes it interesting, and distribute it in such a way that will make your audience want to speak to you to talk about your services – then you know that you’ve won half the battle.

In Conclusion

There are many factors that can affect a social media marketing campaign. Its pillars – social media networking, blogging, bookmarking, video distribution, and press releases – all work together to bring your company’s best image forward. However, your success relies on the company that you chose to work for you – so make sure you choose one with a proven track record of success.

Achieve Social Media Success

Social media can be used for generating massive amounts of revenue or it can be a massive waste of time. Be well on your way to social media success by letting PrimeView implement these pillars to your brand. Call us at 480-970-4688 to request a free proposal.

Social media marketing (SMM) is defined as “a form of Internet marketing that utilizes social networking websites as a marketing tool. The goal of SMM is to produce content that users will share with their social network to help a company increase brand exposure and broaden customer reach,” according to Tech Target.

Over time, however, the term was used to denote several other things, some of them not even under the scope of SMM. In this blog, we’re going to walk you through the common practices under SMM and briefly discuss each pillar.

Social Media Optimization

Social media optimization (SMO), often confused with search engine optimization (SEO), is “a strategy for drawing new and unique visitors to a website,” according to the same source as above. This is performed in a number of ways, such as through social networking, social bookmarking, blogging, press releases, and video distribution, among others.

SMM is very important to businesses since it enables them to receive direct feedback from potential and existing customers. With the click of a button, customers can reach out and connect with the brand to discuss their issues, concerns, and questions. In turn, these concerns are easily remedied by the brand in a more effective and efficient manner. Aside from this, SMO also enables the company to make its brand more relatable, bolstering its presence and online reputation in a wide array of the digital communities.

When an SMM campaign is executed properly, companies can experience a stronger brand presence and visibility, as well as an improved brand retention among their target demographics. What’s more, it also increases the company’s trust rating as the brand is thereby recommended not only by paid endorsers but also previous customers.

Think of it this way: SEO puts your company on top of search engine results pages. SMO transforms your brand into a top-of-mind solution for your products, particularly when your target demographics are scouring social media for a solution.

How to have a successful SMO campaign

Unfortunately, SMO is not something that can fit a cookie-cutter method. It usually requires trial and testing, paying special attention to the company’s strengths and weaknesses. Essentially, the weaknesses are strengthened, and the strengths are displayed on social media for all to see.

Yet a seemingly common narrative among SMO experts is that companies should learn how to engage their audiences, particularly in prominent social networking sites. They should also learn how to curate relevant and timely industry news so that they would be considered as authorities for their industries.

Components of an SMO campaign

There are a number of things you can attach to an SMO campaign, but for the sake of this blog, we are going to talk about three: social networking, social bookmarking, and blogging. These five are among the most effective way of boosting a company’s brand. 

1. Social Networking – social networking is defined as “the practice of expanding the number of one’s business and/or social contacts by making connections through individuals,” according to Tech Target. This includes managing the brand’s social networking sites, such as Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, or Google+.

A social networking campaign can do wonders for a company depending on its demographics. For instance, a company that is heavy on images can take advantage of Instagram and post enticing images that would captivate its target audience. Companies can also take advantage of community management, one of the facets of handling their social media presence.

Community management is the act of interacting with potential and existing clients on social networking platforms, from social networking sites to blogs. This involves the easy way social media users can reach out to the brands and air out their inquiries and concerns. This way, the concerns are addressed in a more efficient and engaging manner.

2. Social Bookmarking – Lifewire defines this practice as “simply tagging a web page with a web-based tool so you can easily access it later.” Social bookmarking sites such as Delicious and Connotea enable users to save their bookmarks online so they can access them wherever they are. They can also send these social bookmarks to their friends and see what other people find interesting. By using social bookmarking, companies would be to spread the links to their website and other pertinent online collaterals, while at the same time keeping an eye on what their demographics are finding as important and relevant.

3. Blogging – A few years ago, content changed the way search engines rank pages. Search engines used to rank web pages based on their authority and how SEO-friendly they were. Today, a lot of those techniques are still being used, but search engines now consider the relevancy of the content and how it would add value to the user.

That being said, blogging is the process of posting news pieces or an article on a blogging site or on the company’s webpage. The goal of this is to become an industry authority so that those who are interested in the industry would follow the blog. To rank effectively, companies would have to ensure that their blog articles are unique and are newsworthy, in the sense that it would enhance user experience rather than just clutter the Internet.

Each company has its own set of rules for what accounts as newsworthy or what should be shared on the Internet. Some even make the use of video blogs (vblogs) which also taps into the power of video distribution sites. Whatever the case, the goal of blogs is to humanize the brand to make it more appealing and relevant to the consumer. This means the customer would be able to understand the intricacies of the industries from a trusted subject matter expert.

These are just some of the more detailed aspects of social media marketing. It is worth pointing out that there are other components that make a social media marketing campaign successful. In a next blog, we will discuss other techniques, such as press releases and video distribution, as well as talk about the difference of community management and social media management. 

Click here to read part two of The Pillars of Social Media Marketing.

Attract more social media views today

Social media either generates massive amounts of revenue or be a complete waste of time and money — unless you entrust social media marketing tasks to the right team. Be well on your way to social media success by letting PrimeView implement these pillars to your brand. Call us at 480-970-4688 to request a free proposal.

With over one billion websites in the World Wide Web, it is more complicated to determine what the truth is, versus what are hoaxes. The number of fraudulent websites is on the rise as well, while scams become more convoluted and creative. Due to this, research such as for the academe and industry trends, have become complicated as well.

Today, you have to double check each reference to ensure that you are citing the right figures, and that your source is not biased towards a topic, as well as to ensure that there is no conflict of interest. How so? Think of it this way: a study that leans towards the success of a particular medicine and is published on the website of the pharmaceutical company would have some people doubt the results. However, if the same results were published by a reputable medical journal, then the findings would be accepted as credible and authentic.

You can apply the same principle with your website. There are a number of ways through which you can gain the trust of your audience, as well as become their go-to-source on topics that are relevant to your business. To do this, you must become an authority on certain topics and to turn your website into a resource page for it.

Does it sound complicated? Don’t be intimidated. Here are some tips on how you can increase your trust rating among your website visitors.

• Design Matters

  In a study published by the New York Technology Council, it has been emphasized that businesses only have six seconds to make a lasting impression on a web page visitor. That said, this means you only have six seconds to impress them with your relevance and authority. However, how can you convince them that you are the right company for the job, if you only have six seconds to convince them to stay on your website.

  The answer lies on a sophisticated and professionally done website. If your website is reeking of templates and flashy display that is oftentimes seen on scrupulous websites, then your web visitors would be quick to click the “X” icon.

  This doesn’t mean that your web design is the only thing that is up for scrutiny. Web visitors would also check out your content and see if you have anything relevant to offer them. Therefore, if you have obvious grammar or spelling mistakes, then they would be quick to leave your site as well.

  The take away on this item would be this: make sure that your website appears professional, and you have no glaring grammatical or misspellings. This way, a single browse at your website would give your visitors the impression that you are trustworthy.

• Convince Them

  After focusing on your web design and content, you need to further convince your web visitors to stay on your pages. You can do this by putting badges and testimonials on your website, or at least prominent logos of your previous clients. This way, you would be igniting a “me too” facet in every person who wants to be a part of something successful.

  Likewise, if you are offering products or services on your website, then you can put logos of your merchants and/or payment methods, such as PayPal. This would be able to reassure your viewers at a glance that you wouldn’t just run off with their money as they would be able to see a logo they easily recognize.

  Finally, try to incorporate an RSS feed on your website. This way, your visitors would be able to see that your company is also active on social media, and they would be able to see the number of fans you have on your page. Assuming that you have at least 20,000 fans on your Facebook page, then your visitors would be reassured that you’re the real deal: after all, 20,000 fans couldn’t be wrong.

• Be Showy

  This doesn’t mean flashy designs filled with marquees; rather, you need to show off your accomplishments. Aside from the testimonials and logos of your former clients, do you have any awards and certifications you can display prominently on your website? Having certifications would go a long way in convincing potential clients that you have what it takes to provide their needs.

• Be Relatable

  After showing off your professionalism and abilities with your sophisticated design, and convincing them to stay by showing off your testimonials, accomplishments, previous clients, and social media presence, then it would be time to be their friend. Visitors react positively to websites that seem to “speak” to them, in the sense that the web page seems to have the information they sorely need.

  You can do this by providing timely and authoritative content about common inquiries in your industry, as well as giving them credible content on other interesting topics. You should also put the faces of your key personnel on the website, as it would be easier for web visitors to trust a website if they can put a face to the nameless entity they are about to contact for services.

• Be Approachable

  Once you’re sure that your potential clients would have an idea of what you do, who your previous clients are, and why you are the right company for the job, you would have to be easily approachable. Provide your contact information, as well as your physical address, and your emails. If you have other platforms through which your clients can contact you, then indicate them as well.

  Providing many ways of communications would ensure your clients that your business is being run professionally, as you would have the staff to monitor all these forms of communication. This includes your social media pages – make sure that your community managers are competent enough to respond to all the concerns of your fans.

The Bottom Line

Once you follow these tips, you would hopefully be on your way to increasing your trust rating. Remember, people would only buy from businesses or entities that they are sure would be able to provide the service and would not scam them. It is therefore imperative for you to send the right impression from the get-go.

Img c/o Pixabay.

What is a viral social post? Simply put, it is the online equivalent of word-of-mouth marketing. Viral media content can come in many forms – a blog post, infographic, a Vine video – but created in such a way that those who chanced upon the content will not only be persuaded to check its entirety but also be will be compelled to share it with others.

How does viral content help promote your business? Going viral is a fast and cost-effective way of promoting your brand. It is also one of the most current steps in maintaining a positive online presence. A viral video or story will leave a big impact on your target audience, which in turn strengthens brand or business recall.

So what makes a social media post go viral? It’s challenging to define what makes a post spread like wildfire since there are specific yet complex indication for one. However, there are general elements that you can take into account when attempting to create highly shareable social media content.

1. Appeal to the emotions.

A good social media post evoke emotions for its viewer. Whether it be an animated short, a video clip, or a status read, social media posts often go viral because it arouses different emotions in the viewer. This is the basis why some of the more popular social media sites like Facebook branched out their Like and Share buttons, integrating emoticons as new features. This way, viewers and readers can easily put in what they feel at the moment when sharing content.

2. Inspire.

Some of the more common content that daily make their rounds in social media are inspirational quotes, stories, and video shorts. Being inspired while reading or viewing social media content has a different, yet positive, impact for people.

3. Go for simple yet meaningful messages.

Messages should be short enough that it can get the attention right at first glance but meaningful enough to leave a strong impression to the reader or viewer. How you present content also depends on what type of post it will be. For example, if it is a how-to tutorial, make the steps simple enough that beginners can get started as easily as advanced-level viewers.

4. Content should be relevant.

Make social media posts relevant by creating them “in the vernacular.” Tailoring words to suit the audience, selecting the appropriate images, and sharing content through the appropriate medium make people relate to the post, which in turn coerce them into sharing it to others.

5. Know your audience and their issues.

Most viral social media posts cater to specific audience. For example, when Dove created its “Real Beauty Sketches” campaign, it targeted women and a real-world issue which is body image perception. In the ad, a forensic artist who worked with the FBI draws forensic sketches of everyday, real women based on their own description. After which, the same artist draws the same women based on the descriptions of complete strangers. By making the campaign relevant to women and sticking to a current issue, the ad quickly gained a foothold in social media.

6. Be proactive in suggesting shared content.

While having hashtags or promoting your brand indirectly also works, a proactive approach in sharing content can also be a factor for viral posts. One way of making sure that people share your content is incentivizing every share and like. Some big-name companies like Grab and Airbnb continue to use this approach, giving people incentives like sweepstakes rewards or bonus points for sharing their content.

READ: 17 Secrets to Keep Your Content Fresh and Engaging

7. Ride on trends.

Facebook and Twitter have long used hashtags, and their proper use can make your content be on the trending list. Posts which are relevant to current events, give positive impact, and use the right kind of hashtags often stay on top of notification feeds and are regularly shared by people.

8. Make posts safe for everyone.

Social media posts can often be traced back to those who have already shared it. Meanwhile, social media users care about their online reputation, and most readers check out content thoroughly before sharing them. NSFW content and those that looks to be hack posts are often left unshared, particularly since improvements on the Timeline and notification feeds on some social media websites already make it possible to check details on shared content available at first glance.

9. Engage your audience.

Some of the more recent viral content were not only shared by audience but also went viral because of audience participation and reaction. For instance, one viral post is “The Dress,” where an image of a dress has been posted online, sparking a debate on what is the dress’ color combination. It gained interest in social media and ignited the Team White and Gold against Team Blue and Copper.

10. Concentrate on a platform.

The way social media websites are set up recently, you can quickly post on one and have it go viral on another. This way, you can easily concentrate on a single platform. For example, if you just want to connect with people via short messages and daily reminders, consistent posts on Twitter may do it. Meanwhile, your account can be linked to other social media websites, so every tweet can be easily shared on Facebook or LinkedIn.

11. Post at the right schedules.

Different social media platforms have different peak hours, and familiarizing with their schedules optimizes content sharing. Some target audiences like workers and employees generally glance at their social media feeds towards the beginning or ending of their work days. Meanwhile, weekend posts are generally seen on weekend nights, since most people have already planned their activities for the whole day.

Should you scrap keyword research altogether?

Well, not really. Keyword research is still essential in internet marketing, as they can be helpful in topic discovery and tailoring content according to what your target audience usually searches for. However, insisting on using exact keyword matches no longer bears so much weight on where you’ll land on the SERPs.

READ: SEO Practices of the Past that You Need to Stop Doing Today

Here’s how keyword research come into play today. For instance, you want to rank for the keyword best hotel in Arizona. In the past, you need to include that exact phrase in the title of your article and about three to four times within the body. But now, you don’t need to stress over how to weave in exact keyword matches in your content, because search engines has the capability to gauge whether your content answers or relates to those search terms or not. So as long as you stick to the topic and provide substantial information related to it, you’re fine. In fact there are cases when you unconsciously get to use certain variations of a particular keyword, because they just come out naturally as you tailor content.

Now that we’ve put keywords exact match aside, what should you pay more attention to when creating an internet marketing strategy? Here are four elements that you should prioritize.

1. User Experience

Throughout the years, Google has done a great job of tailoring its algorithm to generate search results that are most beneficial to users. Thanks to that, manipulative techniques are now the bane of SEO and internet marketing.

So, if you want to rank, reach more people, and increase your conversions, you need to be more user-oriented and provide them an excellent experience in your website. So how do you do that?

• Easy navigation – When people go to your site, they are looking for information. But information, no matter how good, will all be for nothing if people can’t find it. Make sure that your website is easy to navigate so that people can see what they’re looking for

• Functional design and layout – Your website should have a clean look and every button, section, link, and element should have a purpose. Don’t put something there just for the sake of “design”. People are more compelled to stay in a functional and uncluttered

• Informative content – Content comes in many forms—from articles, infographics to videos. Provide variety to people, but make sure that each content, regardless of what form, should not just be relevant, but also original. Sure, you will have to gather information from different sources, but what will make it standout is your unique touch or voice, which is what users will not find elsewhere.

2. Provide Something of Value to Customers

Today, it’s no longer about telling people what they should know. It’s more of providing information that they want to know or see. So on top of excellent web design and well-crafted content, consider providing the following:

• Mobile app – A report shows that 30% of e-commerce conversions are generated through mobile, with smartphones leading the pack. Furthermore, app conversion rates are 120 percent higher than conversions coming from mobile and desktop browsers. Meanwhile, estimates show that smartphone users are expected to grow by 2.6 billion in 2016. Now that’s a lot of people you can reach, and developing a mobile app can help you do exactly that.

• Freebies – You have a business and your goal is to increase revenue. That’s why you do internet marketing, right? However, giving people something of value without asking for any fee shows that you’re really keen on helping them. That’s how you build relationship and trust. Examples of freebies are downloadable e-books, free trials, coupons, discounts, or perks.

3. Conversion Rates

Sometimes, people need a little nudge in order to convert or perform an action that you want them to take. Here are some of the ways that you can compel them to do so:

• Increase click-through-rates – You can optimize your meta tags to increase click-through rates in SERPs listings. Meta tags are basically text embedded within your HTML code, title and description. Keywords in your meta tags should coincide with your content, so that search engines will recognize relevance with your site and niche.

• Call-to-actions – Place call-to-actions in different parts of the site. However you present your call-to-actions, make sure that you craft them accordingly so that they will standout and can be easily seen.

• Forms – Make sure all forms are functional and optimized for mobile use. Keep them short and avoid unnecessary fields.

4. Online Presence

Having a website is essential, but it’s not enough if you want to have a strong online presence. If you want to send people buzzing about you, here are some of the ways that can help you become remarkable in the realm of online platforms.

• Social Media – Regular postings is essential, but social media is not just for that. It’s also for establishing relationship with users, other influencers, potential clients, and like-minded entities and individuals within your niche. This is how you build your network, which will lead to a boost in your reach, reputation, and ultimately, ranking.

• Social Link Building – Forums and Q&As are great for link building, but you shouldn’t just focus on that when participating in these platforms. You can also maximize them by building a reputation in the community and encouraging others to check out your website or brand, which will pave way for conversion opportunities.

• E-mail Marketing – In some cases, it would also pay to go directly to your subscribers. Deliver the latest news about the company, articles in the blog, and new promotions straight to their inbox. It’s a personal approach that lets people know that you remember them and that they matter to you.

Today, internet marketing revolves around value and relevance. When you live by those principles in crafting and implementing your strategy, half of your battle for success is already won.