Earlier this week on Blab, we did our show talking about Snapchat at a really basic and superficial level. I’ll be honest I’ve only used it personally a few times in the last 6 months, and don’t know all there is to know about the application. So Bess and I figured we’d learn a little bit about it and discuss it on the show.
The main thing I’d like to mention though is this, there are many social media channels out there. While Snapchat is pretty popular of lately, that doesn’t mean it’s the main network for you to shift all of your focus on. You’re really going to want to think about where and why you’d use it, and the benefits that you’ll be making to your audience. Just below this video are some great links to read to learn more about it and some ideal use cases. Be sure to share and let me know your thoughts in the comments below!
This week’s Blab was a rapid fire one! We dished out a bunch of apps, websites, tips, and tools for social media, engagement, websites and more. When I think back at it, it really was a LOT!
The objective at the beginning of any year is to do more and do better. With that be sure to try out some of the tools and tips mentioned in this replay. And if you do try some of these out be sure to let me know in the comments below.
Lastly be sure to scroll past the video to see the show notes!
Show Notes:
If This Than That A free tool for automating functions for when you do or post something, a function happens as a result.
Hot Jar A “freemium” website analytic tool to see what your visitors are reading on your website with heat maps and more.
OneShot For highlighting screenshots and quickly sharing to Twitter (iOS only)
Just this morning Bess Auer and I hosted a show on Blab. If you’re not familiar with Blab, it’s a cool new video platform that works with Twitter in the like of Periscope, yet can allow for up to four people to be shown “Brady Bunch” style at once. My first time being on a Blab was with Bess the week of Florida Blog Con. We got on there to talk about the upcoming conference, the speakers, what attendees could expect and more. Viewers are able to sign in via Twitter, and engage with us and others via the chat bar on the right and ask questions, comments, share and more.
Below is a Blab from this morning where we spoke with Joshua Johnson, Dan McGaw, Chef Dennis, and more about how to use Blab, as well as other ways to tell a story about your brand or initiative online. It was a great show and I insist you click play to watch and listen.
Bess and I will be continuing this #BlogTalkTuesday show each Tuesday morning at 10:10AM. Be sure to subscribe here for our next show for October 20th.
These days in just about everything we do, we’re just about accustomed to seeing a commercial, banner, popup, or some type of advertisement trying to get our attention. Even if the attention is only for a few seconds, winning our eyes for just those seconds can change our buying patters and perceptions to brands in a big way. While I won’t get into the science of marketing and mind control, I’ll keep this on topic for social media and the landscape.
I don’t think any social network can solicit ads better than Facebook. They’ve integrated targeted ads at the bottom of images, post threads, and the sidebars. While to most avid users of Facebook, one can train themselves to continue to use the social network and easily ignore the ads. Today I noticed my first sponsored ad in my stream of Instagram. I was a little shocked because I pretty much know all the people I follow and used to the normal content. That all changed when I saw this ad for a TV show that took my by complete surprise.
There have been plans for incorporating ads into IG I think before the Facebook buyout, but with Facebook doing what they already do well, I think ads were inevitable. Anyways, so the ad (see the screenshot below) was a high resolution photo with a TNT logo embedded and that was my first tip off. While a bit subtle it was noticed. There wasn’t enough for me to get a real gist of the program but there was a hashtag and a time and date for the next show on the network.
There was about 42 comments and I think there is where all the comedy was. Some people were complaining for seeing the add, some identified the actor with praise, and of course plenty of sarcasm.
But What Does All This Mean for Avid Instagram Users?
Will you entertain paying big money to advertise your brand, services, products on the powerhouse that is IG? I’ll ask you a better question, how are you currently selling or reselling your brand to your existing audience? Your website is your information stream. People come to it daily for information, there should be subtle ways for you to turn something into revenue. Whether that stream comes from eyes to your website, then a call to action, then an email to buy something at a discount, there should be something in place. Especially if your business is structured to have reoccurring or frequent users – you have their eyes at attention that should be introduced (softly) to strategically placed similar products, well placed ads, or something that encourages an emotion to further engage with your business.
Why You Shouldn’t Be Afraid
Sure I mentioned earlier that most of us are trained to ignore ads and commercial offerings, you must remember why people are using a service, website, or app in the first place. They’ve already been sold on it. So unless something comes around offering a better experience all around, and everyone they know have moved, they’re not going anywhere. Sure some will complain but they’ll continue to use it because all of their friends and coworkers still use it.
I remember when the threat of photo ownership was at risk in IG and people had a mass exodus from the site deleting photos and terminating accounts like it was an Occupy Wall Street protest. I was in the number by the way – (no shame). Then I came back with a new handle and a new perspective on what I decide to post and what I’ll reserve for my own publishing.
You can’t be obnoxious with your offerings and sales pitches. You’ve gotta slide them in there in a real subtle and non-obtrusive way. You also have to make it something that will spark engagement. Even if some it will be negative. Some of the negative will serve as good feedback on how to do better.
How Can You Tell If It Is Working?
Google Analytics is your best friend. Use it. Setup a benchmark for when you’re going to launch your new campaigns and compare that to what was happening on your website a month prior. Even to the week before, see what your numbers look like. See what your sign ups look like. See what your sales are like. See what your emails are like.
Sales Trigger Ideas?
Here are some ideas you can use:
A call to action with a form
A popup window on entry or exit of your website tied to your mailing list (I would suggest MailChimp)
Create new and keyword rich landing pages
Once a day try offering a special deal to one of your more engaged followers on each of your social media accounts. (tell them they one a free something or discounted something)
Create a timed sale or discount. One that has to be used within a certain period of time that day or within the next 24 hours. This will create a sense of urgency
Cross promote your brand with an associated business or service
Invite your followers to post pictures on their social apps with your products (something branded) and tag/mention you
Create your own ads that are linked back to your products when sending out emails
These are just a few ideas, there are plenty more out there. Why not share your efforts and ideas in the comments below and lets have a discussion!
Ah, the beauty of a New England fall season…The crisp air, apple cider donuts and many trees display the multifaceted colors of fall. Content consumption trends this fall are just as varied as trees lining I-90 to the Berkshires. As a device dependent nation, the consumers of content have pushed both manufacturers and marketers to infinite boundaries – a flurry of multifaceted demands to have everything we want (or think we need) at our fingertips all hours of every day. So for mobile technology, Fall 2013 is blowing in with many winds of change for the content consumption marketplace.
Will the PC become obsolete? According to Digital Trends, “research firms have been informing us for some time now that sales of desktops and laptops are on the decline, with consumers turning increasingly to reasonably priced tablets and smartphones that do more than enough to keep them happy.” Even Morgan Stanley analysts have predicted that mobile web use will outgrow stationary device browsing by 2015. This is great news for mobile device makers while stationary PC’s and even laptops sales may continue to fall to below expectation when it comes to content utilization.With the impending November 29th, 2013 Black Friday and Cyber Monday on December 2nd just around the corner, its predicted that consumers’ choices are definitely shifting from PCs to handheld tablets for daily content consumption.
What’s everyone humming about? Yes it is finally arrived – Google Hummingbird. By replacing the old algorithm, Google has answered the call for easy search queries for people on-the-go. Hummingbird is essentially an entirely new ranking algorithm that understands the relationships and relevance of words and phrases, instead of just considering a bunch of individual words. Thus, making it more “human friendly” than ever. So it focuses on ranking information based on more intelligent and naturalistic search requests – providing more useful, intelligent and higher quality content in the digital world.
Seemingly Unlikely Bedfellows – Adobe & Data Analytics? Adobe Marketing Cloud is the latest user interface and in the new Adobe Analytics with an iOS operating system for mobile devices reports the baseline norm from historical user trends and then identifies data points that fall outside that norm. This super smart app offers real-time reporting capabilities to give marketers and copywriters/editors solid intel on readers content consumption, marketing campaign success and on-site conversion as it happens. An SDK mobile app will provide unparalleled opportunity analyze data collected from mobile apps in Adobe Analytics, giving marketers the ability to serve location-specific content to customers based on their location when they access a mobile app. I noticed this most recently while on Pandora. An audible ad, that was specific to my location, popped up to gain my buy-in on their services. This is perfect for true lead generation efforts and capturing the right demographic for a successful campaign.
Branding, Media Style This fall, many companies are beginning to understand that they need to think more like publishers and not just marketers. Connecting brands with online audiences is essential for true consumer, marketing integration and growth. More brands will use sizeably more video and mobile-friendly content in response to the growing number of smartphones and tablets. Media integration helps businesses generates revenue and strengthens customer relationships by leveraging the latest technology and draw on a full range media marketing resources. Since content consumption is at an all time high, using social video resources like Vimeo, YouTube, Instagram, or Vine ads flavorful social content that reaches your audience in quick and impactful ways.
Content Curation Marketing For those who don’t know, content curation goes way beyond just making sure website content is both up-to-date and SEO rich. Content curation is the process of connecting content creators, i.e. marketers, bloggers and writers, to easily and quickly target relevant content. Since content is king, content curators oversee and manage the entire landscape of content – from driving product development and marketing strategies to social networking integration, Notably, this is a fantastic tool to boost social media presence and true engagement for key target audiences.
So there you have it folks – all things content and dominant trends for the Fall season of 2013.
What do you think? Are there other content trends you see fading like the leaves of fall or flourishing in full bloom for 2014?
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