Written by Spot MarketingMarch 16, 2018

6 Common Social Media Questions & Answers

Social media can be frustrating for many businesses that don’t have the resources to promote their brand on social media. With the algorithms changing all the time, it can be difficult to manipulate your strategy to ensure traffic stays steady. We’ve compiled a list of some of the most common social media questions to help you navigate the muddy waters.

  1. How Do I Get More Followers?

Answer: By giving people a reason to follow you.

Here’s why: This is the million-dollar question everyone asks.

This answer is simple, but the execution can be a bit tricky. People are drawn to resources they identify with; content that brings value into their lives. Whether it’s an inspirational quote, a news update, or beautiful photos of loft apartments, people are looking for content and images that positively contribute to their lives, not your bottom dollar.

A great place to start is to create content that you are drawn to; chances are your audience is interested in the same information. Invest in quality copy and images.

Another popular tactic is to share promotions and exclusive contests for social media followers, everyone loves a good freebie!

Lastly, spend time demonstrating loyal engagement. No one likes to be treated like a number, and that includes social media followers. In order to be successful, you need to care about your social media community by liking, posting, following and creating loyal relationships in digital environments.

  1. What Type of Content Should I Share?

Answer: Content that resonates with your audience.

Here’s why: Your ideal customer is one that is currently interested in your services, brand philosophy, and/or company culture. The rules of effective communication are three fold: ask your customer what they want, give them what they asked, tell them that you gave it to them.

You should avoid posting frequent promotional messages. Humanize your brand by being an authority and offering informational posts, like links to good articles or to your own blog content. Be diverse in your brand content, this will allow you to reach more people and ultimately a more interesting social media feed.

If you are feeling a little uninspired, do a little research to understand your social media market atmosphere and draw inspiration from influencers.

  1. How Often Should I Post?

Answer: It depends.

Here’s why: Posting frequently will increase the ranking of your post, allowing more people to see your content. It is important to remember the time old adage, quality over quantity. So if your post isn’t perfect yet, don’t publish it. Wait until the content and imagery are on point.

Frequency for posting social media content varies from network to network. However, in order to stay relevant, you should consider at least a weekly post to your primary social media platforms. By doing a little research on top influencers in your industry, you can base your social media calendar on those successful accounts. You can perform a few A/B testing experiments and analyze your results at the end of the month to see which times and days got the most traffic.

  1. When Should I Post?

Answer: It depends.

Here’s why: The best time to post is based on a much larger picture of behavioral consumption of social media. Unfortunately, people (across the globe) do not use social media at consistent intervals when examined over long periods of time. The current activity on social media is constantly changing and will impact when peak engagement hours occur.

That being said, you can find good times to post your content when you research the social media networks you are posting to and when your primary demographic is most active with popular statistic reports that are published quarterly.

  1. Do I Have To Post On Every Social Network?

Answer: No.

Here’s why: Don’t waste resources by posting the same content or different content to every popular social media platform. Find your audience where they spend the most time and engage with them on the social media networks they like best. Then, create social media strategies around those networks.

  1. I’m in a “Boring” Industry, Do I Still Need Social Media?

Answer: Yes.

Here’s why: Social media is a great way to create brand awareness. It’s a free resource and tool that can help you move conversations into conversions. You don’t have to post pictures of boring office meetings or strange machinery, you can create a social media presence that people enjoy following because your posts are: visually pleasing, humorous, informational, inspirational, or tug at our heartstrings.

You can continue to establish authority in your industry with a strong social media presence. Be sure to continue your research!

If social media is an important part of your business (it definitely should be) then you need the right tools to work more efficiently and effectively.

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Written by Spot MarketingApril 20, 2016

Grow Your Business Through Marketing

If you are looking to grow your business, getting new leads from targeted customers that are looking for your exact products and services is the way to go. It doesn’t make much sense to have a great product or excellent service if no one knows about it, or no one can find your business when they do a search online.

Let your clients, and potential clients, know what you have to offer. This video and content below are a few of the things that Spot has been doing to get the word out about our services….and it is working wonders.

 

 

Newsletters: A very simple way to reach potential clients and remain on their radar. Newsletters allow you to connect to a large number of people and track how they are responding to your message. We suggest that if you decide to send out newsletters to shoot for one every 2-3 weeks. This seems like the sweet spot that probably won’t be too aggressive but enough to keep your business in people’s mind.

Blogs: While it may not seem like you have time to consistently put out blogs, content can be another way to grab people’s attention and eventually raise the SEO of your website. Companies with ten employees or less that publish 11+ posts per month have almost three times more traffic than companies that publish 0-1.

Social Media: This may seem like a no-brainer, but social media can be a very cost-effective way to advertise to potential customers and clients. Also, through social media businesses will retain more clients. Connecting to clients and giving them an easy way to give feedback is essential. Not only will companies have a face and platform for clients but the posts will lead to conversions. If people find your posts intriguing, they can become one step closer to becoming a partner or client with the click of a button.

Videos: Let’s be real, people prefer hearing information over reading in the modern age. While content is necessary and many people still read it, videos are becoming the go-to. Video marketing is on a huge rise and isn’t going anywhere but up. In fact, including a video increases the click-through rate by a massive 65 percent and reduces unsubscribes by 26 percent.

Those are just a few things we are improving at Spot Color Marketing to enhance the marketing of our own brand. We would love to hear from you about your marketing efforts, give us a call at 503-477-4355, or visit us online @www.spotcolormarketing.com.

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Written by Spot MarketingMarch 1, 2016

Seven Ways Your Nagging Mother Can Help You Refine Your Social Media Marketing

Hey, how are you doing? Look, I know it’s been a long time, but your mother called me because she’s been having a hard time getting a hold of you. And wowzers was she in fine form. She said she follows you socially and is shocked (SHOCKED! ) at some of the, “crap he’s been posting lately.” You’re in Social Media Marketing, aren’t you?

I thought I would pass along some of the high points of our conversation for your amusement and education, and can I just say, you are Spot On when you said that her nagging makes hugging a cactus look comfy.

Here are her thoughts on some of your posts that she felt were self-pitying, bragging, bad form and so on…

Digital Marketing Agency
Look, your mother and I love you very much. But we’re worried about where you’re heading socially. You just don’t have to have opinion on everything. Please view the tips we sent along as our effort to reach out to you before you have to hear about your social media marketing faux pas from someone less tactful than we are, like a potential customer. Also, and I can’t stress this enough, call your mother.

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Written by Spot MarketingFebruary 4, 2016

Portland SMM: When and where to post to get the most mileage from your Social Media Marketing

Your social media marketing efforts can really fuel your marketing strategy if you know when and where to use your gas. Here is a list of the average ideal frequencies to post across all your social media platforms to get the most mileage out of them. From our friends over at SumAll.

We know you, like anyone looking to market your business socially online, have wondered:

  • How do I get more followers?
  • What should I share?
  • When should I share it?
  • And how often should I be sharing?

Social media marketing includes a strategy that addresses how many times per day you should post. Read on (click to enlarge)…

Portland SMM

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Written by Spot MarketingAugust 29, 2014

Social Media Dead Zones: Is Your Message Being Heard?

Even though it seems like everyone is on social media ALL OF THE TIME, research shows there are, in fact, times where not very many people will be around to catch your latest post. If you’re spending any amount of time curating content for your social media channels, you want to be sure your target audience is getting that information. Below is a list of the social media dead zones, by channel.

Facebook

Avoid posting carefully curated content over the weekend and from 8:00pm – 8:00am. During these times people are more likely out doing whatever they’re going to later post on Facebook, rather than looking at it.

Twitter

Save your special tweets for the next day if it’s after 8:00pm on all days or 3:00pm on Fridays. You’ll get their attention tomorrow!

LinkedIn

In keeping with LinkedIn’s professional persona, most users are not reading on LinkedIn during normal work hours, so avoid posting anything between 9:00am and 5:00pm. Also, LinkedInners drop off after 10:00pm. So post that content in the sweet spot, between 5:00 and 9:00pm.

Google+

Google demands to be heard most of the time, so the only times you should avoid posting here are in the early AM and early evening.

Pinterest

Pinners are not active during normal working hours. Save those precious pins for late afternoon and evening.

Tumblr

Apparently reading blogs usually happens after work, so release those posts at or after 4:00pm.

Hopefully you know your audience well and have figured out when is the best time to engage with them. If not and you’d like to learn how, give the Spot social media team a call today!

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Written by Spot MarketingAugust 15, 2014

Are You Really Engaging with your Audience on Social Media?

Business owners today know that social media can be a valuable tool for building brand awareness, increasing consumer traffic and engaging in conversations with their clients and customers.

What many businesses don’t know, though, are the best ways to communicate over these channels. Most companies don’t have a formalized social media strategy. They start posting, commenting, and liking on a whim. Maybe they’ve seen some results, maybe not, but most likely, they’re just not sure. We find that when our clients plan and utilize social media like any other aspect of your marketing plan, they are able to connect with their target audience with dramatically higher success rates.

There are plenty of things to think about when creating a social media strategy, and the following questions can help get you started in the process.

  1. What business objectives are you trying to achieve through social media marketing?
  2. How effectively are you currently achieving those objectives?
  3. Who is your social media target audience? Is it the same as your walk-in or website audience?
  4. How effectively are you targeting this audience? Do you know what they want to talk about on social media?
  5. What social media tools are you using? Did you know there are tools to automate the content curation?
  6. What is the current content published on those social media channels?
  7. Is your target audience engaging with this content?

The Spot Color Marketing team members are experts at creating and implementing social media strategies that get results. We tailor plans for each business that include a posting calendar, topic generation, and can even curate and manage your social media content for you. Give us a call and let us get you in shape for the social world.

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Written by Spot MarketingFebruary 6, 2014

Social Media for Small Businesses: 101

Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn…oh my! With the abundance of social media platforms to choose from, it can be confusing to know when — and what — to post for your business. Though there is contrasting information everywhere, Spot Color would like to share posting guidelines we (generally) live by.

1. Facebook

How often should I post? Research suggests posting to Facebook 1-4 times per week. You will increase likes with one post a day, yet you will lose engagement if you are posting more than once a day. Apparently users like to know you’re there, but not barraging them with information. So save your daily post for something worthy. Quality of posts is more important than quantity.

What time should I post? Facebook tends to have the most observers during the work day (next blog post: How to Increase Productivity perhaps?) but there is a definite spike in user activity around 7:00 p.m. With that in mind, we suggest posting around lunch time and right after rush hour.

What should I post? We like to break topics down into categories. Though this scratches the surface of an endless realm of posting possibilities, we feel that if you’re within these guidelines, you’re probably on the right track.

  • Links to Products: Be sure to include a photo of the product and a reason why your reader should care about it. This could mean an anecdote, product history, trend data, etc. Be sure to post only the cream of the product crop or your readers will be annoyed that the only thing you seem to be communicating is “buy, buy buy.”
  • Links to Outside Articles: By linking to articles that discuss current events, trends, history, or what-have-you, you can offer your customers a glimpse into the soul of your organization. For example, you sell shoes, so you post an article about what the ladies were wearing 60 years ago and what aspects of those styles have remained timeless. Pair it with side by side photos of styles that have survived the ages.digital marketing
  • Something Funny: Unless your product or service is no laughing matter, don’t be afraid to show your company’s lighter side. For example, you are an IT firm and you post this:
  • Shout-outs to Friends & Followers: It’s always nice to know you exist. Friend some of your Facebook “likes” and mention them in posts where you can. For example, you have a sale in-store, snap photos, tag them and post. Voila! Your customers feel you value them as individual people.

2. Twitter

How often should I tweet? Research says you should tweet 4 – 5 times per day. If this is too hard to manage, shoot for at least once or twice per day.

What time should I post? 

  • The highest percentage of retweets happens around 5 p.m. EST
  • The highest percentage of people who click on links happens between noon and 6 p.m. EST
  • Twitter usage spikes towards the end of the week and on weekends.

What should I tweet? Because of the 160 character limit, tweets should be quick shout-outs or retweets, links to relevant articles that share something in common with your company, and to announce sales, promotions or events.

3. Pinterest

Visuals are everything here. This would be a great place to post interesting product shots. Make sure to use accurate descriptions and integrate keywords.

4. Instagram

Instagram is the place to highlight the people of your company and their lifestyle. You want to show who your company is. Take shots of products in the warehouse, or an employee putting something out on a rack. Maybe snap a photo of the “lunchers” in the break room. However, Instagram is for the young and filtered; if you work in a dingy basement, perhaps skip posting the work environment on this social media site.

5. LinkedIn

Posting on LinkedIn is less important than making sure your company page is up-to-date. Be sure to upload your logo, accurately and thoroughly describe your services and update important information that changes.

Most importantly… your social media platforms should speak to your company’s values and let your customers and clients know you want to engage in conversation with them. An interesting stream of information might just be the thing to set you apart from your competitors.

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