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Should Brands Hop On New Social Media Sites?

August 8, 2023/in Blog

In today’s fast-paced digital landscape, social media platforms play a crucial role in brand communication and audience engagement. While established platforms like Twitter and Facebook continue to dominate the social media landscape, the emergence of new platforms presents both opportunities and challenges for brands. We saw this happen most recently with Threads – a Meta owned platform that greatly mimics Twitter with a lot of its features. Over the past few weeks we’ve been asked repeatedly…should my business or brand be on Threads? Let’s discuss some of the benefits to hopping onto not just Threads – but any new social media site that may emerge.

By venturing onto new social media sites, brands can tap into untapped audiences, demonstrate innovation, and establish themselves as trendsetters. This article explores the reasons why brands should consider hopping on new social media sites, highlighting the advantages of early adoption, access to new audiences, niche community engagement, enhanced features, advertising opportunities, and brand protection. Embracing new platforms strategically can help brands expand their reach, foster meaningful connections, and stay ahead in the ever-evolving digital landscape.

Early Adoption Advantage: Being an early adopter of a new social media platform can provide brands with a competitive advantage. By establishing a presence on a new platform before others, brands have the opportunity to build a following, gain visibility, and establish themselves as industry leaders.

Access to New Audiences: New social media platforms often attract unique and diverse user bases that may not be as saturated with competitors. Brands can leverage these platforms to reach untapped audiences and engage with potential customers who may not be present on more established platforms.

Trendsetting and Innovation: Brands that embrace new social media platforms demonstrate a willingness to innovate and stay ahead of the curve. This can enhance their brand image, positioning them as forward-thinking and cutting-edge, which resonates positively with consumers.

Niche Communities: Some new social media platforms cater to specific interests, hobbies, or demographics. Brands that align with these niche communities can directly engage with their target audience and build a more focused and dedicated following. This allows for targeted marketing efforts and a higher likelihood of resonating with users who share similar interests.

Enhanced Features and Advertising Opportunities: New social media platforms often introduce unique features and advertising opportunities that may not be available on established platforms. Brands can leverage these innovative features to create engaging content, drive user interactions, and experiment with new advertising strategies to effectively promote their products or services.

Brand Protection: Securing brand usernames or handles on new social media platforms can be crucial for brand protection. By proactively registering and maintaining a presence, brands can ensure they have control over their brand identity across different platforms and prevent others from misrepresenting their brand.

It’s important for brands to assess the potential benefits, target audience relevance, and resources required before hopping on a new social media platform. Understanding the platform’s user base, engagement levels, and long-term viability can help brands make informed decisions about expanding their social media presence.

If you’d like help managing your social media sites, and having our team be able to hop on new social media sites for your business, contact us today!

Increasing The Impact of Your Positive Customer Reviews

August 1, 2023/in Blog

Online reviews have become a powerful tool for consumers to make informed decisions about products and services. Positive reviews not only serve as valuable feedback, but also play a significant role in shaping a business’s reputation and attracting new customers. Read on to learn the latest on responding to reviews, both positive and negative, and explore how businesses can amplify and incorporate these positive reviews in a content marketing plan.

The first thing to do when you receive a review is to respond appropriately. If the review is positive, take the time to thank the customer for their kind words, and encourage them to make another visit or purchase. This shows that you value their feedback and appreciate their business. Your response also demonstrates to other potential customers that you actively engage with and care about customer satisfaction. If the review is negative, emphasize their experience in such a way that they will want to give your business another chance. This also proves to other potential buyers that your customer service is top-notch. Responding within 24 hours is advised, regardless if they’re positive or negative. Doing so accomplishes a few things:

Builds customer trust: When a business acknowledges and responds to positive reviews, it demonstrates attentiveness and care toward its customers. This builds trust and encourages customer loyalty.

Enhances the customer experience: By addressing positive reviews, businesses have an opportunity to thank customers personally for their support. This interaction contributes to a positive customer experience and strengthens the brand-customer relationship.

Balances perceptions: Responding only to negative reviews may create an impression that the business is defensive or dismissive. By responding to positive reviews as well, businesses can showcase their commitment to customer satisfaction and balance the overall perception of their brand.

Once you’ve responded, think about how else you can utilize this review. Think about each channel you can promote it with… Here are a few ways we’d suggest considering:

Add reviews to your website: Including a dedicated section on your website to highlight positive reviews can significantly impact potential customers’ purchasing decisions. Feature testimonials prominently on your homepage or create a separate page dedicated to customer reviews.
Leverage social media: Share positive reviews on your social media channels to reach a wider audience. Create visually appealing posts that include snippets of the review along with a call-to-action (CTA) encouraging users to explore your business further. You can also consider creating graphics or videos showcasing positive reviews to increase engagement.
Incorporate reviews in email campaigns: Integrate positive reviews as a section in your upcoming email blasts. This can be an effective way to provide social proof and build credibility with your existing subscriber base. Highlight specific reviews that reflect your business’s key strengths or unique selling points.
Create a case study: If the review details a specific problem that your product or service solved or highlights a unique use case, consider expanding it into a full-fledged case study. Develop a comprehensive story around the customer’s experience, including their challenges, how your company addressed them, and the positive outcomes achieved. Share this case study on your website, blog, or through other marketing channels.
Use in printed promotional materials: If the review contains a particularly compelling testimonial or highlights a unique aspect of your business, consider incorporating it into your promotional materials. It can be featured in printed brochures, or even displayed on digital signage in your physical location. This reinforces your brand’s credibility and can attract new customers.

Do you want help responding to reviews and maximizing their impact in your marketing strategy? Our team can help! Contact The Marketing Posse today.

5 Email Marketing Tips for Success

July 3, 2023/in Blog

Email marketing remains to be a powerful tool for companies to connect with their audience, drive engagement, and boost conversions. By implementing these tips, you can optimize your email marketing strategy and achieve better results. Let’s dive in!

#1 – Segment Your Subscribers:

One of the most effective ways to improve your email marketing efforts is by segmenting your subscribers. Sending generic emails to your entire list may result in lower engagement and higher unsubscribe rates. By dividing your subscribers into smaller, targeted groups based on their demographics, preferences, or past interactions, you can deliver more relevant content that resonates with each segment. This personalization increases the chances of engagement, conversion, and customer loyalty.

#2 – Create a Welcome Series:

First impressions matter, and that’s why a well-crafted welcome series is essential for nurturing new subscribers. Instead of sending a single welcome email, consider creating a series of emails that introduce your brand, provide valuable content, and showcase your products or services. This approach helps build a stronger relationship with your subscribers from the start and increases the likelihood of them becoming long-term, engaged customers.

This series would be a great opportunity for you to use your segmented audiences. If someone has opted into your email marketing newsletter through a certain service page on your website, tailor that user’s welcome series emails to that service!

#3 – Make Your Emails Mobile-Friendly:

With the increasing use of smartphones and tablets, it’s crucial to ensure that your emails are optimized for mobile devices. According to statistics, more than half of all email opens occur on mobile devices. To deliver a seamless user experience, use responsive design principles that adapt your email layout to different screen sizes. Keep your subject lines and email copy concise, and include eye-catching visuals that load quickly. By making your emails mobile-friendly, you’ll engage a wider audience and drive higher click-through rates.

Additionally, test your emails in both “light mode” and “dark mode” as many users are now keeping their phones in dark mode more often. You can optimize for dark mode by making sure that the visuals you include in your emails have transparent backgrounds and that your text color is still visible no matter the mode.

#4 – Identify the Best Time to Send:

Timing plays a significant role in email marketing success too. Finding the optimal time to send your emails can significantly impact open rates and engagement. Conduct A/B tests to analyze different sending times and track the performance of your emails. Monitor metrics such as open rates, click-through rates, and conversions to identify patterns and trends. While there is no one-size-fits-all answer, data-driven insights will help you determine the best time to reach your specific audience and maximize your campaign’s effectiveness.

Remember those segmented audiences from above? LIST A might have the best open time at 9:00am, but LIST B, may have a better open rate at 11:00am. All factors that should be considered!

#5 – Include a Real Reply-To Address:

Building trust and fostering two-way communication are crucial in email marketing. Including a real reply-to address instead of a “noreply” address allows your subscribers to respond directly to your emails, ask questions, or provide feedback. This personal touch helps humanize your brand and demonstrates that you value your subscribers’ opinions. By encouraging dialogue, you can gain valuable insights, address concerns, and nurture customer relationships, ultimately improving your overall email marketing strategy.

By implementing these five email marketing tips, you can take your email campaigns to the next level. Segmenting your subscribers, creating a welcome series, ensuring mobile-friendliness, identifying the best sending times, and including a real reply-to address all contribute to better engagement, higher conversions, and a stronger connection with your audience. Remember to continuously analyze and optimize your email campaigns based on the data and feedback you receive. Should you need help brainstorming, creating, and executing your next email marketing campaign, don’t hesitate to reach out to our The Marketing Posse at crew@themarketingposse.com

Moving to Google Analytics 4

June 26, 2023/in Blog

Google Analytics is an incredibly powerful used by marketing and technology pros to track and analyze your website’s performance. Google Analytics helps us determine the effectiveness of our marketing campaigns, and better understand the impact of a website’s user experience with metrics like page views and conversion.

With the recent introduction of Google Analytics 4 (GA4), businesses will be able to leverage powerful new features and gain deeper insights into their customers. On July 1, 2023 all Google Analytics properties that are not upgraded to Google Analytics 4 will stop processing data. That being said, if you rely on Google Analytics for tracking and any of the gajillion things you can do with it — it’s all hands-on deck time to migrate.

Once you’ve upgraded your Google Analytics account to GA4, here is what you can expect:

Enhanced Cross-Platform Tracking:

In an era where users engage with brands across multiple devices, GA4 improves cross-platform tracking capabilities. With the new platform, marketing departments can gain a comprehensive understanding of customer journeys, seamlessly tracking interactions across websites, mobile apps, and more. Updating to GA4 ensures that your business has a complete picture of user engagement across all devices.

The Power of Machine Learning and AI:

GA4 also integrates advanced machine learning and AI technologies, providing you with actionable insights and predictive analytics. By leveraging these capabilities, you unlock valuable information about user preferences, behavior patterns, and potential conversion opportunities.

Event-Driven Data Model:

The event-driven data model in GA4 replaces the traditional pageview-centric approach, allowing businesses to focus on specific user interactions. Moving to GA4 enables marketing professionals to define custom events that align with specific business goals, providing a more granular understanding of user engagement. Identifying and implementing the most relevant activities for your business is crucial to ensuring that you capture the data that truly matters.

Enhanced Analysis Tools:

GA4 introduces enhanced analysis tools, empowering businesses to uncover actionable insights. From cohort analysis to user lifecycle reports, these tools enable you to better understand user behavior, optimize marketing campaigns, and drive growth.

What happens if you don’t move your account by the deadline? Google will auto-create a GA4 property for you, but that’s all they will do. The property will exist, but it won’t be connected to your site until you install the new code and go through the GA4 setup assistant, no migration of data, etc. So it is important, especially if you rely on Google Analytics to make data informed decisions (and you should!) to get it set up correctly now.

Not sure who on your team will upgrade your business to Google Analytics 4 and unleash the full potential of your data? No worries, we’ve got your back. Contact us at crew@themarketingposse.com today and let our team guide you through the transition seamlessly. Together, we’ll empower your business with the tools and insights needed to thrive in this digital landscape.

8 Tips To A Solid Subject Line

March 22, 2022/in Blog

The secret to getting your emails opened… your Subject Line!

According to The Radicati Group Inc., a person receives an average of 121 emails per day and spends only 10 seconds reading brand emails (Statista). How can your brand have an optimal and consistent email open rate from your subscribers with that much competition? The key is a good subject line; this is what will determine if your subscribers open your email, just scroll by it, or send it to their trash. Here are 8 tips that will help you increase your open rates.

1. Be Short, Concise, and Clear

Based on a survey conducted by Fluent Co., 67% of the respondents answered that they prefer to check their email on their smartphone. On a mobile device, only 43 characters can be seen on a subject line, therefore, the shorter, the better. Make sure to send a clear and intriguing message that drives your subject home before you lose the attention span of the reader.

2. Take Advantage of the Preview

The email preview text, or the pre-header, is the text that is visible in most emails below the sender and subject line. It introduces the content of the message. Take advantage of this space to grab the reader’s attention and inform them of the main point of the message. Doing so can drastically increase email open rates.

3. Use Numbers to Grab Attention

People are visual and because of that, they pay more attention to numbers over words; it gives them a sense of organization and logical order. Which example below do you think is more effective?

Check out the best Super Bowl Ads! vs Top 10 Super Bowl Ads!

4. Use Power Words

Power words can be used to provoke an emotional and psychological response in the subscriber and using this tactic makes it more likely for readers to open your email. One example is using words that might cause FOMO (fear of missing out), such as “be the first!”, “are you going to miss this?”, “Limited time / items!”, “just today!”… all of these will trigger the recipients’ curiosity. A second example of using power words for your benefit is to infer that you have the ultimate advice, product, or promotion for your readers…by using terms such as “the biggest sale”, “the fastest way to”, or “the easiest way to”.

5. No Caps

Avoid using all capital letters to get the recipient’s attention, this can be seen as aggressive, and it can get your emails flagged or marked as spam.

6. Emojis

When using emojis make sure they are relevant and consistent with your message, easily understood, and don’t take away from the message by drawing too much attention. ????????????

7. Personalize

People like to feel special! Personalization gives more personality to your brand, making readers feel like it is more accessible and more unique to their wants and needs. In addition, Experian reports personalized emails have 41% more unique click-through rates.

8. Define the Vibe you Want to Express & Stay Consistent

There are different subject line styles that you can use when sending out emails: funny and catchy, inquisitive, serious and direct, problem-solver, and trendy. Make sure the style compliments your brand voice, and is consistent between your subject line and email content. Consistency matters!

Women Owned Businesses | Turning Challenges Into Opportunities

October 24, 2019/in Blog, Business, Management, MARKETING, planning

October is National Women’s Small Business Month and according to WBENC¹ there are 12.3 million women owned businesses in the US. Last year, 1,821 women owned businesses were launched every day with women of color launching 64% of those new businesses. So, in thinking about what to write in celebration of this month, I wanted this post to be helpful and encouraging for anyone who reads it whether you are a woman who owns a business, work for a woman owned business or support women owned businesses.

Women owned businesses face many of the same challenges other businesses face like access to capital or unfavorable business environments, but they also face challenges that are more unique to women like gender equality in male dominated industries. In fact, there is a great summary of the “8 Major Challenges Women Face in Business” in an article posted by Forbes in this very month last year. In general, as I searched for information, I found it much easier to find the problems than the solutions. So, to celebrate women owned businesses this month, I’d like to share positive experiences and encouragement. Here is a crack at turning the 2018 Forbes Top 8 Challenges into a 2019 Opportunities List!

1. 1. 1. Instead of “Limited Funding”, how about “Funding Is Out There” – Funding can be tricky because we worry about risk and it depends on how capital intensive your business is. First, if you are a startup don’t worry about the end game, just worry about getting started. Make progress. Show some wins. It will build confidence for you and for others. Don’t be afraid to be a little uncomfortable (see #3 below). Second, don’t just take risks, take smart risks you feel good about. Some awesome women owned businesses started in a woman’s home or mother’s garage like Bourbon and Bowties or GoldieBlox. If you are looking for investors there are great incubators, angel investors, and institutions that can help. Look for organizations that have strong women leaders like Tampa Bay Wave, Embarc Collective and Pilot Bank. There are amazing women leaders in these companies and, as a general rule, women want to support other women.
    2. Instead of “Balancing Responsibilities”, how about “Embracing Imbalance” – Work and Life Balance is like Bigfoot in that it is talked about a lot but can’t really be found, though some say they have seen a glimpse. Striving for balance is just frustrating. It’s not really about balance. It’s about the give and take…and feeling comfortable with the tradeoffs we make. A good way to embrace the imbalance is to be a master scheduler. Prioritize the most important things in your personal and business life and do the best you can. Oh, and don’t be afraid to ask for help or support when you need it. And if some stuff doesn’t get done, it might just be okay. Approach juggling work and family the way you would a business problem. Have a schedule and know what and to whom you can delegate. Use your leadership skills at home AND at work.
    3. Instead of “Fear of Failure”, how about “Plan for Failure” – There may be a dozen reasons why we fear failure whether it is financial or emotional. Fear can be paralyzing. The best way to eliminate Fear of Failure is to plan for it. If you play out the scenarios and have a plan for all the “what-if’s”, then they don’t seem nearly as scary. In the world of insights, we do a lot of “test and learn” projects. Turn your failures into test and learn scenarios. When it doesn’t work, adjust and try again. Take smart risks. Be uncomfortable, but plan for the “what-if’s”.
    4. Instead of “Inadequate Support System”, how about “Personal Board of Directors” – Whether you are an entrepreneur, small business owner or corporate executive, everyone needs a support system. Women are great at this. We are collaborative and great at supporting each other and our families. You may already have a board, but even if you do, a personal board is all the rage. It doesn’t have to be formal or all at once. Take your time and recruit the people that you need as you need them. Look for people across functions like finance, operations, marketing, legal, technology, etc., depending on your business. Be clear about what advice you might need and make it easy for them to help you. Then find special ways to thank them for their support.
    5. Instead of “Gender Inequality”, how about “Act Like You Belong” – If you look at the definition of gender equality, it is basically that equality is achieved when both men and women have access to the same resources and opportunities. So, is anyone telling us as women that we don’t have the same access and opportunities as men? Probably not directly, however, as women we put some of this on ourselves. I heard a story that some of you may be familiar with and that stuck with me. A man and a woman are both up for a promotion and when reviewing the job description, the man looks at the list of 10 things and says something like “I have 8 out of 10 which is great” and the women in the same situation hesitate to go for it saying “but I am missing 2 out of 10 things”. Be confident that you have 8 out of 10 things; sit at the head of the table; insist on driving; make decisions; lead by example. You got this.
    6. Instead of “Limited Knowledge”, how about “Surround Yourself with Knowledgeable People” – There are two ways to tackle a challenge like this. One is to educate yourself, and often that comes with experience. The second is to surround yourself with people who do have that experience. The second option is usually the better path. You will, by default, be educated along the way, but leaning on others who have been there can help get you there faster. You can also include these people in your “personal board of directors” from #4 above. And guess what? You WILL make some mistakes, so just own them, learn from them and move forward. The people with all that “knowledge” have already made their mistakes, so try to leverage them but don’t be afraid to make your own but plan for risk accordingly.
    7. Instead of “Unfavorable Business Environment” how about “Rich Network and Growth System” – The Forbes article defines “Unfavorable Business Environment” as “less-established business networks, and social and traditional constraints”, which can be even more challenging in countries outside of the US. Turning this into a “positive to-do list” starts with developing a Rich Business Network. Where to start? If you are already in business, be sure to stay connected to people in your network. Build it into your calendar to ensure you make time for it. Touch base with current and past clients, vendors and/or customers. Build your network by asking great people in your network to introduce you to other great people in their network. Have coffee, be helpful, and be open to new and unexpected relationships. If you don’t have a network at all, now is as good a time as any to get going. Start with family and friends who have great business contacts and are willing to make introductions. And join the Chamber for the city you want to do business in, they are a great way to get connected to the business community. The second part of the definition is about social and traditional constraint which is more challenging in some countries versus others. In the US, this may be more driven by male dominated industries, so I would refer to #5 above and “Act Like You Belong”!
    8. Instead of “Timidity” how about “Bold and Courageous” – Marguerita Cheng, author of the Forbes article, said it well: “Humility is not shyness or timidity. Women need to stand by their success and let people around them recognize it.” Celebrate the good and the bad. Think to yourself, what is the worst that can happen if I make this bold move or if I have the courage to ask for support from someone important? Find a few women who may be in similar business situations and create opportunities to share with and support each other. Join women’s networks and get certified as a women owned business (check out WBENC certification here). We are your comrades and will welcome you with open arms.
  I hope this perspective helps other Women Small Business Owners and even if all 8 points don’t apply to you, you might find a few nuggets that are useful. So, leverage your strengths as a woman, communicate and collaborate often, and don’t be afraid to ask for help. At The Marketing Posse, we worked with the SBDC to help guide us through the certification process and have been certified as a woman owned business since 2016. We are proud members of both WBENC and the Florida Office of Supplier Diversity.
  
  DANIELLE VONA
  DANIELLE.VONA@THEMARKETINGPOSSE.COM
  
  Sources:
  
  ¹ WBENC Blog, Behind the Numbers, The State of Women Owned Business in 2018, posted Oct. 2018

It’s 2020 Planning Time

September 25, 2019/in Blog, Business, Management, MARKETING, planning

We are only 3 ½ months away from the start of 2020. If your planning cycle follows the calendar year, that means that you have 97 days until you will start implementing your plan. Whether or not that seems like plenty of time or that creates a state of panic for you depends entirely on your business. A good rule of thumb is to plan 12 months out. That means you are planning your fall and holiday plans for 2020 right now.

If you start your conversation early, you might experience some people on the team asking why that is necessary. That might seem surprising to some but there is definitely a point of view that getting too far out is not a good thing. Three of the most common reasons for pushback on starting the planning process that I’ve experienced are (1) the business environment could change, (2) we should wait for new leadership to share their agenda, and (3) we need to stay nimble to react to our competition. Sure, those are all valid scenarios but exactly the reason why it is important to have a plan. One of the most critical components to the planning process is assessing the business environment and the competition. What better time to get alignment around the factors impacting the business and where the competition stands? And, if new leadership comes in, do you want to be prepared with talking points about the plan or wait around to see what they tell you to do?

To stay out ahead of things, below are a few factors to consider about timing to get started. These are areas where I have seen teams get tripped up because they have not built in enough time.

Alignment

Is this the first time your organization has been through the planning process or is there a plan in place that everyone is aligned to? If it is the latter, then maybe you can move more quickly through the process. If it is the former, ensure that there is ample time for discussion. How many layers are in your organization? Is your company one where leadership is in the room for the discussions or where polished solutions are presented to leadership for reaction? Each step in the process may require multiple discussions to gain alignment. You may have to go back to the drawing board altogether in fact. Where possible, I recommend involving the highest levels of leadership in the planning process. Set a timeline with clear milestone deliverables and approvals. A lot of unnecessary work will occur later if decisions are not fully aligned across all levels of the organization. Try something like:

1. Do discovery/landscape assessment to align on the SITUATION
2. Set clear OBJECTIVES with leadership
3. Agree on a TIMELINE and key MILESTONES

Ideation Time

Don’t sell your plans short by not dedicating the appropriate amount of ideation time. This is the part where teams can come together to brainstorm. This is usually one of the parts of the process that is the most fun and where you can really get some good cross-collaboration to happen. When teams across the organization are involved, not only do better ideas come forward but you bring awareness and hopefully support to the process as well. I have found that factoring in multiple rounds of ideation works well. Perhaps you ideate with different people on different areas of the plan. Or maybe you work in a larger group to get ideas out but then work with a smaller team to refine. Try it a few different ways and see what works best. For example:

1. Identify GROWTH Platforms (aligned with your objectives)
2. Host a BRAINSTORM to develop ideas (go for quantity)
3. Develop a PLAN for the top ideas (barriers, opportunities, resource requirements, etc.)
4. Consider CONTINGENCY plans so you have options if you need to make adjustments

Validation Time

Think about how best to get customer feedback on your plan and ideas. What level of rigor is needed in your organization for testing? Do tests require a formal read-out and how long does it take to compile the testing data? If the test is not successful, consider whether or not you will need to retest. How comfortable will the organization be locking in on a plan when there are untested concepts? Sometimes getting some preliminary feedback done for a quick gauge on a concept or an idea could be helpful. Even something simple like Survey Monkey or Google Survey could be helpful. An important input into the planning process is the results of past testing. Being familiar with what has worked or not worked in the past can be helpful in developing future strategies.

1. Set benchmarks for success
2. Select test parameters (audience, questions, method of execution)
3. Analyze and report out results
4. Make adjustments to plan based on learning

Bring It All Together

Is now the time to get started on your plan? A great place to start is building out a timeline of key dates and backing into a process that will work. This approach will also rally your team around the process and gain the support and focus that successful planning requires. Develop a calendar of activity based on the needs of your business and the ideas you have generated. Monitor success and prepare your contingency options so you can adjust based on performance. If you are looking for some thoughts on getting started on your plan, check out our prior blog post on the 5-Legged Journey to Marketing Magic.

Danielle Vona
danielle.vona@themarketingposse.com

Social Media for Entrepreneurs (Not Dummies)

March 15, 2017/in Blog, Business, Strategy

Remember when landlines and snail mail were our favorite forms of communication? I can almost still feel that tiny burst of excitement after coming home to a green blinking light on the answering machine. It meant that someone most likely memorized my number, called me while I was out of the house and cared enough to leave a voicemail. That sense of satisfaction still lives somewhere inside us, but today, we thrive off instant gratification and convenience instead. Face-to-face meetings have turned into Skype meetings. Text messages are favored over phone calls. Feelings can be expressed through a library of never-ending emoticons. But what’s majorly leading the communication evolution is social media… and the conversation never stops.

Social media is no longer just social either, it’s a lifestyle. Outside of talking to each other, we’re buying our favorite products, connecting with brands we love and celebrating shareable life moments. It’s everywhere, is always at our fingertips and gives us everything we crave, including instant gratification. So, if you’re an entrepreneur with a new business you should ask yourself this question: If you’re not on social media, do you really exist?

What’s most interesting about social media is that despite its reign over the conversational universe, some brands and start-ups aren’t utilizing it. These companies are relying on traditional media to drive awareness, but they’re missing out on t opportunity to drive engagement through social media. Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Snapchat, Pinterest, Tumblr, YouTube, Google+, Vimeo, Vine. This isn’t just a laundry list of platforms, it’s a road map of opportunities for you to grow your business. If you haven’t started yet, here are the keys to unlocking your social castle:

Find the Right Platforms for Your Business

All social media platforms aren’t created equal. Depending on what industry you’re in, some platforms will work harder for you than others. Creating a clear communication strategy will help define who you want to talk to and what you want to say. Every platform caters to a different audience and ultimately, your key messaging will dictate where you belong in the social circle. For example, Instagram users value aesthetically beautiful images and videos, which is why it’s a sweet spot for hospitality and retail brands. Oppositely, if you’re looking for a vehicle to maximize blog content or announce company news, LinkedIn will be your new best friend. Finding the right platform is like finding the perfect pair of shoes. If the shoe doesn’t fit, you put it down and forget about it. If you try on three pairs that make you look amazing – buy them all. 🙂

2. Generate Engaging Content

In the world of social media, content is king. It can make a powerful first impression on someone new to your brand, or convert a follower into a customer. The key to content is making it relevant, attractive and engaging. My rule of thumb is if a piece of content doesn’t excite me, I don’t share it. If I wouldn’t like it, then why would anyone else? Your content should tell your brand story in a way that makes people want to be part of it. It should command attention through authenticity.

3. Automate Posts, Eliminate Stress

If you’ve dappled in social media, even on a personal level, you know it can be time consuming. Thankfully there are scheduling tools like Sprout Social and Hootesuite to automate posting! These tools not only do all the execution work for you, they also offer reporting. As an Entrepreneur with a million responsibilities and a vision to achieve, tools like this will give you more of what you need: time. *collective sigh of relief* Additionally, measuring social success month over month will help you gain a better understanding of what’s working for your business and what’s not. The key metrics to watch on social media are engagement, impressions and clicks that are driving traffic to your website.

4. Invest in Your Brand & Be Consistent

The simple saying, you get what you give, applies across the social media board. Like anything else in business, it requires you to invest time and money in it before it becomes lucrative. The most effective way to build a social media audience is through consistent, targeted promoted posts. These posts allow you to reach your target demographic and raise awareness for your brand. In fact, through Facebook you can create audiences based on interest, geographic location, demographic and online behavior. When you have an important message to share, you can feel confident knowing it will be delivered to the right people – where and when you need it to be.

5. Collaborate with Influences in Your Space

Social media is like high school. It’s made up of different cliques of like-minded people. There’s the jocks who worship sports, the notorious band geeks, the work-out junkies, the artists and of course, the popular crew. In this case, social media influencers represent the group everyone follows and admires. Think… “The Plastics” in Mean Girls. An influencer is someone on social media who has established credibility in a specific industry. They have access to a large, curated audience (typically over 100k followers) and act as trusted brand ambassadors to help increase your reach. Collaborating with them works wonders for brand exposure and filling the sales pipeline! First step: find an influencer who loves your vision. Then watch the magic unfold.

No matter what approach you take, leveraging social media for your company is a step in the right direction! Still have questions? Feel free to reach out to me at Melissa@themarketingposse.com.

Peace, love + posting,

Melissa Santell

Marketing Maven

The Marketing Posse

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