With our host, Dylan Hey, you will learn how to identify the right and wrong clients for your agency, how to build your agency’s positioning, and get clients coming to you. Learn lead generation tactics from expert marketers.

We are proud to present our speakers:

• Marilyn Heywood Paige, a 30-year marketer with B2B, B2C, agency, and corporate experience.
• Maddy (Osman) French, who helps businesses grow traffic and sales with content marketing | SEO Content Strategist & Founder at The Blogsmith.
• Jason Swenk, coach to high-performing Digital Agency Owners | 8 Figure Agency Owner/ Sold One Agency So Far | #1 Digital Agency Owner Podcast.

Customer acquisition is different ways and processes of bringing new clients to your business. The goal of this process is to create a systematic and sustainable acquisition strategy that can be easily changed with new trends in the market or niche. With marketing experts who have experience in the agency business during this roundtable, we will discuss how to find new clients, how to attract them, and how to choose the right clients specifically for your agency so your team will not hate to work with them.

The post [Roundtable] User Acquisition for Digital Agencies: How To Find New Clients appeared first on PromoRepublic Blog | Insights for Franchise & Multi-Location Marketers.

Rise of direct selling

The direct selling industry is booming despite the Covid pandemic. According to DSA, direct retail sales grew 13.9% in 2020. Meeting demand despite lockdowns became possible with the adoption of social media as an additional selling channel.

GWI states that 54% of people connected to the internet actively use social media. They are researching brands, looking for recommendations, and making purchasing decisions. Their number is growing – anchoring new approaches for the buying process.

Tools to thrive

Direct sales companies that invest in social selling apps for distributors’ enablement expect to boost sales and extend retention results. No matter if the communication happens with large audiences or 1-to-1 conversations.

Implementing Verb and PromoRepublic into an enablement tech stack allows direct sales companies to amplify their brand voice on social media, transforming every distributor into a sales superstar along the way. Your brand reputation is kept intact because each message that goes out is checked for compliance.

How it works together:

PromoRepublic’s social selling app helps HQ distribute content assets and stay confident that every post is checked for compliance. At the same time, it simplifies distributors’ social media marketing efforts like generating buzz and joining promotional campaigns.

Max Pecherskiy, CEO at PromoRepublic

“Social selling made direct sellers came out winning from the pandemic. Joining forces with Verb makes the field even more resilient and profitable. Implementing enablement tools, direct selling brands will be able to scale smoothly, grow more loyal customers, and reduce compliance issues.”

Watch how PromoRepublic’s social media marketing platform works:

Verb’s innovative sales enablement platform supports distributors’ sales field and multiplies conversion rates with automatic sampling, mobile LMS, interactive videos, and real-time analytics.

Rory J. Cutaia, CEO at Verb

“We are very pleased to work with PromoRepublic in providing industry-leading technology to support their clients in managing their customers and content. Our interactive video-based tools create a friction-free sales experience that can increase customer engagement while providing real-time analytics for more effective, targeted follow-ups that drive sales conversion rates, all remotely from their mobile or desktop devices.”

Watch how Verb’s sales enablement platform works:

Implemented collectively, such a marketing stack will help your distributors develop and expand their business from the top to the bottom of the funnel.

Book a demo and learn more about PromoRepublic.

 PromoRepublic has previously announced an updated product set for confident partner marketing on social. 

The post PromoRepublic and Verb Partner to Empower Direct Selling Brands to Increase Customer Engagement and Sales Conversion Rates in the Digital Era appeared first on PromoRepublic Blog | Insights for Franchise & Multi-Location Marketers.

Speakers will also keep you up to date with the latest trends in the social media marketing industry: tricks to use for  Facebook ads, Instagram marketing essentials, how to maximize influencer marketing, and Social Media Marketing Trends in 2021. 

Here is the list of speakers and topics:

John Hall, Chief Strategist at Relevance.com, Investor in Calendar.com

“How To Learn From Covid About Being A More Productive Team”

Being productive, especially during a pandemic, can be tough. As a leader, there’s no bigger responsibility than taking care of your team. John will share real productivity techniques;, encouraging growth and development methods for new employees that work.

Jessika Phillips, International Speaker,  Award-Winning Relationship Marketing Strategists, Passionate Founder of NOW Marketing Group

“How to Exhort and Influence in the Next Wave of Marketing”

Jessika will speak about messenger marketing, niche social channels, and private groups. She will dive into how brands can decode Dark Social to grow organic engagement and raving fans without the constant pay-to-play model. You will understand why nearly 80% of your traffic isn’t being accounted for and why leaders like Gary V., Mark Zuckerberg, and Mari Smith are declaring the future of social, private.

Nathanial Bibby, Managing Director – Bibby Consulting, LinkedIn Training Courses, Lead Generation, Content Marketing, 2x Social Media Award Winner

“LinkedIn Marketing: The Secrets Behind The Agency That Generated 400 Million in Sales for Their Clients Using LinkedIn”

Nathanial will share a case study of how an agency can generate 400 Million in sales for clients using LinkedIn. After the session, you will understand how you can benefit from LinkedIn marketing and turn it into the opportunity of a lifetime to achieve business growth and become an industry leader.

Travis Chambers, Chief Media Hacker, Chamber Media, former Director of Social Media Company NameTwentieth Century Fox

“$100M Ad Study: The 7 Top Converting Video Ad Types”

Ads expert, Travis, explains what goes into creating a successful top-of-funnel video. You’ll also learn how Travis targets video viewers with multiple video ad sequences; how to create video ad funnels that work. His company, Chamber Media, specializes in creating scalable social video ads for Turkish Airlines, NordicTrack, and Yahoo.

Iman Gadzhi, Founder of Grow Your Agency

“The COVID Catalyst: Natural Selection in Agencies”

COVID noticeably exposed the inherent weaknesses in most agency models. During this session, Iman will share the (old) but new ways to scale agencies and why simplicity and systems are more necessary in 2021 than ever.

Dennis Yu, Digital Marketer, Speaker, Agency Builder

“The Power of the Lighthouse Model to Grow Your Digital Agency”

Effective branding can show customers your unarguable strengths and experiences, memorable and consistent communication, visibility, and reach. Dennis Yu will share why the Lighthouse model with all its components will help to grow your digital agency.

Julia Jornsay-Silverberg, Relationship Marketing Brand Manager NOW Marketing Group

“How to Use Instagram To Create Deep Connections Online” 

In this session, Julia will deep dive into Instagram and reveal how the platform can be used to change your life. You will walk away with an understanding of why the platform is so powerful, how to analyze your performance, and what kind of content you can post to truly create connections.

PromoRepublic partnered-up with all these experts to expand your knowledge with priceless content and prepare you and your business to break into 2021 fully protected. You will get lifetime access to all event records, Agency & Freelancer Community, as well as the chance to win a $1200 worth annual subscription. 

The event will be useful not only for freelancers and agency owners, as the topics cover a wide range of skills and specialties. And yes, the most important thing is that we have prepared all this for you absolutely free of charge, but the number of places is limited. So if you’re ready to grow your business, sign up for the Summit and grab your seat in the front row!

The post Keynote Speakers For The PromoRepublic Agency and Freelancer Growth Online Summit appeared first on PromoRepublic Blog | Insights for Franchise & Multi-Location Marketers.

A two-day marathon of fast-moving business began on Wednesday the 16th of January, with 14 speakers from the leading organizations and marketing agencies, all sharing tons of knowledge with everyone about how they could grow and scale their agency business and deliver better results for clients.

The reason the Agency Growth Summit was happening: PromoRepublic along with Dylan Hey. They spent plenty of time investing in positioning ourselves as a leader in the education of agency owners and freelancers;  our combined efforts and ideas have evolved into the Agency Academy. We like to call it a global community and we want to help creative and smart minds who are reading and watching these sessions, just like you, grow their business by providing them with valuable content.

It focused on showing exactly how you can leverage your personal brands to generate sales leads for your agency business, build a content plan, understand the anatomy of outreach emails and the principles of Facebook ads.

People from companies like Ogilvy, Drip, Reply.io  Rebrandly, And Co by Fiverr, PromoRepublic (of course), influencers and bloggers like Dennis Yu, Shane Barker, successful agency owner Kari from The Content Factory gathered together. They led something more than just dynamic discussions full of evaluative or promising words — they created an online source of insightful information which hardly ever could be found on the web.

Your inner voice may say, “Why should I attend conferences if I can pull any knowledge I need from the Internet?”. Well, yes. You can. But we’ve done the job for you, you even have no need to search for relevant information and check out every detail. In turn, the conference, on the one hand, has a large concentration of professionals in your area who can suggest something worthwhile, and on the other hand, generally recognized gurus of this professional can attend field, who came to the conference with a report or a master class and that, as a rule, open for communication, and you can get an answer to your question on the highest professional qualifications. While visiting online summits you need bring nothing – only a laptop (or whatever device you like), Internet connection, and a little time to enjoy the summit sessions.

Before you start your learning journey, get a short teaser, which is, actually, better to call ‘5 reasons for spending time on watching this or that’.

# 1 Speakers are agency owners and freelancers just like you

Sharks need to keep swimming in order to live while agencies and freelancers have to keep working to attract new clients and keep ones who have been already interested in the services you provided them with. It’s difficult to imagine how much time, energy and efforts that all takes until you put yourself in their shoes. No wonder you have a feeling of empathy and trust for those people who have the same or similar experience.

For that reason,  PromoRepublic team invited speakers with marketing backgrounds in agency & freelance fields. They have all been there — staring at excel, numbers, hundreds of emails with questions from clients and investors, looking for a spark dreaming about finding out a few of smart decision to overcome difficulties and unforeseen circumstances.

Each of them wanted to have their very own, ‘business-child’ to grow and succeed; each of them knew about the rocky, winding, torturous road towards the dream would be, and yet they didn’t go out of the way.

The Buddhists believe, “Not sharing isn’t caring.”

Want more truth about building your own business? Then kick back and grab a seat in front of the monitor and make time for watching recordings the Agency and Freelancer Growth Summit. Take our word, you’ll find them useful.

# 2 You’ll learn how to enhance your marketing services

Doing better means paying attention to every part of your business, from the value you give to ways how you give. Which is why the speakers during the summit addressed the issues you can think of this year to take the world by storm. Some of the quotes you’ll find below they will fuel your desire to learn more.  However, you have to know, it won’t be a retelling of each speaker’s speech. Because it’s much better to see and hear things for yourself, even when it goes online, especially bearing in mind the fact that discussion about marketing tends to become a never-ending story.

For instance, your client has an online shop which should have more clients to enter and more items to be sold. Brandan Lorentz from Drip suggests that the quality of relationships you build with the customer may out-love even Amazon.

“The more heart you show, the more your customers will return the love”

Despite the promising sessions on your website, email is still the biggest lever to grow your clients’ business. But it will only work if you understand your customer in full colors and make your emails personalized, relevant (always valuable!), and automated.

In the past, it was enough to say something like “hey, there’s sale”, but for now showing carrying requires more details, so it’s better to say “Brandon, it’s a sale on small checkered shirts”.

The ways to build transparent relationships with clients is reminiscent of attempts to impress someone who you like — first, you’re doing everything to learn more about the interests of this very special person, then you’re reaching this person with messages and emails, having a fear to lose them. Almost the same story is about your clients, with the only exception here, you don’t send love letters but targeted emails.

While sharing something, Sean Connoly, Digital Marketing Executive, and Video Content Creator at Rebrandly believes that branded links not only create a consistent identity in every aspect of your online presence but also increase CTR on social. The thing is, the more people trust the link, the better click rate.

“You can raise brand awareness with every link you share. You know, it’s like you wouldn’t send a business email from Gmail or generic email service, so why you do the same with the links?”

Taking client from $400k to $1.6M in less than 1 year is possible and Shane Barker proved it from his personal experience. He views influencer marketing through the microscope thoroughly learning the nature of it.

“Just because it didn’t work on Instagram for some influencers, it doesn’t mean it doesn’t work on Instagram. Maybe it just a wrong influencer.”

screenshot of a session with Shane Barker

The numbers of 2018 proved the power Instagram has right now, Quinn Tempest notes that there are 500 million daily active users — they all engage with the brand  (not just post selfies or food shots), the other number, which is no less bonkers, is that 400 million are using Story daily. Therefore Quinn highly recommends testing them out since Story boosts engagements, and engagement is the currency of Instagram.

Quinn Tempest has a clear understanding of how Instagram can be used for marketing needs and even framed her own definition:

“Instagram is a curated visual experience of your brand that is creatively presented and strategically planned in order to build a relationship with your audience”

screenshot of a session with Quinn Tempest

It just so happens that analytics don’t come easy. This process makes a lot of heads spin because of a complex research step and an amount of time it takes. Josh Braaten, CEO of BrandishInsights, notes that half of the small businesses fail within 5 years. The first reason leading for them to fade into obscurity is cash or detecting the absence of the market need for products or services. The chain of reasons, for sure, is unlimited since many factors can influence the outcome of events. However, there’s one pattern which clearly illustrates the problem which is still ignored by a number of marketers.

screenshot of a session with Josh Braaten

“The truth is, most companies fail because they don’t know their customer”

Despite the blurred rhetoric and obscure doubts surrounding the ad question, Facebook remains a good instrument for promotions of your clients. It all depends on your effort investment, investigation, and, for sure, creativity.

“People who focus on creating content first, win always”

This rule is developed by Gavin Bell, Facebook Advertising Consultant who answered the question of why a lot of agencies didn’t manage to see success while promoting their clients on Facebook — trying to sell something to people who just don’t care. Doesn’t know who you’re. Doesn’t like you. Doesn’t trust you. In this case, your ad is sticky, it evokes repulsion, not attraction.

It should have been something obvious as 2 x 2, but most agencies and freelancers keep on making the same mistake. They keep on shouting “choose me, buy me.” Which is why it’s necessary to stop and think of the content that your client audience may trust.

Words have power — they influence minds, SEO words have power too – they influence the position in Google search. With the help of thoroughly-worded texts Kari Dephillips, the owner of The Content Factor, made her website rank #1. Yet everyone has heard about the benefits of getting traffic, no every one understands how organically it’s all possible to convert it into clients, sales, and email subscribers. Kari shares her personal strategy on how to ‘help’ more people to find your website. 

screenshot of a session with Kari DePhillips

The Content Factory generates about $1,000 a year with retargeting organic traffic. All without a sales team. You can do it too.

“All you need to do is writing content that attracts the right kind of visitors and using the right kind of keywords, earning media coverage and developing backlinks”

# 3 Lifetime access to knowledge

The successful practice of digitizing and open publication of library collections is being implemented around the world. Somewhere the initiative is promoted by individual activists or non-profit organizations, somewhere changes occur due to public interest. Those who know what to search for, get the material needed for upgrading skills. The only difficulty is time — people should read a huge amount of information, filter it all critically, and then come with an idea which should break the patterns usually coming to head.  

That’s what we wanted to build, a learning space where everyone who wishes to get lifetime access to materials shared by gurus who has been speaking at the event.

#4 Listen to what the others say

Do you know that feeling, “why didn’t I think of that”? The human mind tends to come up with the ideas while listening needs, concerns, and thoughts of other people. When you can fully understand the thoughts and feeling they are trying to express, you broaden your horizons and see things from a different angle.

If a dog doesn’t understand something, it tilts its head. In such a way they scan the information and emotional state. That what you should do too — try to look at the things upside down, from the other perspective. It’s becoming possible when you’re trying authentic listening.

During the summit, Dylan Hey and Alla Bogdan were holding live sessions where people were asking questions of all sorts relating to their business. Having deeper diving in those discussions will help you clarify what is said rather than expressing your view and saying only what you want; the machine of critical analysis will start working getting you new food for thoughts.  

#5 Place where like-minded people meet

Many people find networking as hard as speaking at the public. The others just don’t want to bother others with small-talk style questions. It might be right as much as it might be wrong. Anyway, networking can be defined as establishing a business relationship with people who have the same or similar goals. The communication of such kind will teach you a lot more than you can imagine.

Agency owners and freelancers, due to their way of work being, tend to take risks, leave comfort zones, experiment, fail, start it all over again, make and lose money, they’re in an unstoppable motion of business making. Who else but them, has got the real experience of triumphs and downfalls?

Summit opens the door to the community where you’re getting a chance to be introduced to a future partner, employee or mentor. All these people create an environment which is crucial for your future success.

The truth is, if you’re surrounded by constantly procrastinating people, with no goals but a bunch of excuses not to take action, you will be much likely to give up at the first time of getting one little bump.

The post 5 Ways to Benefit from the Agency & Freelancer Growth Summit appeared first on PromoRepublic Blog | Insights for Franchise & Multi-Location Marketers.

Today, the dream of creating a successful franchise business from beyond an abstract idea in the mind is about to be reality. However, there are still difficulties the independent business owners may struggle with. Among them, franchise owners usually highlight such factors as the financial and legal requirements for hiring franchisees, frequent investing of a substantial sum of money, must-stick hard and fast rules, and a risk of insufficient support.

The truth is, hard work is still necessary to be able to not only launch but also provide optimum quality of services, bearing in mind that all the internal and external business development processes have to be maintained and kept up-to-date. Yes, it takes time. And, yes, it takes effort. But face it, no one is born with enough knowledge and experience to become a big successful franchisee. Although our genetic predispositions to a variety amount of activities and congenital characteristics, success is the result of a tremendous amount of work.

In a nutshell, the movement from a starting point to a final goal can be less painful to learn from the mistakes of franchises which have succeeded.

Jutty Mottle, an editor from Retail Customer Experience, carried out a study on the common missteps and situation addressing three franchise leaders came across. And it’s all ambitious. Keith Levenson, owner of ClimbZone, Rocco Fiorentino, CEO of PrimoHoagies and David Mesa, chief development officer at PJ’s Coffee shared their stories on a panel discussion at the International Franchise Expo that took place at the Javits Center in New York City on June 2.

Here are the three highlights of the premier annual event for existing franchisors and industry suppliers.

It’s Hard At First

Photo: exhibition of iLoveKickboxing.com’s local fitness kickboxing

You may even have no idea about what franchising is. For instance, ClimbZone founder Levenson couldn’t give a proper answer when someone was asking him about the starting point of becoming a franchisee.

He confesses, “I had to Google it, as I didn’t know what it meant,” and then adds “It [franchising] sucked me in.”
Speaking about success, Levenson stresses, it’s tied to making a good franchisee decisions. ClimbZone hasn’t had to spend much in marketing to find franchisees as a good number were longtime customers.
Then he continues, “We are picky about who we bring in”.
CEO of PrimoHoagies Fiorentino thinks that all franchisees are like siblings and are very, very different. He noted that the biggest problem that is often happening is not having necessary funding at the very start.

The main piece of advice from him is, “Don’t go into franchising undercapitalized”.

Onward and Upward

No matter how great experience you may have it and how smart and expert your surroundings are, it always will be something unknown, unclear, – the think worthy deeper investigation and profound research.

According to Rocco, named as “the most experienced franchisor on the panel”, all the experience he is proud of now was gained by the never-ending process of trial and error.

“Once you begin to stop learning,” he notes “You limit what you can share. Learn from the mistakes.” He puts emphasis on the fact that all we’re in for a great ride and there are a lot of signs so pay attention.

The rule of PJ’s Coffee Mesa is hiring for what’s needed. He recommends finding out where your talents are and then hire those who have the skills you don’t. Sound like to find a missing part of the puzzle.

He prefers hiring entrepreneurial people as starting a franchise requires entrepreneurial skills.

When it comes to giving the definition to the word “brand success”, he isn’t lost in thoughts, but explains that it is not only knowing the brand but defining how the brand differentiates from the competition.

About the Customer Experience

Fact: every franchisee wants to better connect with their customers. Understand their needs and wishes with no harm to business.

The franchise leaders mentioned above shared their philosophy of customer experience, which was built on real use cases as well as personal experience.

Rocco Fiorentino, CEO of PrimoHoagies offers, “Don’t mix up service and experience [in terms of ensuring a good customer experience]. How does the customer feel? You need to build loyalty, and customer experience is key.”
“We focus on customer experience to match our quality of food. The customer experience is as important and as good as the product.”
Keith Levenson, owner of ClimbZone, shares, “We call customers ‘guests,’ as we want it to be a family experience.”

The Final Word

While considering becoming a franchisee, first off you should understand that your franchise is based on a proven business idea which is full of rules to be followed, although, at the same time, you still have to make your particular franchise work in your area. No doubt, you’ll get a course of training, guides, and, maybe, a mentor. However, all these things will neither ensure rapid success nor keep you from the unexpected denial of your franchise.

*All photos are taken from an official International Franchise Expo Facebook page.

The post International Franchise Expo Roundup: The Main Points appeared first on PromoRepublic Blog | Insights for Franchise & Multi-Location Marketers.

How to Generate Large Amounts of Revenue From the Content You Create 

By Joe Pulizzi

When we saw Joe, it was exciting because he shared 10 Ways to Monetize Your Content.

Originally, the lines of distribution were owned by big companies. Now everybody can create content. This has created a Channel Explosion. Remember, how we always tell you that “content is king”? Instead of communicating through someone else’s channel, you need to create and distribute your own amazing information and build audiences.

Keep an eye out for Joe’s latest book, “Killing Marketing” – coming out in September. It’s about how innovative businesses are turning marketing cost into profit. Joe explained how you build your audience and actually 99% of organizations do that wrong. Content creation is not an asset.

Content Tilt

Joe explained that you need to have a content brand. We know already that if you just have a company and a blog, that’s not a content brand. You need to know what you represent and what you are telling people. Because that is your content brand.

We’ve talked before with you about how your content needs to stand out from your competition. So how does yours differentiate? Joe suggested creating a content marketing mission statement, which is a fantastic idea!

Here’s how to get started with one: know who you’re talking to and who you’re targeting. Because if you are talking to several audiences at a time – you will fail. The main things to be established are:

1. Core target audience
2. What will be delivered
3. The outcome for the audience

Building the Base

Your base is very important. You need to choose one content type, such as video or podcast. Then also one main platform such as site or blog. Consistent delivery is critical, it can’t be simply Monday and Wednesday, but Monday and Wednesday at 10 am. Be patient and understand that it can take a long period of time (up to 18 months) to become successful. If it doesn’t work for you, look for something else.

Image credit: Social Media Examiner

Harvesting Audience

We’ve talked before about how important it is to build your subscriber base. So we were pleased to hear Joe talk about this topic. He explained that if you aren’t actively building your subscribers, you are leaving the control of them to someone else. He recommended on focusing on e-mail subscribers as a key metric. When you have a list, you can monetize it.

YouTube decides whose video to show, Facebook as well. Email subscribers are all yours. Build your email list.

For this you need:

1. Amazing Newsletter

2. Exchange of Value (eBook, research report, etc.)

Diversification

Keep in mind that Moz started a consulting company, then a blog, then came the shows, etc. Your marketing should be a profit center.

Here is Joe’s recommended Revenue Model:

・ Advertising

・ Subscriptions

・ Syndication

・ Content Services

Content Marketing Institute, Under the Hood

Joe shared with us his own results. They started with a blog in 2010. Every day seven days a week. 2010 revenues – $75,000, in 2015 – $10+ million.

1. Advertising and sponsorship (banners, emails)

2. Conference and Events (Content Marketing World)

3. Subscriptions (Content Marketing University)

4. Donations

5. Premium Content

How to Create Highly Shareable Social Media Images

By Rebekah Radice

We agree with Rebekah, that you build trust through a consistent brand. As a content creator, tying your branding to everything you write creates awareness and that leads to traffic and sales. People will identify your brand with visuals they see on your page.

Create Highly Shareable Images

Rebekah says to design with your audience in mind and find out what fan pages they like, their location, activities, and even purchase decisions. Are these images about lifestyle or vector based? We think that’s very smart. Use Facebook Audience Insights to define your target audience and create visuals according to their preferences. See what other pages they like and what type of visuals are shared there.

Rebekah encourages us to find our own style. Look to successful brands to see how they’ve done it. Starbucks teaches us a valuable lesson – sometimes less is more. Especially when it comes to visual content. Single focus: hand and a Frappuccino. Nike understands the mentality of their target audience, and they use this knowledge to effectively showcase their brand.

Go to each social network to research further. Look at Instagram hashtag hubs (top trending posts). You can also go to Search and write your keyword, a product for example and see most popular images for this word search, we’ve done this and have had excellent results!

Use Pinterest to see what style is trending in your industry/niche.

When you do your research, make sure you really consider:

・ How do the images make you feel?

・ What’s the sense you get of the brand?

・ Would you want to do business with them?

Image credit: Social Media Examiner

Define your style in 5 easy steps:

1. Color consistency

Color psychology plays an enormous role in how our audience interacts with our brand, how it responds.

Choose a color that best represents your company personality, the feelings you want to impart and the action you want them to take. Start with your main color. You can use an online color picker. Try one of these tools: colordot, colors.co Or you can upload your image to imagecolorpicker.com Another option is to download a Chrome or Firefox extension to find colors you like online.

2. Composition

Composition is the main key to create highly shareable visuals. Easy to read, easy to get the point – a good composition. Similar elements draw the eye and create consistency.

3. Choose your fonts wisely

Think about what is your main font. It should be super easy for people to read your content. We’ve seen what an impact this can have on social and your site too. Your font expresses your company personality and has a direct impact on your conversions. HubSpot did a survey and found that using 3 font styles makes it easier to read content.

When choosing your font, ask yourself the following questions: is my company fun, silly, entertaining, serious, or straightforward? Is my content fun, silly, entertaining, serious, or straightforward?

4. Nail Your Message

Ask yourself: “Is it relative to my topic and audience?” Make sure the image has a bold focal point. Choose images that are clear and easy to view. But! Don’t use a corporate-style stock image (Fake vs. Authentic). And don’t be the same – break all the rules.

5. Brand It

To be remembered, you must make an impact. Create unique and memorable images that consistently stand out in the feed. Always add a watermark – logo, hashtag, or a slogan – to all images, so they can’t be copied by others, this is something that we highly recommend!

How to Build a Digital Marketing Plan

By Rich Brooks

Plan before you build

Rich used a unique example, that building your website is like building a house. It’s not for you – it’s for them, so they have a good experience at your site. Before you start any building, answer yourself three fundamental questions:

1. What are your audiences’ goals when they come to the website?
2. Who would you say are your three biggest competitors?
3. How does your company differentiate itself from these competitors?

Things to keep in mind when building a website:

1. Keep it mobile friendly
2. Have a CMS (Client Management System)  
3. A beautiful design.

Action Items

You need to create a site that lets visitors interact and act on opportunities that you give them. Rich suggests that – at a minimum – you have the following:

・ Phone

・ Contact Form

・ Email Opt-in

・ Call to Action!

We agree with all of this, and highly recommend you add the e-mail newsletter with an ETHICAL BRIBE so people are attracted to your offer.

Image credit: Social Media Examiner

Copywriting

Whether you hire a copywriter or do-it-yourself, here are some great tips on making your copy always look professional at your site. Keep these tips handy!

・ Write for One Person

・ Descriptive Page Title

・ Use Keywords in your Anchor Text

・ Narrow Your Focus

・ Keep the Copy Short

・ Be Specific (you are not the greatest company of all times.)

What Social Network is Right for You?

We highly recommend you take a look at the following questions, when thinking about adding that latest & hot social media channel to your marketing plan:

・ Does my ideal customer use this platform?

・ Can I engage with my ideal customer here?

・ How do I convert my ideal customer here?

Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning and the Future of Social Media Marketing

By Bryan Kramer, Sandy Carter, Christopher Penn, and Christopher Carfi

One thing we know we’re really going to be paying attention to is this: technology, with the help of AI and bots, will become easier to work with! Isn’t that fantastic? So marketers need to think how their brand can be personified through the bot as it offers a more personal experience than an app.

Ask yourself: How is Social Media going to evolve and change in the next years? It was interesting to hear from the panel that significant part of what Social Media is today is easily automated by chatbots. If you do it with a template today, a machine will do it without you tomorrow.

Image credit: Social Media Examiner

You’re going to be thrilled to know that “busy work” will soon be a thing of the past. All the stuff that you do in your daily work that’s repetitive, bots can take on that task and free you up to do more interesting things. We’ll be able to be more creative with what we do. For example, if we are able to try 2-3 versions of a post or an ad, we’ll be able to try 2000 of them in parallel.

What do you need to do to stay ahead of the curve? The panel’s hot tip: learn Ruby or Python languages as a marketer, at least the basics, and that will let you be able to expand what you do. Because so much of machine learning and deep learning is available in these languages and a lot of it is free.

How to Use Social Media to Engage, Connect and Convert at Each Stage of the Customer Lifecycle 

By Shama Hyder

Shama said something that we’ve always encouraged you to think about: that social media is not just Facebook, Twitter, etc. Social media is not just the platform, the platform is secondary. Social media really means that people are the media. How we share information, how we make decisions, has all changed.

The modern customer understands this and uses social media as a tool of power to be able to collect information. So context relevancy is everything in terms of how you reach out to your audience. It’s important to make your content and your brand about your customers, and not about your company. It used to be “what does our brand say?” Now you have to ask yourself, “What does doing business with us allow our customers to say about their personal brand?”

Understand that the primary reason people use social media is to showcase their own identity.

Image credit: Social Media Examiner

Education, Transparency, Choices. Know that this is how you attract = you educate.

It’s wrong to not want to share info, because of a concern that competitors might see it. Your best bet is to outeducate your competitors. Being able to curate, being able to turn data into wisdom is what gives you power. To us, this is taking “content is king” to a much higher level, understanding how to “best” your competition and becoming the expert in your niche.

Know that people want to do business with human beings, so being transparent is crucial. What people respect is how you respond to possible negative experiences someone might have with your product or service. So just as we’ve explained to you, if someone posts on social media about your product or service and even if it is negative, it is best to respond in a way to attempt to repair the customer relationship and to help others understand how your brand helps people in every way.

Today’s consumers are also so used to having lots of choices. It is critical that you give people choices how to engage with you. We’ve always recommended that your content can be similar across platforms, but it’s ok because people get to choose.

Always remember this: sharing your customer “success stories” is what helps to attract your next customers!

If anyone made it to the end of this post, we’re glad to have you here! We hope you were able to learn something valuable and will start implementing it for your business today. And if you had any hesitations about attending SMMW, they have got to be all cleared out by now! See you there next year.

The post Key Findings from SMMW17 Part 2 appeared first on PromoRepublic Blog | Insights for Franchise & Multi-Location Marketers.

Social Media Marketing in 2017: What the Newest Research Reveals

By Michael Stelzner

Michael spoke about where the social media industry is headed, you’re going to want to pay attention to this. We’re glad we did!  

There were tips on understanding Facebook algorithm and at least trying to make it work for you. Facebook really wants people to see quality content. It is designed to help consumers have an incredible experience.

Your content gets scanned by the algorithm, whether it’s text, image or video (video gets the #1 preference), and if people react (by a like, click, comment or share), the reach is expanded. Keep in mind, it’s no longer based on time of the post.

Facebook no longer has room in the newsfeed for ads, so this means there is even less reach for the organic content and it all leads to making it harder to grow your business through social.

One fact we found fascinating was that: 2 out of 3 marketers say that Facebook is the most important platform for them. If you want to get more exposure, Michael recommends mixing up your content & so do we! Focus on educating your audience, but don’t only post business stuff, try to entertain them too. Also post content from other sources, not just you. All of this together will get your audience to engage with you more.

Image Credit: Social Media Examiner

Visuals

Michael told us that 85% of marketers use them; 41% of marketers claim visuals are the most important form of content, more than blogging, videos or podcasts. You need to re-think your Facebook posting strategy to comply with the algorithm.

Fortunately, there is a way to break through the algorithm – try with Live videos! Facebook really wants users to consume live video, so it gives priority to it. Keep in mind that Facebook is heavily investing in Messenger too.

One thing we found very exciting – did you know that you can sell through Messenger??? So you can have your customers interact with bots through Messenger.

Creating amazing content will always stand the test of time, something we’ve told you all along. When people share content, thus making the algorithm work for you, the content establishes thought leadership and makes your business indispensable. This is exactly what you want! Remember – Facebook Live is the current leader of the pack.

According to Michael, the future is behind personal messaging apps – Facebook Messenger, WhatsApp and the likes. It might not be 100% clear yet to all of us how all of this will develop (obviously bots are already playing a big part), but that seems to be the trend.

How To Improve Your Facebook Marketing ROI by Mari Smith

Now the very first tip Mari shared with us is a real stunner, you’re going to want to pay attention to this: Facebook is actually running out of ad inventory and it’s getting much harder to cut through. So what do you do if you want to grow your audience on Facebook? Instead of advertising to people who could actually turn out to be irrelevant, why not upload your own custom audience?

Image Credit: Klipfolio

Mari’s marketing theory is simple but important to grasp. It’s something we’ve talked about here too, but listen to how she puts it: she says there are numbers-based marketers, who only care about the numbers and graphs, and then there are heart-based marketers, who truly care about the people they are reaching. They deeply understand their needs and how their products and services can help to solve their problems.

You know that “traditional” marketing is the numbers based, BUT social media marketing is really the heart-relationship based type of marketing.

What you need to do to be really successful, is actually merge these 2 types of marketing. Because if you make people happy, then you’re going to make more money. Those positive emotional experiences from top quality customer service and experiencing your products are equaling more sales.

With content to help your Facebook ROI, Mari suggests you focus on video, because it gets 3x the engagement of other content. What really surprised us is that only less than 1% of the posts a week are video! Know that your competition is UNDERUTILIZING video – so you should do it to improve your ROI.

What type of video is best? The square video format is best, both on Facebook and Instagram, getting 20% more views. We weren’t surprised to hear that people look at video content 5 times longer than at static.

Want to hear something cool? The Facebook algorithm actually knows if you are a sophisticated advertiser – or a newbie!

How to Use a Business Profile to Get More Sales From Instagram

By Jenn Herman

Instagram has become a very popular social media channel. We’ve talked about it before, and how it can help you. So you can understand why we were eager to hear what Jenn had to say. Instagram is actually used by 1/3 of ALL PEOPLE who use the Internet! A huge audience you can reach!

What’s exciting to hear too, is that the traffic from Instagram has a much lower bounce rate than on all the other Social Media platforms. It also has the highest engagement rates, and one of the very strongest set of community business tools.

If you are thinking of upgrading to an Instagram business profile, the Contact button is actually the best reason to do so. We recommend you take a look at this. People are closing sales within hours of opening their business accounts, because their audience can find them easily on Instagram and call them instantly! Remember: to do this, it has to be connected to a Facebook business page.

Image Credit: Social Media Examiner

Understand that both your name & username are the ONLY searchable criteria. So do not put #hashtags within your profile description, they are useless. Try to add a keyword in your Name (not your username). Jenn explained, if you are a photographer, for example, then choose a name such as “John Doe Photographer” as your Name. It’s critical to have that keyword in your Name or Username so you can easily be found in search results.

Just as we’ve explained with other social media bios, your Instagram bio is an “elevator pitch.” You are sharing information especially with first time visitors to your profile, it’s an introduction. It’s important to add a call-to-action in your bio, but also try to make it fun & engaging. Some like to use emojis to do this.

There are lots of types of content to share on Instagram, such as products or services, offers and promos, behind-the-scenes, tips or tutorials, greetings or messages, contests or giveaways, exclusive content only for your Instagram audience.

Jenn recommends that you use only “organic” style images, not like in magazines, overly staged. It is better at making emotional connections. You also want to be a bit of a storyteller to connect, so tell your company or brand story – how it started, how it is growing. Even as a solopreneur, not just a bigger company!  

To be successful, both Jenn and we recommend that you create consistent and recognizable content, that would make people connect emotionally to your brand. Remember you will always attract attention by creating quality captions, being descriptive and entertaining, educational and informative. Keep your content “short & sweet” on Instagram – at about 1-3 short paragraphs, with 2-3 sentences per paragraph. Add text on the image and tell people what you want them to do – click on the link in your bio, use the hashtag, tag someone, or another short Call To Action.

Instagram ads use Facebook ads targeting platform. But, you can reach NEW audiences on Instagram. We especially like Instagram for businesses, because the costs are affordable, budgets are lower than for Facebook ads.

Want to know, what to promote in your ad? Focus on value for your customer: resources and downloads, webinars, campaigns, flash sales, local events etc. Always do remember the Call To Action button at the end!

How to Promote and Sell Using Live Video

By Kim Garst

Kim is passionate about SMM, but truly passionate about VIDEO. People are not on Social Media for money, they want to connect with friends and family there, something that we really agree with. Kim explained that if you want people to watch your videos, you have to bring value to them and they should trust you. Because people buy from those they know, like and trust. She’s made 5 – 6k videos up to now.

Kim made an excellent point, that within the first 2 minutes, people decide whether they want to watch this video or not. One great tip Kim had was that the path to profit starts with serving up value based content. Video is a piece of content and content is king. So you should spend as much time as you need, to create a great & valuable piece. Videos can also be transcribed into video posts. But Kim also admitted something that we all know: creating great content is tough!

Kim reminded us that we will spend 6 hours writing a blog post, that you can use LIVE videos to tell the ideas from your blog and then transcribe the video. If you are new to video, she offered an excellent tip, you don’t have to go public first, try it “solo” or with a friend with videos before going public. You can use videos everywhere – Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Instagram, Snapchat.

Facebook

Kim suggested making 1 minute video clips of your talking points. You can take a video and cut it into 5 – 10 pieces, which we think is a great idea. Kim reminded us that sometimes we go LIVE and think “I rock” and we do. But not to make videos if you don’t want to, because people feel your mood, we know that’s true too!

Image Credit: Social Media Examiner

Pinterest

For Pinterest Kim suggests 1 minute video clips, which we think is a great idea. The way to do it is to upload them on YouTube and then share on Pinterest.

Snapchat

Kim told us that you actually can pre-record, then upload to Snapchat Memories so you can add to Snapchat stories. The site will easily cut the video into 10 second increments.

What really made us sit up and pay attention, were Kim’s tips to get people to notice your content at Snapchat:

・ Have a set time

・ Schedule the event

・ Go tell it on the mountain (inform on social)

・ Use teaser videos to give a sneak peek

・ Email your list

Kim reassured us that you can do well even if your social presence is not as strong as you’d like it to be. This is something we all should keep in mind, looking at our overall marketing and how it can enhance our reach. Her friend had an e-mail list of 10K and then started to use Periscope. She told people about her LIVE videos via e-mail list and was able to sell 1,500 packages successfully with videos. We think that’s great!

Kim has these tips if you want to “blow up” your videos:

Moving people to your list is very important.

1. Deserve Wealth
2. Change Your Beliefs
3. Educate Yourself

Get organized and prepare checklists and worksheets. Kim does something we always suggest too, share your ethical bribe on your LIVE broadcast. She advises to make product demos whether it’s digital or not. Now with LIVE videos you can share your screen. Some professions such as Real Estate Managers, schools, restaurants can use videos for LIVE tours. For LIVE training events (webinar), Kim got 900 people on one.

Kim’s final tip is something we all need to keep in mind: don’t sell. SERVE! It’s hard but it’s true. If we do that we win.

Attending SMMW17 was a one-of-a-kind experience & it was amazing to hear what these experts had to say. It was an ideal opportunity to connect with top thought leaders. We’re happy to share these latest trends and tips with you, so your social media and content can be the very best that it can be. Let us know what changes or updates you plan to make, in the comments below! And stay tuned for part 2 coming in 2 weeks!

The post Key Findings from SMMW17 part 1 appeared first on PromoRepublic Blog | Insights for Franchise & Multi-Location Marketers.

We’ve talked to over 20 SMM experts, to understand how they attract traffic. They’re sharing their very best tips with you today. So open up your laptop’s Notepad and get ready to download some helpful inspiration. Because you’re going to attract potential customers and visitors to your site – ASAP!

To understand the tremendous amount of knowledge we’ve packed into this little blog post, first you should understand the questions we asked. We asked our SMM experts about their main non-social media traffic sources, whether or not they use paid channels or ads (and which ones), and how they monetize their traffic, leads and subscribers. We’ve segmented their answers into easy-to-digest pieces below.

What Are Some Main Non-Social Media Traffic Sources?

There are some tried-and-true non-social sources that plenty of social media experts still use.

Everyone knows that social media is a huge “draw” for your site. But don’t neglect the great opportunities offered by some of the non-social media traffic sources that are out there. Such as organic search. What’s this? Put simply, someone typing in “hotels in Rome, Italy” and what comes up in the search engine (under the ads). Do understand that since 2016, Google has been encrypting keyword data. This means that a keyword or keyword phrase someone used to find that great website they clicked on is now hidden when you look at your analytics. While Google originally reassured everyone this would affect about 10% of the searches, it actually seems to be more than this. Ben Anderson with cnctNOW, a social media consulting firm, likes to use the search method to obtain more traffic for his consulting service contracts.

Nevertheless, pay attention to using those keywords and keyword phrases when you create content for your site because they will help you to attract that lovely, organic traffic (even if you don’t quite know exactly who they are!).

Some experts truly agree that organic methods are the best. Robin French with Great Tasting Tours, focuses on print media and personal social networking. But she admits that “we are a start-up and must be very organic right now.”

E-mail marketing is one of the “oldie but goodie” sources to help increase your site traffic. Rodion from Casting360 likes to use email marketing, along with several other methods. If you choose this, always do remember to include direct links to your site, even specific site pages you think e-mail readers would find of interest. Keep in mind that the typical person now receives more than 200 emails a day in their personal e-mail InBox, so when you craft that e-mail marketing piece, you want to make it simply irresistible, something that says “you absolutely need to click here to learn more – right now!”

Referrals from other sites are another excellent source of site traffic, and sometimes depending on the site this can be just as “viral” as getting that wonderful, yummy social media site traffic that we all crave. Our best tip: take the time and do your homework, to find sites that reach people who would also visit your site and look for opportunities to do a guest blog post there. Then reach out to offer to write one, or hire a writer to do so for you.

Another classic way to get great site traffic is utilizing SEO. While the methods of making SEO work sometimes change, SEO itself is successful in so many ways. Aaron at DS9 Design prefers this, but he’s also open to traditional marketing methods too. “SEO and SMM serve as our foundation for traffic. Interestingly enough, we have found that small businesses looking for a website and online marketing services have been responding best to an old-fashioned cold call.”

Think outside the box. Look for ways to find your customers. Take a moment and think about where your customers shop, what other sites they visit? Where do they go when they are out in their communities? Well, that’s what Robin French did, she has found success not only with e-mail marketing but also with traditional “meet & greet” networking and print media too. “Yes, we use the local paper and ads through our tourism bureau.” Naveen Kumar also has a unique way to attract traffic, by responding to questions in online communities. This attracts people to his site, to fill out opt-in forms!

What Are Some Paid Channels for Ads?

Most social media platforms offer paid advertising opportunities designed to help you reach more people with your messaging.

Whether you are starting out in business or have been successful for years, it can feel daunting to start thinking about paying for ads on some of the online channels. Which ones are best? Let’s listen to our experts and their opinions about what they prefer for their businesses!

Raimy Aguilar from Prairie View A & M Foundation prefers paid search that they get through Google. “Yes, we use Google ads, which is free due to being a non-profit.” Andy Crestodina from Orbit Media, a Chicago-based web design and development team, says, “Search traffic is by far the most important channel for us. We also get a lot of direct traffic and a consistent flow from email. Social traffic rarely converts into leads.” That is true for many industries (but not all), so it’s important to be working several different strategies concurrently.  

Richard Massafra from Sit up Doggy Treats offers “good dogs” and owners a terrific treat through social media to help attract lots of traffic – they can get actually dog treats to pamper their pups while helping local K9 units! Eljona Kosta especially likes to use Google AdWords and Bing Ads too for her business. One great thing we can see about selecting the two of them is that Eljona’s eggs are not “just” in 1 basket for her traffic results! Tracey Essex from Cashback Loans has 2 favorites too: Bing & Yelp. Remember when you utilize Yelp, people get to see customer’s honest opinions about services and this is a highly trafficked site. Kathrine Ameca Sangalang uses both advertisements and affiliate links. She recommends “Propellerads” and has used them for selling per download. Luke has a WordPress site and has found success with traditional Facebook advertising, to sell a Cloud marketing tool. As you are starting to see, Facebook ads are a popular favorite and so are using some of the well-known search engines, such as Google Ads and even Bing Ads. Consider where your customers might be out there online & also look at what your competition is doing, because that will help you choose what is best for you!

Luca from PH Apps and Games likes “word of mouth and buzz marketing” to help make his business successful. His favorite go-to tool and resource? “Facebook Ads. Mostly, making customers download games and apps, but also selling products or services.” Mike Allton, a super cool social media marketer from The Social Media Hat, says that while he uses organic search and email to drive traffic, he also uses “Facebook ads regularly, Twitter or Instagram or Pinterest for testing,” and they they monetize with book sales and consulting, as well as affiliate advertising and some display ads. How do some of our other experts monetize?

How Do You Monetize Traffic, Leads and Subscribers?

It’s not enough to attract the traffic. You have to understand how to turn these visitors into customers, starting with leads and subscribers who wind up buying from you. Not sure how to get started? No worries, our experts have some wise advice to share with you!

Judy has a website and has found great success by monetizing her affiliate links. By choosing at least several affiliates too, this means you have several sources of income. Gene Holcombe likes to use both a newsletter and marketing e-mails, but his best source of income is from “A tie to room revenue.” Tressera Trujilo uses referrals and local networking groups, monetizing comes from “Low cost beta offers, then an upsell into residual programs.” Sheryl from Cirrus VA Assistant Services gets great referrals from both current and past clients, to monetize her business, Sheryl is “Still working on that. Right now, I run very lean and local on campaigns for my business.” Lisa Porter has a site, SparkAndProfit.com, and she also likes to monetize with affiliate links. Ali Mirza has a blog, isocialyou.com, “I convert website traffic to e-mail leads amd then offer them different online courses related to marketing and startups.”

And Mark Schaefer, one of the biggest influencers in the social media space (you can find him at BusinessesGrow.com), is a little bit unusual, for an expert in social media. He says, “I am a marketing consultant and I get leads from my public speaking activities. Essentially, mybusiness is 100% fueled by inbound leads driven by content. I have done a very little bit of promotion, but that is it. Almost no paid advertising, but I know I am unusual. I have 12 revenue streams but the largest ones – consulting, speaking and workshops – come from indirect monetization, meaning people pay me due to my reputation and authority, rather than me making a special offer or deal.” That goes to show that your marketing funnels and traffic channels can vary dramatically, even if you’re in the same type of business. It’s important to do plenty of testing and research to find out what works best for your brand.

We know this is a huge topic – one that can be discussed again and again. It’s like we’ve just touched the tip of an iceberg so to speak. But we hope that we have inspired you, to look for some organic sources of traffic and to get out there and research places to put paid ads. It is also so critical to harness that amazing power of the traffic you are sending your site, to figure out how to monetize it. So get ready to create some traffic & do business successfully with your site!

We love talking to people in the PromoRepublic community and the SMM world at large. Stay tuned for the next post!

The post 23 SMM Experts Talk Traffic appeared first on PromoRepublic Blog | Insights for Franchise & Multi-Location Marketers.

PromoRepublic was one of the exhibitors at Social Media Marketing World 2017 in San Diego. During our time there we got to speak to industry professionals about everything from the current state of social media marketing to what’s projected for the future. It all came down to one most essential ingredient that can make the biggest difference for your success. What’s that? It’s genuine interaction! Sounds simple and obvious, but is it really? Let’s see what the experts had to say.

What Is The Current State of Social Media Marketing for Small Businesses & What Could Be Improved Today?

As providers of social media services for small business, we are well aware of the pain points and pitfalls of trying to not only establish a social media calendar, but to find the pitch-perfect content that will engage fans and followers. There are several things to think about when establishing a social media presence for small businesses. And, thought leaders in the field helped us identify them. Gini Dietrich says, “Find out where your customers are hanging out and go there.”

Choosing the Right Channel

Bernie Borges

Bernie Borges, host of Social Business Engine podcast, says, “SMBs are struggling. There is so much coming at them with social media marketing.” He says that choosing their platforms is one of the biggest challenges. Sue B. Zimmerman agrees. She says, “Small businesses really need to be intentional about what they are doing and not do it just to check it off their list.”

Sue B Zimmerman

That means not investing time in channels where you don’t have an audience, for one. Choosing the correct channels isn’t hard, but it does take time and research. We talk about how to find your audience in our blog post and tutorial webinar. 

Jenn Herman

Jenn Herman from Jenn’s Trends says, “Not all brands need to be everywhere, but you do have more options than you used to.” Here at PromoRepublic, we recommend focusing your social efforts only on the channels where your customers are, rather than following the latest new fads.

Taking Social Media Marketing Seriously

Gini Dietrich

Gini Dietrich, CEO and founder of Arment Dietrich and awesome thought leader, says that ten years ago, social was “very much a fad,” and people thought it was just for kids. She says “There’s been a transition, but you still see a lot of hesitancy in using social. You see a lot of building it and forgetting about it. You see people building Facebook pages that nobody answers comments on.”

It’s important to be PRESENT when you’re running a social page. Lots of people even go so far as to set up a social media content generator and then they never even check the content that’s being posted. Gini says that social is time-intensive. Tools are OK, but if you do that a lot people can tell that’s what you’re doing.

[Tweet “If you’re going to do social media marketing, commit to it.”]

Zontee Hou, Senior Strategist at Convince and Convert, says, “The challenge with social media marketing for small business is that often it’s an afterthought or just one of many tasks to get done.” If you’re going to do social media marketing, commit to it.

Have a Strategy in Place

Bernie Borges says that more than anything, small businesses need to have a social media strategy. To the last point, he says “Those that don’t take it seriously and hand it off to an intern are putting their brands at risk. If they’re a big enough company to have employees, it’s important that they embrace employee advocacy.” It’s important, when developing a social strategy for small business, that you teach your employees to brand themselves so that it benefits your brand.

Sue B. Zimmerman agrees. She says, “They need to have a high level strategy and understand that if they’re sticking to their content strategy, visual strategy and their core brand messaging and brand values, they can have great success. Random posting leads to random results.”

Zontee Hou

Zontee Hou says, “As a small business owner myself, I know that it can be difficult to make time for creating content when there’s other work to be done. However, with smart planning and focus on the returns that social media can bring to a business, small businesses can and should be able to create a social media workflow that works for them. That’s where a social media strategy comes in. You have to figure out the type of content you want to post, the frequency and who’s going to do what. It’s a lot, but it’s well worth it.”

Post the Right Type of Content

Robert Bly

Robert Bly of Bly.com says that there is a lot of “content pollution” out there. Yes, you need to post on social, but you have to post the type of things that your audience won’t see as pollution or spam.

Koka Sexton

Koka Sexton, Industry Principal for Hootsuite, says that the largest gains are to be made from original content, and here at PromoRepublic, we agree.

Katie Lance from KatieLance.com says that social media marketing for small business can be a lot more efficient, but that in addition to a social plan (your strategy), you need a content plan. (Check out Katie’s key take-aways from SMMW17.)

Jenn Herman says, “Most people don’t know how to create content. Small businesses want to talk about themselves and that’s all they’re doing for content. They’re not solving an actual problem for their customer. They’re not building relationships with their customers. And social media is SOCIAL. You have to create content that forms a relationship.”

[Tweet “”Social media is SOCIAL. You have to create content that forms a relationship”. @jenns_trends”]

Ana Hoffman

Ana Hoffman from Traffic Generation Cafe says that the current content game for SMBs is “kinda broken, because they’re trying to promote their content on social media and that’s not working anymore.” She goes on to say that SMBs need to promote actual knowledge in bite-sized pieces. Ana suggests writing fewer blog posts and then re-purposing the content into different forms, for example, slide shares, and using the images for social media.

Jill Stanton

Jill Stanton from Screw the Nine to Five agrees, but thinks that SMBs are doing OK. She says, “There are so many small businesses and entrepreneurs just kicking ass on social media. They’re sharing the backstage of their life, they’re building relationships, they’re building that connection.” She goes on to say that businesses doing a poor job are ones that make it all about them. Jill says, “High quality stuff is about community, customers and highlighting transformations.” So how do you do that?

Visual Posts and Ads

Michael O’Neal

Overwhelmingly, everyone says that visual content performs best. Michael O’Neal from Solopreneur Hour podcast thinks that some SMBs are using ads brilliantly, but there is room for improvement. That means great visual posts, and other types of storytelling content that will draw audiences in. He says that organic reach continues to dwindle, and people are doing more with targeted Facebook ads and Instagram stories.

Videos

Like it or not, it looks like video is here to stay. While you shouldn’t post video exclusively, it should be part of your content mix, and live video is especially effective. It’s hard to do that on the fly, so practice with a few recordings before you take the leap and go live.

Templates

Michael Stelzner

Michael Stelzner of Social Media Examiner says, “Quality of content can be a problem. Small businesses have to find someone, a person or tool, that will help them create professional content. There’s no other way.” He believes in templatization. Michael says, “Templates are made by experts, pros, and small businesses are not conscientious about exclusivity.” While that might be true, it’s best to pick content creation templates that are customizable so that you can change colors, fonts and add your logo.

Evergreen Content

Mari Smith

Mari Smith – one of the top social media thought leaders – is a big believer in posting the right content. She says, “A lot of small businesses AND major businesses are executing the same thing, like posting too many link posts on Facebook when video is what’s working better.”

Mari told us about a client of hers who wrote an evergreen blog post related to the client’s industry and it continues to bring a ton of ROI to the business. Coming up with some evergreen blog content you can share and boost on social is a good way to go, and should be a part of your social media calendar.

Choose the Right Resources and Tools

When you’re thinking about social media marketing services, you might be thinking about social media marketing AUTOMATION. The best tools not only allow you to maintain a social media calendar, but they also contain content creation examples you can use – the templates Michael was talking about. And, as Peter Parker Rich Brooks from Take Flyte says to not forget about other marketing tools, like search engine optimization and building your email lists. You have to have a full arsenal to execute a marketing strategy effectively.

What is the Future of Social Media Marketing for Small Businesses – Human or Automation?

Bernie Borges says, “[The future will be] a lot more automated. We’re going to need people to do strategy and creative work, but a lot of the busy repetitive stuff will be automated. Brands need to think about what tools they need to use to make things more automated, but also more engaging.”

Jill Stanton hopes that social will become more humanized, but clarifies by saying “I automate a lot of stuff on my page. I doubt that’s going any where, but you have to be there to answer comments and interact. Don’t talk at people, talk to them.”

Katie Lance

Gini Dietrich agrees with Bernie in that “our jobs are going to evolve – we’ve become sophisticated and AI and bots are going to change everything. We won’t get paid to schedule posts, but we’ll be paid to be creative.” Katie Lance says, “Some automation can be good when done right.”

Koka from HootSuite says that automation and a programmatic approach isn’t necessarily wrong, but that “the biggest benefits and largest rewards will come from small businesses that want to connect and engage with their community on a very human level. Ultimately, this is what drives brand loyalty for the company.”

Zontee Hou says, “The best social media marketing is engaging because it’s genuine. With that in mind, I think we’ll see the trends towards more visual continue. Video and photos help tell the story of the people behind a business.” So, it seems that the future will hold automation, but also more creative storytelling.

Ana Hoffman insists that the name of the social game is value, and she is right. Ana says, “What it boils down to is that when a business solves a problem for someone, that’s when they win.” Solving pain points and listening to your audience is much more important than inundating them with information they’re not asking for.

[Tweet “”When a business solves a problem for someone, that’s when they win.” @AnaTrafficCafe”]

Rich Brooks

Rich Brooks gives some advice on finding the right pitch or tone when posting to social. He says, “If you’re not posting regularly, it feels like you’re speaking a different language. When you get used to it you can develop your own voice. Social media is still about making connections with other people. So you have to be your own brand, you have to create your own cult of personality, and you have to put that out on social media and, hopefully, it will resonate with your audience.”
So, the future might contain all sorts of cool automation, but what we’re hearing from everyone is that it’s still quality over quantity, it’s still about the customers and it’s all about creating a distinctive and friendly brand.

Tying it All Together – What Can We Do To Prepare?

To achieve that mix of humanization and automation, you need the tools and resources that let you create and schedule all types of content to post on social media to save you time, but that also allow you to be creative and really tell the story of your brand.

More than that, you need to be customer-focused and realize that the more value you bring to social pages, the more you give social fans and followers what they need. Never forget that social media is still social, and listening to the needs of your people is the most important thing you can do.

The post Best of SMMW17: How SMBs Can Win on Social Media According to 15 Marketing Experts appeared first on PromoRepublic Blog | Insights for Franchise & Multi-Location Marketers.