Emma Turnbull | BYK Digital Marketing

Marketing Around the Holiday Season

There is no more important time of year for marketing than around the holidays. Between parties, events, end-of-year corporate bonuses, and gifts for family and friends, consumers purchase more at this time of year than any other time. It is important for brands to capitalize on this increased spending to boost their sales in the final quarter of the year.

How can a business make the most of this time? And how does marketing during the holidays differ from marketing in other seasons? We’re breaking it all down below.

Different Purchasing Behaviors

Consumers’ purchasing behaviors are drastically different around the holidays than during the other 10 months of the year. There are a few key differences that marketing teams should be aware of.

Gifting is king

First, gifting is king. In general, people are buying more for others than for themselves. There are so many presents to be purchased: for close family and friends, for coworkers, for the hosts of all the holiday parties people are attending. There is a seemingly endless need to be purchasing gifts during the holiday season.

Emphasis on charity

Goodwill and charity matter more at this time of year also. The holidays tend to make people feel sentimental. Giving and charitable donations increase notably as the holidays approach. Emotional stories that tug on the heartstrings tend to make a bigger impact during the holiday season. Charity is more front-of-mind than usual at this time of year.

Wants > Needs

Finally, this time of year is more about wants than needs. People do not want to buy each other useful gifts. They want to buy each other fun and exciting gifts. Even for those consumers who are shopping for themselves, the end of the year is a big time to splurge. Whether they’ve been saving up all year, or just got a big holiday bonus, this is the time people tend to finally buy those items they’ve been eyeing for months.

How Do I Market To This?

So, how to apply these trends to your holiday marketing plan? There are a few ways.

Adjust your target demographic

Since such a large percentage of sales at this time of year are for gifts, this is the one time you do not necessarily want to be marketing only to your own target audience. Instead, you also need to be thinking about the demographics of those who are most likely to be buying your offering as a gift for someone. Your advertising should reflect that you are speaking not only directly to your target market, but to those close to them as well. Don’t just tell people why your product or service would be awesome to have – tell them why it would make a fantastic gift for others as well.

Stay away from utility

In your advertising, also be sure not to be focusing too heavily on the utility of your offering. Focus instead on the ways your offering is desirable, exciting, and would make a great gift. There are plenty of situations where facts and rational thinking can effectively be the focus of your marketing campaigns, but not around the holidays.

Craft your offerings to encourage gift-giving

Beyond the advertising, you may want to think of ways to tweak your offerings as well, so they lend themselves to gift-giving. Offer gift cards and gift certificates. Find a way to bundle your offerings together into a gift basket. Even if your product or service would not traditionally be seen as a popular gift, you can find ways to increase its appeal.

Focus on charitable efforts

As we mentioned above, charity and goodwill are high around the holidays. This is a great time of year to really ramp up your philanthropic efforts, and emphasize any charitable partnerships or initiatives that your company has. Donating a portion of your proceeds back to a nonprofit organization could make your offerings more appealing to consumers around the holidays. Any way you can connect your business to these feelings of charity and goodwill will likely benefit you at this time of year.

All in all, marketing is not so drastically different around the holidays than it is any other time, but there are a few key differences that are important to note. Remember that when it comes to gift-giving, you’re not just selling to your own key demographic anymore. By focusing on the way people purchase and make decisions during the holiday season, you will be able to successfully craft your marketing strategy to fit the season.

2020-11-03

Keeping Your Content Fresh

It can be easy to get into a rut when it comes to posting on social media. No matter how often your brand runs deals, unveils new offerings, or offers specials, sometimes your content feels stale and repetitive. There are, however, plenty of creative ways to keep your content feeling fresh. And the good news is, you don’t always need a professional photo shoot to do it. Here are some ways to freshen up your posts, both by repurposing old content and creating new content.

Repurposing Old Content

Just because a given photo or graphic has already been posted to your channel, does not mean that it can never be used again without feeling repetitive. You can rework images you already have to fit new purposes, and bring new life to them. Editing can work wonders for your social media platforms. Here are a few ways you can edit your pictures to breathe new life into them.

Seasonal and Holiday Content

Get with the times! Seriously, cater your content to the seasons, upcoming holidays, and major events in your area. This is a great way to keep your content from feeling like the same thing over and over, because it is specific to what is currently happening in the world. Even if you can’t take new holiday-specific photos, this can be done through editing your current images. Edit photos in springtime to be vibrant and bright, fall to be more muted with warm colors, and winter to focus on cooler colors and shades of blue. Add graphics for national holidays, or edit relevant items into the background. Add a snowman, a pumpkin, or a cornucopia to provide some seasonal flair to your posts.

Change Backdrop

Another simple way to make your photos look brand-new is by changing the background. This simple editing technique works wonders in completely changing the vibe and aesthetic of an image! It may be the exact same product front and center, but a new backdrop means a whole new world in a photo.

Add a Graphic

Sometimes to reuse a photo, it is as simple as adding a border, a logo in the corner, or some other small and simple design element! Use your company’s branding guidelines to create graphics out of your pre-existing photos. This can be a minor addition, but make a major difference. And if you’re running a special deal on one of your offerings, you can even just take an image you already have and overlay the details of the special offer on it. Easy!

Generating New Content

As great as reusing content can be, you can only edit and tweak and rework an image so many times before it just can’t be reused anymore. In these cases, the only way to give your social media a fresh look is by creating new content. Here are a few ways to get content beyond just standard close-up product photos.

Crowdsource photos from customers

There’s no reason you need to create all your content yourself. Fans and customers are often a great source of content, as they want to share their experiences with their own friends and followers as well. Even if they are not professional photographers, many of your followers can, and probably do, snap very aesthetically pleasing photos of your offerings. Take advantage of these!

Always ask for permission, and then repost some of your favorite photos from your audience. Those who are chosen will likely feel proud and feel a stronger connection with your brand. These real-life photos can also feel more authentic than a perfectly staged photo, and breathe some humanity into your brand, making it feel more authentic and relatable.

Lifestyle Photos

Speaking of authenticity, you should strive to inject this into the content you are creating for your business as well. Instead of just grabbing product shots, snap some photos of your offerings in action. These types of pictures look drastically different than a staged photo, and can really vary the look of your social media channels quite easily. Include people in your photos, shoot in different locations (both indoor and outdoor if possible), and vary how close up or far away your shots are.

Combine multiple offerings in one photo

So whether you’re able to take new pictures or just need to repurpose old ones, there are plenty of ways to keep your social media content from feeling stale. Freshen things up with fun editing, seasonal themes, crowdsourcing, and creative photoshoots that go beyond the expected. Your social media accounts will have a whole new life breathed into them in no time at all!

2020-10-30

Making the Most of a Limited Marketing Budget

As a small business, it can be easy to be intimidated by the huge dollar values that national corporations commit to their marketing budgets. But just because your marketing budget isn’t in the millions doesn’t mean that it can’t be effective for your company. You really don’t always need the big bucks as long as you are being smart and efficient with the budget you do have. Here are 5 ways to stretch your marketing budget as far as possible and make the most of it.

Focus targeted ads on a small group

Google and Facebook ads are a fantastic tool, but don’t fall into the trap of spending too much on them. You want to run ads as often as possible, but you really only need to target a focused audience of people who are most likely to become your customers. No need to create a huge audience with thousands upon thousands of people to see your ad. Instead, carefully craft the audience based on geography, demographics, interests, and purchasing history to really hit those who are most likely to purchase from you.

Put most of budget toward digital

Digital marketing in general is where you can get the most bang for your buck. That’s not to say you should not dedicate any of your budget to other areas – it is always good to have a wide range of advertisements and marketing campaigns. However, the bulk of your money should be focused on the digital realm. This is where you can expect to see the highest returns and reach the widest audience without breaking the bank.

Work with micro influencers or up-and-coming influencers

Within digital, one great niche to focus on is influencer marketing. While the top, most-famous influencers may charge a pretty penny for their promotion, there are tons of smaller influencers who charge much more affordable rates, and still have an impressive reach on their social channels. Focus on micro influencers and influencers who are still up-and-coming in their field. If you get to them before their rates skyrocket, you may even be able to strike a long-term deal that will continue to benefit you as their channels grow even larger.

Don’t throw money at things just because everyone else is

We’re going back to the old adage “If your friends were jumping off a cliff, would you?” here. Sometimes, new marketing trends gain popularity before their effectiveness is really proven. Just because it seems that every other company is employing a certain tactic doesn’t necessarily mean you should too. First of all, different techniques work well for different fields, so you may be seeing companies in different industries having great success with something that just would not work as well in your industry. But even if players within your field are trying a new technique, you don’t just want to follow blindly. If your only reasoning for trying a new technique or tactic is that “everyone else is doing it,” then you really need some better reasons.

Research as much as possible before investing

Going hand in hand with the previous point, you want to do all you can to ensure your marketing spends are likely to work well for you before you invest in them. Be thorough in your research and prep work before making a large marketing purchase. Look deeply into the technique, platform, or tool you are thinking about spending your budget on. Find analytics that can clue you in to what type of return you can expect to see. By the time you actually spend your money, you want to have a solid idea what type of return you can expect to see and really know what you are getting yourself into.

By employing the 5 tips above, you can take your marketing budget farther than you ever would have thought. It’s not always about spending more – sometimes it’s about spending smarter.

2020-10-27

Emerging Influencer Categories

Social media influencing has been a well-established field for quite some time now. Certain categories, such as beauty influencers, fashion influencers, and gaming influencers, have been around practically as long as the field itself. However, as with any other field, there are also constantly new trends developing. New categories of influencers emerge relatively frequently. What are a few of the influencer categories that have emerged and whose popularity has taken off recently?

1. Specific Beauty Niches

As was mentioned above, beauty influencers are nothing new. In fact, beauty was one of the first categories to take off when influencers first came onto the scene. Within beauty, however, there have been changes and developments through the years. One of the biggest recent changes we have seen is that more specific niches within beauty have become popular. There are less general “beauty influencers” now, and more people specializing in one specific area. There are now influencers who focus only on costume makeup, or skincare, or vegan and cruelty-free products. There are influencers who only post tutorials, or who only post reviews of new makeup palettes. So while “beauty” as a category is old news, niches within beauty have developed more recently.

2. Special Diet Pages

With the rise in popularity of a variety of different diet plans has come the rise in popularity of influencers to go along with each. You can find pages dedicated to everything from Keto to Paleo to Dairy Free to Gluten Free. Instead of sifting through hundreds of recipes to find one that fits their dietary needs, people can now go to pages specifically tailored to their needs and preferences. Pretty much any dietary restriction you can imagine, you can find an influencer who focuses on it.

3. Activists

Social media activism is not necessarily new, but it has come to the forefront more in recent years. When influencing first began, a lot of influencers avoided any topics that could be seen as political or controversial. Their channels provided more of an escape from the world than a real look at the world. However, that trend has disappeared lately, as more and more influencers have shown willingness to express their views and talk about less comfortable topics. This has opened the doorway for influencers who focus primarily on social issues to emerge. There are channels dedicated to environmental issues, LGBTQIA+ rights, and a plethora of other social topics.

4. Short Form Comedy Videos

You can thank Tik Tok for the rise of these influencers. It’s like the second wave of Vine stars. These influencers focus on making comedic videos about 15 seconds long. They start trends that other users copy, like pranks and funny challenges. Unsurprisingly, these influencers tend to have light-hearted channels, in stark contrast to the activists mentioned above. They provide laughter and comedic relief more than they provide product reviews or tutorials.

5. Influencing Influencers

There has been a spike lately in influencers whose main focus is talking about influencing itself. Now that influencers are so well-established and it is a source of income for so many, lots of people want to know how to get into the field and build up their following. There is basically a whole category now of influencers teaching other people how to be influencers. They offer social media tips, share the stories of how they got started, provide advice about the best equipment, and much more. As it has become clear that social media influencers are here to stay, the interest in learning how to get involved has skyrocketed.

With so many new trends and categories constantly emerging, we cannot wait to see what the next wave of new types of influencers will be.

2020-10-23

How To Turn Traffic Into Sales

Driving traffic to your site is one thing, but getting that traffic to convert into sales is a whole different ball game. Oftentimes, business will be getting plenty of clicks, but the sales numbers just aren’t reflecting the same success. Here are a few potential reasons your traffic numbers may be there, but the sales just aren’t coming, and some methods to boost those sales.

Website Navigation and Ease of Use

It is possible that the problem lies in that your website is not user-friendly enough for people to follow through with making purchases. You do not want to be deterring potential customers by making your site complicated to figure out or hard to navigate. Make sure your website is as easy to follow as possible. Display important links and navigation buttons in obvious locations and large fonts. Do not make users click through multiple pages just to reach the shopping or purchase page. Then, whenever you think your site is as clear and simple as possible, be sure to have unbiased individuals give it a test run and make sure they find it easy to use as well.

A great example of ease of use can be found on DD Mau’s website. There is a clear “Menu” tab you can click on, which takes you to the menu screen. Large, obvious buttons beneath each menu item take you directly to the ordering page if you choose to place an order. Quick and easy!

Menu

Use Specific Landing Pages

When directing people to your site from an outside source, such as your social media pages, it is ESSENTIAL that you choose an appropriate landing page. You want to use specific landing pages, not just the homepage of your site, as often as possible. If your CTA is asking people to order online, direct them to the ordering page. If your CTA is telling people to subscribe to your newsletter, take them directly to the subscription form. Potential customers can be turned off by landing on your main website and having to figure out how to navigate to the page you were actually talking about. Make sure there are no extra steps standing between your potential customer and the action you want them to perform. Here you can see a post by Crafted. asking people to order online includes a link directly to the ordering page.

Sweeten the Deal

Sometimes, people coming to your site are particularly indecisive about making a purchase. They are not sure they’ll be satisfied, worried about the financial commitment, or just indecisive in general. For these types of customers, a discount or special offer of some sort can be the deciding factor that pushes them over the edge and gets them to actually purchase. Offer a small incentive on your site that pushes people toward purchasing. This can be anything from a 10% discount to a small free gift to a package deal bundling a few of your offerings together for a special price. Often, even a small discount is enough to sway people and increase their willingness to go ahead and make a purchase.

Insert a Pop Up

Although they can be perceived as annoying, pop up windows on your site do really tend to bring in results. This is a good way to capture potential customers for the future, even if they do ultimately decide not to make a purchase in the moment. Just because someone does not buy anything the first time they are on your site does not mean they won’t become a customer in the future. You want to gather contact information from as many of these browsers as possible. That way, you can send them exclusive offers, reminders about sales, and information about new offerings. By staying in contact, you will keep your business front of mind for them, so you have a better chance of retaining them as a customer in the future.

Here you can see Guido’s Pizzeria and Tapas has a newsletter pop-up on their website, to try to stay in touch with potential customers.

Specific and Engaging Copy

Be sure that the content on your site is engaging and written to be very specific to your offerings. This is, in many cases, your last line of defense to convince browsers to make a purchase. You want your copy to convince them that they NEED your product, not to just offer a broad and generic description of your offerings. It should be persuasive and assertive, while still providing the necessary information about your offerings. Write in a way that your potential customers will enjoy reading!

These are just a few ways your website might be inadvertently driving potential sales away. Try a few of the tips above to optimize your site and help convert your website traffic into actual sales.

2020-10-20

The Power of Persuasion

When you think of persuasive you may think of a pushy car salesman who just won’t take no for an answer, but there are plenty of other ways to persuade people. Psychology has given us many persuasion techniques that have been proven to work in various settings, including in marketing your business. Here are a few you should be applying to your marketing strategy to easily increase your sales.

Reciprocity

The principle of reciprocity is exactly what it sounds like: if someone does something nice for you, you feel an obligation to reciprocate and do something nice for them. Have you ever been offered a free drink or free appetizer from a restaurant, and felt the need to purchase a meal to accompany your free item? This is the principle of reciprocity at work. Thus, if your customers feel you have given them a gift or done them a favor, they will be more likely to purchase from you, as a type of repayment. You can use this concept when you need your customers to complete an action, such as subscribing to your newsletter or following your social media pages. If you have offered them a small freebie, like a $5 off coupon, they will feel more incentivized to complete your ask.

Anchoring

Anchoring is the idea that humans tend to place too much emphasis on the first piece of information they get. They tend to “anchor” their perspective on a given topic based on the first information they hear about it, and it can then be difficult to change their minds.

Knowing this, you can use anchoring to your advantage by providing information that “anchors” your customers where you would like them to be. For example, non-profit endeavors sometimes have “Suggested Donation Amounts” or include phrases like “Most donors are giving $50” to anchor their donors to think that whatever amount they suggest is the most appropriate amount to be donating.

Authority Bias

People tend to believe ideas that come from a source they consider to be an authority. They find messages from authorities more persuasive than those from laypeople. This can be applied to marketing by thinking about who or what is delivering your message to your customers. You can recruit an expert to speak in your advertisements, or cite a governing body or association that your customers respect.

Scarcity Heuristic

You know the phrase “We always want what we can’t have?” In psychological terms, this is called the scarcity heuristic. The more scarce or hard to come by a product or service seems, the more appealing it tends to become. Use this heuristic to your advantage by framing your offerings to seem scarce or limited. This can be through limited time offers, warning people that there are only a few of your offerings left available for purchase, or letting people know that your offering is in limited production. The more exclusive you can make your offerings seem, the more people will tend to be drawn to them.

Social influence/Conformity

Whether you call it social influence, peer pressure, conformity, or something else, most of us know that the actions of human beings tend to be influenced by those around them. This is true when it comes to purchasing decisions and behaviors as well. If you can convince your audience that other people are using your product or service, they will be more inclined to give it a try as well. In your marketing efforts, include reviews that have been left by past users and have people share their real-life experiences with your offerings. If you do this correctly, you will be able to wield the power of social influence to increase your sales.

By capitalizing on one or multiple of these principles in all aspects of your marketing strategy, you can increase your persuasiveness and thus the effectiveness of your marketing.

2020-10-16

Small Changes that Make a Big Difference for SEO

One of the most valuable ways to drive traffic to your site is through good SEO. One of the main ways to improve SEO is by creating new content that readers will find valuable; however, there are some ways to boost your SEO without having to put quite so much time and effort into all-new content creation. Here are a few ways you can improve SEO without completely revamping and rewriting your content.

Decrease Page Load Times

Patience is a virtue, but it’s one that many of us lack, especially when it comes to the internet. People want instant gratification when they are online. This includes how quickly pages load.

Slow page loading times can actually hurt your SEO in two ways. First, slow loading times can annoy people coming to your site, and deter them from clicking through your pages. They are much more likely to abandon their search if they are frustrated with the time things are taking to load. Not only will you lose out on those browsing sessions, but those customers are also less likely to return to your site in the future, because of the inconvenience they experienced.

Additionally, if your website is extremely slow, search engines like Google can recognize that and can actually knock down your ranking due to the lackluster speed. Thus, it is important to optimize the speed at which your website loads, especially on the most-visited pages.

Sneak Keywords Into Your Photo Captions

Keywords, aka the relevant words people are searching for on Google, are an important part of the SEO formula. Sites with many keywords throughout will tend to rank higher than similar sites that lack the use of keywords.

If your current content does not contain enough keywords, one easy fix is by writing captions for the photos on your site that contain these words. Instead of needing to rewrite whole paragraphs or articles, you can then just write quick snippets underneath your photos for a simple SEO boost.

Use plenty of external links

Another huge aspect of the SEO formula is the authority or trust a given site has. You can increase authority in a number of ways; one easy way is by adding links and sources anywhere you can on your site. It’s nice to make a claim like “Voted Best in the City” or “Hundreds of 5-Star Reviews”, but it’s even nicer if you can back it up. If you’re ever sharing a review from a customer, include a link to the original source of the review. If your business receives any press or awards, share it on your site and be sure to include a link to the original article. Usually, the more external sources your site provides, the better for your SEO.

Check your links consistently to avoid broken links

Speaking of links, another quick and easy way to make sure your SEO is as high as possible is by checking your own links consistently. If you have updated pages, redone aspects of your website, or changed any URLs, chances are you may have some broken links floating around on your website. These broken links can be hurting your ranking without you even realizing it! Task someone with consistently checking the navigation buttons and links on your site to make sure everything is functioning and up-to-date.

Clean and focused URLS

Your URLs also play a part in optimizing your SEO. Be sure to get rid of any extra junk at the end of them, and keep them concise and accurate. A customer clicking one of your website links should know exactly what will be on that page just by looking at the URL. Not only will cleaner URLs appeal to customers more, but Google and other search engines factor this in when deciding on their rankings as well.

Do quick refreshers/updates of old content that was performing well but has trailed off

Also be sure to take advantage of any content you have produced that has performed well! Any pages or articles of yours that used to be clicked on a lot but have trailed off recently can be updated to help increase the traffic again. Even a small piece of new information can refresh the content and make it worth sharing all over again to try to get a bit of an SEO boost. If it performed well in the past, the content is obviously valuable to people, so find a way to refresh it and bring that value back.

By spending just a couple of hours during your week working on a few of the fixes above, your SEO could be seeing improvements in no time at all!

2020-10-13

Ways Your Competitors Can Actually Help You

Competition doesn’t always have to be a bad thing. As a business, there may be times you wish your competitors would just disappear, leaving you to rule the market. However, there are some benefits to having healthy competition that you may not even realize. We’ve outlined a few ways you can actually benefit from your competition below.

1. Take Advantage of Their Social Media

If a player in your field has a particularly stellar social media channel, your first instinct may be jealousy. But there is no need to be upset by their prowess – you can in fact use it directly to your own advantage. Assuming this competitor of yours is in the same geographical area as you and sells relatively similar offerings, then their audience is probably full of people you are trying to target as well. By collecting all these potential fans in one place, your competitor has then just made it more convenient for you to reach them all without having to spend time and effort individually searching them out. You can use this audience to your advantage by targeting them with ads, interacting and connecting with them on an individual level, and offering them discount codes and exclusive offers. By having a strong social media presence, your competitor just makes your job easier by gathering your target audience together for you, saving you hours of time and effort.

2. Mimic Their Successful Marketing Tactics

Beyond just social media, you can learn from methods your competitors are using to drive their success in other ways as well. Whether it is a new form of advertising, a type of special offer, or a loyalty club, whatever is working well to drive business for your competitors is worth noting. Use these successful ideas, and put your own twist on them, to try tactics that will hopefully work just as well for your brand. Be careful to not mimic your competition too closely: expand upon their methods, and offer something slightly different or new so customers do not see your marketing and feel like it has just been copied from the competition.

3. Capitalize on Their Shortcomings

Also be sure to pay attention to what your competitors are NOT doing well. Take the time to look at reviews and feedback people have left for your competition to see what customers feel is lacking or not up to par. Compare your menu of offerings to see what you have that they don’t. You can then focus your efforts on those aspects of your brand, and use that to entice customers to shop with you instead.

4. Use Their Successes as Inspiration

On the flip side, you can also benefit from paying attention to offerings that are particularly successful for others within your field. You may be able to notice patterns about what types of specials perform well, and use that information to inform your own next move. Seeing creative new things your competitors are trying out may spur your imagination and inspire a new idea of your own. Taking notes from other brands can motivate more creativity than trying to keep your head down and come up with new ideas all on your own.

5. Collaborate and Partner Up

It doesn’t always have to be about beating your competition. Sometimes you can actually team up to offer something that is mutually beneficial to both parties. Chances are, you and your closest competitors each have at least slightly different specialties. Combine what you are each best at and use it to create something that is even better than either of you could have created on your own. These special, limited-time offerings will drum up excitement about both brands, and hopefully bring in new lifelong customers for both of you!

As you can see, healthy competition can actually be beneficial to your brand. Whether your competitors are stumbling or succeeding, there is something to be learned and gained from their experiences.

2020-10-09

How to Connect with Your Audience Virtually

In a world of technology and virtual connections, it is now more important than ever to use these tools to try to form relationships and connections with your customers. Below are a few tips and tricks to make your virtual connections as strong as, if not stronger than, in-person connections for your brand.

1. Post Interactive Stories

One quick and easy way to hear from your audience is through your stories. Stories tend to garner more interaction than posts on sites like Instagram. They can feel more raw and real than the curated content being posted elsewhere. Ask questions and use polls to elicit responses from your audience to your stories. Stories that are relatable, and contain a quick and easy way to interact (like a poll) will increase engagement amongst your following. This is one of the simplest ways to use social media to connect with your audience, and is a tactic that can be employed often without requiring too much time or effort.

2. Host Virtual Events

You can take things to the next level by hosting virtual events for your audience as well. These tend to be relatively involved undertakings, but could produce great results for your brand. The type of event you want to host of course depends on the products or services your brand offers. No matter the specifics of your event, here are a few components to consider including that will likely boost your attendance and response:

Giveaways
Special Guests
Interactive aspects, like live Q-and-A sessions or trivia games
Exclusive prizes or discounts for tuning in at specific times

3. Create Hashtag Challenges

Another way to get people involved with your content and your offerings is through creating unique hashtag challenges. Come up with a hashtag that encourages people to share their interactions with your products or services. If you are an apparel company, maybe it asks people to share their best-styled outfits; if you sell skateboards, ask people to show you their best trick in a 10-second video. Not only will this help you gather great content, but it will also help your customers feel a connection with the product by incorporating it into their posts in a fun way.

4. Let People Get Involved

You can also find ways to let people get involved in your design process virtually. Ask for your customers’ opinions on new products you should sell next. Create a design survey so people can submit their ideas for the design of your newest products. If customers feel they had a hand in creating your offerings, even in a small way like selecting an accent color, they will feel more of an attachment to your brand, and thus will be more likely to purchase.

5. Share User-Generated Content

Another way to build valuable relationships and goodwill is by reposting your customers’ content. Those whose photos you choose to share will likely feel pride that they were chosen and a sense of connection with your brand seeing their photos posted on your social channels. Sharing content from actual customers will also help others connect to your brand, as those types of posts can feel more authentic and relatable than curated product photos. Plus, crowd-sourcing social media content can take a load off of your team in terms of content production, so it’s a win-win!

6. Live stream

Get personal with your customers by hosting a live stream on your website or one of your social channels. Customers will be able to comment, ask questions, etc. in real time, so it can mirror an in-person conversation. You can do a live stream to promote and introduce a new offering, to give people a behind-the-scenes look at your offices or production site, or just to answer questions if that seems like something your audience would respond well to. While it’s not quite the same as a face-to-face conversation, a live stream can be a close substitute.

7. Host Story Takeovers

People love a good story takeover. If your brand works with any influencers or partners, it would be a great opportunity to let one of them take over your stories for the day and show off how they incorporate your products or services into their daily life. You could also go a different route, and allow a customer or fan to take over your stories for a set amount of time. They could also show the ways they use your products or services, and interact with other customers on your channels.

8. Run Giveaways and Contests

Finally, we all love a good freebie! Engage your audience by occasionally running contests and giveaways. Customers will engage more on posts and articles that include a giveaway for them, so your engagement will likely see a short-term spike. Long-term, these giveaways and contests can also attract more customers to your brand, and keep them interested, especially if they think they might have another opportunity to win something free.

The internet certainly offers plentiful opportunities to brands trying to connect with their audience. Overall, if you make your customers feel heard, provide them with entertaining content, and provide incentives to purchase and engage, you can make the most of virtual connection opportunities and grow your relationships with your customer base.

2020-10-06

The Scoop on Instagram Reels

Since launching in August, Instagram Reels has been building momentum. It still remains to be seen just how popular this feature will ultimately be. Thus far, it has taken off with certain demographics more than others, but it does present an interesting opportunity to explore a new method of sharing content through Instagram. For those who still aren’t quite sure what Reels is, or those who just want to learn a bit more, we’ve got a full explainer of Instagram Reels: What it is, what it offers, and what to expect going forward.

The Basics

Reels is essentially Instagram’s response to the massive popularity of TikTok. It offers the same basic posting concept: short videos set to audio clips. With Reels, videos can be up to 15 seconds long. They can be shared on your grid just like a normal Instagram post or IGTV. Instagram also added a specific “Reels” space on the Explore page, so you can access popular Reels and see what others are posting.

How did Reels even come to be? Well, at the time of its launch, Tik Tok was facing an uncertain future, with rumors of it being blocked or disabled in the United States swirling constantly. TikTok’s position has since stabilized, with the impending sale of its American operations. Reels could have filled the void that TikTok left, but now it is looking to instead compete with the popular app.

Features

Reels does offer some interesting features that differ from those available for standard Instagram posts and stories. As we mentioned above, videos can be up to 15 seconds in length. There is an extensive audio library, or users can choose to create their own custom audio clips. Reels offers a timer for hands-free filming, which allows for more freedom to post things like dancing clips, which are popular on competitor TikTok. Reels also offers the capability to splice together multiple video clips, and to align them for seamless transitions. There are a multitude of AR filters to use on videos as well. Finally, users are able to slow up or speed down their audio, videos, or both for creative effect.

Current Trends and Uses

In many ways, Reels is currently being used very similarly to the way TikTok is. The same demographic is targeted, and similar types of videos are popular. However, Instagram Reels is currently being dominated by verified users and large lifestyle bloggers. The vast majority of content being shared on the Explore page is from these sources, so some users feel that the feature is being hogged or clogged up by these verified users. This is likely an issue Instagram will need to address going forward for the feature to really grow in popularity.

Outlook for Businesses

So as a brand, could it be useful to get in the game early with Reels? Maybe. It is hard to tell at this point whether Reels will really take off and gain the level of popularity seen by apps like TikTok. It has not been around long enough or spread quickly enough to say with certainty that it is destined for success.

However, Instagram’s track record with new features in the past does inspire some confidence and provide a reason to believe Reels will become relatively popular and successful. Instagram has a history of successfully imitating ideas from other apps. Instagram stories were mirrored after Snapchat, and now are an integral part of most Instagram users’ experience on the app. Based on their history, we have reason to believe Reels is worth investing some time into as a brand. Figure out how to best apply it to your brand and get in the game early, so you’re ready if and when it really takes off.

2020-10-02

Author: Emma Turnbull