Cindy Haynes

8 Social Media Marketing Mistakes to Avoid for Small Businesses

Businesses, both big and small, need to have a social media presence. Most companies know that social media can play a crucial role in generating leads and building brand awareness.

However, many startups and small businesses struggle to grow consistently on social media. Often, this isn’t due to lack of effort but the common social media marketing mistakes they make.

Whether it’s missing the point of social networks or oversaturating your content, small business marketers sometimes miss the mark. Before starting to advertise your business, it’s best to learn these 8 social media mistakes you’ll want to avoid when marketing your small company to customers.

1. Creating Many Social Media Accounts

Signing up for too many social media platforms─ especially when starting out─ can be a recipe for disaster. For small businesses, it’s more effective and much easier to master just a few platforms before branching out to more.

If you rush to create a presence on every social media platform out there and start publishing incoherently on all of them, you get confused. Then, you may consider abandoning some of your platforms, making things worse. This kind of behavior does nothing but boost your mistrust level with your audience, which is never good for business.

2. Not Having a Social Media Marketing Strategy

In Benjamin Franklin’s words, “If you fail to plan, you’re planning to fail.” Businesses without a social media marketing plan often find it hard to provide useful content to their audiences.

Without a clear social media strategy, you’ll find it challenging to know what to post, when to post, and what your audience likes and wants. Communication with customers might start to feel disjointed and confusing. A good social media strategy includes providing useful and engaging content that inspires action.

3. Deleting Negative Comments

Do your business a favor and be transparent. One of the common social media marketing mistakes small businesses make is deleting negative feedback. You need to show your audiences that you’ve got nothing to hide to build trust in your company

It’s best not to delete any negative comments and instead respond appropriately and as soon as possible. Negative feedback online provides an opportunity for you to engage with the user who left the comment and turn everything positive. Be respectful to whoever makes a comment and address the issue head-on.

4. Failing to Create Brand Consistency

What’s so unique about your brand? Let it shine through all your content. If you care about building a powerful brand that lasts, you need to focus on the consistency of your brand.

Don’t confuse consistency with monotony—if you're going to repurpose your content make sure you do it appropriately.

You should switch up your content, test different formats, and maintain variety. All the while, your content should remain consistent with your tone of voice, brand mission, and general look and feel. Being consistent also includes keeping your promises.

5. Buying Followers

While all social media networks don’t allow users to buy followers, the urge to buy followers might become more if you don’t have the numbers. Although several thousand followers can be purchased for a few dollars, you don’t want to go that route. Instagram and Facebook algorithms hate this activity.

In the past few years, there were so many fake profiles selling followers that even official ads attracted fake likes. Due to this, platforms like Facebook was forced to deactivate more than 2 billion fake accounts. Also, remember your ultimate goal is getting conversions, not building a subscriber count.

6. Promoting Yourself Too Much

Social media is typically about socializing and communicating. Not many people like promotional content ─ most people hate being sold to. If you decide to spend most of your time promoting yourself, you could lose social media followers.

Since your business needs to sell, use promotion subtly. While it’s okay to post promotional material now and then, the more engaging your posts are, the more sales you’ll attract. Don’t forget to set aside some of your time to interact with other people’s content, add value, and not just push yours down every follower’s throat.

7. Not Connecting and Networking

If you have many random followers who have little to contribute and don’t embody your ideal audience you will not yield the expected results. You want to draw in and engage potential customers, professionals, and peers with similar views and interests. These are the kind of people who will likely contribute to the success of your marketing efforts.

Make sure that your interactions are meaningful. That’s the true meaning of networking ─ adding value to relationships. Always find time to engage in discussions and send personalized messages.

By doing this, more people will likely pay attention to the things you say.

8. Following Every Trend

It’s not that you shouldn’t publish a buzzworthy post, but there’s a specific time and place to be trendy. If you’re a tech company, for example, posting about the latest baking style and over-capitalizing on movements to appear “youthful” can confuse your audience.

Jumping on social media trends and posting irrelevant content is perceived as a gimmick.  It plants you in a sea of other people who jump on the bandwagon. By blindly doing what every other business out there is doing, you’re devaluing your unique voice and pushing away prospects who followed you for your individuality.

Trends are still useful in social media. But first, know what everyone is talking about and decide whether or not it’s relevant for your small business. If the trend seems to benefit your business, use thoughtful ways to join the conversation.

Be Sure to Avoid These Social Media Marketing Mistakes

Because billions of people use social media each day, social media marketing remains one of the best ways to expose your company to a large audience. However, only a few small businesses do well when it comes to using social media in the right way.

As you can tell from the list above, all of these social media marketing mistakes can be avoided. All it takes is understanding your mistakes so you can handle them.

For assistance with mapping out an effective social media strategy for your brand, feel free to contact us today.

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by Cindy Haynes

The Top 5 Best Internet Marketing Strategy Tips for Your Business in 2020

81% of consumers search online before making a purchase. Without an internet marketing strategy, it's likely you're missing out on customers.

The internet provides many opportunities for you to promote your business to potential customers. With a strong internet marketing strategy, you can boost your brand, find new customers, and grow!

Here are the top five marketing strategy tips you need for success.

With these tips, you can make the most of internet marketing in 2020. Don't let your competitors snatch up customers. Instead, get started with these five tips!

1. Give Your Site Some Love

When people search for new products, services, or brands, they start online. If you don't have an updated, well-designed website, you're already losing customers.

Your website sometimes makes your company's first impression with customers. Make the most of that opportunity! By creating an eye-catching, compelling website, you can convert those visitors into leads or sales.

First, consider updating your website using user experience (UX) design trends.

UX design will clean up your website so it's easier to use and navigate. For example, you'll want to make sure your site loads quickly. You can use Google's PageSpeed Insights to determine what's slowing your site.

Then, remove clutter and unnecessary information. Add white space to give your remaining content room to breathe. White space will make it easier for people to read your content without feeling exhausted.

Does "HTTPS" appear in front of your domain name? If not, consider looking into a security certificate.

Hackers are getting smarter. By prioritizing security, you're showing customers you can protect their personal information. This is especially important if you're selling products online.

Next, make sure your site is easy to navigate. Can customers find what they're looking for easily and quickly?

Updating your site will help you make the most of these remaining four marketing strategy tips.

2. Step Up Your SEO

Search engine optimization, or SEO, makes it easier for people to find your website on search engines like Google. Without SEO, your content won't appear on the first page of a Google search. Not many people look beyond that first page.

A higher ranking will also make your brand look more credible. People will trust your brand over a competitor's based on your higher ranking.

Ranking at the top of the page will help you reach more people, too. As brand awareness grows, you can become a more recognizable resource in your industry.

Here are a few SEO trends you'll need for successful internet marketing in 2020.

User Intent

What are your customers searching for? What information are they hoping to find based on their search? Before you can use SEO, you need to know who your customers are and what they need.

Separate your customers into buyer personas based on age, gender, buying behavior, and interests. Then, look into what keywords they're searching with using Google Trends, Keyword Planner, and Ahrefs.

Once you understand their search intent, you can create content that reflects their needs.

Zero-Click Search

Google now displays snippets at the top of their search pages. These snippets display website content in ways that are easy to consume. With snippets, people no longer have to click on a website to find the information they need.

Structure your content for these snippets to increase your SEO ranking.

Look at the content that appears in a snippet for a keyword you're targeting. Then, adjust your content to fit that snippet. For example, you can use lists and bullet points or summarize your post in the top paragraph as a place to start.

Voice Search

By this year, voice searches will account for 50% of all searches. Over 35.6 million Americans already own a voice-activated device. Instead of typing out their queries, more people are asking Siri, Google, and Alexa for help.

In order to optimize for voice searches, you need to know who your customers are and how they're searching online.

Look at your keyword research. Then, phrase your keywords the same way your target audience does.

Make Sure You're Mobile

Google's search algorithm prioritizes websites that are convenient and easy-to-use for all consumers. Realizing more people are using their smartphones to conduct searches, Google rolled out mobile-first indexing in March 2018. Now, Google looks at the mobile version of your website to determine your ranking.

Make sure your website is optimized for smaller screens. Otherwise, people will struggle to read your content.

You should also make sure your site loads quickly, which could also impact your SEO ranking.

In order to optimize our website for mobile devices, consider some of the UX design tips mentioned above. Make sure it's easy for people to click on your forms and navigate your site.

Otherwise, you could end up missing out on potential conversions and leads.

3. Reel in More Reviews

Reviews are a great way to boost brand awareness, credibility, and your SEO ranking.

Ask happy customers to post their reviews on your Google My Business listing. Don't forget to add these reviews to your website. Happy reviews will help you attract more local customers to your business.

This social proof will help potential customers see the benefits of choosing your business.

4. Build Up Your Brand

Who are you? What sets you apart from your competitors? The answer to those questions should appear in your brand.

Focus on the unique value you offer customers. Show them that you're there to help solve their problems. Then, create a strong vision with that concept front and center.

Next, take a look at the visual components of your brand. Your color scheme, imagery, tone, voice, and font should help you stand out. If you look like your competitors, consumers will fail to differentiate you in the industry.

Make sure your brand appears cohesive across all marketing channels. A cohesive brand will help you build brand awareness and recognition.

Branding is essential to internet marketing in 2020. Otherwise, you'll look like everyone else in the industry.

5. Consider Your Content

Strong, unique content will fuel your SEO strategy and help you reach more customers.

You can create blogs, videos, infographics, quizzes; anything to get customers engaged. However, this content should focus on helping your customers.

Take a look at your keyword research. What questions are your customers asking? Create content that focuses on providing them with information and assistance.

Then, update your blog and social media with your content.

Pages with a video are 53 times more likely to rank on the first page of Google search results.

You can also great interactive content such as contests and quizzes to boost engagement. Don't forget to post your content on social media to expand our reach. With a strong content marketing strategy, you can build brand awareness, credibility, and trust with your consumers.

Make Your Mark: The Top Marketing Strategy Tips for Businesses in 2020

Ready to stand out from the crowd and make your mark? With these five marketing strategy tips, you can set your business up for success in 2020.

Don't wait to start marketing! Contact us today to get started.

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by Cindy Haynes

8 Reasons Why Your Business, and Your ROI, Need Email Marketing

Everyone is on the hunt for the next big thing in marketing. That new magic bullet that costs next to nothing and rakes in the revenue. Ah, but what if it's been in front of you all along? Email marketing doesn't get the credit it deserves. It offers a slew of benefits no other marketing channel can provide. Not convinced yet that you should add email marketing to your strategy in 2019? Here's why it's essential for any company.

1. Direct Delivery

With most marketing channels, you can't control who gets what. For instance, not all of your social media followers will see your posts. You can put a billboard up but you don't know how many people will see it. But email marketing is more direct. Your messages land smack dab in the middle of customers' inboxes. You might be saying, "What if my emails get sent to the spam folder?" You have more control over that than you think. All you have to do is follow the right rules and that can keep your emails out of the spam filter.

2. Instant Communication

Sometimes you have a message you want your customers to get right away. With most marketing channels, there's a long waiting period while you write, design, fulfill, and deliver your message. Email marketing, on the other hand, is far quicker. Less is more when it comes to written content, and a simple design can get the job done nicely. When you hit "send," your entire email list gets the message in seconds. This makes email marketing a more flexible medium and you can use it to communicate last-minute information like flash sales, reminders, retractions, and more.

3. Customization Galore

In most marketing channels, you're broadcasting the same message to a wide audience. You might cater it to your target demographics, but that's as far as the customization goes. Email marketing is a whole new world of options. Each email goes to a specific customer's inbox. That means you can customize their messages based on their history, interests, and actions. One way companies do this is by offering recommendations. By tracking the types of products email customers view, for instance, you can recommend products that will catch their eye.

You can also set up specific actions to trigger certain emails. For example, your system can send an email to a customer when they abandon their shopping cart.

4. Earning Potential

If you're a numbers person, you're gonna love this. Email marketing has one of the highest averages around for return on investment. The average is around 4400% ROI! There are a few reasons why this is the case. On top of how successfully email marketing drives sales, it's a low-cost investment. As with anything, you can spend a range of amounts on your email marketing depending on the quality you want. Still, email marketing software costs next to nothing in the grand scheme of things, and it may take less of your designers' time than you expect.

5. Mobile-Friendliness

All you have to do is look around you at the grocery store or walking down the street to see that phones are the new arms. People are attached to their phones on a constant basis, giving them priority over almost anything. And guess what? Most people get their emails on their phone. Not earth-shattering news I know. But...this means your messages get right to that screen your customers are already looking at. This also means your emails are available to customers at their convenience. They can pop in and purchase their shopping cart while they wait in the carpool line because their phone is always there.

6. Trackability

Tracking is one of the most important parts of any marketing campaign. It's also one of the most neglected tasks. For every marketing endeavor, you need to gather data on its success. Which messages drove the best results? Which channels brought in the most customers? Email marketing makes that easy because software programs track this data for you. You can see which emails get opened most often, what links received the most clicks, and more. The key, though, is that while this gives you information, you have to use it. Take the time to look up that data and use it to inform your future email marketing campaigns.

7. Prioritization

There are some communication channels we pay more attention to than others and email is up there toward the top of that list. 98% of people check their email on a daily basis. 34% keep a constant eye on their inboxes throughout the day. With so many people getting notifications on their phone every time an email comes in, this makes it easy. Compare this to the number of times you check your social media. Chances are that you only go to your mailbox a few times per week.

8. Quick Action

Think about what happens with direct mail. A customer gets your postcard or letter. If it doesn't get tossed, they have to head to their phone or computer to take action. Then they have to open a browser window and enter a web address. Or maybe they have to get their phone and dial your number instead. With email, one click and they're there. It takes minimal effort for customers, which means it takes less convincing to get them to take that step. But not all emails are equally effective at encouraging that next step. Your call-to-action is an essential part of any email. So make that design stand out and make the wording enticing.

Adding Email Marketing to Your Marketing Strategy

You've heard the warning time and time again not to put all your eggs in one basket. It might be a cliche but it's never been truer than it is in the marketing world. Marketing is all about making an impression on customers and building familiarity with your brand. The only way to do that is with a varied, well-orchestrated marketing plan. With all the benefits above in mind, it's clear that email marketing needs to be part of your strategy. The key word in that sentence is "part," though. Pair it with your other marketing channels and keep your brand and messaging consistent across the board.

If you're not a marketing pro and you prefer to bring in a professional, contact our marketing team today.

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by Cindy Haynes

How to Market to Millennials: The Ultimate Guide

As of 2019, there are around 73 million millennials in America. That’s well over one-fifth of the entire population of the country. Indeed, millennials have officially overtaken the baby-boomers as the largest adult population in the US. And the number’s only going up. Generational change has a significant impact on society all-round. The implications stretch into all facets of life. One of them is marketing. The rise of the millennial has a direct impact on the life of a marketer. The question of the day is no longer ‘how to market to baby boomers?’ It’s ‘how to market to millennials?’

Here for answers? Keep reading.

What’s a Millennial?

Successful millennial marketing begins with understanding your audience. Marketers have to get into the millennial mind. It’s the best way to learn how to tap into the $200 billion of annual buying power millennials represent.

Let’s consider what, and who, millennials are.

The What

At its simplest, ‘millennial’ is the generational term given to anyone born after Generation X (these guys came after the so-called ‘baby boomers’), and before Generation Z. As you can probably surmise, millennials are also known as Generation Y. Go figure. Anyway, the millennial ‘window’ of years changes depending on who you ask. That said, it’s roughly between 1981 (or 1982) and 1996. If you’re born in these years, well, congratulations, you’re officially a millennial.

The Who

Now let’s turn to the ‘who’. This is of utmost marketing importance. Remember, we’re all a product of the life and times we grew up in. The world a generation grows up in is largely responsible for how it turns out. For millennials, in general, that’s created a sect of society who are highly-educated, hard-working, ambitious, tech-savvy, family-oriented, and achievement-oriented. All good qualities. However, they can also be attention-seeking, entitled, job-hopping, pampered, and wary of authority. That makes for an eclectic and diverse range of people! Marketing to millennials can be tough going. Read on to learn how to do it.

How to Market to Millennials: 7 Crucial Methods

Okay, we know who they are. Now, let’s go through what they want to see in your marketing endeavors.

1. Make it Authentic

Authenticity is the key to your marketing success. It’s the number one thing millennials want to see. They’re tired of being sold to. Tired of advertisements. Tired of being manipulated by corporate interests. Tired of having products and services shoved down their throats at every turn.

Instead, they want something real!

They want to know who you are. They want a face to the name. They want a front row seat and a backstage pass to your company. They need to see reality and get genuine value provided from you. Want their trust? You have to earn it first.

2. Traditional Ads Don’t Work

Old-fashioned advertising is dead. Millennials just don’t trust it. They will not buy from a banner-ad, pop-up, or anything else. These ads are deemed untrustworthy and are unlikely to stimulate clicks. You’re more likely to succeed from reviews and recommendations. That can come with social proof (testimonials work well) and solid brand identity. Focus on developing both to be successful in your marketing.

3. Leverage Influencers

We’ve just seen how social proof and recommendations make a difference. That’s the power of an influencer. Trusted people with large followings will help sway the audience you’re trying to tap into. Remember, millennials are tech-savvy. They’re online, on their devices, for hours every day. Social media is awash with millennial activity. The internet is alight with millennial traffic. Influencers have a captive audience. Work with the influencer, access their audience.

4. Make it Personal

Millennials are unimpressed by outbound marketing. Bad news 1980s marketing man. Your magazine ads, direct mail, and radio spots aren’t gonna work anymore. Millennials want more. They want genuine substance in the form of customer-focused, personalized marketing. Here’s the basic idea: this is about them, not you. Make a millennial feel important and they’ll love you for it. Invest in personalized marketing capabilities. Your ads, emails, and content should all be specific to the person you’re targeting.

5. Content is Still King

Content marketing isn’t dead. In fact, more content is being produced and consumed than ever before. People still rely on it in their lives and use it to inform their decision-making. However, the type of content is changing with the times. There’s still room for a good old-fashioned blog post. But video content is becoming increasingly important to marketing success. Likewise, all content should be optimized for mobile consumption. Then you have the development of virtual and augmented reality to think about too.

6. Have a Worthy Cause

Millennials are interested in ethics. They want to know you’re a worthy company. They want to feel good about purchasing from you. They will pay attention to your company morals and judge you according to what they see. Indeed, millennials are more likely to use your product or service when they know they’re contributing to a good cause, or actively tackling a world issue, etc by giving you their hard-earned money. Does your company work with a charity? Does it donate to good causes? Does it lend its hand to a world issue? If it doesn’t, then consider doing so now. It’s in your direct financial interest to make millennials feel good about buying from you.

You get to feel better about yourself in the process!

7. Get Social

Social media marketing is a major asset to anyone marketing to millennials. For instance, 87% of millennials use Facebook. That’s more than any other generation. And the same goes for other platforms too. Millennials love their smartphones. They love scrolling, liking, sharing, and watching. Any marketer worth their salt must be utilizing social media in their efforts.

Time to Get Marketing

There you have it: how to market to millennials in 7 essential ways. Millennials now make up a major part of the adult population in the US. And that comes with serious purchasing power. Marketers need to tap into this audience. However, this is an enormously diverse bunch of people, who won’t fall for old-fashioned practices. Marketers need to adapt to the times and learn what these millennials want to see. Hopefully, the information above has been enlightening!

Looking for help with your millennial marketing campaign? Contact us today to learn more about our creative advertising approaches.

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by Cindy Haynes

Top 10 Content Marketing Tips for Your Tampa Business

Did you know that 97 percent of marketers are implementing a content marketing strategy that follows a formula for success?

It is no secret that a strong content marketing strategy is beneficial to your company. But the question now lies in what makes for effective content?

Without the proper digital content marketing knowledge, it may be difficult to produce creative content, discover your targeted audience or even stand out against the sea of content on the internet.

Whether you are new to the world of digital marketing or you are looking to take your digital content marketing to the next level, this post will provide you with the best content marketing tips designed to set your business up for success.

Quality Over Quantity

Many business owners perceive digital content marketing as the more they produce, the better results they will see. While you want to produce as much content as possible, it is important to make sure that each piece of content that you publish is insightful, targeted and effective.

Basically, you want to perceive each piece of content as serving a purpose or sending a message. Then focus on relaying that purpose or message at the best of your capabilities. It is more effective to publish four excellent pieces of content a month as opposed to 20 mediocre pieces of content a month.

However, this doesn't mean that you have to be the next F. Scott Fitzgerald. Don't stress yourself out about crafting the perfect blog post, tweet or video. Make sure that you are focusing on quality over quantity but in a healthy and reasonable aspect. If your audience finds your content helpful, then you have done a great job at executing your content marketing strategy.

Know What Works For Your Audience

What works for someone else's target audience might not work for your target audience. Your content marketing strategy should be geared toward your specific audience. This includes demographic, gender, location and consumer goals. It is important to sort through your content to analyze your content marketing strategy as a whole and how to refine it for your audience.

You might be wondering how to decipher this information. Luckily, the answer is much simpler than you think: Google Analytics. Google Analytics's job is to track and report website traffic numbers. These numbers show who your audience is, where they are from, what their interests are and much more. Once you have a solid idea of this information, you can take your analytics and guide your content marketing strategy along with it.

You can use this information to decipher what tools and platforms are working better than others and focus more on them. You can gain an understanding of what content your audience responds to the most. Then simply recreate that content in various storytelling forms.

Repurpose Your Content

There is nothing wrong with reusing content that you have already published. In fact, doing so is even encouraged because it is much easier to repurpose content as opposed to creating brand-new content.

For example, if you find that 15 of your blog posts from 2018 did well and received a lot of engagement, you can repurpose them into a downloadable e-book. E-books are great for driving traffic toward your website and email subscription incentives.

If you already have an e-book that receives a lot of attention, you can turn it into 15 publishable blog posts. This is why evergreen content is so beneficial. Because you can repurpose it to use for later use when you are strapped for time or in a creative rut.

Create A Multimedia Strategy

The more content you plan ahead and the better organized you are, the more effective your digital marketing strategy will be. It is essential to create a content marketing calendar at the beginning of each month. This will allow you to appropriately plan content for holidays, events, sales and any other important dates you want to focus on. It also allows you to fill in the other days with evergreen content, which is content that can be published throughout the entire year.

Creating a monthly content marketing plan prevents you from missing any important days. It will also allow you to stay consistent with producing content. It is important to post content often to keep your audience engaged and to constantly lead traffic toward your website. Planning your content will prevent you from slacking off or running out of ideas.

You can also use your content marketing calendar to determine what content will be posted on what platform. The more details that you incorporate into your content calendar, the more effective it will be. Thus, the easier your life will be throughout the month.

Encourage Your Whole Team To Create Content

Many businesses run into the problem of not having enough time to create content consistently. Or they don't have enough funds to hire a creative team dedicated to producing content. Luckily, businesses don't need either of those resources to regularly produce content.

All you need is a team that is dedicated to their job with an ability to transform their ideas into creative content. Your team members, most likely, already have a lot of ideas in their head just waiting to be published and put on your website for the world to see. That way, the role of content creating falls on the team as a whole as opposed to a single person.

You can also offer rewards for the team members who produce the best content. Incentives encourage employees to produce great content that is both effective and publishable.

Content Marketing Tips Proven Effective

When creating a digital content marketing strategy, it is imperative to consider your audience over everything else. No matter what content marketing tips you use in your strategy, if you are not doing so with your target audience in mind, you won't get very far.

Implementing a proper digital content marketing strategy can increase the overall success of your business. Make sure to visit our blog for more expert advice on content marketing.

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by Cindy Haynes