The Head Nod Of The Internet: Why Social Engagement Matters For Brands

I recently had the pleasure of leading a digital marketing and branding workshop here in Tampa for other women business owners.  During the workshop we discussed digital marketing strategy, how to brand yourself and your business, and how to measure the results of your marketing efforts. During the workshop I encouraged those who attended to heavily engage; no question was too big or small.

As questions began to be asked and answered and specific points were dove into I noticed something significant. Every time a point or example became clear or hit home, faces brightened, heads nodded, and notes began being taken. As the workshop went on I started to get excited every time I saw this happen because it meant what I was sharing not only made sense but also was useful to the audience.

After thinking about this more I determined this is very similar to the engagement we look for online in brands. We look to measure the likes and the shares for sake of KPI’s but these engagement measures are also a way for brands to understand that the content and information they are sharing is relevant and useful to their audience. These items also tell a brand whether or not they may need to adjust their digital strategy and redirect their content. If content is constantly falling short, there’s probably a reason. To some social engagement may not matter, but to the brand that's creating the content it’s the difference between hitting the nail on the head and missing the mark which always translates to sales made or lost.

To learn more about the types of content that gets engagement for your brand contact me at Mel@MarketingWMel.com!

"Just Because You Have Access Doesn't Make You An Expert"

You want to go on vacation but driving seems like a horribly long way to get there. You know where you want to go, how many people you’ll have, and the dates of your trip. You hop on Google and look up “How To Fly A Plane.” You spend a couple of weeks researching, taking notes, and learning more about being a pilot. The time comes for your trip and you go find the nearest plane and hop on board in the pilot seat.

This story sounds crazy right? I don’t know ANYONE who would ever do this so why should your digital marketing efforts be any different? I was recently grabbing drinks with a friend who is a successful real estate professional and we were having a great conversation about our work and passion. We started discussing how it’s frustrating sometimes to be in a profession where people think that they can do your job and don’t always value your knowledge or abilities.

Yes, there are people who pride themselves as “people who do social media” that really have no idea how to do anything other than making posts but that’s not who I’m talking about. Most digital marketing professionals will have a wide array of knowledge that extends past social media and possess marketing knowledge they’ve acquired over many years through many channels. They will not only know what you should be doing but WHY you should be doing it and HOW it should be measured. Digital marketing is something that should not just be “done,” but to truly be effective should be done WELL. It’s okay to ask for help. If you have a limited budget there are many resources to help you such as local BDC’s.

Think twice before you Google, it’s just as easy to search for “Digital Marketing Agency” as it is “How To Do Marketing” :)

Hiring The Right Social Media Professional For Your Business

I recently went to meet with a potential client and after some extensive conversation to find out how I could use social media to grow her business we got to the part of the conversation where we needed to discuss the budget. She shared with me that she had a very small budget to work with. After more conversation, it became obvious she had spent the majority of her allotted monies on a prior company who had over-promised and under-delivered. In addition, they were continuing to charge her for things she didn’t really need.

This kind of experience is unfortunately far too common and it’s not the first time I’ve experienced it and I’m certain it won't be the last. Choosing a marketing professional isn’t something that should be taken lightly and not everyone is a great fit for each other.  When finding the professional that’s right for you there are a few things to consider.

Make sure to do your homework on each person you meet with or interview. Even if they are not consistently active, do they have social media accounts with a decent following? Does the content they’ve posted make sense? Do they have a presence on the channels they are claiming to have knowledge of? These are often good indicators of your professional knowledge on the industry.

Secondly, don’t feel pressured to make a decision after the first meeting. Once you receive your initial proposal take another meeting to ask questions or obtain more details about the services you will be receiving if anything remains unclear.

Meet with more than one company and compare pricing and services. Most proposals are confidential so you shouldn’t share information from the company to the company but you are allowed to know what will work best for you. Paying a high price for something doesn’t always mean great results and paying less for something doesn’t mean you’re getting poor service- quality versus quantity.

It comes down to knowing your own business and finding a professional who you think has a clear understanding of what your business wants, goals, and needs are. If you’re a small business with a very specific target market you may need to spend more than a business that has a broad demographic simply to make sure you’re properly reaching your clientele.  

To schedule a meeting or phone call and discuss your businesses digital marketing needs email me at marketingwmel@gmail.com

Instagram vs. Snapchat Stories: The Debate

I’m sure many of you have heard or seen that Instagram has added a new stories feature similar to Snapchat. The reactions I’ve read so far have been extremely mixed. Some are excited to have an additional platform to share their content, lives, products, etc. Others are annoyed and confused, not understanding the direction of both platforms. So what DOES this change mean now and moving forward? I’m sharing my insights on the changes consumers and brands may see.

What this change means for consumers:

Consumers may begin to feel overwhelmed and shy away from following brands on EVERY platform. Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, Twitter, YouTube, it can all begin to be an overload of info and a consumer is typically seeking out a certain type of content from a brand whether it be articles, videos, or photos. When they can access video and photo from their favorite brand in one place they have less of a need to access the information from an additional platform.

What this change means for brands:

Brands may see a shift in their viewership on Snapchat. My suggestion for brands looking to see where their audience is would be do both starting out and see which gets the most interaction. There’s no sense in continuing to put effort into Snapchat if you see your followers are no longer there. At the end of the day it’s about knowing your audience and what they want and how you can best accommodate them.

My thoughts:

Consumers will continue to use Snapchat to stay updated on the lives of friends, family and celebrities. Instagram adding this feature is HUGE for brands and may cause brands to gravitate towards solely using that platform and neglecting Snapchat. Additionally, Instagram now includes analytics on business accounts allowing brands to track data that Snapchat does not have available which is an add value. Only time will tell!