But what’s the secret sauce behind those engaging posts and heartwarming campaigns that make you hit “like” or “share”?

Surprisingly, the answer is rooted in psychology!

It’s not merely about throwing content into the digital abyss; it’s about understanding the whims and wonders of human behaviour, peering into what makes us click, comment, and care.

Here are five key marketing psychology theories that play a hidden yet pivotal role in social media marketing success:

The Mere Exposure Effect Means Consistency Is Key!

Did you know that the term “mere exposure effect” was coined by the American psychologist Robert Zajonc?

He came up with this idea while researching a fascinating psychological phenomenon. People tend to start liking things or people more when exposed to them repeatedly, even if they did not particularly like them.

Now, in social media marketing, this theory is like a golden nugget of wisdom. It reminds us of the importance of keeping a regular online presence.

Imagine this: when your brand shows up consistently in your audience’s social media feeds, it’s like saying, “Hey, I’m here for you!” And here’s the fun part – the more they see you, the more they trust you.

It’s a bit like when you meet someone over and over again, and you start feeling like old pals. In the world of marketing, this is pure gold.

Regular posting doesn’t just keep your brand fresh in people’s minds; it also gets them talking and interacting. And as time goes by, they become super comfortable with your brand, which often translates into more sales!

Top Tip: Try planning, batching and scheduling your content in advance. I love the scheduling tool Agorapulse for this.

Apply the Similarity-Attraction Theory By Humanising Your Content

The concept of the similarity-attraction theory sheds light on why it’s essential to share behind-the-scenes content and humanise your brand on social media.

In simple terms, this marketing psychology theory suggests that people naturally gravitate towards others who share similar characteristics or experiences. In the realm of marketing, this means crafting content that enables your audience to form a personal connection with your brand.

You create an atmosphere of closeness and relatability by offering glimpses into your company’s inner workings, your employees, and the creative process. This, in turn, humanises your brand, making it more approachable and strengthening the emotional bond with your audience.

Moreover, showcasing the human aspect of your brand plays a pivotal role in building trust. When consumers see the faces behind your products or services, it instils confidence in your intentions and authenticity. This trust can lead to heightened brand loyalty and positive word-of-mouth marketing.

Top Tip: Make an effort to humanise your brand by regularly introducing yourself and your team members on your social media profiles. It’s a great way to connect with your audience on a personal level!

Embrace the Reciprocity Theory by Sharing Your Knowledge

Ever notice that when someone does something kind for you, you feel an inclination to reciprocate the kindness?

That’s the essence of the reciprocity theory in action!

This marketing psychology theory posits that people tend to feel obligated to return favours when others have extended their generosity or help.

Now, let’s connect this fascinating theory to the world of social media. Knowledge sharing becomes a potent tool here. When you share valuable information on your social media platforms, you’re not just positioning your brand as an authority but also cultivating goodwill with your audience. It shows that you genuinely care about assisting them in solving problems or fulfilling their needs.

In essence, knowledge sharing on social media is like planting seeds of goodwill that can yield rich rewards in the form of your audience’s trust, engagement, and loyalty.

Top Tip: Consider creating a lead magnet, such as free e-books or webinars, as a little gift for your audience to entice them to engage with your brand and reciprocate the value you provide. It’s a win-win strategy!

Leverage the Peer Comparison Theory to Establish Social Proof

Have you ever found yourself scrolling through Instagram or TikTok, only to stumble upon your friends raving about a fantastic new restaurant they’ve discovered?

Enter the peer comparison theory, a powerful concept in social media. This marketing psychology theory highlights the significance of social proof—our tendency to base decisions on the actions and opinions of others, especially when we’re unsure about something.

It’s the driving force behind the effectiveness of influencer marketing, online reviews and user-generated content (UGC).

Influencer marketing involves teaming up with individuals who wield substantial social media influence, typically through a paid partnership. When these influencers endorse your brand or product, it creates a powerful form of social proof that can sway the opinions of their followers. People tend to trust recommendations from their peers or those they admire.

User-generated content, on the other hand, offers a window into how real customers are using your products or services spontaneously. When satisfied customers share their experiences on social media, it fosters trust and authenticity. To encourage user-generated content, consider running contests or invite your customers to share their stories.

Top Tip: Online reviews are a powerful form of social proof. Ensure you are always asking your customers for feedback!

Utilise the Scarcity Principle to Infuse Your Offers with a Sense of Urgency

Have you ever experienced that unmistakable “Fear of Missing Out” (FOMO) when you see something rare or in short supply on social media?

Well, you’re encountering the scarcity principle in action!

This theory suggests that people are more inclined to take action when they perceive something as scarce or available in limited quantities.

Incorporating scarcity elements into your social media campaigns can be a game-changer for your audience’s motivation. This could involve offering limited-time deals, exclusive promotions, or early access to new products or services.

By instilling a sense of urgency, you push your audience to act swiftly, potentially resulting in heightened engagement and increased sales.

Top Tip: Be transparent and authentic in your scarcity-based promotions. So, when you offer something as scarce, ensure it is genuinely scarce and not just a way of tricking your audience!

In a nutshell, delving into these five marketing psychology theories and weaving them into your social media strategy can work wonders for your business success.

Social media is not just a platform for broadcasting; it’s a powerful marketing psychology tool for understanding and influencing human behaviour. Use it wisely, and watch your brand thrive.

Sign up for my Tiny Tips Tuesday newsletter for more helpful marketing tips and insights.

The post The Marketing Psychology Behind Social Media: 5 Theories that Showcase Its Influence appeared first on Jem Bahaijoub Consulting - Social Never Sleeps.

Email marketing is far from obsolete. In fact, it’s thriving!

A staggering 89% of marketers rely on email as their go-to channel for lead generation, with 59% claiming it’s more than twice as effective as other avenues like pay-per-click and social media ads.

Creating an effective company newsletter isn’t about churning out bland messages; it’s a direct pipeline to your audience, offering a golden chance to engage, educate, entice, and ultimately convert.

So, let me jump right into some top tips on crafting a captivating company newsletter:

Define Your Objectives & Know Your Audience

Before you even type the first word of your company newsletter, ask yourself: What am I trying to achieve?

Is it to inform, educate, or perhaps inspire action?

Lacking a distinct purpose can make your content a bewildering puzzle, so make sure you are super clear on your goals.

Also, I recommend understanding the specific needs of your audience. Your company newsletter content should be customised based on what your audience wants, needs, or aspires to. This is essential for creating content that truly resonates. If you do this, you’ll have them engaged from the subject line to the last call-to-action.

Prioritise Your Subject Line

Think of your company newsletter’s subject line as a make-or-break first impression. It’s your digital handshake that either inspires them to open the newsletter or provokes them to scroll down or instantly delete it.

This is why it’s so important to craft a title that’s concise, intriguing, and accurately reflects the content within. Think of it like a trailer to a movie – if it entices you, you will go on to watch the entire movie (or, in this case, read the entire newsletter).

Also, please remember that your titles aren’t a one-size-fits-all situation. I recommend conducting a few tests to see which titles get your audience clicking with excitement.

Don’t shy away from getting creative with subject lines, either. Pique curiosity, tickle funny bones, or offer irresistible promises – just remember, the subject line is your ticket to the reader’s heart; the odd emoji helps, too!

Synthesise, Don’t Summarise

Your company newsletter isn’t an encyclopedia entry.

It should distill complex information into digestible and actionable insights. I recommend ditching lengthy rundowns in favour of key points, practical tips, and fresh viewpoints. You can use bullet points, subheadings, and visuals to make the content more scannable and easy to ready on mobile.

Your audience is composed of busy individuals; honour their time by being concise.

Offer Real Value

It’s simple, really. If your company newsletter doesn’t offer something of worth, it’s merely clutter.

Your content should enlighten, entertain, or equip your readers with information to help them tackle challenges. The real currency for retaining subscribers is delivering consistent value.

Maintain a Streamlined Design

Too many graphics can divert attention away from your core message. I recommend opting for a clean, uncluttered design.

Don’t overlook mobile users either. Your design should be as readable on a small screen as it is on a desktop. This is a detail that is often forget, but will cost you readers if you overlook it.

Incorporate a Strong Call-To-Action

Guide your readers with a clear and persuasive call-to-action. Don’t let them wonder what to do next.

So, what’s a CTA? Think of it as your friendly nudge to your audience, helping them decide what action to take. It’s like your virtual guidepost saying, “Hey if you liked what you just read, why not sign up for our newsletter? Or how about downloading this free ebook?” You get the idea!

In newsletters, you can jazz up your CTA with clickable text links, cool buttons, or even eye-catching images. Just pop them in places where they make the most sense.

As for the words, go with snappy and straightforward phrases like “Grab Yours Now,” “Learn More,” or “Let’s Do This.”

Pro tip: Stick to one or two CTAs to keep your company newsletter focused and super impactful. Too many choices can be confusing, right?

Make it Personal

Personalisation is more than just using the reader’s name; it’s about tailoring your content to address their individual needs and preferences.

Being personal can convert a casual reader into a devoted subscriber.

Perfect the Timing

Timing can be a game-changer. I recommend experimenting to discover when your audience is most receptive and focused.

For example, I avoid weekends and national holidays for B2B clients but may send a newsletter on a Sunday for a B2C client. However, every business is different, so don’t be afraid to experiment to see what works best for your industry and audience.

Ask Yourself: Would You Read This?

Before hitting “Send,” evaluate your newsletter from your reader’s perspective. If it doesn’t pass the “Would I read this?” test, it’s back to the editing table.

Measure, Analyse, Adapt

Your email marketing strategy should constantly be evolving.

Keep an eye on metrics like open and click-through rates to fine-tune your approach. Platforms like Flodesk (my absolute fav!) offer invaluable insights and tutorials to aid your understanding.

So there you have it. My top tips on email marketing (in my humble opinion). If you are still on the fence about the power of email marketing, then just begin. It’s a marketing journey you won’t regret.

For more marketing tips and insights, sign up for my Tiny Tips Tuesday newsletter HERE.

The post 11 Key Ingredients for a Must-Read Company Newsletter: A Best Practice Guide appeared first on Jem Bahaijoub Consulting - Social Never Sleeps.

Measuring R.O.I. (return on investment) is one of the most common questions I get asked by clients and can often be the most challenging part of social media marketing – a bit like figuring out whether your shiny new gym membership is earning its keep or if it might be better to say “See ya!” and use that money for a Netflix binge-fest instead.

Yet, equipped with the right guidance and appropriate tools, gauging your social media R.O.I doesn’t have to be a Herculean task. Below, you will find several insightful tips that simplify the process of measuring the return on investment from your social media marketing endeavours:

Bust Out the S.M.A.R.T Goals

Nope, I’m not talking about your lofty ambition to rewatch every episode of SuperStore. Although, let’s be honest, that’s an amazing goal (Glenn forever!). I’m talking about setting Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-bound goals. This acronym stands for:

Specific: Your goal should be clear, precise, and straightforward. No vague or generalised statements here! For example, instead of saying, “I want to grow my business”, you might say, “I want to increase my customer base by 20%”.

Measurable: Your goal should have a defined metric to track progress and determine when the goal is achieved. If we continue with the above example, the “20%” allows you to measure whether or not you’ve reached your goal.

Achievable: Your goal should be realistic, based on your resources and current circumstances. Setting a goal to triple your followers in a week may not be achievable, but that 20% increase over six months could be.

Relevant: Your social media goal should align with your broader business objectives.

Time-bound: Every goal needs a time frame or deadline. This adds a sense of urgency and provides a timeline for tracking progress. “Increasing reach by 20% in six months” would be an example of a time-bound goal.

Get Down With Metrics

Next on the list, it’s time to track your progress with metrics that matter. Here’s a handy guide:

Brand Awareness: Reach, impressions, engagement, all the stuff that makes you do a happy dance when your audience sees and interacts with your content.

Lead Generation: Your click-through rates, website traffic, and newsletter signups are all prime suspects here.

Sales: Count that money! Look at the revenue coming in or the cost of customer acquisition.

Advocacy: Keep an eye on referrals and reviews. These are golden!

Gear Up with the Right Tools

Let’s arm ourselves with some fantastic tools to track these metrics. Here are some of my favourites:

Bitly: Bitly isn’t merely a link management service. It is a powerful tool that allows us to shorten, customise, and share links across different platforms. It also offers detailed analytics about who’s clicking on your links, where they’re coming from, and when they’re doing it. This can help you understand what content resonates with your audience, and you can use this information to tailor your future content and marketing strategies.

Google Analytics & UTMs: Regarding web analytics, Google Analytics partnered with UTM parameters is your comprehensive solution. Google Analytics offers detailed insights about website visitors, their behaviour, and web traffic sources. It tracks metrics such as bounce rate, session duration, and pages per session. It also provides demographic details about your audience, like their location, device, and interests.

On the other hand, UTM parameters are tags you add to a URL. When someone clicks on a URL with UTM parameters, those tags are tracked back to Google Analytics. With the data from UTM parameters, you can precisely understand where your traffic comes from and how your various marketing efforts perform.

Agorapulse: This is my go-to social media management tool; Agorapulse is a powerhouse that helps you manage all your social media channels in one place. It’s efficient for scheduling posts, engaging with followers, and monitoring your social media performance.

Agorapulse’s unique social inbox feature ensures no user interaction is left unnoticed. Its detailed analytics and reporting can help you understand what content works best on each platform. In addition, Agorapulse includes features to monitor your brand’s online reputation, compare your performance with competitors, and collaborate with team members.

By leveraging these tools, you can measure, monitor, and manage the success of your social media marketing efforts more effectively.

Keep Your Eye On The Ball

Always be on your toes. Watch your social media metrics and R.O.I. like a hawk. Spot trends, identify patterns, and find those little areas that need a boost.

Use what you learn to review and refine your strategy. It’s all about testing, testing, testing!

Find Your Platform Happy Place

Remember, not all social media platforms will be a good fit for your business. So, find out where your people hang out and focus your content there.

LinkedIn fan? Create content for that. Facebook more your speed? Do your thing there.

Mindset Matters

Look, this isn’t some mad dash to the finish line. Nah, we’re talking long-haul marathon style here. And here’s the thing – sometimes there are these magical, mysterious parts of your social media impact that you can’t measure with cold, hard numbers. I mean, who can put a value on the screenshots taken of your posts, those real-world chit-chats sparked by your content, or the warm, fuzzy sentiment from your fans? Not everything that counts can be counted, right?

So, there you have it! Social media R.O.I. might feel like a dragon to be slayed, but with a dash of determination and a sprinkle of strategy, you’ll start seeing the payoff.

If you need help with your social media strategy or management, please give me a shout!

The post How To Measure Your Social Media Return On Investment (R.O.I.) appeared first on Jem Bahaijoub Consulting - Social Never Sleeps.

There are some serious perks to using a branded hashtag. Here are just a few:

Increased Brand Awareness

Branded hashtags can help your content reach a wider audience beyond your immediate followers. You can make your brand more discoverable and recognisable by consistently using your branded hashtag across all your social media channels.

For example, Nike’s iconic #JustDoIt hashtag has been used in countless campaigns. Most recently, the brand used the hashtag in a campaign featuring Colin Kaepernick, generating praise and controversy. Despite the controversy, the campaign succeeded, with Nike’s online sales increasing by 31% in the days following the launch.

Improved Social Media Engagement

A branded hashtag can be a great way to encourage your followers to engage with your content and join the conversation around your brand. It’s like giving them a secret handshake into your brand’s inner circle.

For example, Coca-Cola’s #ShareACoke campaign encouraged people to share photos of their personalised Coca-Cola bottles on social media using the hashtag. The campaign was a huge success, with over 500,000 images shared on social media and a 2% increase in sales in the US.

Enhanced Brand Loyalty

When your customers or followers use your branded hashtag in their own posts, it creates a sense of community and loyalty around your brand. It’s like being part of a cool kids club without secret treehouse meetings.

For example, In response to the US travel ban in 2017, Airbnb launched the #WeAccept campaign to promote diversity and inclusion. The campaign encouraged people to share photos and stories of their own experiences of diversity using the hashtag. The campaign received widespread media coverage and helped position Airbnb as a socially conscious brand.

Tracking and Analysis

By monitoring your branded hashtag, you can get insights into how people engage with your brand and adjust your social media strategy accordingly.

Using a branded hashtag for your events, in particular, can help increase your event’s visibility and inspire user-generated content. By encouraging attendees to use a consistent hashtag, you can create a cohesive brand identity for your event, encourage participants to share their experiences and gain insights into how people engage with your event.

To summarise, branded hashtags offer a variety of benefits, from boosting brand awareness to spicing up your social media engagement. Just look at Coca-Cola’s #ShareACoke, Airbnb’s #WeAccept, and Nike’s #JustDoIt campaigns – those hashtags united and inspired social media followers everywhere.

For more marketing tips and insights, sign up for my Tiny Tips Tuesday newsletter HERE.

The post What Is A Branded Hashtag & Why Does Your Business Need One? appeared first on Jem Bahaijoub Consulting - Social Never Sleeps.

Being busy is no bad thing: it suggests the business is going well, but it also means you have very little time to focus on your marketing, especially your social media marketing. I’m amazed by every single one of you business owners, and I want to give you the help you deserve by sharing some of my surefire content creation ideas. These tried and tested methods will have you saving time and maintaining productivity.

Create Content Themes

Content themes are topics or categories related to your business: your brand identity, values and business story, which ensure you stay on message in your social media (and all other) comms. Typically you have between 4-6 overall themes, and you can develop sub-topics beneath each one. Let me give you an example: imagine you’re a business coach; you may have the following themes for your business – 

• Entrepreneurship
• Productivity
• Career development
• Business growth

…but that’s just the start. Create sub-topics from each, and you’ll soon have a map of content themes that help with that dreaded blank page, i.e. 

• Entrepreneurship
  • Portfolio careers
• Productivity
  • Time management
• Career development
  • Networking
• Business growth
  • Growth mindset

Get the drift? A good old brainstorming session is the best place to start. Start by creating post-it notes, cue cards or even a text doc of those top-level themes, then break them down further.

Create a Content Bank

A content bank is a safe place where you keep all the random content ideas that pop into your head throughout the day. Content gold can strike anywhere – in the shower, on the commute, or inspired by talking to others. What’s important is being able to capture it quickly with an easy way of referring back when the time comes to plan social media content. For me, this means keeping a Google doc up-to-date, but you can use whatever system works for you – the notes section on your phone, Evernote, Trello or simply a well-thumbed notepad.

Create Templates

Use templates wherever possible. This means you don’t have to create content from scratch. You can get these from online graphic designing tools, such as Canva (where you can create a brand kit to make things quicker), a graphic designer or a subscription company such as yourtemplateclub.com.

I would suggest having a variety of templates ready for carousel posts, static posts, quotes, video covers and stories. That way, you can simply add your content and images quickly, with no time-consuming design necessary.

Reuse Your Existing Content

I have a friend whose mum, in a very frugal 1980s way, used to serve her family YMCA for dinner – Yesterday’s Muck Cooked Again. It was her way of stretching out a bit of meat or a casserole into 2 or 3 more dinners. Why am I telling you this? Well, as much as it’s a reminder of how far we’ve come in culinary terms (thank god for Masterchef), it’s a good lesson for us content creators. 

Far from me saying your existing content is muck (it’s not, it’s manna from heaven), the same repurposing can be done with that long piece of content you spent ages agonising over. Turn that long-form piece into little social portions, and you’ll really be maximising its potential. Here are some examples: 

• Turn that webinar into a blog post.
• Make that blog post into a reel.
• Transform your IGTV video into a TikTok short.
• Repurpose your TikTok into a newsfeed post.
• Repost that top-performing newsfeed post from last year into a new one.

See what I’m doing here? Don’t scrabble to find new content all the time – pick content at the top of your content pyramid (long-form content) and slice and dice. Content à la mode, cooked two ways.

Content Batching

You may be forgiven for thinking I’m sticking to the culinary theme here, but I’m not. When I talk about ‘batching’, I’m not talking about family meal planning here; I’m talking about content creation. Content batching is a productivity technique where you create all of your captions or visual content during a set period of time. For example, instead of spending an hour planning, creating, and publishing one Instagram post, you’ll spend that hour writing or “batching” an entire week of posts in one go.

I time-block every Monday afternoon for content creation, which helps me get ahead of the game.

Are you looking for more content creation tips? Sign up for my Tiny Tips Tuesday newsletter to get snackable tips in your inbox weekly.

The post 5 Time-Saving Content Creation Tips For Busy Entrepreneurs appeared first on Jem Bahaijoub Consulting - Social Never Sleeps.

It got me thinking about how each of the social media platforms requires a slightly different knowledge base and execution, but also should work together for the overall goal of marketing your business. Thankfully, understanding mastering each of these disciplines can be done without squeezing yourself into any form of lycra, unless that’s your thing. So let’s have a run-down of the business purpose of each* social media platform.

*This isn’t an exhaustive list – I know there’s Clubhouse, Tik Tok, Snapchat and more to consider, but I try to focus on the platforms that bring the most meaningful growth to my fabulous clients.

Facebook

Head of the eponymous conglomerate, the Facebook platform itself still holds the title for most active users with a quite healthy 2.853 billion worldwide. Old Zuckerberg and his friends have done alright since creating the platform in their dorm rooms and recruiting their mates.

Facebook has placed more emphasis on community in the last couple of years, so while the potency of brand pages took a sharp nosedive, there are still meaningful ways to interact with your customers through Facebook Groups or perhaps directly selling your products through their e-commerce platform. Facebook remains a great way of announcing and promoting events too, giving attendees the chance to share their RSVPs and encourage others to join.

Instagram

Like Facebook, Instagram’s gone through a major evolution, but probably more so. At its heart, the little indie photo-sharing app launched and gained popularity through its filters, helping us turn sorry selfies into glossy mag worthy close-ups (I’ve never looked better than with Nashville). Now it’s so far from just a photo-sharing app that they mentioned it in their recent company announcements on changes to the algorithm.

Like with all the platforms, the changes present opportunities, and businesses have really thrived on Instagram when building community, speaking directly to customers or harnessing influencer marketing.  They too allow seamless e-commerce through their Instagram shopping tab, which is set to dominant even more beyond 2021.

Twitter

No platform has arguably got a better finger on the pulse than Twitter, who really were the original champions of the words ‘trending’ and ‘hashtag’. Breaking down cultural and geographical barriers, Twitter gives you the news from the heart of the action in any sector, from politics to entertainment.

For businesses, there are two directions that work well: business-to-business and consumer-to-business. Twitter is a great social listening tool to gauge general sentiment towards your business, but it becomes harder for businesses to speak directly to customers. That’s not to say it doesn’t happen, or happen well; take the recent joint campaign from Weetabix and Heinz, who set Twitter alight with response to their beans on Weetabix meal suggestion. Barf-worthy idea, but from a marketing perspective, it couldn’t have been tastier.

Youtube

Launched back in 2005, if you were a company concerned with cats chasing laser pens, or perhaps riding a robot hoover, you were quids in. However, YouTube grew quickly beyond its usage as a sort of You’ve Been Framed portal into something that Google recognised had universal appeal, prompting their $1.65 billion acquisition of the platform in 2006, just a year later. Now that’s a payday.

Nowadays YouTube is recognised for its authority as the second most popular search engine (even if we don’t think of it in this way), with content creators providing thought leadership in every industry, from ‘How to Fix a Leaky Tap’ to the Pope’s ‘Our Moral Imperative to Act on Climate Change.’ Unboxing and ‘unbiased’ reviews are also a great boost for e-commerce marketing, with the option for influencers to add affiliate links.

LinkedIn

LinkedIn is the spiritual home of business online. Even though other social media platforms have tried their hand (can we say a quick RIP to Google+), keeping your work profile and your social profile separate has been LinkedIn’s currency since its inception.

Not a lot has changed since Microsoft’s acquisition of the platform, and its cornerstones of purpose remain the same: to provide thought leadership, build strategic business connections, hire talent and provide possible lead opportunities for businesses.

Pinterest

Home of craft moms and DIYers, wedding inspiration and diet meal plans, Pinterest is your digital fridge door, with their ‘pins’ acting like fridge magnets, saving ideas, recipes, quotes and more for either referral later or just to delight you. Like YouTube, Pinterest has become as much a search engine as a social network, with users engaging with the content rather than other users.

E-commerce businesses can add ‘rich pins’, which carry price details and a direct link to your online shop, increasing the chance of conversion.

So let’s recap on the main business purposes of each social media platform:

Facebook – Community building, events and customer service.

Instagram – E-commerce, community building and influencer marketing.

Twitter – Social listening and customer service.

LinkedIn – Talent acquisition, thought-leadership and strategic partnerships.

YouTube – SEO and influencer marketing.

Pinterest – SEO and e-commerce.

I hope this overview of the business purpose of each social media platform has served as a reminder of the unique opportunities available to businesses – to you – and given you some inspiration on the best content or connections to create for each one.

The post The Business Purpose Of Each Social Media Platform – A 2021 Comparison appeared first on Jem Bahaijoub Consulting - Social Never Sleeps.

What does SEO mean?

SEO stands for Search Engine Optimisation, and it simply means preparing your website content in the best way to get it ranking on search engines. There are on-page factors (what’s written and how it’s written) and off-page factors (speed of your website, strength / age of your domain etc). You’ll know that achieving that coveted ‘top of Google’ spot for your industry has a huge impact for businesses, but did you know how much? According to Ignite Visibility, positions 1-5 on Google’s search results account for around 70% of all the clicks to websites. That’s one heck of a difference. If you find yourself in position 6, there’s only around 10% chance your website will be clicked on, with it diminishing from that point. Find yourself on page two? Forgeddaboutit. You’re more likely to bump into your ex on a Hebridean island*

*I don’t have the actual stats for this, but safe to say, the percentages are fairly similar.

What does Bounce Rate mean?

Have you ever walked into a shop, taken an awkward look around the shelves ahead of you, then had to try to avoid eye contact with the sales assistant as you gingerly back out again? That’s the real life equivalent of your website’s bounce rate! It refers to single-page sessions, i.e. the number of occasions where a visitor landed on your website, took one quick look around on that page, and left without any other interaction. If you’re a tradesperson or service-based business, like a taxi company, a high bounce rate isn’t such a bad thing; people may have gone to your website to just find your phone number, for example, but as you can imagine, for an e-commerce business, that single-page session is an indication that your content isn’t quite cutting it for what they’re looking for.

What does Organic Reach mean?

There are two types of marketing acquisition – free and paid for. Paid marketing takes on many forms, from both traditional forms of marketing like radio and press, to digital methods, but the audience that we gain for free can be referred to as our organic reach. There are different ways of improving your organic reach, and that can be both on your website, but equally your social media accounts too. SEO (see above) is arguably the best way of increasing organic reach to your website, and for social, each different platform has its own tips and tricks for getting in front of more pairs of eyes. For Facebook, its algorithm has tended to favour content from Groups in recent years, whereas Twitter relies still on hashtags. We cover tips and tricks to improve organic reach on social, on my signature Social Never Sleeps Mastermind Group course – if it’s something you want to get to grips with, I’d recommend enrolling on my next course this September.

What does Engagement Mean?

Have you ever been sat at a table outdoors, enjoying dinner al fresco, when some troubadour with a violin decides to serenade your table, uninvited. Now, you could argue that his reach is strong – there’s no ignoring a musician playing at full volume over your entrées, but engagement is likely to be low. He might not get the applause, thanks or even payment he may have hoped for. The same can sometimes be the case with the marketing content you put out. Although arguably presence, or brand awareness is important, really the success of your campaign often comes down to its engagements stats; that can be the number of ‘likes’ on your posts, a follow, a share, or perhaps a click on the contact button of your website.

What does CRM mean?

CRM stands for Customer Relationship Manager. This can take many forms, with varying levels of detail. In its simplest form, it is a list of your customers and some level of information about their contact details and their recent interactions with you. Your email inbox alone might not give you enough insight into the relationships with your customers, as it doesn’t encompass all forms of communication (i.e. phone / text / face-to-face) and neither does it offer a digest of all their interactions with you, from transactional data like total spend, to helpful reminder notes about their kids’ names. You don’t have to use a fancy or paid-for CRM, when even an Excel spreadsheet will deliver the basics, but companies like Dubsado, Capsule, Salesforce or Hubspot will give you a level of functionality that can be a game-changer if your customers are numerous.

What does PPC stand for?

PPC stands for pay-per-click, and while many people associate this entirely with Google Ads, it can also relate to social advertising, or affiliate marketing. It’s quite niftily named, as it happens, as it refers to you ‘paying’ for someone ‘clicking’ to visit your website, whether that’s from a Facebook advert, Google sponsored search listing or from someone’s blog, to name a few. How much you pay for every click will depend on the platform you’re using, and the competitiveness of the term you’re ‘bidding’ on. For example, at time of writing you could expect to pay £17.88 every time someone clicks on the term “personal injury claim” whereas “dolls house kits” will set you back just £0.24 a click, so you can see how far a £50 / day budget would go for either of those businesses.

What does Influencer Marketing mean?

As far as jargon goes, “influencer marketing” is one of the latest additions to the marketing lexicon, and has a lot to do with the rise of Instagram personalities. Sales of the Minky cloth peaked in 2018, despite the product being part of Minky’s cleaning range long before that date. Why? A certain 4+ million follower personality, Mrs Hinch started gaining a huge following around that time, and was vocal in her love of the domestic essential. You can see below how the increase in searches for “Minky Cloth” and “Mrs Hinch” correlate, which has meant big business for the blemish-busting business. Now that is influencer marketing in action!

What does Affiliate Marketing mean?

Similar to influencer marketing, affiliate marketing leverages the popularity of a commodity – usually a brand or blog, in this case, rather than an individual influencer – in selling particular products. If you’ve found yourself looking for “How to Make the Perfect Margarita”, you’ll most likely have found a number of blog posts alluding to the best technique, but before you got to that point, bloggers may have suggested a whole pile of kit (the sleekest shaker, the perfect strainer) to buy in order to achieve cocktail nirvana. Chances are, if this person is taking their blog seriously, they’ll provide you some links to buy these items, often explicitly telling you that they may receive a kick-back commission from resultant sales.

Are there any more terms that have you perplexed? Do some marketing phrases get bandied around and you’ve always sheepishly nodded while meaning to look them up later? Please let me know – send me an Instagram DM and I will gladly shine a light on it for you.

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If hashtags seem like an inexplicable mystery to you, it’s time to set things straight! As a marketing consultant, I’ve come across a noticeable amount of people frustrated with hashtags. They are either overusing them, underusing them or not using them at all. The good news is that hashtags are not that complicated, it just seems that way. Let’s clear up the confusion and boost your engagement!

Qué?

Hashtags always start with #, followed by a string of text. Think of them as a way to connect your content to a theme, topic, place, etc. The hashtag was born on Twitter on August 23rd 2007, but quite rapidly spread to other platforms. Today, there isn’t a single social media network that does not use them in some way.

The Big Five

I like to think of hashtags in five categories. You should always maintain a healthy mix between hashtags from each category in your social media posts.

Branded hashtags are self-created for your business. It can be as simple as your company name, tagline or a hashtag for a specific campaign you are launching. For my social media course promotion, I always use the branded hashtag #SocialNeverSleeps, which represents the name of my course. 

Specific hashtags correspond with the distinct content of your post. Imagine you’re running an accountancy firm, and you surprised your staff with delicious doughnuts! You would definitely use #doughnuts as a specific hashtag. 

Category hashtags are a lot broader! Think of elements related to your industry as a whole. In my case, some good examples would be #MarketingConsultant, #SocialMediaNews or #SocialMediaMarketing.

Trending hashtags are essentially really popular hashtags, they’re being used extensively to discuss a specific topic, event or theme.  For example,  #ThrowBackThursday is a weekly reappearing trending hashtag. On a more serious note, recently the hashtag #BlackLivesMatter has trended due to the tragic death of George Floyd. Alternatively, a prime illustration of an event-based trending hashtag – a sad one indeed – is #Beirutblast, referring to the tragedy of August 4th.

Location hashtags are eminently straightforward. If the content of your post took place in Beckenham, #Beckenham links your content to that part of town. 

Platform Guidelines

It’s very important to remember that each social media network has a different standard for hashtags. Rather than boring you to death with pesky details as to why the algorithm of Mark Zuckerberg’s prodigal child generates different results than YouTube’s, I’ll lay out key guidelines so that you understand what works were.

Instagram – Up to 30 hashtags on newsfeed posts, up to 10 hashtags on Stories and I recommend only up to 10 on IGTV posts.

Twitter – 1-2 hashtags

Facebook – 1-2 hashtags

LinkedIn – Up to 5

YouTube – 3-6 hashtags

Stick to these ground rules to gain more engagement across platforms.

Prepare and Reflect

I strongly recommend you prepare your hashtags before scheduling or publishing your post. Create a spreadsheet of what hashtags are related to your industry and business. Keep in mind that high-density tags (with more than 500k posts) are more competitive, compared to medium to high-density tags (100k – 500k posts), medium density (20k-100k posts) and low density (5k -20K posts). Try to aim for an 80/20 low-high mix to get more engagement. Do not copy-paste the same hashtags into each post. Filter and test which ones work for you.

I also advise you to look at which hashtags your competitors are using. You can definitely pick up some good ones that will help you reach more people.

After a week or so, analyse how well your post’s hashtags are doing. A third-party management tool such as Later.com or Buffer usually has more quality insights into how well you’re doing, but you can already learn a lot from in-app analytics. Reflection is just as important as performance, there’s always something to learn.

I hope these insights will help you and your business in the future. If you would like to learn more about this topic and social media marketing in general, make sure to check out my Social Never Sleeps Course launching September 21st and upcoming ‘Instagram For Business’ workshop on September 8th.

The post How to Use Hashtags Effectively appeared first on Jem Bahaijoub Consulting - Social Never Sleeps.

Long-form content means content that is long enough to require critical thinking, such as blog posts, podcast episodes, whitepapers or an e-book.  There are so many advantages to repurposing your content. It saves you time and helps you reach new audiences. It also reinforces your message and boosts your SEO.  

Let’s take one blog post as an example. Here are 10 ways you can repurpose it:

1. Create a FB or IG Live on the subject.
2. Create a video clip for IGTV or YouTube.
3. Slice and dice the article into information snippets or tips for social media.
4. Re-use the content in your newsletter. 
5. Create an infographic.
6. Create a slideshow video with Animoto.
7. Host a webinar on the subject.
8. Create quote images for Instagram.
9. Talk about it on your IG and FB Stories.
10.  Create an animated Gif in Photoshop.

So how do you get started? Answer these three questions first:

1. What type of long-form content can you produce on a regular basis?

Marketing expert Gary Vaynerchuk calls this type of long-form content “pillar content”. This is the type of content you produce either weekly, monthly or quarterly and it exists at the top of your content pyramid. To decide on the type of pillar content for your business, you need to assess your audiences’ needs and industry type. However, you should also ask yourself what type of content you actually ENJOY creating.  The more you enjoy it, the easier it will be!

2. What existing content do you have that you can repurpose?

A great place to start your repurposing strategy, is by reviewing and utilising your existing content, especially your highest performing blog posts or podcasts. 

3. How does this fit into your overall marketing plan?

Any content marketing strategy you create has to integrate fully into the overall marketing strategy for your business. Create an editorial calendar to log and track the success of your pillar content. Ensure you are always connecting  the dots for maximum impact. 

Best of luck!

The post MARKETING HACK: 10 Ways To Repurpose Your Online Content  appeared first on Jem Bahaijoub Consulting - Social Never Sleeps.

Charity starts close to home

There are so many deserving charities on social that would massively appreciate a shout out from you – no matter what size following you have. Have a look to see what local Christmas initiatives there are happening in your area that you could give a little social love to – try searches for Christmas dinners for the homeless, extra toy appeals etc etc. Perhaps you could do a series of Festive Cheer Charity crackers, where each week before Christmas, you pull a cracker to reveal another deserving social media account. Warm, fuzzy feeling guaranteed.

Round Up Reel

Are there video clips or photos that never quite made the feed? Perhaps you could unearth them from your camera roll and splice them together in a round up of this year. Bring on the bloopers, and make it as personal as you your brand image allows. We know that Instagram can’t get enough of the Reels at the moment, so you could seriously boost your reach by using up old scraps of content. Now there’s a Christmas leftovers recipe – just call me Nigella!

12 Days of Christmas Content Series

Launch a “12 Days of Christmas” social media series to showcase your services or products. Showcase a new product or service every day on your social media platforms for 12 days in the run up to Christmas to catch the eye of impulse buyers or last minute shoppers (like me!).

Promote Your Gift Cards

It’s an obvious one but always worth mentioning – always promote your gift cards for Christmas right up to the last minute! These are especially valuable if you work in the health and wellness industry as there is nothing better than treating your loved one to a massage or treatment to kick off the New Year.

Write A Gift Guide

Write a quick “Last Minute Gift Ideas For Christmas” gift guide on your blog to drive traffic to your website and promote your products. As an extra bonus, offer a discount code in exchange for an email address to build up your mailing list.

January Sale

Black Friday and Cyber Monday may have eclipsed the January Sales but there are still some consumers that love a good shop between Christmas Day and New Year’s Day. Appeal to this market, by providing sneak previews of your January sales offers to entice people. For some reason the January sales always start on Boxing Day anyway.

Remember you still have time to appeal to last minute shoppers. Good luck and Happy Christmas!

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