Today, you can also leverage the power of social media to boost your website engagement. The good thing is that there are many ways that you can integrate social media into your web design. This helps create an intuitive user experience that allows your web visitors to easily access and interact with your brand on your social media channels. This boosts your brand’s online presence, generating more sales and revenue for your business. Here are a few easy ways you can integrate social media into your website:

1. Adding Social Media Buttons to Your Website

One of the easiest ways to integrate social media into your website is by adding social media buttons to your business’s social channels. This makes it easier for website visitors to access and interact with your brand on their preferred social media platforms. It also allows visitors to share your posts on their social media profiles effortlessly. This increases your engagement on social media and helps you reach a greater audience.

Social media buttons work best when added at the bottom of your site’s homepage or the end, side, or top of your blog posts. You can also add them to your product page, so visitors can share their favorite products with their social media following. To get the best results, ensure you add buttons for social media channels most relevant to your target audience. You can customize the colors to match your brand to achieve a cohesive look.

2. Enabling Social Media Login

Another important social media integration to consider adding to your website is social logins. Incorporating your social logins allows potential customers to log into your website using their social media accounts. This way, they don’t have to create a separate account to sign in to your website, making the process more efficient for visitors.

Besides making it more convenient for your website visitors to sign up, adding social logins to your site also allows you to collect valuable information about your visitors. This includes their email address, gender, age, and interest. You can use this information to send follow-up messages, product recommendations, promotions, and discounts, further promoting your business.

3. Including a Social Live Feed

Social live feed is another great way to integrate social media into your website. This enables you to easily showcase your live activity from different social channels directly on your website. Displaying your recent and current social activity can encourage your website visitors to follow you on social media without having to leave your website. It also makes it easy for visitors to engage with your brand in social media communities.

The benefit of adding social media live feed to your site is that the data is updated in real-time whenever you add new posts. You can customize the social live feed layout to ensure it complements your branding.

Endnote

Social media is an integral part of any business’s marketing strategy. Not only does it boost your brand visibility online, but it also helps deliver a consistent brand message. As you’ve seen, there are many ways of integrating social media into your website. Besides the above-discussed methods, you can try other social media integrations until you get what works best for your business.

The post Ways to Integrate Social Media Into Your Website appeared first on Social Media Explorer.

Business owners do not come to the idea that they need to have their own web resource immediately (unless they work in IT or have a solid experience in promoting products or services on the web). It all starts with customer questions: “How can we find it online?”, “Do you have a website?” Therefore, business websites often go through many stages, from designing a business card to launching a complete online store with a connected CRM system and full control of all advertising channels.

The main problem of how to set up a website is the limited budget. The fact is, micro- and small businesses are highly dependent on sales volume, while quality, custom-designed internet sites can cost from hundreds of thousands to several million dollars. However, without creating a website, you cannot even start working. A website, among other functions, supports awareness and is an additional channel to attract customers, share contacts, and describe your services and products.

So what options do small businesses have?

• Platforms and aggregators. You could invest the planned budget in the purchase of subscription services, which are supposed to be somewhat more efficient, but after all, their basic functionality is very poor. On the other hand, such paid services are very expensive, yet this type of advertising is still not connected with the harsh reality. Just think about it: do you know of many successful companies that have conducted business in such spaces? In fact, very few have succeeded.
•  Buy an already created website. It’s another unlikely and suspicious scenario, starting with the fact that a normal business wouldn’t sell its website and finishing with a bunch of technical nuances that the new owner simply won’t be able to understand without the necessary expertise.
• Outsource the creation of a website. It is very promising if done correctly and is only possible with a sufficient budget. For this reason, 90% of the time, micro-enterprises and start-ups disappear, as they cannot afford it.
• Creating your own website from scratch. It is already closer to reality, but you have to be prepared to dive into a lot of technical details on how to create a website, from hosting to integrating the necessary services. The required budget for this task will already be more or less reasonable, but even so, the initial investments can reach serious figures. Therefore, launching such a site must be approached very responsibly.
• Creating your own site with an online website builder. It is ideal in terms of the expenses and the initial time investment. You can even do it without the participation of technical specialists. This option has some cons, such as the difficulty of migrating to out-of-the-box platforms if the business model requires it in the future.

We are deliberately not focusing on what a business website is. Large companies do not ask themselves this question, and novice entrepreneurs can only afford small but effective projects: business card sites, landing pages, presentations, online catalogs of products or services, etc. However, it is still worth keeping the ability to grow your resource on a larger scale.

Mistakes When Creating a Commercial Website

Mistake 1: Spending Too Much Money, Time, and Effort on Development and Launch

It’s great to get a page from a specialist studio when you have a lot of time and available funds, but who actually has these resources? Only large companies with stable funding do. Small and even medium-sized organizations cannot afford large expenses. Working with freelancers is cheaper, but no one can vouch for their responsibility and execution, and most importantly, for the quality of the result.

Another option is to consider independent work, as you can and need to start online on your own. Making a website and even an online store is easy if you use a designer tool, the services it provides, and the templates. In this case, you can calculate the costs in a few minutes.

The site is a tool to earn money. Create it yourself with the website builder, and the costs will pay off quickly.

Mistake 2: Not Investing in Website Creation at All

When beginners decide to make a site on their own, they often succumb to the temptation to use everything for free, such as registering a third-level domain, finding unreliable hosting, and using a primitive builder tool with a standard template. As a result, you save a lot of money but waste energy.

The tool must be of high quality. When it comes to creating beginner sites, the site designer platform should offer most of the features, from domain registration to support of the mobile version.

Mistake 3: Relying Only on Strengths

Studying hundreds of articles on page building rules is not enough to embark on a solo journey, as you are still likely to make many mistakes.

But wait, how do you make a web page step by step? Choose designer tools that already take into account the basic principles of website building in mind. In this case, it is not necessary to learn the usability rules and understand the code. For example, the contacts should be in a visible place. Always. There are site builders that don’t allow you to remove this block from the top of the site, so you won’t even be able to forget it accidentally.

What if you have confidence in yourself and know exactly why you need to make a change? The solution is to write to technical support. Experts will help you add the desired module on the site. And if there is no such certainty, just follow the advice on where and how to place the items to avoid making a mistake.

Mistake 4: Trusting Your Taste

Let’s add a touch of honesty. Who has not seen a website made in such a way that when opening a page, your only wish is to close it as soon as possible? Curved letters, 300 titles, texts that shine with all the colors of the rainbow, and smiling faces in the background. Sometimes it is worth admitting that the artistic taste is bad in order to not apply such creative ideas.

For such cases, it is better to use templates created under the guidance of designers. Experts understand that a road transport website does not need roses and that hairdressers must display hairstyles, not sequins, on the entire screen.

Mistake 5: Forgetting About Promotion at the Site Creation Stage

“I’ll build a site first, then I’ll think about SEO” is a typical mistake. For a website to be profitable, users and search engines must be able to find it. However, if you create a website with raw SEO terms on the web, the search engines will index it with all the errors. Besides, it will contain non-original texts and stock photos.

Therefore, the preparation of the SEO parameters should be verified before connecting the site to the internet so that the process is not too complicated afterward. A good example of SEO validation is the promotion tool. The site is fully tested for launch, and the tool is built in, which means you don’t even have to log out of admin to use it. 

It is recommended to improve anything that can be. It is not necessary to look for defects since the service itself will find them. Once the readiness indicator is in the green area, start working online.

Mistake 6: Making a Page on a Social Network Instead of a Website

This solution seems very simple because everything is already invented, and you just need to throw a few photos in the album, specify the contacts, and go ahead — you can work.

In reality, it is not like that. The social network is a good complementary tool for supporting business information but is only an extra platform and cannot be completely relied upon. First of all, you lose the audience that is not registered on a particular network. Secondly, you cannot present your business properly. A page on a social network seems standard for talking about a person, not about the job or business, and certainly not about the product. Thirdly, the group or social network account does not belong to you completely: it depends on the policy of your administration. In addition, on social network sites, there is not much flexibility in terms of content creation. But on a website, you can sooner or later upload videos of any length — edited, for example, with iMovie if talking about macOS or Windows Movie Maker if you have Windows; you can also choose an option that works on both systems, such as Movavi Video Converter, in addition to the photos and news about the company.

Which Platform to Choose for Business Websites

If everything is more or less clear with the options of sites, the next important point is to understand which tools to use. It’s not the first time we’ve studied the CMS market and online builders, so we have a good idea of the technical challenges and the possible outcomes. Here are our top 5 most effective tools for creating small business websites.

uKit

uKit is the simplest and easiest to understand online website builder for beginners. The developers are an experienced team that’s known for their great uCoz project. In fact, uKit’s positioning is of a website builder platform for small businesses.

Its remarkable features are the availability of full technical support and high-quality technical documentation for all occasions, although you can work with this designer platform without any instructions. There are enough ready-made templates, changing color palettes, and all the necessary business tools (chats, ready-to-ship integrations, CRM, etc.).

Functionality

The main menu is divided into intuitive sections. Your domain can be purchased directly from the personal account, and the link will be generated automatically. If an important event occurs on the site, for example, the customer completes a request, you will receive an SMS notification (it will be free or, to be precise, included in the payment plan).

The platform can automatically check your website for readiness, create an interface option and copy the content of your pages to popular social networks (so far, only Vkontakte and Facebook are supported). There is a built-in statistics system and integration with the most requested external services (amoCRM, BoardCRM, SendPulse, Ecwid, etc.). Backups are created automatically, there are tailored payment plan options, and you can even embed your HTML code on the pages. Disk space and traffic are not limited.

Prices and Costs

The minimum fee is $2.5/month, but the name of the platform will be displayed at the bottom of the site. It’s best to start out with the Basic rate ($5/month), as you can later disable the builder and get the advanced stats functionality. The most expensive rate, called Pro, is $7.5/month. Online store capabilities are available when you choose to pay from $6/month.

There is no free plan, but there is a 14-day trial period and a money-back guarantee.

Downsides

The simple interface and minimal configuration have a downside. For some, this will seem insufficient for the work of a large project. The list of integration opportunities with external services is small, its templates cannot be used, and the selection of those ready to use is limited. A number of services are also offered at an additional cost (online calculators for the site, graphics development, personal assistance, etc.).

Wix

Wix is a great project with a global reach, as well as an online builder with every imaginable and unthinkable feature. It is suitable for launching a project of any complexity, not just business sites. It benefits from a large selection of ready-made templates, sufficient support for the interface in different languages, and the presence of artificial intelligence. A special service allows you to generate a layout and fill option specifically for your topic and niche. What’s left is only to correct the contact information and custom descriptions. If necessary, your page can get additional functionalities, such as the integrated CRM system and emails. Sure enough, there is the possibility of creating online stores.

Functionality

If, for some reason, the regular functionality is not enough, you can activate the corresponding application from the directory. It has everything from external services and beautiful buttons to advanced split testing and analysis systems. The additional services, which are very necessary for the business, are especially striking, such as an online tool for creating logos that can be used not only on websites but also on business cards, postal forms, document templates, etc.

SSL certificates are automatically connected, and Wix also has all the necessary attributes for advanced SEO. In addition, any page adapts to the screens of mobile phones or other devices.

Prices and Costs

This platform is pleasantly surprising, as you can test its functionality as long as you want because it is free of charge.

The minimum plan involves only connecting your domain, but it is not suitable for business purposes. To remove the ads and mentions from the platform, you must pay the Basic or Superior fee. Here, you receive an additional budget for advertising and the domain as a bonus (for one year). The highest rate with higher fees opens up access to additional features (including logo creation, advanced analytics, faster downloads, etc.). Receiving payments on the site is available only via a special payment plan option for businesses.

It is worth considering that a subscription to the plan is not the only expense category, as individual applications on the market may also require a subscription.

Downsides

The abundance of features can overwhelm novice users, but as you become more familiar with the platform, navigation becomes easier. The most significant disadvantage is, in fact, the limited subscription plans. As the functionality increases, so does the price. It is not added at the expense of the basic plans but based on the cost of the catalog applications.

WordPress

WordPress is the most popular, open-source, and actively supported out-of-the-box content management system for the community, suitable for building any type of site (from blogs to online stores).

With a 50% probability, any site you visit online runs on this CMS. In fact, half of all the sites in the world are built on this engine.

An important nuance is that it does not work without hosting (and this is a separate category of expenses).

Functionality

It’s hard to imagine a functionality that doesn’t exist in WordPress. Even if something out of the box is not implemented, the desired capabilities are easily added with third-party and official directory extensions, so at any time, you can contact specialists to develop the necessary non-standard functionality.

Many hosts offer one-click installation of this CMS from the hosting panel, which can be considered a definite advantage for beginners.

Custom additions like Elementor can turn this engine into an analog of an online builder, so you will be able to pick up your pages from the finished blocks simply by dragging and dropping. Therefore, the absorption threshold can be minimized.

Prices and Costs

As for the engine itself, it does not make sense to talk about the cost since it is completely free, but it cannot be used without quality hosting. In order for the motor to run flawlessly and without restrictions from the supplier, you need to choose the right hosting provider. Number 1 in WordPress developer recommendations is Bluehost. All payment plans are specifically designed for this CMS, it takes just one click to install, and there are many related services. The fees are $2.95 per month if you pay a year in advance, receiving the domain as a gift.

If you need a high-quality and beautiful design, the most profitable option is to buy a finished theme ($20–80 from profile sites or the official catalog). On the other hand, the necessary plugins can usually be found for free.

Downsides

To create a quality business site, you will have to understand many technical nuances or hire a specialist in the field. This is the only significant drawback of the engine. Many talk about low security and resource demands, but in reality, it is enough to configure the CMS and plugins correctly. Then, the number of issues will be minimized.

uCoz

uCoz is a great broad profile online builder. It stands out favorably from its competitors with extensive basic functionality. In fact, the platform is not inferior to boxed CMS. uCoz will definitely appeal to users due to its sufficient amount of detailed technical documentation, manuals, and technical support.

During many years of existence, this platform has grown with a whole infrastructure of related services.

Functionality

The uCoz developers have applied a modular approach, where to add the necessary functionality, you simply need to activate a module (for example, a shop, a forum, a blog, etc.). The templates can be purchased both within the platform (from the official catalog) and from specialized providers (the purchased theme can be downloaded in the administration panel).

uCoz offers many options. There is an automatic feature of posting materials on social media, all the necessary attributes for SEO, content moderation, API, field settings, spam filter, user rights management, CNC, code editor, support for your PHP scripts, and mail and email forms, among many others.

Prices and Costs

The free payment plan is not suitable for commercial projects due to the display of ads to the users. The minimum fee ($2.99 per month) implies the presence of a writing platform. More logical variants are the Optimal rate (from $7.99/month) and the Superior option. The store functionality (uShop module) is available when paying from $9.99/month.

You can receive the domain as a gift when paying for the Optimal and Superior rates (depending on the payment term in advance, 6 or 12 months for different plans).

Premium templates from the official catalog will cost between $25 and $56 per unit.

Downsides

UCoz does not have a convenient online editor that works with pre-designed blocks. Therefore, you will have to buy a ready-made template or have it developed by professional designers. The admin panel is overloaded with settings (this is good for experienced users but difficult for new users). Payment plans are more expensive than those of low-profile platforms (this is due to the capabilities of the platform, since, for example, here you can get a complete online store without restrictions or divisions in individual payment plans).

Bookmark

Bookmark is another functional online platform from a team of developers. Users can count not only on the website builder but also on a comprehensive infrastructure including their own domain registry, a search engine promotion service, a platform for organizing various offline events, a network of agencies (a suitable platform to search for creators), a service for webinars, and many features.

Nethouse is designed for small and micro-businesses. Here, it is possible to work without specialized knowledge and do manual code editing quickly, plus it is easy to create small pages in a convenient visual editor.

Functionality

Basic functions fulfill 99% of all small business requests. There is everything: integrated CRM, catalog of predefined templates, support for mobile devices, free SSL certificates, a set of predefined blocks to create your pages, application store (can be integrated with third-party services, including payment gateways or messengers), mailing system, access to SEO parameters, analytics, convenient confirmation of site ownership (e.g., for Google webmaster panels), web forms, SMS notifications, etc.

Even a beginner can handle this visual editor, as it is not necessary to have knowledge of HTML. Everything is very simple. There is also a mobile application that allows you to manage the site and receive quick notifications.

Prices and Costs

The platform can be used for free with no time limit with the Starter payment plan. The free trial period for the Promo plan is 10 days (it is automatically included from the moment of registration).

Downsides

The set of blocks in this site builder is very limited, as is the blocks’ configuration. This is convenient for beginners but absolutely not suitable for advanced users since the finished versions of the site are in many respects of the same type. The second downside is the pricing. It is complex and involves, among other things, additional payment for personnel functions.

Conclusion

Even a quick review of the technical solutions available on the market suggests that it is possible to create a website for a business without the need for specialists. As a counterpart, you will have to sacrifice time and may have to face some additional expenses.

Everyone knows that time is money. So even if you use the tool yourself and save on initial investments, don’t forget to take the time to learn and master the tool; or, alternatively, invest in a more advanced payment plan that will include, for example, tools to create logos, CRM, mail, and other services. It takes less time but costs more.

At the same time, there is no one-size-fits-all solution, and, sadly, it is not likely to appear. Each tool has its advantages and disadvantages. You should be aware that if something is acceptable at one stage of your business, in a new round of development, it may become downright inappropriate. Therefore, creating a site should be approached based on your current goals and budget.

The post Tools That Help to Create a Business Website appeared first on Social Media Explorer.

What Exactly is Underperforming Content, Anyway?

Before you can fix the problem, you have to know what it is. Basically, underperforming content is content that isn’t gathering momentum, growth, or mobility, no matter how long it’s been up or how much effort you invested in it. Quality content drives traffic to your site, improves your brand’s visibility online, and increases conversions. However, if it’s not up to par, it may not be doing any of these things enough to make a difference. In other words, you may not be achieving a positive ROI from your efforts.

How to Identify Underperforming Content

Underperforming content can really be broken down into one of three main categories:

• Content that used to perform well but doesn’t anymore. You might have had several blogs that were once popular and drove traffic and sales, but for some reason, they’ve dropped in both ranking and visits. This type of content can often be upgraded and revamped to drive new life into it.
• Content that never performed well. In this instance, some pieces never had much potential from the start and didn’t even get off the ground. Perhaps you’re writing about obsolete topics that no one searches for anymore, or maybe the content is filled with outdated tech or tactics that have aged out. It would be best to remove this content from your site and redirect any links it may have acquired over time to pages with more potential.
• Content that hasn’t been successful but has potential. This content often just needs to be spruced up a bit to work well. To see if your content falls into this category, keep an eye on page views, time on the pages, keywords your pages rank for, social shares, backlinks, and organic visits. Each of these metrics can help you understand if your content has potential and just needs to be tweaked to get better results.

What Causes Outdated Content to Start Underperforming?

Data will really help you understand the answer to this question. When you’re armed with the numbers, you might realize:

Your Content is Outdated

Search engines seek out fresh, new information, and so do the searchers who are using these search engines! If your post was last updated many years ago, you might be able to update it with fresh information and numbers to make it relevant for today’s audience.

A Competitor Publishes Better Content

There are a lot of words on the web right now. If a competitor is publishing similar — but more quality — content, the search engines and online audiences may favor that company’s information.

You’re Using Incorrect Keyword Choices

Keywords are essential, but like most other things in life, their relevance can change over time. If you’ve tried to rank your post for a specific keyword set previously and succeeded, you could still find yourself facing high bounce rates down the road because keywords are an ever-changing part of digital marketing. Poor keyword choices can cause visitors (and the search engines) to miss the point of your posts or have a hard time finding the information they’re looking for. Your Search Console and Google Analytics can help you understand what you’re ranking for and which keywords bring you the most traffic.

If you need help getting your content up and running the way it’s supposed to, consider working with a digital marketing agency that specializes in online content creation and optimization.

The post How to Detect and Improve Underperforming Content appeared first on Social Media Explorer.

Here are some tips for choosing the right B2B web design agency:

Make A Search And Do A Comparison

You should always remember that the job of a consultant is not only to look for the right clients, but also to ensure that the right work is done. Therefore, you should also ensure that the B2B web design agency that you have chosen has some of the best resources available for its use. Do not rely on just one or two sources. It is best to get in touch with more than three agencies and compare their rates and packages offered. This is the easiest way of ensuring that you get the best service package at the lowest possible rate.

Check Promotion Tools Used

Once you have the list of possible web design agencies, the next thing that you should do is to check if they have any of the basic tools for conducting website promotion. This includes the website itself, banners, buttons, logos, and so forth. If you cannot find reviews about any of the features of the company, then you should proceed to another agency. Some web design agencies might offer some of these features at no extra cost, but other companies might charge a little higher. Hence, it is best to find out how much extra work the company will be doing for you.

Make A Structured Process In Choosing An Agency

Choosing a web design agency is also important because a good web design agency will know how to leverage the power of the Internet to boost its clients’ marketing efforts. For example, a fashion site’s website might be able to get many more hits online through the presence of the popular search engine, Google. Hence, a good web design agency will have the ability to get more people to look at their fashion site through the search engines.

How Can They Help Make Your Business Grow?

You will also need to consider how your web design agency can help your business grow. Does it have a website that can help show you how your products or services are unique, or can it present your company as one of a kind?  For example, does it have a social media strategy that can help you get more followers on Twitter or Facebook?

A good web design agency will be able to help you determine your company’s strengths and weaknesses. For example, if you run a fitness company, you may find that a social media site, like Instagram, is a better platform to use compared to a blog because there are a lot of Instagrammers within the age group most acquainted to fitness. On the other hand, if you offer carpentry services, then using a blog is more ideal. The web design agency should work with all aspects of your company’s operations and make sure you can find good clients for your business by presenting good social media marketing strategies and website experience. Checking for awards or contests won like the Digital Excellence Awards can help affirm your decision in a web design agency.

How Do They Present Their Projects? 

One of the things you should look at when choosing a web design agency is how they present projects to clients. This is an essential aspect because a web designer must understand the needs of a client before they present their creation. Remember that clients who are searching for specific information online do not necessarily have a clear idea on what type of website they want to have. A professional web designer must know how to put forward ideas that will capture the audience’s attention.

The design of your website will be determined by how good your connections are. How do you know if the people you’re dealing with are capable of delivering? This is crucial because you don’t want to be spending money on web design services only to find that half of your audience is unhappy and unsatisfied with your website. To help make the right B2B web design agency decisions, you must consider how the professionals you’re working with interact with their own clients.

The post Tips For Choosing The Right B2B Web Design Agency appeared first on Social Media Explorer.

What is less common is seeing poker professionals crossover into Hollywood. Occasionally, there is a poker movie that is produced and has input from poker pros, but there have not been many poker pros that have made the opposite jump. 

A recent report from 2019 found that over 100 million people play poker around the world, with 30 million of those being in the United States. Poker has fewer barriers to entry and is played across varying degrees of competitive levels. There are vastly fewer people trying to break into the entertainment industry, but that does not mean it is any easier. Thankfully, poker has proven to be a great networking tool for poker players. 

Leveraging Poker and Social Media for Hollywood

Daniel Cates, also known as his handle Jungleman12, is making the jump to Hollywood with his eyes set on producing initially and potentially more creative roles later. The good news for poker fans is that Cates is not leaving poker. With over $16 million in career winnings, it seems unlikely that Cates would walk away from the profession that has brought him so much success. Rather, he is leveraging the connections (and likely money) to get a head start in the industry, which is notoriously difficult to break into. 

For Cates, this new challenge comes at a time when the world is going through vast changes and many people are starting to question what they really want to do. Cates, who has been blogging most of the year, has been documenting his journey of self-realization and also expressed his intention on becoming more active in charitable initiatives around the world

Cates explains, “I am excited to embark on a new creative journey that I am passionate about. This diversification of interests includes pursuing various projects in Hollywood. My main initial interest is to dive deep into producing and learn as much as I can.”

If anyone could take on a challenge of this size, it is Cates. Back in his early poker years, Cates could not catch a break in poker. His consistent losses made him realize he needed to get better. His strategy was simple: find the best players (regulars) and most competitive games and play there. Go straight to the top and learn from the best.

This method was described as “reverse game selection”. Typically, poker players try to find tables that have an edge. This edge could be due to many amateurs or recreational players playing or something more subtle like avoiding certain professional players. This willingness to take on challenges directly is something that has served Cates well in his professional life. 

It will be interesting to see if he attacks Hollywood in the same capacity. One quick look at Cates’s Instagram shows a long list of celebrity friendships including Steve Aoki, Kevin Hart, and others. It seems as if Cates is already naturally putting himself in the best position to succeed by associating himself with top Hollywood talent. 

Whatever the outcome, it will be exciting to follow Jungleman12 on his new journey and see if other professional poker players attempt the same leap. 

The post Daniel Cates On The Intersection of Poker, Hollywood, and Social Media appeared first on Social Media Explorer.

Be everywhere

The first step is to establish a presence far and wide. Not all platforms are created equal and some may be more relevant to your product or service and your demographic than others. That does not mean they are entirely useless.

There is not one social media site of any significance that requires you to pay a fee simply for being on it. Elevate your online presence without spending a single dollar – there is literally nothing to lose.

Cross-promote across channels

Some social media platforms are more conducive to particular types of posts than others. That does not mean you choose one over the other – maintain consistency between posts and add a little signboard to encourage your fans on one social media app to visit your other feeds.

The perfect example is the ‘post your photo with our product’ type of promotion. Instagram gets the most engagement and shares of this type of content. Facebook does not but posting on your Fb page about the Instagram competition encourages fans to visit and interact with multiple channels. Again, it costs nothing but improves your social media strength.

Ratings matter

Consumers value each other’s opinions more than they do flashy websites and professional sales talk. Think back to the last time you bought something online – most of us look at the description and pictures before going straight to the reviews.

That is true for everything from a multivendor marketplace to a car to shoes and even schools. When a product or service gets consistently positive reviews, it is a sign that people just like you used it and were happy to have laid down the money to do so.

What else matters

Establishing a presence across a whole swathe of social media channels is a good beginning but you quickly have to start making them work for you. The metrics that matter to a business vary by the product or service and by your goals.

Monitor your analytics to uncover which channel is most effective at driving the sales funnel. If you are getting a thousand Likes on your product image on Facebook but no one is subsequently buying the product, you will have to shift your focus to a platform with better ROI.

Target specific demographics

It may be harmless to cast your net wide to ensnare every possible customer but a targeted approach is better as you learn more about your audience.

Most businesses that deal in a specific genre or style of product or service find that the bulk of their revenue comes from clients who belong to a specific and easily identifiable group. This group may be unique for its age, locality, income, lifestyle or gender. Armed with this knowledge, you can craft a social media policy that appeals to them specifically.

Learn from the competition

Most businesses will find there is already a competitor doing well in the product or service niche with the desired target audience. Instead of reinventing the wheel, learn from their successes and failures. Whether it be using a virtual address business or taking photos with a specific filter.

Compare what you are doing to their model. If a rival is being complacent, for example, in neglecting their Instagram users, jump into the fray with the hashtags and posts that will entice those individuals to you. Look for weaknesses not only in stronger competitors but weaker ones, too.

The post Building an Online Following appeared first on Social Media Explorer.

Advertisements come in all flavors, print, and digital, and over the past few decades, visual advertising has become increasingly crucial for brand survival. Video advertisements are everywhere, from TV to online streaming platforms and even before and after films. Advertisements also rule the social media, popping up now and then between you casually scrolling your Facebook and Instagram feeds. 

What Makes a Good Advertisement? 

While a good production certainly goes a long way, music is equally important when it comes to the audience perceiving your advertisements. A good advertising campaign needs a captivating, high-quality score that can entice the audience and encourage them to try your product. 

Aside from a successful media campaign, a memorable music track ensures that the product stays in the mind of the audience long after seeing the advertisement. It is only possible if the tone of the music matches or enhances the visuals featured in the video. 

The advertising industry has long relied on jingles and personalized songs that prove to be a hassle for content producers and editors alike. Luckily, recent years have seen the option of stock or production music becoming popular. Some services specialize in the provision of large libraries of music that you can choose from, music that is made especially for use in video content, like advertisements. 

Finding Good Music for Your Advertising Campaign

You can find great music for ads and commercials on stock music websites such as FirstCom Music. Music cataloged at these sites is produced specifically for use in media projects like film, TV, advertisements, etc. You can either purchase individual tracks or license tracks for use in one or more advertisements for a fixed fee. 

At these websites, you can acquire music that suits the tone and message of your advertisement perfectly, multiplying the audience impact manifold. You can search for a music genre, album, artist or mood, etc. Most of the services offer an in-depth analysis of the tunes so you can judge whether or not it goes well with the content of your video. 

Commercial Music Services

The services that provide music for use in media are often classified as free and paid services. Depending on your project requirements and allotted budget, you can choose a one-time commercial license or a recurring licensing fee to accommodate multiple projects. Commercial music services cater to the needs of branding companies, large and small, and may offer packages that include royalties. It is also possible to get royalty-free music and free-to-use music for your advertising needs. 

Some of the commercial music services include:

• Firstcom: Firstcom offers a wide range of music fit for commercial use. The music library contains music from a wide range of genres, and it is easy to find the track of your choice with the enhanced keyword search. 
• Artlist: This service caters to the needs of advertisers by providing thousands of tracks and sound effects that can be used commercially. Unlimited use and unlimited downloads are some of the highlighted features. 
• FreeAdMusic: FreeAdMusic offers music tailor-made for advertising campaigns. 
• Epidemic Sound: Aside from non-commercial music, Epidemic Sound also offers music for advertisements and other commercial uses.
• Dig CC Mixter: If you are looking for a collection of music free for commercial use, Dig CC Mixter is a good option. 

The post The Best Music for Advertising Videos appeared first on Social Media Explorer.

1. Digital popularity and links

Google uses brand authenticity as a ranking factor. If you are a powerful brand, you can expect to easily land a position on the fast page of search engine results. But what does powerful mean here? You must have been in the industry for a while. You must be a thought leader with powerful and useful information that has many people linking to.

The quantity and quality of your inbound links are a prime factor that Google uses when weighing brand authenticity. Blogger outreach earns you these links from influencers, from their social media pages and websites. Links denote power and influence. It eventually leads to improved ranking in search engine results pages (SERPS).

2. Brand endorsement 

The main objective of SEO is to accelerate traffic and conversion with minimal spending. If you engaged in pay per click advertising for these two goals, you would come face to face with the challenges of budgeting, targeting, and continuous campaign oversight.

Blogger outreach makes things easier. Guest bloggers and influencers promote your brand to their audiences. You get to build trust faster than it would take with paid advertising, considering that 96% of people don’t even trust ads. 

3. Digital PR 

Blogger outreach is digital public relations. It makes a brand come across as personable as opposed to being too salesy. It is a type of marketing that leads to long-lasting and impactful results in brand awareness, brand love, and brand loyalty.

Blogger outreach simplifies messaging. It’s an opportunity to ride on the influencer’s digital communication proficiency to reach their audiences. You can place a link in their existing content or have them review and link to your offerings. It enriches the content strategy. 

Repair or build a positive image

Besides building brand awareness and improving sales, blogger outreach can help develop a positive image for your brand. You will come across as a thought leader and a trustworthy brand that provides useful information to customers and industry stakeholders. 

You can use blogger outreach as a chance to repair your brand reputation. Outreach service by Magfellow is an example of how this works. Content creators help to control the narrative around your brand through links and blogs. Guest blogging shores up your authority and credibility, making your business resilient against digital slander and defamation.

It amplifies reach 

There is no guesswork involved. Blogger outreach helps to position your content in front of the right receptive audiences. It beats the efficiency of Google and Facebook audience insights when it comes to targeting. 

Blogger outreach doesn’t need you to pore over demographic data or A/B test every little thing you do. It cuts through the technical complexities in internet marketing and saves time. By helping you reach the right people, blogger partnerships can improve your traffic volume and quality. That’s good for both ranking and conversion.

It helps in lead nurturing. 

The end goal for any marketing endeavor is conversion and sales. For SEO to be truly beneficial to your business or non-profit, it should lead the target audience to buy or contribute to your cause. Blogger outreach helps with that.

Sustained blogger outreach will get you the leads and help your nurture them hands-free, with the help of trustworthy brand ambassadors that are already loved by their audiences.

It helps with findability.

It is worthwhile to have your brand or offering championed by someone who has a positive reputation online. It works wonders in findability –it increases the number of places where people and search engine bots can connect with you. 

Gentle reader, blogger outreach is highly beneficial and crucial for your SEO. It is hard to attain and sustain top ranking without it.

The post How Effective IS Blogger Outreach in SEO? appeared first on Social Media Explorer.

Enter sentiment analysis.

Sentiment analysis, also known as opinion mining, is the process of defining and categorizing opinions in a given piece of text as positive, negative, or neutral. Whereas, when you do sentiment analysis in social media, that tells you how people feel about your brand online. Rather than simply counting in mentions or comments, sentiment analysis factors in emotions and opinions as well. It majorly involves collecting and analyzing information in the posts shared by people about your brand on social media platforms. 

The most attractive factor about using social media for sentiment analysis is that there’s a vast pool of data to gather. With the increasing number of consumers tagging and talking about brands on various platforms, gauging popular public opinion is no longer a task. Additionally, doing the analysis encourages businesses to take a more proactive approach to social media and directly engage with their customers. They can translate those feelings into actionable business data and prevent customers’ emotions from falling by the wayside.

Now, how do we perform social sentiment analysis?

The ideal way to conduct a social media sentiment analysis is to collect all the data you can. Although sentiment analysis can result in relevant insights to brands, it has its own set of challenges.

Step 1: Find out where is the consumer talking

Consumers everywhere are not shying away from sounding off on brands – both on and off social media. Businesses need to pay undivided attention to all the social mentions wherever their customers are directly addressing them. In doing so, a brand manages to capitalize on the good and address the bad in time. Platforms like Facebook, Instagram, Youtube, and LinkedIn are the best places to start analyzing the mentions as consumers directly talk to the brands there. It is also important to monitor review forums on third-party sites like Google Reviews, Reddit, etc. In case you are in the e-commerce world, then the on-site reviews are particularly valuable. However, monitoring all these platforms manually can certainly be time-consuming. That’s why a social listening tool is highly recommended for the sake of saving time.

Step 2: Choose your terms for the analysis

Sentiment analysis works only when one can separate the positive mentions from the negative ones. For example, best, high-five, love, amazing, perfect, etc. are positive terms, whereas worst, hate, disappointed, bad, avoid, etc., are negative ones. Hence, searching for specific terms that highlight customer sentiment is of high importance. Some terms are relatively straightforward, whereas others might be industry-specific. Either way, the sentiment terms need to be clearly divided into positive and negative terms. 

Step 3: Put context to your mentions

This is where it all gets a little tricky. The amount of sentiment-related terms in your searches won’t always tell the full story of how the customers feel. It’s important to double-check your mentions and put context to it while you leave some room for analytical error caused due to sarcasm. When somebody tweets, “I love it when I lose my luggage after a nine-hour flight,” they aren’t thrilled about their experience. So it is crucial to check the context of the mention before counting it in.

Step 4: Let an analysis tool do the legwork for you

The sheer amount of conversations happening at the moment is enough to motivate you to invest in a third-party listening tool. These tools help monitor and organize your social mentions in real-time and help you pick and choose terms related to sentiment analysis that you want to track and produce a sentiment analysis report. This report monitors all the positive, negative, and neutral mentions over time, which helps determine if the brand perception is improving or not on a monthly basis.

Bottom Line

Social media is probably the biggest pool from where one can mine for public opinion and start the process of gathering informative data on the success or failure of a particular brand, products, or marketing campaigns in the eyes of the public. Sentiment analysis isn’t a perfect way to analyze what works and what doesn’t for a brand. But it definitely is a starting point to understand the overall general public sentiment, which can be used to initiate campaigns based on their feedback.

The post The Story Of Sentiment Analysis And Social Media appeared first on Social Media Explorer.

Some companies barely have to advertise, but even that may be considered an advertisement of some sort. It’s quite hard to wrap your head around how much has come from technology, but there are plenty of ways that it’s transforming business. Whether you’re interested in becoming a business owner one day and having your own company to advertise, or if you just like to study business, there’s plenty to understand from contemporary marketing. Here are some eye-popping and innovative ways that companies are getting their names and products out there.

Search Engine Optimization

SEO, or search engine optimization, is a cool way that the Internet has allowed huge companies and small business to maximize their marketing efforts. By implementing important keywords, phrases, and backlinks, a website can help drive up traffic. Search engines are like the glossary of the entire Internet, which is composed of billions and billions of unique pages. It can be hard to entice people to visit your site or buy your products, but peppering blogs and websites with this content is important for finding the traffic they need to advertise. It’s an organic way to help get people to see your content. It can be from guest posts, backlinking from reputable sites, and writing good old-fashioned content on business pages for products and informational articles, but it remains an innovative and effective way for people to learn more about a business. 

Wrapping Graphics

This one isn’t so much new as it’s striking, which makes it all the more worthwhile to be mentioned here. Wrapping or wraps is the process of creating graphics that stick to objects, and it’s usually on vehicles like big transport trucks, trailers, and commercial vans. These graphics are everywhere, and their use at https://www.craftsmenind.com/fleet-graphics shows how versatile they can be. From transports to even oil tanks, the graphics of these wraps are high-quality and catch the eye immediately. A billboard allows for a huge advertisement, but the problem is that it’s stationary. Companies want to move the visibility of their ad where there’s a higher probability of it being seen or interacted with, which is why putting it on vehicles is so important. The versatility shows how traditional advertisements have come a long way from the days of bench ads. 

Guerilla Marketing 

Just like the idea of guerilla warfare, companies need an unorthodox approach to attract customers. People get tired of the same old ad strategies and get content fatigue seeing so much stuff that’s blatantly trying to get them to buy stuff. Guerilla marketing is the act of finding unconventional ways to introduce a new product, generate buzz for an event, or get a company’s name out there. Things like flash mobs were a popular tactic. Pop-up stores, graffiti, mysterious reveals, viral marketing sites with hidden clues, etc. offer some interesting marketing potential that makes it fresher than hearing a radio ad or seeing a commercial on TV. Guerilla marketing became much more popular because companies were noticing younger, millennial consumers were less inclined to buy things based on ads, and they were exposed to less general marketing because they don’t watch TV and receive targeted ads based on web searches.  

Sponsored Influencers

The idea of the influencer is a novel idea that no one would have suspected when social media was just becoming a thing in the mid-2000s. Having attractive quasi-celebrities do the promotion for a product or service, instead of using typical advertising, has been a good way to tap into the psyche of the mind of social media users. When you see someone who lives a cool lifestyle, or is attractive, or seems to have everything going on for them, people want to be like them. Then, when you add a photo or video of them enjoying a product or using a service, you want to copy them. This was a tactic that used movie stars and athletes, but the younger generations are more connected to social media, making more sense to use users that are more relevant to their interests. Sponsored posts with influencers are still going strong, and many of these people make a living through income solely from their sponsored posts.

Interactive Advertisements

People love to play. Adults, children, teenagers – we all enjoy some fun, and it gets our minds off of things, but what about using that joy of messing around with an ad? Interactive advertisements that use technology to allow people to be a part of the marketing adds a new dimension that goes beyond selling a product. QR codes are a small example of interactive advertisements, but it makes people feel like they are part of it rather than being passive consumers of information. Similarly, augmented reality is changing how people perceive advertisements and create new possibilities that companies can take advantage of. Giving people a choice to see what an advertisement is all about by having fun or engaging with it is another example of how innovation and technology change how companies think about marketing.

Marketing is one of the most integral parts of a business plan, and companies know that they need to do more now than they ever had to before to improve their advertising game. People are becoming much more tech-savvy and attention-driven, so finding innovative ways to excite people and get them interested in products and services is a must. These innovative advertising techniques show how attitudes change around marketing goals and how they still have room to grow.

The post Here Are Innovative Ways That Companies Advertise Themselves appeared first on Social Media Explorer.

KFC Wedding Proposal Results in a Dream Wedding

Hector Mkansi proposed to Nonhlanhla Soldaat while they were eating a meal at KFC. The proposal led to a dream wedding and Hector picked the location as it is her favorite place to enjoy a meal. A bystander caught the proposal on video and KFC South Africa tasked their followers to find the happy couple. 

The video gained popularity which resulted in KFC paying for the wedding planner. Other companies like Audi offered to cover transportation and airlines even offered free flights. The couple had their honeymoon paid for by various companies, celebrities, and online personalities. 

Ocean Spray Enthusiast Receives a Reward

Nathan Apodaca’s truck broke down on his way to work. He decided to skateboard with Ocean Spray cranberry juice, his drink of choice. He videoed his journey to work while drinking his juice and listening to “Dreams” by Fleetwood Mac. He posted the video on TikTok after initially not intending to share it which resulted in over 40 million views.

Ocean Spray decided to deliver a truck of Nathan’s drink of choice and he was able to keep the truck too! Ocean Spray shared this on Instagram and a number of celebs recreated the video across the world. Nathan then had to find one of the best car insurance companies so he could actually drive the truck lol.

Burger King Baby Finds Mom

In 1986, a baby was found in a Burger King bathroom in Allentown, Pennsylvania. Nearly 3 decades later, the baby had grown up and had a child of her own. Katheryn Deprill wanted to find her mom and posted a picture of herself on Facebook pleading for help.

The picture gained traction and was shared thousands of times. Her biological mom reached out and the two met. Her mother explained she couldn’t provide for a child at this time. Katheryn and her mother are planning to continue a relationship and her mother plans to be involved in her granddaughter’s lives. 

Special Birthday for Charlie 

The COVID-19 pandemic led to six-year-old girl Charlie Manning’s birthday being canceled. The Kamloops, Canada native was upset she could spend the day with family from the US. Charlie’s auto took to Facebook asking people to share to make her birthday one to remember. Charlie received 173 cards and 15 packages which made the day quite special.

Students Catch a Big Break

Jashika Khan and Mohammad Azajuddin from Kolkata, India were videoed flipping on the way to school in the morning. The video would eventually go viral in 2019. The video made it on to TikTok, Facebook, and Twitter as the teacher of the students posted it. 

Nadia Comaneci who is considered one of the best gymnasts of all time retweeted the post. This all resulted in free gymnastics training for the children and meals paid for with the Sports Authority of India footing the bill. 

We Rate Dogs Twitter Account Helps Dogs in Need 

Matt Nelson created the We Rate Dogs Twitter account that eventually when viral but this was not his intention. He posts pictures of dogs with ratings and has over 8 million followers. Matt used this followed to start GoFundMe pages for dogs in need of medical care. A 12-year-old golden retriever needed a wheelchair and Matt’s followers delivered over $700 in a matter of hours. 

Woman Uses Social Media to Help Save Injured Hawk

Madeleine Weatherhead saw a hawk that seemed to be dazed on her walk to work in NYC. She called the Animal Care Center without an answer. She took a picture of the bird and took to Twitter for assistance. After the post, Special Operations Offices showed up to catch the red-tailed hawk which was taken to an animal sanctuary to make a full recovery. 

Seeing-Eye Dog Gets a Second Chance 

Cecil Williams lost consciousness only to fall onto subway tracks in New York in 2013. His seeing-eye dog Orlando sprung into action by jumping down and licking his owner awake. Cecil and Orlando got to the middle of the tracks as the train passed over them. Cecil stated he couldn’t keep his dog as Orlando was too old and insurance only pays for working service dogs. 

Law student Grant Kirsh saw the story and started an Indiegogo campaign. Money was donated at massive rates with over $103,000 for Cecil.

Using Social Media for Good

The world is full of great stories and people in need. Use social media to help people going forward as it is one of the most powerful platforms in the world today.

The post 8 Social Media Stories That Will Bring a Smile to Your Face appeared first on Social Media Explorer.

What can’t you do as a CBD brand in the United States? These are just a few of your challenges:

• You can’t market your brand on most mainstream ad networks like Google AdWords.
• You can’t market your brand by promoting content on social networks like Facebook.
• You can’t sell your products on Amazon.
• You can’t sell your products on eBay.
• You can’t use PayPal as a payment processor.

So, what can you do to market a CBD brand? For most companies in the CBD industry, marketing essentially comes down to SEO and doing everything possible to maximize organic search rankings. This article, though, will focus on another marketing channel that could prove just as valuable: social media. Here’s how to use social media for promoting your CBD brand.

Prioritize Product Quality First and Social Media Marketing Second

The most important thing to know about marketing a CBD brand on social media is that no amount of promotional wizardry can replace product quality and transparency. It’s well known that many CBD products have been tested and were found to contain significantly less CBD than advertised and, in some cases, no CBD at all. Product quality is a major issue in the CBD industry, and that’s why brands like Crescent Canna have gone through the expense of sending their products out for third-party testing and have published the lab reports online. 

If your products have any quality issues, people will quickly find out – and no amount of spending will allow you to spin your way out of that. These days, consumers know that they need to research CBD brands carefully before buying. Make sure that you have your bases covered before you begin worrying about your marketing strategy.

Don’t Spend a Fortune on Influencer Marketing

When companies in any industry start to think about social media marketing, influencer marketing on Instagram is one of the first things that come to mind. You should think twice, though, before you budget a large amount of money for influencer marketing or make it the core of your CBD social media strategy. Research has shown that engagement with influencers’ content on social media is dropping and is likely to continue doing so – and the more followers an influencer has, the less likely people are to engage with that person’s content. 

Consumers are increasingly growing wise to the complete inauthenticity of the average Instagram influencer. More than ever, people understand that influencers aren’t just regular people who happen to post great social media content; they’re entrepreneurs who want to earn money from paid endorsements and will happily promote just about anyone willing to pay their fees. 

Don’t spend money on an endorsement from a social media personality unless you’re absolutely certain that the influencer in question is a good fit for your brand and that people will engage with the content.

Tailor the Message to the Platform

The worst thing that you can do when marketing a CBD brand – or any brand – on social media is to simply cross-post your blog content on every social media platform. If you’re not tailoring the message to the platform and the audience, it’s going to be ignored. If you don’t have the time to manage your company’s presence on multiple social networks simultaneously – and you can’t afford to pay someone to do that job – then you’re probably best off establishing the strongest presence possible on just one platform.

Remember that people expect to see different types of content on the different social networks. People on Twitter expect short-form content that they can digest quickly and share with their friends. People on Instagram expect to see engaging original photography. People on Facebook often look for interesting content that they can discuss with like-minded individuals. Remember that the message should always fit the platform.

Optimize Your Content for Searching

People find content on social media in different ways. What you’re hoping for is that your pages will gain followers who will then see your content organically in their feeds. In the best case, your followers will amplify your content by sharing it with family and friends. The reality, however, is that branded social media content rarely performs that well. On Facebook, for example, you can expect around one out of every 20 followers to see the content that you post.  

The social networks are so full of commercial content that they want companies to pay if they’re really serious about maximizing their reach. As a CBD brand, though, you can’t pay to promote your content on social media. The only thing that you can do is make your content so engaging that people can’t help but share it with others.

There is another way, however, for people to find social media content – they can find it by searching for it. In that sense, Facebook, Twitter and Instagram are basically their own search engines, and you can maximize the reach of your content by optimizing it for searching. If you have a take on a topic that’s trending within the CBD world, post it to capitalize on searches for that topic. Use hashtags to make your content easier to find – but limit them to a maximum of a few per post.

Don’t Make Medical Claims About CBD on Social Media

When you write social media content about your CBD brand, you need to be extremely careful about what you say and always strive to avoid saying anything that could be construed as a medical claim. Social media might be an informal platform compared to your own website, but authorities like the FDA will treat your messages as official regardless of where they appear. It isn’t a bad idea to have a compliance officer in your company and run your social media content through that person before it gets approved for publication.

The post How to Promote a CBD Brand on Social Media appeared first on Social Media Explorer.