1. Keep a Consistent Post Schedule 

Viewers like to hang around a certain platform at a certain time. Ideally it would be great to post the exact moment your audience in on the Instagram app. Research the most likely times your target audience is on the platform. These are more likely to be ranges, rather than exact times. Publish posts 2-3 times daily based on those time ranges. For example, you are a selling backpack for students at the age of 10-12. You target audience is their parent. Good times to post would be 10 am – 12 pm for stay-at-home parents and 5 pm – 7 pm for parents off work. Post somewhere during these two post ranges to capture the attention of these potential customers. You can either use automatic posting software or you can hire a digital marketing agency to help keep up with schedules if you are struggling to post consistently. 

2. Create a Variety of Graphicly Appealing Posts 

Images, carousals, and short-form videos are all different types of post you can create for Instagram to keep your feed interesting. Create posts that entertain, educate, motivates, and sells your product or service. Make sure the design of your post follows these design principles:

• Contrast 
• Balance 
• Emphasis 
• Proportion 
• Hierarchy 
• Repetition 
• Rhythm 
• Pattern 
• Space 
• Movement 
• Variety & Unity 

Canva is a great resource for templated designs but beware by using templates you risk not standing out from competitors. You may need professional designers from a digital marketing agency or a social media marketing agency to help create uniquely branded content. 

3. Foster a Community-Based Relationship

To build a community around your business you need to be tagging influencers or complementary business, commenting on other Instagram accounts, replying to your followers, keeping track of your analytics, and incorporating the correct hashtags in your posts. This means setting aside time for research on various Instagram feeds for what are the most popular hashtags, post types with the most engagement, and more. If you are an entrepreneur or a small business, you may be able to set a side 1 full day dedicated to this. However, if you are a growing company or a large enterprise you need a full team managing your social media accounts. You can either build an internal team or look for a digital marketing agency that offers social media management services. 

Need help managing you Instagram account? Call 248.528.3600

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1. Your Profile is Private and Not a Business Account

The default Instagram account is a personal account, but with a personal account there is far less people able to see your products and services. If your account is private no one other than people who follow you are seeing your posts. Most people think there is nothing to see, or it is a spam account when a business account is private. Avoid creating distrust by going into your privacy settings and turning off “private account”. Then go to the account settings and the option to switch to business account should appear. Select a category that best describes your business then fill out your business info. Now you have tools and insights that help you analyze your posts, IGTV, Instagram Stories, Reels, Videos, and Carousals.  

2. Monotonous and Repetitive Content 

Only posting the same type of content is boring. It also causes you to lose user retention and loose client interest in your brand. You want a healthy mix of photos, videos, stories, and carousals on a variety of topics related to your industry. Here are a few types of posts you can fill your account with to keep it looking interesting:

• How-to-use video
• Client testimonial
• Event post
• Benefit of your product/service post
• New product/service post
• Industry tips carousal 

3. Lack of Post Regularity  

Ideally it would be great to post daily, but this can lead to burnout. Not posting consistently leads to decrease visibility and a decrease in lead generation. Have a post schedule. You want to post on days and times your audience is most active. For example, you are selling backpacks to teens. The estimated best time to post would be between 11am-1pm and 3pm -4pm when they are lunch and after school are when they are most likely to have their full attention on the platform. If you are struggling to create post designs and post it on pre-scheduled time, you may consider hiring a digital marketing firm that provides social media marketing services, even if it is just 1 post a month to lighten the load. 

4. You Avoid Collaboration      

Some businesses avoid collaboration because they think it takes away attention from people solely focusing on them, but they are wrong. Instagram influencer marketing leads to expanding your audience and lead generation, thus increasing your sales. Businesses also make the mistake that influencers are just high-end celebrities. Small town Instagram influencers are just as affective, if not more due to their ability to keep a close relationship with their audience. Some examples on type of small-town influencers are:

• A local teacher
• Small mom-and-pop shops
• Food trucks 
• A local state official 
• A travel blogger
• Hair/Makeup artist 
• Entrepreneurs 
• Podcasters 

5. Skipping Calls-to-Action and Using the Wrong Hashtags 

If you want users to buy now, then include “buy now” in the graphic or text. If you want them to call include your phone #. It is not enough to have pretty images. You must tell your audience on how to reach your business. Most Instagram users are scanning images, so you want to make your call-to-action stands out, especially if other companies are selling something similar. Also include the correct hashtags. Do keyword research and think about what your audience would search for to find a product or service like yours.  

We can help improve your business’s Instagram account. Call 248.528.3600.

The post 5 Common Instagram Marketing Mistakes to Avoid appeared first on Miller Media, Digital Marketing Agency, PPC, Industrial Web Design, WordPress.

Post and Advertise on Social Media 

Create a feed that is festive and fun. If you sell products supply gift guides. If you are a service-based company create a joyous atmosphere around your services. Contests and give aways are popular during the season because people are hoping to get a least one free gift for someone this year. Make sure the contest or give away is fun and rememberable that way the client will be encouraged to purchase something from your brand in the future. Take group photos of your company being charitable and giving back to your local community. 

Organize or Attend a Value-Added Sales Event 

Invite groups of people to your store for an exclusive sales event or attend a festival where there is a high influx of people holiday shopping. Both ways let you meet new customers and local business owners you may partner up with in the future. These person-to-person meetings allow you to create a positive experience for customers that they will remember off the holiday season, thus building brand loyalty and trust. 

Decorate Your Website 

Whether you are strictly a small online shop or a small local brick-and-mortar shop, it is fun to decorate your website. Having a holiday vide will get people in the mood and brighten their day. Add a Santa hat to your logo or any other item associated with holidays celebrated at this time. Add falling snow to your website or create a fun cursor to grab visitors’ attention. These will increase retention rates and increasing the likelihood of visitor purchasing an item. 

 Celebrate Small Business Saturday

Across your social media use #smallbusinesssaturday to promote your business. Many towns have various promotions such as special events, advertising gimmicks, and public relations initiatives to take advantage of. While this year it was on November 26^th, some locations celebrate this year-round. Use Saturday during holidays to promote your most popular sales item and be on the lookout for holiday specials you can offer based on your local Saturday activities. Don’t forget to update your Google Business profile with holiday hours and events. 

It is not too late to start holiday marketing. Call 248.528.3600.

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1. Post a customer review

2. Live Q &A with prepared questions

3. Live event or party your business hosts or is attending 

4. Share good news from different local businesses 

5. Share a post from a local charity or non-profit looking for help

6. Answer questions or comments from potential or existing customers

7. Host a customer meet-and-greet and post highlights

8. Post “Did you Know?” or a historical anniversary relevant to your market or community

9. Post seasonal picture of your business 

10. Post customer stories (with consent)

11. Post about a business challenge you overcame 

12. When a local school team or organization is having success, post about their success

13. Turn FAQ into an advice post

14.  Post good news for the business or industry 

15. Celebrate a new hire

Need more help with social media marketing? Call 248.528.3600.

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Brand Awareness Objectives

Facebook will show your ad to the largest possible number of users who are most likely to be interested in the ad content. You will want to keep on the post impression data. Facebook’s Ads Manager will display “estimated ad recall lift” data. This is an estimated figure of the number of users who would most probably recall your ad 2 days after seeing it. This ad campaign objective category is primarily used by larger brands who invest in social media with bigger budgets and who also can measure these results with a brand-lift study. 

Conversion Objectives 

Catalog Sales, Conversions, and Store Traffic full under conversion objectives. They have the goal of encouraging users who are interested in your brand to buy your products or use your services. These objectives are optimized for high-intent actions, like purchase. Conversion objectives tend to be a bit more costly regarding impressions and link clicks than other ad types. However, in some cases, the cost per conversion may end up being lower in the long haul when you use these objective types strategically. Your ads will be shown to potential clients who are already primed to buy from you. This objective requires your business page to have the following: 

·       Facebook pixel

·       Conversions API

·       Domain verification

·       Events Manager event configuration

Catalog Sales Objectives

These types of objectives are used mostly by ecommerce businesses. The Catalog Sales objective enables you to create a catalog on Facebook and showcase the products to those most likely to buy your products. These ads are also called dynamic product ads. They show a variety of products to target audiences in the ads. They also retarget people with specific products based on their activity on your website. For example, when your client is looking at a pair of shoes on your website and even added it to your cart but forgot to check out. After that, they probably see the ad with that exact pair or shoes. The goal is to get them to return and ultimately complete the purchase. 

Store Traffic Objectives

If you are a brick-and-mortar store or own several and you are looking for ways to increase your foot or in-store traffic, using the Store Traffic objective can help you achieve your goals. You will need to add your store locations to the platform and their working hours. After that, Facebook ‘s algorithm will start showing ads to the closest location to your users based on a particular radius. You can set it up for your ad to do this automatically or manually. This is a great way to boost local SEO with search engines like Google. 

Traffic Objectives

If your primary objective is to drive more people to your website, then the Traffic campaign objective is the best. This type of ad optimizes for landing page views, and link clicks. Facebook shows your ads to users who are in the target audience you choose and are most likely interact with links. When your select the Landing Page Views option, the platform will show the ad to those who will click and wait for the website to load to view it (make sure your load speed is fast!). To set up the Traffic objective, select the destination URL at the ad level, and target your business’s website. Users will be able to become more familiar with your brand, blog, products, services, and more. This ad helps build brand loyalty as well, which is important for returning customers. 

Video Views Objectives

With video becoming increasingly popular, with this as Facebook will optimize ads to show videos to people who are most likely to watch them. Increasing video views is a great way to build awareness and trust with new audiences. Video campaigns are also great to establish retargeting audiences based on how long they were watching the videos. This will help take them closer to a sales conversion. Your video needs to be engaging. The goal is to capture the audience’s attention and deliver value within the first few seconds. Also, adding captions for the audience is better for accessibility which many platforms and search engine are making a priority. 

Messages Objectives

Start conversations with people via Instagram Direct or Messenger. As with other objectives already mentioned above, Facebook will prioritize those users who are most likely to interact with a given brand via messages. This can be a great way to boost overall engagement with a target audience. However, business owners will probably need a social media manager to monitor the pages’ inboxes and respond to the messages as soon as possible. Users want fast responses, and these criteria must be met if they are to continue spend their money with your business. This may mean you have to hire some internally or a digital marketing firm that offers social media marketing. Businesses should also give their potential customers a clear reason to make contact. Unfortunately, these ad types are associated with spam, so making sure that they know that after they click the ad, it will open either the Messenger app or Instagram Direct only, or your business’s website or app. 

Engagement Objectives

The goal is to boost engagement. This campaign will target those users who are most likely to engage with the ads, and there are a few engagement types to choose from before launching a campaign:

Page Likes: Will generate more likes on a Facebook page. Will be shown to those who are the most likely to click the “Like” button on a page.

Post Engagement: Includes commenting, sharing, reacting, and video views to clicks. Helps with building “social proof” on ads and posts and gives more credibility to a brand online. However, the ad needs to encourage engagement from users. There must be a reason to interact. The post must be engaging by default. If that’s not happening, chances are, people won’t really engage with it. Include a call-to-action embedded in the ad to drive interaction. 

Event Responses: Get more responses to events. The only problem is that this is a rather low-intent action, meaning that the 150 people who clicked “going,” won’t necessarily mean that they will show up at the event. When ticket sales are the main concern, it might be better to use the Conversions objective and drive traffic to the landing page where they can buy tickets. Use this more as a “would potential clients be interested in this type of event?” ad rather than a direct sales ad. 

App Installs Objectives

If your business has an app and you want people to download it, the App Installs campaign is the way to go. The ads will be shown to people with the likelihood of clicking on “download,” taking them directly to the designated app store to get it. You will need to register your app with the social platform beforehand and implement SDK, allowing them to track the app event data from the Ads Manager panel. To simplify the entire campaign process, the automated app ads feature can be used, and it will create an ad for you target audience to use for you. 

Lead Generation Objectives

This objective allows for the addition of different contact forms to an ad with customization of the questions if additional information is needed from prospects. When potential clients click on a lead generation ad, the user will be asked to provide information, like email address, name, etc. To make their lives easier, the users can simply add the necessary data from Facebook itself. When they submit the questionnaire, brands can collect the gathered data from the page or get it sent to the CRM automatically via different pieces of software, like Facebook partner integration. Make sure your questions are ethical and that you read up on privacy laws in you state or country. 

Create an effective Facebook ad with us. Call 248.528.3600

The post Choose the Best Facebook Ads to Accomplish Your Business Goals  appeared first on Miller Media, Digital Marketing Agency, PPC, Industrial Web Design, WordPress.

1. Do you stick to the recommended character limit when writing your ad copy? 

Character counts can be frustrating when you have a complex message to get across, but it is important that you stick to the limit. Narrow down what you want to say, so it reads clearly and precisely. If you are really struggling with narrowing down essential details, cut it off at an interesting point. Then add a call-to-action and link to your company’s blog or landing page. Sticking to the character limit makes it easier for the social platforms’ algorithm to recognize you and prioritize your business as a subject matter authority. 

2. Does this ad work for mobile users? 

Most social media users are on their phone when interacting with a platform. Make sure your ad is optimized for mobile. This means company logo, text, and images all must be recognizable at a small size. Different platforms have different sizes for video and picture layouts. You may want to have a few landscape and portrait versions of the ad so nothing important is cut off. 

3. Are the image and copy aligned with the goal of the ad?

Make sure your photos or illustrations match what your body copy is about. For example, if you are a dress boutique and your goal is to attract more people to your website. Have a photo of one of your dresses. Then add text. Your text might be something like this:

“This dress and other beautiful dresses like it are now available on our amazing online shop!”

Another example for a service-based company is say that you are a law firm, and your goal is to gain more bookings. You may use flat icon illustrations of the type industries that need your services. Then add text like this:

“We provide the best lawyers to help your business. Book now for your first free 30-minute consulting secession.”

4. Does your ad have a CTA wording on a button or link?

CTA stands for call to action. Social media platforms such Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn have built in call-to-action features that allow you to add to your post. You still need to design an ad that contains CTA for platforms that do not have built in features. Some basic CTA samples that you can as links or buttons are:

• Learn More
• Buy Now
• Purchase Here
• Book Now
• Order Online Today
• Sign Up Today
• Call Now
• Get Started 
• Contact Us
• Let’s Chat 

5. Is your ad directed towards the correct audience? 

Even if your imagery and body copy are well-designed and written, this means nothing if the correct audience doesn’t see it. Make sure SEO best practices are included. This means important keywords are included in your body copy and hashtags. Setting features on a lot of platforms have features such as alt tags, meta description, and location tags. Make sure that these are all tailored based on your target audience. You want to make sure your ad has maximum reach. 

Struggling creating an effective social ad? Let us do it for you. Call 248.528.3600.

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1. Product Purpose

What purpose does your product serve? Is it a luxury good or does it help solve a problem your target market has? Make a list of reasons why someone would purchase your item and how they would use it in their daily lives. This will help you or your marketing team create content around the reasons why a customer would purchase your product and how to use it. Marketing avenues that pair well with this discovery are:

• Company Blogs
• Video Ad Campaigns
• Influencer Marketing 
• Paid Advertising 
• Guest Articles/Reviews

2. Price

Keep an eye on the economic market. Research similar companies to see what they are charging. Create an in-depth customer profile how much they make and are willing to spend on similar items. Calculate how much profit you must make before discounting your products. A popular technique a lot of ecommerce businesses use is to reward first time buyers with discount codes for their website through email marketing. 

3. Placement 

In what areas of the internet do you plan for your product to be seen? The destination should be your website that acts as a digital storefront, but where are other places your customers socialize on? Utilize Google Ads for SEO and social media marketing to maintain communication between new and returning customers. Now, social media can get chaotic and may require a digital agency to help you control comments, post creation, and profile updates. If you’re a small business, stick to one platform to start out with. Make sure it is the platform your target spends the most time on. 

4. Promotion

Brag about all the great qualities of your product. Highlight any unique features. Also compare how a customer would prefer your brand’s product over a competitor. If an existing customer leaves a glowing review spotlight it on your company’s website, social media, and paid ads. A few underrated ways to promote your product are: 

• Online Events
• Social Media Group Pages
• Chat Groups 
• Livestreams
• Podcasts 

5. People

People trust people more than bots or faceless products. You don’t have to have a person on every piece of content but sprinkling in a person’s face will help put customers feel at ease. This can come in many forms:

• About The Founder Page on Your Company Website
• Meet Our Team Page on Your Company Website
• Photos of Clients Using the Product
• Stock Photos of Models with the Product 
• Company Photos at a Tradeshow or Event 
• Videos of an Expert or Influencer Promoting a Product

6. Process

How is your product made? Where do you get your materials? Many people love to see behind the scenes of how the product they are about to purchase is made. Have photos or videos taken of the manufacturing process. There is a rise in demand of items to be made ethically. This provides proof that your company is true to their word, especially if your company claims to be eco-friendly or ethically sourced. 

7. Physical Evidence of Improvement

It is impossible to create a product that is perfect. There will be clients that leave negative reviews. Resist the urge to delete or hide these reviews. Have a ticket system or a way to contact the company for further feedback and refunds. If it is a problem with the product itself, take a “before” photo along with the negative reviews. When you fix the problem, take an “after” photo and post them on your website and social media. This will make clients feel heard and valued. 

Create a dynamic digital marketing strategy for your Ecommerce business. Call 248.528.3600.

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1. Optimize Your Business Profile 

Your profile page should also act as a landing page. People and companies don’t usually except connection request without checking out your business profile to make sure you are legit. Make sure you have 60px X 60px logo file that is easily recognizable at a small size. Your cover image should be well designed and demonstrates your company’s brand. If you can fit services and contact info even better! The headline section should have your company name, industry, and a small summary of the services you provide. Your “About” section should demonstrate your expertise and include any accomplishments or awards you have. Remember to keep the summary brief and to the point. Here is checklist to help: 

 A brief overview of your business

 Awards and accomplishments

 Description of your business’s products and/or services

 Data and numbers to prove your expertise

 Use relevant keywords to improve search discoverability

 Add a call to action

2. Post Relevant Content

It is important to be active on the platform and post regularly. If you a limited-on time only post on certain days or hire a digital marketing firm that has social media management as one of their services. Content should be relevant to your target audience and useful to solve their problems or challenges. A quick content marketing research strategy: 

• Define your ideal reader/customer 
• Set your objectives based on their problems 
• Identify the important metrics to track success 
• Define your brand’s editorial layout 
• Create the type of content that appeals to your target users or solves a problem they have
• Measure results with social media analytics tools

3. Prioritize Articles 

Articles are very popular and favored on LinkedIn. Try to treat content like a mini blog. Some article tips to help you get started:

• Create a catchy headline and write in a clear, concise style
• Use images, infographics, and videos to break up your text and add visual interest
• Make sure your articles are well-researched and sources are easy to find 
• Use keyword-rich tags to help your articles get discovered
• Update content on a regular basis

4. Interact on the Platform to Boost Visibility

Treat LinkedIn as a networking event. Set aside at least 15 minutes to leave a comment or reaction to show support for the clients you’re aiming for. Try to avoid spamming them with a sales pitch. Remember you want to build a healthy relationship with the potential client or business you want to partner with. On your own page, you can host webinars, polls, events, and other interactive media that encourage others to leave a comment. 

5. Drive Users to Your Lead Material and Landing Pages

You can add links to your LinkedIn posts to promote your website, blog posts, webinars, and other lead materials. The platform does not a limit on how many people it can reach unlike other social media platforms. Add relevant hashtags and hashtags targeted at the audience you want to attract. Have a call-to-action and contact info include in graphic or post. Make sure your posts, updates, ads, and promotions are educational and provide some value to your readers. Most regular ads are ignored or missed. Videos are also gaining popularity so consider adding motion to graphic or converting a blog post into an informational video.

6. Participate in Groups

LinkedIn also allows professionals to join groups for conversations around specific topics. If you are on Facebook, it is like a Facebook groups. Look for groups within your niche or industry. You can trade knowledge and skills with each other. Make sure to review the rules and regulations before joining a group. Sensitive topics, like mental health, medical information, and political topics can get you kicked out fast. If you must talk about these topics because you are in field related to the topics, keep it practical and triple check your sources. Avoid aggressive self-promotion or sales pitches. Respect others and avoid de-humanizing languages (slurs & cussing). Appreciate notable contributions from other members in the group. Everyone is there to benefit from each other. 

7. Leverage Ads on LinkedIn

Paid ads can drive traffic to website and increase sales. Use this technique strategically, especially if you are a small business on a budget. LinkedIn has a variety of products that put your content in front of your target market. You can target users based on job title, industry, and company size. A native ad that appears in the LinkedIn feed. LinkedIn outreach messages that are delivered straight to the target users’ LinkedIn inboxes. Make sure you have specific content related to your product or services. Check spelling and grammar. Due to scams people are a little cautious when it comes to messages they don’t know. 

Need help coming up with a winning LinkedIn Strategy? Call 248.528.360

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1. Team Up with Another Brand

Your competition isn’t always your enemy. Sometimes they are the complementary brand or company you could partner up with. If you have a committed base of followers that regularly engage with your posts, a company may reach out to you to include one of their products or services post. The reverse is also true. If the company has an engaged audience reach out to them to see if they would be interested guest posting. Make sure the content benefits both parties. This can come in form of sharing industry news, swapping similar products, creating a fun game with each product or service, and more fun ideas. 

2. Instagram Live Badges

Audiences can use badges to show their support for creators during a live stream. Think of them like a tip jar for creators. Enable badges within your creator Instagram account, and the option will be presented to viewers within the comments section of a live stream. Remember to remind views occasionally to draw attention if they want to give their support. If they donate show videos of how their donation improved the product or service. This will make your audience feel like they are part of the creation process and indicate that your business listens, cares, and learns from their audience. 

3. Enable Subscriptions

While still in the trial phase, the ability for creators to allow subscribers access to unique content is available. Unlock a ‘subscribe’ button on your profile that lets you create custom, access-only content for Stories and Lives behind a paywall. This is a great way to engage more deeply with your audience. Content could be a sneak peak of a new product, a backstage look of what it takes to prepare for a product or service, or in-depth detail about your brands story that may interest your audience. 

4. Affiliate Marketing 

Instagram Affiliate brings a more direct recommendation service to Instagram. Are there any tools or services you want to recommend to your audience? Potential clients go to creators they admire for recommendations on products and brands to support. Once enabled, you can simply share a link to a product or service you want them to view. If your audience purchases something through the link, you gain a commission. Make sure whatever you recommend does not conflict with your product or service and does not conflict with why you audience follows you. For example, your business sells home-made soaps. A good affiliate product would be a soap dish by a different company. It is natural for someone shopping for soap to need something to place it in and would not be put off by that product being sold to them as well. Use Instagram Stories to showcase products and click through to other sites. 

5. Merchandising

If you are business that sells products you are already doing this, but if you sell services, it might interest you to sell products. If you have a group of committed followers with an authentic brand that they absolutely love, consider setting up your own shop. Branded merchandise like mugs, t-shirts, and books requires a bit of an initial investment, but the rewards can be significant. It can act as a bonus for your customer, and you may gain free marketing if they share it organically. Look at Starbucks for example. They sell coffee, but they also sell mugs and tumblers, and more. Make sure to choose what feels right for your brand and audience. If it feels like monetization for the sake of it, you may end up losing followers, so make sure it something they would enjoy having. 

Create an Instagram marketing plan today! Call 248.528.360

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