The Best Social Media Platforms For Business
Social marketing solutions took everyone by surprise when the internet started; no one imagined that it would be this big and relevant in the way we communicate and use the information around the world. Soon afterward, social media merged and became a pivotal moment in the way people made use of the internet. Social media for business is a thing no one imagined at the beginning of these social media platforms. At first, it was all about hooking up and meeting new people, but now it has become the hub of digital marketing.
Social media is a widely used platform on the internet and comes in many types that serve different purposes, making it very challenging for businesses to choose which social media to market their products. Social media can come as business networks, forums, photo sharing platforms, blogs, chat apps, social gaming, and social networks. Statistica said, "The influence of social media is ever growing; out of 4.021 billion internet users worldwide, 3.196 billion of them are active social media users, and this number grows by an average of 13% every year”.
The following is a list of social media websites that present-day businesses can utilize for their business and how relevant they are to different business concerns.
Facebook: This is the most popular social media on the internet, and according to Statistica, has more than 1.5 billion daily users and 2billion active accounts. Whether you want to create awareness for your brand, advertise your brand, generate website traffic or improve lead generation, Optic Marketing Group has professionals that can utilize the tools available on Facebook to give your business and jump start. We can help you target your audience by Age, Employment, Gender, Purchasing behaviors, and Users’ interests.
Twitter: This is the king of news, this social media defines the proverb that news spreads like wildfire, according to HootSuite, of all Twitter users, 74% follow small businesses to receive product updates. With this type of clue, it will be a significant error to overlook this social media when it comes to Social media marketing Solutions. Twitter is known for providing real-time updates, utilizing hashtags perfectly well, and using the retweet feature to spread news and updates.
Instagram: This can be called a department of Facebook because it is owned by Facebooks and takes care of 1 aspect of what Facebook does, Pictures, and video clips. People tend to remember what they see easier than what they've read. Optic Marketing Group can help you to organically grow your followers on Instagram to increase your client base, and the other sweet thing about Instagram is that you can link your products to your website.
Snapchat: This platform targets and hits Millennials, almost everybody on SnapChat is below 35yrs old making it an excellent place to reach teenagers, SnapChat makes use of typically short videos that are only visible for 24 hours, a lot of videos are viewed here, and it is a strong force to reckon with.
Let's Get Started
Here at Optic Marketing Group, we understand your social media needs, and we have mastered the tools used in these social media platforms to generate huge conversions for your business. Book an appointment with us and tell us about your business. We will help you set up a strong social media presence that will cater to your social media marketing solutions.
Top 10 Video Marketing Best Practices For Small Businesses
Video marketing is an effective way to promote a product or service, it is not something that needs to be done occasionally to raise brands, and instead, it should be something that is done regularly at every stage of your journey through making and retaining your customers and clients. According to HubSpot research, consumers prefer lower-quality realistic videos to quality video adverts that looks all made and deceptive. Consumers and potential clients prefer raw authenticity to over slick production quality. This means that you don't need to break the bank in order to start your video marketing.
Best Practices In Video Marketing
- Upload native videos
Videos that are uploaded directly from your smartphone to Facebook or Instagram gain 10 times more views than when you drop a YouTube link on your timeline. Generally, people prefer watching the video on Facebook instead of being redirected to YouTube and coming back again to Facebook after seeing the video.
- Focus on Branding
The good thing about social media video marketing is that they don't force viewers to see the video, unlike TV commercials, do, social media videos are viewed at "Me" times when the attention of the viewer can be caught. Facebook and YouTube videos are ideal for connecting and building brand awareness first before generating direct response.
- Make sure the information is communicated even without sound.
Most times, users on social media scroll through their timelines while their device sound is mute, so it is important to make sure that your video fully sends the information without sound, including text in the video can also help communicate the message in the absence of sound so that people can be engaged while viewing the video.
- Grab attention in 3 seconds
You know your target audience, it is ideal that you use graphics that will captivate their interest in less than 4 seconds, use stunning imagery and footage to hold them down, avoid starting your video with a composition of words that needs to be read for 5 seconds before the video starts. That can come at the end of the video.
- Keep it Square
Recently, 1:1 video started to be more relevant than videos in the landscape in terms of average engagement, views, and reach, especially on mobile. These days screen orientation has an impact on viewers, square videos have a way of making viewers think it is going to be short and detailed so they are likely to watch to the end.
- Emotional. Informative.
Ensure that your video is entertaining and informative such that viewers will instantly hit the share button if any exists. Find ways to relate your videos to trending topics. The most captivating are entertainment and heartwarming stories.
- Include a CTA (Call-To-Action)
Including a call-to-action button will ensure that you convert viewers to buyers instantly. There is a need for you to include a strong and compelling call to action button as a still image in the background or as a pop up to tell the people what you expect them to do.
- 30 – 60 seconds
The norm these days are videos having a maximum of 1-minute playtime, this is ideal for Instagram and Facebook. It consumes less time of the viewer and if done well, sends across the message in the shortest possible time when compared with 10 seconds videos that have less info or 2 minutes videos that can be boring.
- Unfold yourself
Going live on your handles can spark up a connection and relationship between you and your clients, it is important in marketing because it serves as a medium through which your customers can interact with you in real time.
- YouTube
YouTube is synonymous with Video, yes Facebook videos have a higher engagement potential, YouTube videos, on the other hand, can be shared on any platform, that makes it able to reach more people in different places.
If you have any questions or need assistance in your social marketing strategy, give us a call! We would love to audit your current strategy and provide you recommendations, no obligation!
How To Start Using Sensory Marketing Strategy & Branding Guidelines
Sensory Marketing, What is that?
Sensory marketing and sensory branding is a form of a marketing strategy focused around appealing to each of the five senses we have to influence an emotional response. By focusing on all of our senses; smell, touch, sight, taste, and sound, not only make your brand stand out, but also guide you in creating a long-lasting impression on your audience. The goal is to seduce the audience to feel such an emotion that engages them to turn their newly found emotion or feeling into a desire to take a form of action. This approach is a multi-sensory experience utilizing what we know about neurobiology and social psychology.
According to Martin Lindstrom, author of Brand Sense – Build Powerful Brands through Touch, Taste, Smell, Sight, and Sound, here are the top industry leaders back in 2005:
Top Leaders of Sensory Branding
- Singapore Airlines
- Apple
- Disney
- Mercedes Benz
- Marlboro
These are pretty established brands that are very strict and consistent in their marketing. As a consumer, you know you are getting an experience, not just a product.
What about me?
Most small business owners not only lack the knowledge and experience, but they also require the budget and time needed to invest in mastering such a complicated and resource heavy strategy. Traditional marketing is an easier solution and has been favored because it’s easier and more comfortable to execute. Ask yourself, that last radio spot you created about a “factory blow-out deal,” did it appeal to the taste and smell senses? Sure, if I was searching for a car or a new air conditioner, and I hear there is a sale going on, I might pay attention. What makes me as a consumer remember you versus the other “factory blow-out deal” I just heard on the radio? I mean by now, as a consumer, every holiday there will be “the best deal ever” so I wait and make my purchases around a holiday. Knowing that business owners have to advertise heavy during peak times to compete against all their competitors doing the exact same strategy and media companies raise the rates knowing YOU are doing to do this again and again. Who is winning here? Now as a business owner you are struggling to get those sales in-between these cycles and be pulling out all your creative tricks to be heard out of all the other noise of the exact same offers your competitors are presenting. Are you really saving money at the end of the day?
Okay, now I am listening.
Let’s go back to my “factory blow-out deal” scenario above and talk about the smell and taste senses that are hard to accomplish for car dealerships or stand-alone products. How do I make someone “smell” that new car? How do I make them taste that smell of the new car in the back of their throat? Well, really amazing videos and graphics can do this. Think about Mercedes Benz for a moment. When you think about their cars, you can smell the leather, feel the leather, almost taste the luxury feeling. The images used may seem simple, but the lighting, backdrops, the angle all play a huge role in your psyche. The simple fact that we as consumers expect every dollar spent on this vehicle is just fine, because of the way it will make us feel about owning one. This was not done overnight, this was done by design with actual scientific data, creativity, and planning.
Where do I begin to change my marketing process?
First, you need to have a concept that you can carry out that is timeless that can be repurposed in multiple ways through multiple channels.
Second, you have to have a strategy around the timing of your messaging. You don’t want to be sitting through your sales season and find yourself looking for new concepts, this needs to be well throughout and planned in advance.
Last, you need to have all your designs, videos, content, and voice completed in advance to avoid wasting your time and resources scrambling for assets that don’t fall within your overall marketing strategy.
Where should I include this in my marketing and branding efforts?
Simple, everywhere. Yes, be aware of the sensory marketing next time you start planning. Think to yourself, what sense are we capturing here? How can we make it better? Most of society use their mobile devices these days more than their laptop or desktop. When you are on your cell phone, what are YOU doing and what social channels are YOU using? If you are using those, most likely your customers are too! What messages can you appeal through that social platform to entice a user? Think about what people search for on social media like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, YouTube, Google My Business, etc. What are people doing while they are on apps? What are people searching for on Google or Bing? Know what your audience is doing on each platform and customize your message for each accordingly, mastering as many senses as you can on each.
What is the easiest way to get started?
First, audit what you are currently doing and poke holes in it for improvement. See what you can reuse and make adjustments to drive better performance. Are you getting in front of your audience at the right time of day or day of the week? Get more research and compare that to the new GAP analysis you created during your audit. Test, measure, optimize, and test again. Need further help getting started? Contact us today and ask about our video services. We offer a variety of videos we can create to get your sensory message across to use on your website and social media platforms.