Social Media

Feb 04 2020

Facebook is Changing the Disability Community

Going through life alone, regardless of ability, is isolating. Sure, you may have friends and family who care for you, but they don’t understand what you’re dealing with. And it’s nobody’s fault, they just can’t relate. But not having that connection, especially one that impacts your entire life, can make it harder on the relationship in general. This is more straining if there’s nobody in your life to relate to on that level. Up until recently, if there wasn’t someone living near you who could relate to having a disability, you were out of luck. However, Facebook has changed that for many people in the disability community.

Support Groups

Enter the internet. Chatrooms, forums, and now Facebook groups allow people to find others like them all around the world. There are groups about living with a specific disability, being a new wheelchair user, and even dating while disabled. Groups for parents, groups that are just for those with the disability, and groups where they co-mingle. I can all but guarantee you that if you’re looking for a group with similar life experiences, you’ll find it on Facebook. I can’t begin to tell you how much of a game-changer these groups have been for me. I’m still going to try, though, otherwise this would be a very short blog post.

I joined my first group sometime in 2012, shortly after starting university. I was on my own for the first time, and had a bunch of new disability-related issues. In addition to all this, I suddenly had a team of PCAs to manage. They weren’t with me all the time, like my parents were in high school. Then on top of that I had to deal with university. Quite frankly it was overwhelming. A friend from MDA summer camp invited me to a new Facebook group that was meant to be for people living with MD (Muscular Dystrophy), and I quickly jumped on it.

This one small act from a person I only talked with one week a year, and hadn’t for a few years, changed my life. Because of this group, I’ve become more confident in who I am as a person. My ideas about disability in general, not just MD, have changed drastically. It’s fair to say that I’m a better human because of these people. We share ideas, celebrate accomplishments, and bounce ideas off of eachother. I’ve joined other disability-related groups, not just limited to my disability. I may not know each person in person (There’s over 2,000 of us now) but I feel a kinship with everyone there.

Wealth of Information

Okay, enough of the sappy. Let’s get into how exactly these Facebook groups have changed lives. Possibly the biggest way is that these groups are a big think tank. There is someone in one of these groups who has been through what you’re going through. They might have advice. Whether it be which wheelchair to get next, the best way to ask for insurance’s help, or even medication side effects, your chances of finding answers are pretty good. Heck, I’ve gotten help on several articles here from various groups, because I don’t share certain experiences.

Real-Time Advice

The nice part about these groups is that it happens in real time. If you’re looking for quick answers, your group has your back. Granted, this is more true for larger groups, but even small groups (from my experience) have relatively quick response times. People naturally want to help each other, and having the common ground amplifies this.

It’s a Community, not Just an Advice Box

Sometimes you don’t need help. Sometimes, I’ve found a life-hack or something funny happens related to my disability. My first thought is always “Oh, I’ve got to share this with my group!” We have running jokes, we check up on eachother, and we become friends. Heck, I have a job because of these groups! What started out as a small act of kindness has changed my entire worldview. I’ve joined groups about disability activism and learned about disabilities other than mine. I honestly don’t know where I’d be without these groups.

In closing, these groups have a huge impact on the lives of disabled people. They are a wealth of information and offer quick responses as well as community. I can’t speak for every group because I’m not in every group, but the ones I’m in have been nothing short of wonderful. And if you’re reading this and are part of a disability-centric Facebook group, thank you. Thank you from me, for helping others with your disability and keeping the community going.

Jan 23 2020

Is Pinterest Worth Using for Digital Marketing?

Pinterest is an ideal digital marketing platform

Pinterest is an often-overlooked, yet very useful, platform for marketers. The concept is so unique compared to other social media websites, I hesitate to even put it in the same category. For those of you who don’t know, Pinterest is a website where people share and discover new ideas through images, which they can then “pin” to different boards. The key words here are “share” and “discover”. Each pin, when clicked, sends the user to an external website. This is used to redirect people to places like blogs or product pages. You may wonder, is Pinterest worth using for your digital marketing? Pinterest makes finding new ideas and topics a breeze, and because of this ease of finding new things, it is an ideal digital marketing platform.

How Does Pinterest Differ from Other Social Media Sites?

Pinterest is different in a few aspects. First and foremost, the “social” part of this social media is very limited. There is a comment system, but it doesn’t usually matter much. The main interaction people are going to have with your content is pinning. You can follow other people and see what they’ve pinned, but interaction past that is usually minimal.

The other main difference between Pinterest and other social media sites is that you can categorize your pins. If you have three different products, you can have a different board for each, for example. The beauty of Pinterest is it’s customizable so you can set up your categories, or boards, however you like.

What Should You Pin?

There are many things you can pin, but start by pinning your blog posts. These are great for pins because you have to do minimal work to get them ready. All you’ll need to do is create a good image to use and you’re on your way. People are using pinterest to get ideas, so your blog posts that have tips, tricks, and ideas in them will go over well. You can also pin straight to your products. 80% of Pinterest users turn into buyers, so this is always good to have. Really, any content you Pin is only as good as it’s image and other SEO.

What Makes a Good Pin?

Yes, SEO. Like all other websites on the internet, SEO is how you get found. When you create a pin or a board, you can add a description. In this section, use 2-3 keyword rich sentences, and 3-4 hashtags. Lots of people don’t do this with boards, which is a huge oversight and can push you over the edge. Also. like all other websites, finding the right keywords and hashtags takes time.

The second thing that makes a good pin is the image. Your image should have enough information in it to know what the pin is. The best pins have a text element, with a quick summary of what the pinner is going to get. For example, if we were to pin this post, we might have our logo, the Pinterest Logo, and the words “Is Pinterest Worth it?” on a plain background. This is eye catching, simple, and you know what you’re going to get.

Should You Automate Your Pinterest?

Pinterest might be the easiest social media to automate. If you plan your blog posts ahead enough, you can use tailwind (or similar site) to automatically post to all your social media when your posts go live. However, you shouldn’t just rely on automated pinning. While it can be tempting to “set it and forget it”, setting a few minutes every couple of days to pin a few things manually can help growth.

Growing Your Pinterest

Pinterest is different from other social media in that follower count isn’t as much of a factor, but it’s still good to grow. More followers means more people to see your pins. There are several ways to grow Your Pinterest. Follow people, add a pin widget to your blog, and promote your pinterest on your other social media. The more places you promote your Pinterest the better. Pinterest has an analytics tab, so keep an eye on that to see what might need changing.

And that’s Pinterest! It’s a bit of an odd site, but its quirks are what make it perfect for digital marketing. It may not be an ideal site to start out with, but it’s a fantastic addition if you’re looking to expand into another channel. Have you tried Pinterest for marketing? What kind of success have you had? Let us know in the comments!

Jan 21 2020

Choose the Right Social Media for Your Business

There are more and more social media platforms every day. As an integral part of your marketing strategy, it’s overwhelming to say the least. Keeping up with multiple platforms is a lot to handle, especially when you’re just beginning. While it’s great to have multiple platforms to advertise on, focusing your efforts on one or two sites keeps you from stretching yourself too thin. But which platform do you start out with? How do you decide? Each social media has its own demographic, and lends itself to certain kinds of content. When choosing the right social media for your business, keep in mind its userbase and the kind of content you want to make.. In this article, we will discuss some of the current major social media sites, to help you determine which is the best fit.

Facebook

The big one, the one everyone thinks of first, Facebook. Facebook is the largest social media platform, therefore has the biggest potential reach. Potential. Reach. Though the pool of potential customers is vast, it can be hard to get their attention. Paid ads are basically a must, as this allows you to select your target demographic. The upside, however, is that Facebook lends itself to a wide variety of content. It’s a great place to share blog posts, post product images, or even host live videos.

Instagram

Instagram is great for images. It’s owned by Facebook, which can be nice as their paid ads are capable of working in unison. Instagram’s demographic is much younger, and does well with lifestyle posts. It’s especially important here to ask “what does my audience want?” and post pictures of that. They don’t all have to have your product in it, but most should.

It can be difficult to grow organically, because there are so many users also trying to get found. Aside from paid advertising, hashtags are the best way to get found. Be strategic–are there certain sayings that relate to your product? What hashtags are your competitors using? Is there a hashtag you can start that’s unique to your product/service?

The other important thing with Instagram is engagement. Like a fan’s picture when they use your hashtag, respond to comments on your posts, just keep the conversation going. Fans want to know that you read their posts and you care about their patronage.

Twitter

The big draw of Twitter for a lot of people is that posts remain in chronological order, unlike Facebook and Instagram. Like instagram, it caters to a younger crowd. However, a lot of companies use it for customer service updates, instead of over email or the phone. It’s also great for multiple, quick updates through live-tweets. These are usually recapping day-to-day events, getting customers excited for what’s coming next. Because of the chronological order of the platform, you should expect to tweet 10-15 times a day so you don’t get buried in people’s newsfeed. Luckily, there are apps that you can plan posts ahead of time and schedule them for publishing.

While it isn’t very social, Pinterest is still a very viable platform for certain types of marketing. Pinterest is it’s own beast in that it’s more akin to a visual search engine. Utilized properly, it can be one of your most successful platforms to drive traffic to your website and blog. While the majority of it’s current members are female, about half of it’s new members are men. People primarily use pinterest to plan purchases, and get ideas.

YouTube

We’ve talked a lot about YouTube in the past, and that’s because it’s a great tool to get your product/service out there. YouTube is a one-stop shop for video content, and has a robust algorithm to help you get found. It’s a great platform to demonstrate your product and show the benefits firsthand.

In the end, you want to choose a social media platform where your customer base is. Starting in the right place is important, because otherwise you’re just shouting into the void. Like with all business marketing, it takes trial and error, and lots of time to get going. But, by being in the right place, you will begin to see the difference.

Nov 21 2019

Getting the Most out of Customer Avatars

You aren’t using your customer avatars properly. Rather, you aren’t using them enough. Customer avatars, when done right, give you a base for all of the marketing campaigns you are going to do with your business. When was the last time you looked at your customer avatar? After a while, businesses can get in the mindset of “I know my customer, I don’t need to look at the avatar!”. While it may be true that you know who your avatar was, what’s changed since you created them? When was the last time you updated your avatar? 6 months? A year? Never? There are many factors that can cause your avatar to need updating, and it’s important to do so every so often. Today we will discuss a few reasons to look at and revise your customer avatar.

Why Update Your Customer Avatar Profile?

Good question. Put simply, people are not static. Likes change, dislikes change, people change. If something in the world happens, it might alter how your customers view the world—or certain aspects of it. Your avatar is a picture of who you want to sell to, so it should reflect that. If you’re using 10-year-old data, you could be marketing to someone who doesn’t exist anymore. It can make your business and product seem old and outdated.

This doesn’t mean that every six months you need to completely throw out your old customer avatars and start from scratch. If you did that, you’d never get anywhere. Small tweaks every so often are good to make sure nothing drastic has changed, and to remind yourself who your customer is. Reserve big changes for when you really need it. There are several things to look at when updating your avatar profiles. We’ll discuss three big ones.

New Technology and Innovation

Today, new tech is coming out what seems like every day. Whether it’s a new smartphone or a new idea in grocery delivery, there are always new things happening. Has new technology emerged relating to your product or your avatar? Do they like it or not like it? Or, maybe there’s a new social media site that has become popular? Why? How can this relate back to your product or service? Indicate this on your avatar profile, so that you can best advertise to them.

Popular Culture

Okay, not everyone is into the latest celebrity gossip. But even people who aren’t up to date on who’s dating who tend to have opinions on modern movies, television, and other media. For example, it’s hard to go outside the last few years and not see someone in some form of superhero clothing. What are some cultural trends today? How does your avatar feel about these trends? Whether they love it or hate it, that’s something to mark in the avatar’s profile.

Political Climate

This is a touchy subject, but it’s important. Even if your business itself doesn’t outwardly endorse a certain party, your target customers probably do. What party is that? Have they always affiliated with this party? What changed? What hasn’t? Has the political climate affected their spending habits? The answers to these questions can be very eye-opening, especially around big election time.

Using Your Updated Customer Avatar Profiles

Okay, now that you’ve updated your customer avatars, time to put them to use. You’ve got this data, you know who you’re selling to, now you need to sell. If you ignore this information or don’t intentionally utilize it, you run the risk of wasting time and money on advertising. Why bother making up avatars if you don’t make good use of them? The question now becomes, how? You’ve got all this data, but how do you make the most use of it for your advertising?

Targeted Ads on Social Media

Targeted ads quickly becoming one of the best ways to advertise. It’s quick, cheap, and can reach a targeted audience. When you set up targeted ads, Facebook, Instagram, etc. all have you fill out a questionnaire on who you want to target. Having just updated your avatar profiles, you probably have a better idea on who your customer is. If you’re already using targeted ads, update these parameters if you need to. If you’re just starting, don’t forget to come back periodically when you adjust your customer avatar.

Social Media Content

Along the same lines as targeted ads, your content should reflect your updated avatar. If you’re posting pictures of cats on your Instagram page for a dog food brand, you’re not catering to your avatar. These posts aren’t always paid advertising, but your fans and customers should still expect to see content that resonates with your brand.

Likewise, your blog is a form of social media. Think about what kinds of things interest your avatar and how that can relate to your product. From there, you can begin to create a blog content calendar so that you always have a topic to write about.

Creating Campaigns

Your blog, social media, and any other form of advertising should all be at least somewhat cohesive. Ad campaigns can last anywhere from a few months to a few years, so having up-to-date customer avatar profiles ensures that these campaigns are relevant.

The customer avatar profile is one of the most important things to keep coming back to when advertising. Without it, you’re throwing stuff at a wall and hoping something sticks. Customer avatar profiles give you direction. If your avatar is up to date and accurate, you’ve got a great jumping off point for any future advertising you do. That is, until you update your profiles again!

Jul 02 2019

Is Your Social Media Engaging?

Engagement is subjective, but profits are a way to measure how engaging your social media marketing is. How much are you spending on social media marketing? Is that money going to waste? At the end of the day, there are two things that matter: Revenue and costs. The number of followers and Retweets don’t fall into either of those categories, so why are they so necessary? How does social media play into your business being a success? In this article, we will discuss how to assess the amount of money you are spending on social media advertising, and how to best figure out where you can improve your social marketing strategies.

Measuring Social Engagement’s Effect on Revenue Is Hard

In reality, doing this with 100% accuracy is impossible. But, by understanding the concept of attribution, you can get close enough. Attribution is the process of identifying what actions are taken by a buyer that directly contributed to a sale, then assigning a value to said actions.

This problem isn’t a new one. As long as there’s been advertising, the problem of attribution exists. We may have more advanced technology today that can monitor more attribution variables, but they are still shots in the dark and not always accurate.

For example, let’s say Dave is looking for a new bike cushion. He Googles “bike cushions” and lands on your Facebook page, finds that you post interesting content, and hits “like”. A few days later, Dave sees an article on Facebook that compares popular bike cushions. In the article, he clicks the link that leads to your website, then leaves. A week or so later, he does another Google search for “buy bike cushions” and sees your website first in the results, via Google AdWords. He recognizes your brand from the previous interactions, so he decides to buy.

What can we attribute to his buying decision? It’s not just one thing, it’s a combination of Organic Searching, Social Media, AND Paid Search. Most analytics tools, however, give 100% attribution credit to the last click–in Dave’s case, the Paid search. This attribution model can be changed, even in Google Analytics’ free version; you just need to know where to look. To learn how to set up new goals in Google Analytics, first read this support document from Google here. Below is a quick description of each of the available attribution models you can choose from:

First Interaction – The first visit within the Lookback Window (up to 90 days prior) gets 100% credit.

Last Interaction – The last click gets 100% attribution.

Linear – Each visit within the Lookback Window gets equal credit.

Last AdWords Click – The last click from an AdWords ad gets 100% credit.

Time Decay – More recent visits within the Lookback Window get more credit while older visits within the Lookback Window get less credit.

Last Non-Direct Click – The last click (excluding Direct visits) gets 100% credit.

Position Based – The First and Last visits within the Lookback Window split attribution.

Using Google Analytics you can compare up to three models side by side. Both Linear and Time Decay are the two attributes you will need if you want to truly understand how your different marketing channels are performing. Attribution modeling is how you can get a more clear picture of how social engagement is affecting revenue.

Measuring the Cost of Social Media Engagement is Easy

While measuring how much revenue can be attributed to your social media may be difficult and take time to pin down, figuring how much you are spending is simple. What is your social engagement budget? This should be a simple question. If you’re unsure, figuring this out is easy

How much money are you putting into graphic design, prizes for contests and giveaways, employing social media managers, etc.? Add up the totals, then multiply that by the number of hours you spend a month focused on social engagement to get your monthly budget. Do this for each platform, then divide each number by total engagement to get how much each engagement costs you. This is not an easy task, because it needs to be done manually. There is no system or program that will tally up how many likes/shares/retweets you get, unfortunately. Because of this, it might only get done once or twice a quarter.

Based on this data, you can learn things like: How much a single retweet costs, the percentage increase of social engagement month over month you are getting on Facebook, and what it costs to run a contest on Instagram.

Using this data, you can pick up on trends and figure out where to make changes across your different social media platforms. For example, if your Instagram’s cost per engagement went down by 20 cents after a giveaway, could you replicate the results on Facebook or Twitter? How did adding a graphic designer last month impact our engagement?

It’s difficult to know if your social media is engaging, because the path from engagement to purchase is different for every consumer. The type of content that pushes one person to buy might not have an effect on another person. Measuring how much of your social media can be attributed to sales is and always has been difficult, but with the proper tools we can get close. Lastly, knowing how much you are spending per engagement can help you determine where your social media strategy can be improved, and where you’re shining.

Measuring The Path to Success

Does social media play into your business being a success? Contact us here to help you figure it out!