Create A Social Media Marketing Chain To Boost Promotion Benefits

The idea behind this post came from two simple questions:

How can I maximize the marketing power of each social media channel without wasting time and resources?

And

How to boost blog traffic without relying heavily on Google?

Both problems came to me with a certain urgency as I worked to improve my clients’ social media visibility as well my own websites’.

I came up with this strategy: use one channel’s boost factor to promote another channel, in a chain that leads to your blog and passes through each social medium before it returns to the blog itself.

It sounds like a difficult process, but it actually isn’t.

Look at the image above: I drew that diagram to show you exactly how to work with social media chains.

Let’s look at the diagram in more detail.

Twitter

Use the Website field in the Bio box to link to your Facebook profile, not your blog. The reason is simple: through Twitter you can get your Facebook page known and use Facebook to promote your posts (remember, it’s a chain!).

It’s also a good idea to promote your Facebook posts in tweets, and to use Twitter to respond to users’ questions, in a Q&A platform fashion.

Facebook

Each Facebook post will be promoted on Twitter, so you should keep the quality high and all post should contain an image for better click-through and conversion.

Use each Facebook post to review and explain one of your blog posts, opening discussion on the topics you tackled.

If you have comments open on your blog, also create Facebook posts around reader comments that are particularly good for sparking debate.

Facebook allows you to create Polls and Events from your Page, Profile and Groups. Leverage these free assets to built even more buzz around your blog posts.

If other Groups you’re a member of allow for it, cross promote your posts from your Facebook Page/Profile/Group.

Blog

When you respond to user questions on Twitter and spark discussion about your posts (and reader comments) on Facebook (which generate further discussion on Twitter, as you will be promoting Facebook posts there), you will see how your blog starts to grow in traffic.

You can further build upon your assets by using feedback from Facebook and Twitter to create blog posts your readers and followers want to read — use their comments, tweets and Likes/Favorites (now Hearts on Twitter) to make a list of blog posts to write to respond to their needs.

Pinterest

Use Pinterest to post images and infographics that complement your blog content, Facebook posts and (possibly) expand on concepts you introduced via tweets.

As you can see, I created a social media chain that takes the maximum advantage from all the functionalities each platform offers (including your own blog).

How do you leverage your social media assets? What role does your blog play in your ‘chain’?

Share your views in the comments.

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B2B Digital Marketing Strategy [Infographic]

Discussing B2B digital marketing with business owners is frustrating. They think digital marketing is something that works for B2C brands and, even then they only think it works for tech brands and those will an exciting product consumers can get stoked about. Take a look at the infographic from Relevance at the end of this post for some more ideas on how to drive leads using B2B digital marketing.

The truth is that digital marketing works for every brand — regardless of whether their customers are other businesses or consumers and whether their brand is an exciting product or not. I mean, think about Dove. How unexciting can you get — soap and lotion. So, the brand creates digital marketing about something consumers ARE passionate about — body image.

And, B2B brands can do the same thing — develop a B2B digital marketing strategy around something their target audience is passionate about. Maybe your target audience isn’t passionate about your brand and maybe your products compete in a really boring market.

That doesn’t mean you have to talk about your brand in terms of its market. Hit on the social responsibility of your brand and craft a digital marketing strategy around some aspect of that responsibility. Find a social program you’re passionate about and build a digital marketing strategy around that. The options for B2B digital marketing are endless.

Recognize B2B Digital Marketing Opportunities 

First, just like B2C marketing, you need to think about digital marketing (or even traditional marketing) in terms of a funnel and develop 

content appropriate for each stage in the funnel.

As this infographic shows, visitors come to your website from various sources (organic and paid search, backlinks, social, and direct). Visitors view content and either leave or move to the next stage in the funnel. A small change in conversion rate (1%) can increase inquiries by 50%. So, optimizing the funnel is critical for improving performance.

Optimize the B2B funnel

Awareness

Image courtesy of StratoServe

B2B digital marketing is different than when you’re working with consumers. First, your target market is really busy, with people who work interference to keep you from reaching decision-makers. Second, B2B marketing often involves a team (buying center) rather than a single individual — as you see in this image.

Reaching any (or all) of the members of the buying center helps create awareness of your brand. Too often, B2B companies only try to reach the busy decision maker, ignoring much easier to reach members. Appealing to the gatekeeper is also important because they attempt to block the decision maker.

Because business customers are less likely to talk about your brand, you need a greater effort to create awareness. Using owned, earned, and paid media (plus traditional advertising and PR) is critical for creating awareness of your brand.

Despite first impressions, B2B brands can use social media effectively to create awareness especially by using powerful tools to reach only those people who represent potential buyers. It’s here that supporting a cause or being socially responsible can work to your benefit. Remember, even enterprise companies are composed of PEOPLE who use social networks. Reach those people and you’ve created awareness of your brand.

Outreach to other blogs and profiles is very valuable for creating awareness in the B2B space. Consider creating infographics or putting together videos and podcasts that other sites might want to use with their visitors.

And, don’t forget SEO. Search should be a strong piece of your awareness campaign. Understanding how your prospects search for products like yours is the key to crafting a good SEO strategy.

Interest

Your brand becomes interesting when it you show you produce a valuable product and when you earn the trust of buyers.

Create interest in your brand by effectively communicating:

• unique benefits needed by buyers (USP). Need inspiration? Here’s a post with 10 USPs to spark your imagination.
• trustworthiness. That’s why many B2B players tout the quality of customers who trust them and display them prominently on their homepage.
• empathy. Customers (and don’t forget that business buyers are indeed customers) want someone who understands their needs and frustrations.
• consistency and professionalism. B2B brands need consistent communication with potential buyers because you never know when someone is in the mode to buy. Often, purchases are made a few times a year or by RFP rather than every week like consumers. Email marketing and other contact tools become indispensable parts of B2B digital marketing campaigns. And, these conversations must be professional, which doesn’t mean boring or impersonal. Look at the way Trackmaven uses child-like colors and their cute little dog in promoting a content tracking tool despite working for some of the worlds biggest brands. Professional doesn’t have to be boring.

Notice, I didn’t say you need to do these things. I said you need to communicate them effectively. The two aren’t the same.

That means knowing your target market and testing your content to ensure your message is heard loud and clear. We’ll talk more about measurement later.

Intension

I’ve heard Hubspot and others make the argument that business customers are about 80%-90% of the way to making a purchase before they contact you. They only want pricing from the sales person.

That means you need to provide a depth of information on your brands through vehicles like white papers, case studies, and recommendation from clients.

Let prospects reach out to you for more information without adding pressure to make a decision today. For instance, offer a subscription to a high-quality newsletter to provide useful information. Or let visitors sign up for a webinar or podcast where they can ask questions in addition to getting more information. Be sure to follow-up with recording for folks who couldn’t make the original broadcast time or who want a refresher on what you covered.

Conversion

The conversion funnel doesn’t end with a customer purchase. That’s just the beginning of your relationship with this customer. And, it is a relationship.

1. You have to follow up with the customer to ensure they received the order in good shape. I remember getting a card with a product order from the person who packed it. It was personal and made me feel like a valuable customer. Sending personalized, hand-written thank you notes to members of the buying center are always a nice touch.
2. Offer customer service through a variety of channels available 24/7 so customers can get problems solved quickly and easily. A good example is GoDaddy. I’ve called customer support a few times and found their people friendly and helpful. They never make me feel like I asked a stupid question or that I was too unskilled for what I was doing. And, they always have the right answer to help me.
3. Periodically, invite customers to a special webinar or to visit you at your booth at an industry event so you can meet them in person. The personal touch really helps. Makes buyers feel special and valuable, which they are.
4. Ask for referrals and recommendations. If buyers are too busy to refer you, ask them if they’ll provide a testimonial to add to your website or include in a newsletter. Also, ask if they have contacts at other companies or divisions of their company who might need your products and be sure it’s ok to use their name when contacting them.
5. Offer some exclusive content, a discount, or special promotion to customers, especially repeat customers to ensure continued loyalty. Treating customers right can result in evangelism, which really helps your brand.

Analytics in support of B2B digital marketing

Just like anything else in digital marketing, analytics are critical.

Set objectives for your campaigns in terms of awareness, interest, intention, and conversion. Then, establish KPI metrics that measure these objectives. Then, look at the actions contributing at each stage in the conversion funnel and assess performance of these content marketing efforts to answer questions such as:

• Does content resonate with prospects? (CTR, Engagement, Shares …)
• Are you publishing content at the right time? (Reach)
• Are you publishing too much or too little content? (Unsubscribes)

A/B testing is a great tool for understanding what types of content get the most response from prospects.

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Want to Expand Your Reach? Effective Social Outreach Strategies for 11 Different Industries [New Data]

As a marketer, you probably spend a lot of time thinking about how to promote and distribute the content your team creates -- which includes social media outreach. After all, you know that by tapping into the right social networks and key influencers at the right times, you can expose your content to a wider audience.

But what constitutes the "right" social networks, the "right" times to post, and the "right" key influencers? How do you know what's best for the niche you operate in?

To help you hone in on where you should be focusing your social media outreach efforts for your particular industry, the folks at Fractl and BuzzStream analyzed six months of content from 220 websites in 11 verticals -- everything from business and technology to education, food, travel, and more.

We've taken some key excerpts from their findings and arranged them by vertical. Scroll through to find out things like which social network sees the most shares, when the best times to publish are, which words were included in the most shared content, and more for each of the 11 industries.

Click on an industry vertical below to jump to that section:

1. Business
2. Technology
3. News
4. Lifestyle
5. Education
6. Entertainment
7. Food
8. Health
9. Travel
10. Finance
11. Automotive

Effective Social Outreach Strategies for 11 Different Industries

For each of the images below, the data on the left-hand side (offset by a grey/blue background) represents findings from high-engagement sites -- i.e., sites with more than 20,000 average total shares per site. The data on the right-hand side (offset by a yellow background) represents findings from mid- to low-engagement sites -- i.e., sites with less than 20,000 average total shares per site.

1) Business

For this analysis, content about business came from high-engagement sites likeBusiness Insider, Businessweek, Inc.com, HBR.org, and Fast Company; and mid- to low-engagement sites like HubSpot, Moz, First Round, Marketing Profs, and Small Biz Trends.

The Best Social Networks to Share Business Content

Fractl and BuzzStream's analysis found that Facebook led all the other social networks in social shares for both high-engagement sites (67% of the average social shares) and mid- to low-engagement sites (56% of the average shares).

The Best Days to Publish Business Content

They also found that Tuesday was the best day to share business content for all of the sites they analyzed. For high-engagement sites, Tuesday and Thursday were tied with 20% of social shares happening on those days. For mid- to low-engagement sites, Tuesday saw 24% of social shares, followed by Wednesday with 21% of social shares.

The weekends (especially Sunday) showed the least number of social shares for business content.

The Most Popular Words for Business Content

Of all the websites analyzed for business content, content with the words "study" and "infographic" were shared the most often.

Major Thought Leaders in the Business Space

Among the business sites analyzed for this study, the most-shared sites were Business Insider (among high-engagement sites) and The Business Journals (among mid- to low-engagement sites).

2) Technology

For this analysis, content about technology came from high-engagement sites like Tech Crunch, CNET, Wired, and Engadget; and mid- to low-engagement sites like PC World, Dropbox, and TechSpot.

The Best Social Networks to Share Technology Content

Fractl and BuzzStream's analysis found that Facebook led all the other social networks in social shares for both high-engagement sites (83% of the average social shares) and mid- to low-engagement sites (56% of the average shares).

The Best Days to Publish Technology Content

They also found that, for high-engagement sites, Tuesday and Wednesday tied for best day to share technology content, with 20% of social shares happening on those days. For mid- to low-engagement sites, Tuesday barely eked out the lead with 20% of social shares happening on that day, followed closely by Monday with 19%, and then Thursday with 18%.

The weekends (especially Sunday) showed the least number of social shares for technology content.

3) News

For this analysis, content about news came from high-engagement sites like CNN.com, Fox News, New York Times, The Guardian, USA Today, and NPR; and mid- to low-engagement sites like Newsweek, AP, U.S. News, Consortium News, and MSN.com.

The Best Social Networks to Share News Content

Fractl and BuzzStream's analysis found that Facebook led all the other social networks by far in social shares for both high-engagement sites (95% of the average social shares) and mid- to low-engagement sites (85% of the average shares).

The Best Days to Publish News Content

They also found that, for high-engagement sites, Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday all tied for best day to share news content, with 17% of social shares happening on those days. This was followed closely by Monday and Tuesday, with 16% of social shares happening on those days. For mid- to low-engagement sites, Wednesday was by far the best day to share news content, with 24% of social shares happening on that day.

The weekends (especially Sunday) showed the least number of social shares for news content. 

The Most Popular Words for News Content

Of all the websites analyzed for news content, content with the words "game" and "first" were shared the most often. That could mean the most shareable news content had to do with sporting events or new discoveries.

4) Lifestyle

For this analysis, content about lifestyle came from high-engagement sites like New Yorker, Rolling Stone, Vanity Fair, Cosmopolitan, Country Living, and Travel & Leisure;and mid- to low-engagement sites like Glamour, Real Simple, Men's Journal, andOutdoor Life.

The Best Social Networks to Share Lifestyle Content

Fractl and BuzzStream's analysis found that Facebook led all the other social networks by far in social shares for both high-engagement sites (91% of the average social shares) and mid- to low-engagement sites (84% of the average shares).

The Best Days to Publish Lifestyle Content

They also found that Tuesday was the best day to share business content for all of the sites they analyzed. For high-engagement sites, Tuesday had 20% of social shares, followed closely by Wednesday, which saw 19% of total shares happening on that day. For mid- to low-engagement sites, Tuesday was by far the best day to share lifestyle content, with 22% of social shares happening on that day.

The weekends showed the least number of social shares for lifestyle content.

5) Education

For this analysis, content about education came from high-engagement sites like TED.com, Scientific American, Lifehacker, National Geographic, About.com, and WikiHow; and mid- to low-engagement sites like Scholastic, HowStuffWorks, eHow, DIY Network, and Ask.com.

The Best Social Networks to Share Education Content

Fractl and BuzzStream's analysis found that Facebook led all the other social networks in social shares for both high-engagement sites (87% of the average social shares) and mid- to low-engagement sites (60% of the average shares).

The Best Days to Publish Education Content

They also found that, for high-engagement sites, Tuesday and Wednesday tied for best day to share education content, with 22% of social shares happening on those days. For mid- to low-engagement sites, Wednesday was by far the best day to share education content, with 26% of total shares happening on that day.

Friday saw the lowest number of social shares for education content on high-engagement sites (2%), but actually saw 11% of social shares for mid- to low-engagement sites. For mid- to low-engagement sites, weekends (especially Sunday) showed the least number of social shares for education content.

6) Entertainment

For this analysis, content about entertainment came from high-engagement sites likePeople, Yahoo! Celebrity, E! Online, MTV, and LA Times; and mid- to low-engagement sites like Hollywood.com, Redbox, GameSpot, Zynga, and CNN Show Biz.

The Best Social Networks to Share Education Content

Fractl and BuzzStream's analysis found that Facebook led all the other social networks in social shares for both high-engagement sites (by far, with 94% of the average social shares) and mid- to low-engagement sites (64% of the average shares).

The Best Days to Publish Entertainment Content

They also found that Wednesday was the best day to share entertainment content for all of the sites they analyzed. For high-engagement sites, Wednesday saw 19% of total social shares, followed closely by Tuesday, which saw 18% of social shares happening on that day. For mid- to low-engagement sites, Wednesday had by far the most social shares, with 27% of social shares happening on that day.

The weekends (especially Sunday) showed the least number of social shares for entertainment content.

The Most Popular Words for Entertainment Content

Of all the websites analyzed for entertainment content, content with the words "VMAs" (which stands for Video Music Awards) and "summer" were shared the most often.

7) Food

For this analysis, content about food came from high-engagement sites like Food Network, The Kitchn, Food and Wine, and Eater; and mid- to low-engagement sites like Allrecipes, Food Gawker, Zagat, and Epicurious.

The Best Social Networks to Share Food-Related Content

Fractl and BuzzStream's analysis found that Pinterest led all the other social networks in social shares for high-engagement sites, with 53% of the average social shares. This was the only industry that saw a social network other than Facebook lead the way in social shares in this study. For mid- to low-engagement sites, Facebook led all other social networks with 63% of the average shares.

The Best Days to Publish Food-Related Content

They also found that Tuesday was the best day to share food-related content for all of the sites they analyzed. For high-engagement sites, Monday had 23% of total social shares; for mid- to low-engagement sites, Monday had 24% of social shares -- and, interestingly, Friday had the second-highest number of total social shares with 20%. Entertainment was the only industry other than health and finance that had Friday in the top two days for social sharing.

The weekends (especially Sunday) showed the least number of social shares for food-related content.

The Most Popular Words for Food-Related Content

Of all the websites analyzed for food-related content, content with the words "instructions" and "make" were shared the most often. So, if you're in the food industry, the most shareable content might be around recipes and how-tos.

8) Health

For this analysis, content about business came from high-engagement sites like Yahoo! Health, Fitness Magazine, Men's Health, and Health.com; and mid- to low-engagement sites like Web MD, NIH.gov, CDC.gov, Mayo Clinic, and Medical News Today.

The Best Social Networks to Share Health Content

Fractl and BuzzStream's analysis found that Facebook led all the other social networks in social shares for both high-engagement sites (79% of the average social shares) and mid- to low-engagement sites (77% of the average shares).

The Best Days to Publish Health Content

They also found that, for high-engagement sites, Friday was the best day to share health content, with 22% of social shares happening on that day. Health was the only industry other than entertainment and finance that had Friday in the top two days for social sharing. For mid- to low-engagement sites, Tuesday was by far the best day to share health content, with 25% of total shares happening on that day.

The weekends showed the least number of social shares for health content.

9) Travel

For this analysis, content about travel came from high-engagement sites like National Geographic, Travel & Leisure, Lonely Planet, and The Smart Local; and mid- to low-engagement sites like Trip Advisor, Budget Travel, Londonist, and A Luxury Travel Blog.

The Best Social Networks to Share Travel Content

Fractl and BuzzStream's analysis found that Facebook led all the other social networks in social shares for both high-engagement sites (by far, with 95% of the average social shares) and mid- to low-engagement sites (77% of the average shares).

The Best Days to Publish Travel Content

They also found that, for high-engagement sites, Tuesday and Wednesday tied for the best days to share travel content, with 19% of social shares happening on those days. For mid- to low-engagement sites, Wednesday was the best day to share travel content, with 20% of total shares happening on that day, followed closely by Thursday, which saw 19% of social shares happening on that day.

The weekends (especially Sunday) showed the least number of social shares for health content.

10) Finance

For this analysis, content about business came from high-engagement sites likeBloomberg, Forbes, The Economist, Wall Street Journal, and Reuters; and mid- to low-engagement sites like Daily Finance, 24/7 Wall St., National Post, and The Fiscal Times.

The Best Social Networks to Share Finance Content

Fractl and BuzzStream's analysis found that Facebook led all the other social networks in social shares for both high-engagement sites (86% of the average social shares) and mid- to low-engagement sites (64% of the average shares).

The Best Days to Publish Finance Content

They also found that, for high-engagement sites, Tuesday was the best day to share finance content, with 20% of social shares happening on that day, followed closely by Wednesday and Thursday, which both had 19% of total social shares happening on that day. For mid- to low-engagement sites, Friday was the best day to share finance content, with 19% of total shares happening on that day. Finance was the only industry other than health and entertainment that had Friday in the top two days for social sharing.

The weekends (especially Sunday) showed the least number of social shares for finance content -- although, for mid- to low-engagement sites, Saturday and Sunday still saw 11% and 10% of total social shares happening on those days, respectively.

11) Automotive

For this analysis, content about business came from high-engagement sites like Top Gear, NASCAR, Motor Authority, and The Car Connection; and mid- to low-engagement sites like Cars.com, Autotrader, Autoblog, and Green Car Reports.

The Best Social Networks to Share Automotive Content

Fractl and BuzzStream's analysis found that Facebook led all the other social networks in social shares for both high-engagement sites (by far, with 97% of the average social shares) and mid- to low-engagement sites (85% of the average shares).

The Best Days to Publish Automotive Content

They also found that Wednesday was the best day to share automotive content for all of the sites they analyzed. For high-engagement sites, Wednesday had 21% of total social shares; for mid- to low-engagement sites, Wednesday had 23% of social shares.

The weekends (especially Saturday) showed the least number of social shares for automotive content.

Major Thought Leaders in the Automotive Space

Among the automotive sites analyzed for this study, the most-shared sites were Motor Authority (among high-engagement sites) and Autoblog (among mid- to low-engagement sites).

There you have it: data to help you understand where to focus your social media outreach efforts for your niche industry. To learn more about promoting your content and generating leads, download our Comprehensive Guide to Content Promotion here.

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Are These Social Media Myths Hurting Your Strategy?

With so many people talking about social media these days, there’s bound to be a bit of misinformation thrown into the mix.

It can all get very confusing – especially if you’re new to the game. Even seasoned pros can be misled by all the half-truths floating around.

That’s why we’ve decided to separate fact from fiction by debunking some of the most pervasive myths in social media.

1. Success is measured in followers, right?

Wrong! In the follower-hungry landscape of social media, this is probably the most widely accepted untruth out there. Don’t get me wrong – having a ton of followers can most definitely be a signifier of success, but by no means is it the be-all-end-all of social media.

First of all, on platforms like Instagram you can cheat the system and literally buy followers. This means that a profile’s follower count might not be telling the whole story. And sure, it might make you seem cool on the surface, but those thousands of fake followers are never going to buy your product or engage with your posts in any meaningful way, which brings me to my next point…

Engagement trumps followers. Creating compelling content that a modest number of dedicated fans engage with and share regularly is a better outcome than having a huge follower base that ignores everything you post.

For many marketers, giving your existing fans the killer content that they’re looking for may be a better focus than obsessing over your follower count.

2. My brand needs to be on every social channel

We went over this one in our article on saving time on social media, but it’s worth pointing out again. Too many businesses dive headfirst into the social game and try to make it big on every channel.

The truth is, not every social network may be suited to your brand. Unless you have the time and resources to invest in creating a meaningful presence on every platform, it’s best to pick a few channels to focus on. The idea here is to avoid spreading yourself too thin. Determine which platforms your target market is using the most and spend your time mastering them.

Here’s our guide to figuring out which social media platform is right for your brand.

3. Social media marketing is free

This might be true for regular users, but for brands it’s a different story. The first thing to consider is the amount of time it takes to run your social media – it’s certainly a worthwhile cause for most, but it’s a time investment that takes away from other tasks.

Plus, we’ve seen a continuing trend of falling organic growth and engagement across Facebook and Instagram, which means paid ads are becoming more and more essential.

This shouldn’t put you off from delving into social media. It’s still a great way to connect with consumers and tell your brand’s story. But instead of viewing it as a free lunch, be willing to invest the time and resources into making it count.

4. Only young people use social media

Actually, you’d be surprised how untrue this is. Pew Center shed light on this earlier this year with some eye-opening figures. (Note: their study was based on an American sample population).

Their data showed that 79% of adults aged 30 to 49 are Facebook users, along with 64% of people aged 50 to 64. Even in the highest age bracket, a sizeable 48% of adults 65 and up are on the platform. Meanwhile, 28% of adults aged 30 to 49 use Instagram, and 29% of the same group use Twitter.

While there is a skew towards younger users across all channels, the numbers show that you can still reach mature demographics with social media (especially Facebook).

FACEBOOK

1. Facebook is dying

Your 14-year-old is wrong – the ‘Book is bigger than ever! It’s got whopping 1.59 billion monthly active users, which would make it the second largest country on Earth. Of those users, more than 1 billion log on every day. In other words, it remains the most popular social media platform by far.

It’s also responsible for a tremendous amount of traffic to websites. Just last year, it overtook Google as the leading source of referrals to media sites.

So should you be on Facebook? Yes. Be on Facebook. Absolutely be on Facebook.

2. Content posted via third-party apps gets lower engagement

Brands using third-party tools to schedule their posts can rest easy. There has been talk of lower reach and engagement rates, but this is (mostly) untrue.

In this study, Buffer concluded that there was no meaningful difference in reach between third-party and native Facebook content, based on their own page’s data and statements from Facebook. LKR Social found the same result in their study.

There are some exceptions, however. For example, automatically generated posts from Spotify do get penalized. The difference here is that these posts are completely automated without any explicit action from the user. If you’re creating your own content, you shouldn’t have a problem.

3. Facebook Ads are a waste of money

You hear this time and time again, but Facebook Ads may actually be one of the most cost-effective forms of advertising out there. The cost to reach 1000 people using Facebook Ads is $0.25 – compare that to $2.75 for Google AdWords, $7.00 for cable TV, and $32.00 for newspaper. In other words, they’re insanely affordable.

If you’re already using Facebook Ads and not seeing results, it’s probably time to switch up your strategy. Put extra care into crafting an eye-catching image and optimizing your headlines and copy. Wishpond goes over some great best practices in this article that will help you boost your ad’s performance.

TWITTER

1. More hashtags = more engagement

I’ll admit I was a little surprised when we released our study on hashtags last November. It turns out that Tweets without hashtags perform better than those with hashtags – probably not what you would expect.

It’s difficult to say just why this is the case. Perhaps it’s because hashtags make posts appear ‘spammy’. Whatever the reason, if you’re going to use hashtags you’ll want to avoid clichés and come up with something catchy and meaningful.

Check out our roundup of the most successful hashtag campaigns ever for some inspiration.

2. Twitter is all about text, text, text

Wrong, wrong, wrong! Twitter might be a text-based platform, but the savviest brands know that injecting some imagery into the mix makes for much more alluring content. Plain text just doesn’t catch the eye the way images do.

Remember our rule of thumb – if your post doesn’t have an image attached to it in some shape or form, there had better be a good reason. That’s especially important on Twitter, where tweets rapidly enter and leave a user’s feed. Make sure your content stands out.

image: http://cdn2.business2community.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/resource-social-media-pro-theme.jpg.jpg

3. I should tweet as often as possible

While Twitter tends to be more fast-paced than Facebook or Instagram, that doesn’t mean you should be tweeting everything that comes to mind.

A variety of studies have been done on the ideal tweeting frequency, and most tend to agree that three to five a day nets the highest engagement per tweet. After this, diminishing returns set in and engagement starts to slip.

On the other hand, Track Social points out that you can increase your overall daily engagement (engagement per tweet, of course, falls) by tweeting more. It’s worth experimenting with, but be aware that going overboard can lead to a) coming off as spammy and b) not putting enough thought into each tweet. And both of those lead to c) losing followers.

INSTAGRAM

1. Instagram data can’t be measured

Facebook and Twitter both have built-in analytics tools, but where does that leave Instagram? This is something you might be wondering if you’ve just started using social media to market your brand. Fortunately, the rise of analytics platforms has done away with this problem for good.

2. You need a professional photographer to create great content

Having a professional photographer on your team is certainly an asset, but anyone can learn how to create attractive visual content for Instagram using nothing but a smartphone. The iPhone’s camera is a surprisingly capable tool in the right hands. There are plenty of free resources available on the Internet that can show you how to make the most of it, like this video on composition techniques.

Ultimately, the key to success is identifying what kind of images your audience responds to and having the patience to learn how to create them.

3. Only ‘sexy’ brands do well on Instagram

Some brands have the upper hand on Instagram. That’s a given. You might not be Chanel or GoPro, but that doesn’t mean you can’t carve out your own niche.

Take PayPal for example. Without even having a tangible product to photograph, the tech company has managed to build a 30+ thousand strong following by delivering beautiful lifestyle images with an absolute minimum of branding.

It’s all about framing your brand in a way that fits Instagram’s aesthetic.

Know of any other social media myths that marketers should be aware of? Let us know in the comments below.

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