Influence Marketing Change

How Facebook’s New Creator Amplification Tool Will Change Influence Marketing.

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Influence marketing is changing the way brands and marketers reach their audience.

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In the last few years we saw an increase in companies and brands tapping into influencer’s audience by using the influencer’s authentic voice. Statistics shows that about 50% of marketers are planning to increase their influence marketing spends from year-over-year.

Now Facebook just announced their new creator amplification tool that will help marketers to boost their influencer’s post and with that this will give marketers access to a lot of insights that are important to see the effectiveness of the influencer and their campaign.

With influence marketing becoming a mainstream marketing strategy unfortunately there has been a growing number of fake influencer accounts where an influencer might have large amount of followers by simply buying followers and likes, but those accounts while might look nice on the outside they would not benefit the marketer as there is no real connection and influence with the followers.

So how the creator amplification tool will help marketers?

The marketer will be able to track important insights and see how effective the influencer and the campaign is.

A creator (influencer) writes a post on their own page and tags the brand or business in the post. Now, with the new creator amplification tool, the brand or business has the ability to boost the post that appears on the creator’s page! Marketers can use Facebook targeting and custom audience to reach more people.

The marketer can choose to boost the post to those who like the page (the influencer’s audience) and /or choose to boost the page to custom audience. The marketer then will have access to important insights like reach, engagement, total spend and CPM and this will help them to determine the effectiveness of the post and the influencer.

This new tool will help marketers to choose influencers who can effectively market a product or service to their audience.

How the creator amplification tool will help influencers?

Having a large audience will no longer cut it.

If you built an engaged audience then this will be your time to shine as the fake influencers simply won’t get the results marketers are looking for. For years I been preaching this: it’s not about how big your followers are but rather how engaged they are. You will get better results with a small but engaged follower niche than you would with a huge number of fake followers. When it comes to social media, it’s not just about numbers, but rather engagement.

Facebook more likely will tweak its algorithm.

Based on the history of Facebook, my assumption is that Facebook will make it harder for influencer’s content to reach organically, especially if the content is tagged with a brand partner as they want to get their share of $$ and want brands to boost the post.

So my suggestion is to have the influencer and marketer work closely together, check the insights of the post and do what is needed to make the campaign successful. If needed let the marketer boost the post, if it’s better then remove the brand tag and just reach the influence’s audience organically.

These are new options that we just need to maximize in a way that will benefit both the marketer and the influencer while Facebook wants to maximize their $$ growth.

 

This update is taking influence marketing to new grounds and the questions most are asking is how will this influence Instagram, which has emerged as the number one platform for influence marketing and is also owned by Facebook

social media marketing

Finding Your Voice In An Overcrowded Social Sphere.

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Every minute thousands of messages bombard us and fight for our attention. Millions of social media posts, tweets, and videos are shared every single minute and they all claim to be the best!

So as a business owner, or brand how do you find you authentic voice? How do you stand out? When every other company (your competitors) claims that they are the most “qualified” “professional” “experts” “ninjas” – and while some might be, others just know how to use the right marketing jargons – how do you really stand out? How can you cut through the BS and separate yourself from the masses to stand out in an overcrowded social sphere in a way that captures your targeted potential clients.

This is the question I get asked over and over again when I sit down with business owners who struggle to understand how social media works and how to have a social presence that will be meaningful and not just a waste of time and resources.

This is when we come in to help you identify your strength, weakness, and uniqueness and create your authentic voice.

How to find your voice in an overcrowded social sphere?

You have to be brutally honest about who you are, what is your strength, what is your weakness and what separates you from others.

  1. Who you are.

As a business owner your personal character and personality more than anything will impact your business on every single level. Every choice and decision you make really is a reflection of who you are. Your personal life cannot be separated from your business life. What’s important for you is what motivates you. Your business’ why, mission and vision is a reflection of you!

Take time to clarify your top 10 most important things that reflect you are.

(We spend time and ask many questions from our clients to get to know them as much as possible and often this is the time for many of our clients to actually get a clear picture of who they are for themselves too.)

What is the most important for you: health, money, relationship, family? Are you shy, sarcastic, introvert, extrovert? What kind of social injustice makes you to stay up at night? What are your fears? What are your political views? Is religion important for you? What kind of activities do you do regularly? What are your goals? What is the legacy you want to leave behind you?

These are important, as these will be part of the content we create for you (or you create for yourself). Because it’s only one of you and we want to make sure that your personality comes through clearly.

 

  1. What is your strength?

When you spend time reflecting on who you really are and what are the things that are the utmost important to you, you will easily identify your strength. Your strength is what can take your vision and goals into a reality. It’s what moves you, it’s part of your unique DNA and it drives you to reach new levels.

We want to make sure that this is what you spend the most of your time. This is usually your sweet spot, is what you like to do and as a business owner you want to spend most of your time doing what you’re great at.

Your strength can be a great content resource for your social presence. It can empower and inspire others. It can be great resource for those who’s weakness is your strength. So we do spend time with you to clearly clarify your strength.

 

  1. What’s your weakness?

We all have weaknesses! It’s nothing to be ashamed of. To build a great business and leave a great legacy it’s important to have a team! You have to find people who are great at what you’re not! You have to write down the things you hate to do in your personal life and in your business. It’s so sad to see business owners spend waste amount of time doing the things they hate to do just because they want to be in control or they can’t afford it (or they thing so). Some businesses will fail just because business owners do parts of the business that is their weakness and hate it.

Clarifying your weakness is absolutely important in finding your social voice and content creation too. We don’t want to share content that you are not focused or you don’t have yet the right person. However the social sphere can be a great place to connect with those who would be great partners or additions to your business.

For example English is my second language so I do have a content writer and editor who reads through my content and corrects my errors.

 

  1. What’s your uniqueness?

Once you know who you are, what your strength are weaknesses are – it will be easy to identify your uniqueness. Sometimes what you thing as a weakness can be a uniqueness for you. For example English is my second language and I do have an accent and I personally always thought of it as a weakness. However, many of my clients whom I work with and train find it as a positive as get their full attention and they pay close attention to what I say.

We spend time identifying your uniqueness and use that in the content we create with you. Your uniqueness is a great source to entertain others or to inspire others and we would use it on your social sphere.

Once we go through these steps of personal and business identification we can create your authentic voice that reflect you and your business! We would then create content that would draw in potential clients that can benefit from your product or services.

The truth is we live in an over saturated social world, however more than ever I can clearly see that people are looking for real people, real businesses whit whom they can connect on a more personal level.

People are attracted to those who can inspire them, entertain them or share valuable information that they desperately need.

When you become that voice, people will connect, listen and buy! So be that voice, and if you need help we are here to help you get your authentic voice out and build connections that will benefit both you and those who listen.

 

Instagram Surpasses Twitter and Facebook Engagement

Instagram Surpasses Facebook and Twitter on Brand Engagement

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Whether you’re an entrepreneur who uses social media to create brand awareness, or are simply an avid social media user, you understand the importance of developing your brand online. With millions of users on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Google+ and Vine to name a few channels, which one do you focus your energies on? This latest social media news can provide some insight.

Forrester, a research organization with specialized focus in business and technology, conducted a study that indicates Instagram has surpassed Facebook and Twitter when it comes to brand engagement.

Instagram has seen exponential growth with 300 million users in comparison to Twitter’s 284 million. While Facebook has an incomparable 1.44 billion active users, Instagram has a higher growth rate and more importantly, a more engaged community. According to Forrester, 4 per cent of brands’ total followers have engaged with the content on Instagram compared to the other social media channels.

Socialbakers, a marketing partner that allows for tracking and analytics, took the survey results and compared it to the top 25 brands in Instagram engagement with the top 25 on Twitter. Three months’ worth of data indicates that one post on Instagram will receive more engagement (measured by likes and comments) in comparison to a post on Twitter (measured by retweets, replies and favourites). Despite the fact that there are more ways for a social media user to engage with content on Twitter, it’s falling behind.

A study released last May indicated that Instagram’s follower engagement surpassed Facebook by 58 times.

What does this mean when it comes to marketing your business online?

Engagement is key in order to not only develop your brand, but to establish a relationship with followers that will eventually convert to a customer.

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With Instagram’s growing popularity, it’s becoming important for businesses to market themselves across all platforms, especially Instagram. With 70 million photos uploaded to Instagram on a daily basis, it’s become an important marketplace for any business, entrepreneur and brand.

If your brand isn’t on Instagram yet, it’s time to join. With high levels of engagement, this could be a great opportunity for your business’ growth and brand message.

Having said that, it doesn’t mean you should neglect your Facebook and Twitter accounts? While one social media platform might be surpassing another when it comes to engagement, that doesn’t mean you should neglect other social media platforms. Having a presence on all social media channels will help you spread your brand message and connect with targeted audiences across all spectrums. After all, you don’t want to leave any stone unturned in the digital marketing world.

There’s a difference between being a user on social media and actively promoting a business or brand message.

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If you’re having trouble developing a strategy to promote growth, why not speak to the experts at Intact Marketing? We pride ourselves in working with clients to develop social media strategies that will help represent the brand and capture the targeted audience’s attention.
Don’t get lost in the social media world. Instead, let Intact Marketing guide you through the process of how to use social media channels that are right for you and your business!

 

 

Effective Social Media Marketing Tips

5 Effective Social Media Marketing Tips

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You CAN be social and manage your social media correctly!

Do you have multiple social media channels with profiles or accounts for your business? It’s not uncommon for businesses to let their social media accounts fall by the wayside because as business is busy, there’s less time to attract new audiences and engage with your current ones.

With proper planning and strategizing, you can create a social media plan for the year ahead and stick to it!

Here’s what you need to do:

  • Be committed!

Before you begin writing your social media plan for Facebook, Twitter and other social media channels you want to maintain a digital presence, it’s important to make a promise to yourself that you’ll stick with your social media plan!

Remember, growing and maintaining your audience online, takes time.

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Not only that, but those relationships must be nurtured once your business’ presence grows. That’s why you have to be committed to being on social media and following the plan you’ll develop.

By putting in the time, effort and resources into social media, you’ll experience gratification in being active and engaged while improving your online presence.

  • Decide where you’ll activate your presence, then do it!

With the multiple social media platforms on the market, you’ll have to decide which ones are right for your business. If you can promote your product online using videos, YouTube and Vine might be suitable for your business. Is your business more photo-driven? Instagram might be your top choice, and consider adding Facebook and Twitter into the mix too! Once you’ve made your choice, work ahead to create the content you’ll be posting on each social media platform. Schedule Facebook posts in advance and consider using Tweetdeck or Buffer to schedule tweets. This way, you don’t have to worry about posting on a daily basis.

Having said that, what you will have to do daily is start conversation with your audience, respond to likes/comments/retweets, etc. Make this part of your daily routine. Put a checkmark in your calendar every time you’ve spend even 20 minutes engaging on social media channels. Do a little bit at a time every day in order to not get overwhelmed (falling behind could be overwhelming), and stay relevant at the same time.

  • Generate content

A strong social media plan not only includes a calendar of what content will be posted on one day (attributing artwork to it is a huge plus!), but content that can be uploaded to social media. A well thought-out blog post that’s educational and informative is a great way to engage with your audience and keep them updated on what they need to know.

Make a point of creating blog posts regularly and sending them to social media.

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This will not only give you an authentic voice in the community, but will help drive consumers from your social media pages to your website. Become a reliable and useful expert in the industry. Your audience will see that.

  • Add promotions to the mix

Sticking to your social media plan will help generate an audience, but what about targeting the people that don’t know about you? Running promotional ads on social media and offering a giveaway will get your audience excited about what you’re doing! It’s a great way to spread the message about your brand, while keeping your current audience engaged.

  • Ask for help when you need it

Scheduling posts in advance and making a conscious effort to engage online on a daily basis will help you develop and maintain a healthy online presence. If you’re finding that it’s too much for you to maintain (thus preventing you from sticking to your social media plan), then it might be time to involve an expert in your social media plans.

That’s where Intact Marketing comes in. We have the ability to establish, grow and optimize your social media platforms. We can start by auditing your current social media platforms and suggest ways to improve it. We’ll even help you maintain the channels to ensure your audience is consistently engaged.

If the thought of social media overwhelms you, don’t let that stop you from activating your online presence. Let’s work together to develop and execute a social media plan!

Why Twitter Changed Its Favourites To Hearts

Why Twitter Changed Its Favourites To Hearts

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Do you remember logging onto Twitter last month to find Twitter completely changed the way you favourite a tweet?

Ok, it wasn’t a significant change, but it was noticeable: the favourite icon was replaced by the all too familiar heart.

By now, you’re probably used to the change. You may have even forgotten the change happened, but we wanted to find out what motive was behind the Twitter swap.

It’s easier to understand

The favourite existed for a few reasons:

  • It enticed users to literally favourite a quirky tweet or comment;
  • It gave users the opportunity to bookmark the tweet to read a link later;
  • It’s a way to essentially support the author by favouriting what they’re saying, indicating you agree.

People who have been using Twitter for years have grown to understand how the favourite works. It was established in 2006, around the same time Twitter was born, enabling users to get used to it and use it in ways they saw fit. That doesn’t mean, however that all social media users got it, hence the change.

  • Why a heart

A heart is symbolic and a widespread recognizable icon, more so than a star. This universal symbol is understood across all generations, cultures and languages, which according to Twitter, makes it a better fit for its purpose.

  • The change wasn’t out of the blue

It seemed like one day we were favouriting tweets and liking them the next, but it wasn’t an overnight decision for Twitter. In fact, the social media giant had spent time researching and testing the replacement of favourites with likes as far back as 2012.

Tests confirmed the heart was in the running to replace the beloved star because it was used more often as opposed to the star.

Here’s what Twitter had to say on its blog:

“We want to make Twitter easier and more rewarding to use, and we know that at times the star could be confusing, especially to newcomers. You might like a lot of things, but not everything can be your favourite.”

  • It’s consistent with other popular social media channels

Those who have been using social media for years recognize the ‘like’ not because it’s a universal symbol, but for the simple fact that it’s found on other social media mediums like Instagram and Periscope.

Facebook has its own ‘like’ button, but not in the form of a heart.

  • Will it entice new users?

Although testing began in 2012, the need for change became more apparent this year because Twitter has been struggling to recruit new users. Since Twitter wanted to make its platform more user-friendly, the change seemed like a smart move.

But will it have an impact on the new users Twitter desires?

According to a study by FiveThirtyEight, hearts are among the most popular emojis on Twitter. It’s also one of the most commonly used emojis ever, so it’s a logical step. That familiarity can ease the transition into the social media world for newcomers. Will you be one of them?

Intact Marketing can introduce you to Twitter

Maybe you’re new to the Twitter world, or have Twitter and don’t know how to operate it. That’s where Intact Marketing comes in. It’s our job to be experts when it comes to social media. We’re here to help you activate social media accounts and manage them for you.

Twitter is one of the most popular networking sites and can be a very useful tool in helping you grow your business. After all, your competitors are likely on Twitter right now.

Rather than spend your free time trying to understand Twitter and identify how to use it to grow your business, let us do the work. We’ll manage your profile and help you gather more followers so your business can develop an online reputation.

We have a variety of packages and plans that will suit your needs. Visit our website for an overview and to learn more about how we can work for you.

With the many social media channels, rules and changes, it’s hard to keep up. That’s why Intact Marketing is here.

Must have elements of a well designed website

Must Have Elements of a Well Designed Website

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We live in a digital world where it’s almost impossible not to find a business online. Technology has evolved and with it, businesses have adapted to the change in order to stay relevant and profitable.

Having a storefront is no longer the key to success; maintaining a strong online presence.

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Here’s why:

  • It’s a powerful marketing tool that lets people find you and the services you’re offering. Most consumers will do research on their needs and their search begins online
  • Having an online presence gives any business credibility. That’s because most consumers assume businesses will have a website. Without one, consumers might not take the business seriously. It’s important in order to establish a reputation.

Once you’ve decided that you need a website, you should maximize it to its full potential.

A well-designed website should include the following:

  • A purpose

Do you want to educate consumers about your business or organization? Is it a place for people to shop? Think about the type of consumer you’re trying to attract to your website. This will give yourself an idea of how your website should function in order to meet the needs of your consumers and generate more business. 

  • Content 

Content is an important part of any website. It gives you the opportunity to educate and communicate with your customers and connect with new ones. Whether you’re writing blog posts, or simply loading descriptions of your content/services, you want to capture your audience’s attention right away. Be conversational and speak directly to your reader. It will help them connect with you and will influence them in the buying process when it comes time to purchase a service or product. Also optimize your content with right keywords – this will help you rank in Google when someone is searching for your products or services.

  • Easy Navigation

The right type of content on your website is important, but so is the way it’s laid out on your website. That includes organizing the content into headings or categories and using bullet points for large pieces of text. Think about how  easy is for your consumer to navigate through the website to find what they’re looking for. Organizing your content into drop-down menus is a great way to keep everything in their rightful place on your website.

  • Simple fonts

You’ve got the content you want to post online and will have it properly organized. The next logical step in getting your content read is to ensure it’s readable. Present your content using a simple font. Picking a font that’s overly fancy may be distracting to the eye. Remember, you want your viewer’s experience to be a fun, yet purposeful one. Directing them to a page with fonts that don’t accurately represent your business (and aren’t pleasing to the eye) may prevent your viewer from completing their purpose on your site.

  • Don’t be afraid of colour

Choose a soft, yet colourful palette for your website. Complementing colours will create balance and help your content stand out if you use contrasting colours that are pleasing and professional.

When it comes to colours – think about what colour represents your business and your message. Every colour carries a meaning and feel. For brand recognition and continuity you want all your marketing materials to deliver your business message, so keep your website aligned with all your other marketing materials.

  • Add graphics

They say a picture is worth a thousand words, right? Leverage your business online by including infographics and other images that directly speak to your business. Often times, they can effectively communicate a thought and directly target your average consumer. There are plenty of free stock photo websites where you can find appropriate images to suit your needs.

Intact Marketing can make this happen for you

Designing a website and the content, infographics and images that go with it is a lot of work. If you don’t have experience in the design world, you may find it frustrating to create your own website while ensuring it has all of the above.

That’s where Intact Marketing comes in. We’re a full-service marketing company that can assist you with your digital imprint. Whether you need a brand new website designed, or need changes to your current one, we offer flexible packages to suit your needs.

We invite you to take a look at our extensive portfolio – Intact Marketing has designed and managed many company websites. You’ll notice they’re interactive, eye-catching and professional. All of these elements help your business thrive. That’s our mission when it comes to developing your website and personal brand online.

Make a strong impression online with a website that’s designed for success with Intact Marketing!