Your Business On Instagram

Why Your Business Should Be On Instagram

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As a business owner, you have a product that people want or need. You have a service that can make a difference in peoples’ lives.

But your business can only go so far if people don’t know about it! 

At Intact Marketing, we believe in the power of social media. It gives you an opportunity to build relationships with prospective customers, direct more traffic to your website, and improve your brand’s awareness.

Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest are all great social media channels, but have you ever considered using Instagram?

Visuals are still a form of content

Every marketer knows content is king, right? While it’s still important to post engaging content on social media, write educational blogs and send out emails, visual content is equally as important, if not more.

Instagram is based on a simple platform: tell stories through visuals. Upload a photo with a caption, and share with your followers. If you’re in the business of selling something, it’s a great opportunity to showcase your items and let your audience know what you can offer them. With over 300 million active users, there’s a big audience you can reach.

Creating content for Instagram can be challenging because you need images to communicate your brand’s story. If you can create a visual campaign and stick to it, you can reach your target audience through enticing photos and witty captions.

Why Instagram?

According to a study by Forrester Research, Instagram users are 58 times more likely to like, comment or share a post than on other social media channels, proving that it’s becoming one of the most popular social media mediums. In other words, if your business isn’t on Instagram, you’re not reaching a very wide prospective audience.

It might be a cliché, but a picture is worth a thousand words. Use this to your advantage and run a contest on your Instagram page. It’s an excellent way of engaging your audience. You can even ask them to use a specific hashtag when tagging their pictures. Then, search through the photos associated with the hashtag to learn more about who’s engaging with your business content and pick a winner. The more you can do to engage through visuals, the more you can grow your brand and increase sales.

Not convinced? While Instagram is a very popular social media marketing tool, it’s not the only one on the market.

Consider speaking to the experts at Intact Marketing. We bring knowledge and experience to every marketing project we work on and can help you develop a successful marketing strategy for your business.

Don’t forget to check out our website to learn about our online marketing solutions. Take it from our clients who have taken the time to share their experience with us!

We’re dedicated to helping your business grow in any way we can. Let’s work together.

 

Successful Social Media Strategy

How To Create a Successful Social Media Strategy

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Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, Tumblr, Vine, and the list goes on. There are a ton of social media channels, and most business are using them because they’re a great way to do the following:

  • Reach your target audience;
  • Grow your brand/reputation;
  • Generate sales/leads.

If you’re not on social media, chances are good your competitor is. That doesn’t mean it’s too late to join the social media world, but you have to do it right.

The first step in your social media marketing plan is to build a strategy, one that’s specifically designed to meet your business’ needs.

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It might seem like a lot of work, especially if you don’t know where to start.

Here are some tips to consider while you plan.

  • Pick your social networks

The social media network or channel you choose should work for your business. Perhaps you want a place to post awesome photos, or communicate directly with your audience. Think about why you want to use social media – this will help you make a decision as to what channel will work for you. Remember: you don’t have to be on every social media network; just the ones that are in line with your business goals.

  • Dedicate time and energy to doing it

Is your Instagram account designed to show off the latest and greatest products from your business? Are you using Facebook to provide valuable content? No matter what network you’re using, you have to devote time to being social online. Start off small – aim to spend at least half an hour a day on social media. This way, you can remain consistent without feeling like you’re overwhelmed.

  • Target the right demographic

Social media tools can help you determine which audiences are on what channel, as well as what they’re interested in. Play around with these tools so you can find out exactly where your customers are located. This way, you can reach them better on social media.

  • Complete your profile page

Your social media account(s) are a representation of your company. That’s why it’s important to spend time developing your channel and ensuring you upload information about your company, photos and more. You want your page to look authentic and real. Otherwise, users and potential customers may bypass it. With good visuals and content, your page will stand out from the rest.

  • Develop a strategy

This is where the fun happens! When it comes to social media, you have the ability to post content on specific dates, at specific times, and can even target your posts to specific demographics. With so many factors at play, it might be hard to do all of this at once!

Instead, pick one strategy and stick to it! If your goal is to publish relevant content, do it! Focus on posting without worrying about tracking time. If you’re more interested in posting frequently, then dedicate your time to strictly posting at any given time of the day. Alternatively, you can also be strategic about when you’re posting and focus your time on using the analytic tools within social media channels to determine when your followers are using social media. Track, then post away.

All three strategies are necessary to reach your social media goals (and grow your business). But doing all three at the same time might be too much to handle if you’re new to social media. Focus on taking your time and learning how to use social media before mastering the art.

  • Find your voice

When it comes to generating content, you want your readers to feel confident in you as a source of information. The same goes for social media. You need to find your voice and learn how to communicate in such a way that’s honest and true to you, but that will capture your audience’s attention.

  • Engage with your audience

Social media brings people together. It also brings peoples’ attention to your business. When you have followers who like and comment on your posts, communicate with them! Let them know that you’re paying attention and are a real person behind the page you’re managing.

Social media can seem like a wild new world to explore. If you need help getting your business online, why not contact an expert at Intact Marketing?  It’s our job to not only navigate you through the world of social media, but to help you every step of the way. We can set up your social media channels for you, put a content plan in place, engage with followers and more!

Get in touch with us, and see what a difference Intact Marketing can make in your social media marketing plan

Key To writing an engaging blog

The Key To Writing An Engaging Blog

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Everyone in the marketing industry will tell you that content is king. Why? Content, especially in the form of a blog, is a way for you – and your business – to stay in touch with current customers and entice new ones.

Writing for your audience is a way to grow your business by notifying people about your services, or educating them on what they should know.

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But coming up with the right content for your blog or email newsletter is not always easy. You need to capture your reader’s attention right away. When your audience needs something, your business or service will be top-of-mind.

Keep these tips in mind when you write:

Be conversational

When you sit down to right content, write as if you’re speaking to your audience in person. Make the written content casual by using language you use in everyday conversation. With this tip in mind, you’ll not only have an easier time writing, but your audience or reader will feel more connected because it’s been written with them in mind. On that same note, try not to use too much jargon – industry-related words. Keep your content simple and understandable.

Think quality over quantity

Don’t assume you need to write a 1,000-word blog post or email newsletter. You want to capture your audience’s attention, but you run the risk of losing that attention when a post is too long. After all, don’t you have a limited time to sit in front of the computer to read or check emails?

Keep your blog simple. Keep the message to the point. Provide quality content without worrying about quantity.

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Carefully craft your headline

The headline is the first written word your audience will see before they even begin reading your blog or email.

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After reading the headline, it could be the difference between continuing reading, or deleting the email or switching to a new webpage. In one simple line, summarize the point of your content, the main reason why someone should read it. Then, think about whether or not you would read it. Publish your content when you’re comfortable with what you’ve crafted.

Use proper formatting

The content itself should be easy to read, but so should the way the content is presented. If you’re writing a longer piece, format it so it’s easier for your audience to consume.

Using sub-headings will help keep your thoughts organized, thus keeping your audience focused.

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Using bullet points or numbers also makes it easier for your reader to follow the point you’re trying to get at.

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Finally, consider bolding key words to capture their attention. Bolding draws the readers’ eyes in to an important part of the content. It will also help them identify key points within the piece.

Add visuals

Your content is important, but your audience will appreciate a visual. Adding an image within the blog post or newsletter will not only break up the content, but also gives your reader something else to focus on, especially if that reader is a visual thinker. If you plan on repurposing this content on social media, the added visual is necessary to increase engagement.

Create call to action       

What’s the point of what you’re trying to tell your audience? You don’t want your reader to finish reading the email or blog post and ask themselves, “so what?”

Provide a call to action or solution at the end of the content to convince your audience of what they should do next

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Provide a call to action or solution at the end of the content to convince your audience of what they should do next especially if you are trying to get them to purchase one of your services. Not only will your content provide your reader with valuable information, but you’re also offering help or a solution at the same time.

Be honest!

You’re establishing a relationship with your audience by communicating with them. That’s why it’s important to be upfront and honest. Give your audience specific examples of what they need to know and don’t shy away from revealing some facts about yourself and your business. For example, if company revenues are an important part of your content creation, be upfront about it! Being authentic gives you an authoritative voice, one your readers will appreciate and seek out again.

To market yourself or your services, you need to tell people about it! If content marketing isn’t your forte, why not hire an expert in marketing? Intact Marketing has the tools and expertise to market your business. Check out our website to see what we’ve done for other business. Contact us to find out what Intact Marketing can do for yours.

 

Inprove Your Engagement on Social Media

Improve Engagement On Your Social Media Channels

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When you’re trying to grow your business, the best way to generate an audience is to publish content. Your target customer needs to find you in order for your business to thrive. One of the best ways to reach your target audience is to use social media.

Social media marketing is not about selling and posting random content.

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Companies and brands need to engage with their fans and followers in a number of different formats.

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As a result, they’ll build relationships, brand reputation and community over time.

Whether your favourite medium is Facebook, Twitter or Instagram, use it to your advantage!

Here are some ways to boost engagement on social media, while growing your business:

 

Learn who your audience is

Chances are good you already know who your target audience is based on your business and what you’re providing. But using social media regularly will give you a more in-depth look at who you should be marketing your services to. Facebook and Twitter have unique analytical tools that give you information, such as age, gender, interests and language. When you know your audience’s interest, you can target your social media campaigns and content to that in order to increase engagement.

More engagement can convert into a purchaser later because your business will be on top of mind when they need it.

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Use #hashtags to your advantage

Once you’ve established an audience base on social media, it’s time to expand your audience. Seek out new customers by using hashtags related to your business. Once you see what people are saying about the business you’re in, you’ll be able to join the conversation and invite them to check out what you have to offer!

Share your content

In order to market your business, you must produce content to educate your audience about it.

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Instead of just driving your audience to your website or sending out emails to subscribers, share your content via social media. This way, you can deliver as much content as you want in a short period of time to your audience. The key, however, is to make sure the content is in line with your audience’s interests.

Build relationships

While you use social media to connect with future customers, it’s also a great opportunity to develop a social relationship with them.

Engage in conversation with your followers, even if it’s not about your proposed business.

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By expressing interest in your audience, they’ll remember you.

 

Social media marketing costs less than traditional forms of advertising

If you’re frustrated spending money and time coming up with creative forms of marketing that goes into print or online mediums, consider using social media. While you may not have hours on end to spend on social media, it doesn’t cost you anything and is a great way to market your business/services. If you choose to invest a few dollars in social media marketing, you can run a campaign for your audience to win a gift card or voucher to save on your services. It’s not only a great way to get your audience to purchase from you, but leads to increased engagement.

 

Establish your brand and customer service

After you’ve worked hard to establish a relationship with your audience on social media, show them that you’re running a legitimate business, one that takes care of its customers.

By engaging in conversation with your audience, you’ll have the ability to answer questions or handle any customer service issues. It shows customers that you’re reachable and helps you establish your brand in your industry. When customers feel like they’re properly treated, they’ll visit your business again for its services.

Social media marketing only works if you have the time to use it. If you have the time but don’t know how to carefully craft a social media marketing plan, let the experts at Intact Marketing help you. Our team is dedicated to online marketing and can help grow your business on social media. Visit our website to see a list of clients and our portfolio!

Start growing your business with Intact Marketing.

How To market to millennials

How to Market to Millennials

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Millennials are setting trends, either with the adoption of social media, new technology, and even new ideas.  They’re the folks born roughly between 1980 and 1995: the so-called “Generation Y.”

A study by Forbes showed that only 1 per cent of millennials said an advertisement would make them trust a brand more.

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 The group is also the highest demographic of Internet users that install adblocking software.

In a study done by PageFair, 41 per cent millennials in the US have adblocking software of some kind installed.

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 In short, advertising campaigns are not very effective at reaching this demographic and even if they do see the ad, it isn’t going to have much effect.

They want social poofs

Millennials do not want to have something sold to them, but they do want recommendations from friends and family, experts, or even simply a person.

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They respond much better to social media content, conversation, stories, entertainment, and education rather than typical marketing messages and strategies.  For example, a brand like Taco Bell employs a social media strategy that involves humour and engaging with people on Twitter and Facebook.

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Many millennials will look at blogs and reviews before buying into a product, and

62 per cent say they are more likely to become a loyal customer if a brand engages them on social media, according to the Forbes study.

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Engagement, therefore, is key.

Typically most companies will develop a product and hope that their design works in their target market.  42 per cent of millennials, according to the Forbes study, say they’re interested in helping a company tailor a product to their desires.  Getting the customer involved in shaping a service will attract this demographic.  

A unique way to interact with clients and customers is to ask them to help you design something they would be interested in buying.

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 Not only are you creating a product that they will want to purchase, customers will see the effect their suggestions had on the final product.

Support a cause

Another method of attracting millennials attention is giving back to society.

Millennials, during their formative years in high school and college were bombarded with stories of corporate greed, record profits, financial meltdowns, and billion-dollar businesses.  Forbes says 75 per cent of them said it’s important for a company to give back to society in some way, usually through supporting local communities.  This isn’t a simple charitable donation: a bit of community involvement and participation in events can go a long way.

Go where the millennials are

For modern-day marketers hanging out where the Millennials hang out is crucial if you want to reach them. Considering that 85% of them have bought something after seeing it on social media, it’s essential to know just which social platforms they are hanging out in.

According to Social Media Today, Millennials’ top five social hangouts are:

  • YouTube (64%)
  • Facebook (51%)
  • Instagram (45%)
  • SnapChat (42%)
  • Twitter (28%)

The survey also found that video ads are the most effective for the younger portion of Millennials.

To see positive results in your marketing campaigns it is crucial to know your audience and learn how to appeal to them. Each generation comes with its own uniqueness, preferences, and priorities. The Millennial generation is tech-savvy, too smart to be pandered to, socially conscious, and not interested in the established norm. If you want to successfully market to Millennials, you have to work hard to capture their attention, be authentic, and give them the information that they are interested in.

So if you have a product or service that is targeting millennials keep these suggestions in mind. What worked 10 years ago might not be the best marketing strategy when your targeted clients are the GenerationY folks.  Be open to new strategies and mould your marketing tactics according to what works today.

 

Grow your email list

Why growing your eMail list is crucial to build your business?

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One of the biggest pitfalls people fall into when they’re trying to reach existing and potential customers is relying on social media to get the job done. The reality is that these tools — while important — actually don’t reach the people you want to get in touch with all that effectively.

The best way to get a hold of someone is to email them.

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That’s a basic mantra of modern day communications. If you email someone, they will certainly get it at some point. The same thing applies to your customers, and you should be using it to your advantage.

The money is in the list! But why?

The main reason is that the vast majority of people who use the Internet also use email (90 per cent of users, according to internetworldstats.com). Having an email address is almost synonymous with Internet usage. Also, changing your email address is always a pain and only happens after a lot of kicking and screaming. People still hang on to their old hotmail accounts. If you have someone’s email address, you have a more or less permanent way to get in touch with them, whereas a Facebook or Twitter account can be simply deleted or ignored.

If you have someone’s email address, you have a more permanent way to get in touch with them.

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Your email is much more likely to be read. Research has shown that the lifetime of a Facebook post is about four or five hours. Most people who are going to see the post will see it in that time, after which the likelihood of someone reading it goes down. For Twitter, this lifetime is only an hour. 75 per cent of people won’t even see your Facebook posts, and 90 per cent of Twitter followers will miss a tweet.

Email, on the other hand, will continue to be read at a stead pace for about 12 days before the likelihood of someone reading it goes down. Your email list will penetrate and actually be seen instead of ignored or missed entirely.

People check their email religiously, so having your message appear there will make it that much more effective.

Finally, an email is personal.

When someone subscribes to your email list, they’re extending a sort of trust towards you.

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Not only are they more likely to read something you send to them, they are also engaged on a personal level because they’ve invested that part of themselves to you already.

This makes it important to send whatever it is you send to your email list from an account you can reply with and never pester them with spam or junk mail.  Sometimes people may want to send you a message back with questions or comments. This allows you to talk to your subscribers in a one-on-one environment, a much more personal approach than a public post that anybody could stumble by and read.

Email is still the king of getting the message out, no matter what that message might be.