With over half the world on social media, it makes sense that your new SaaS startup should be on social media as well.

But where do you begin? Facebook can be crowded, Reddit can be downright confusing, and LinkedIn is usually best suited for B2B conversations. Finding a way to stand out from the crowd can be exhausting, assuming you have a strategy in place to begin with.

Social media is where the customers are in control, so to succeed in social media marketing for SaaS, you have to meet them where they are. ​​The tips below will help you do precisely that.

Learn the social media platforms

In the 20th century, the phrase “social networking” was a virtual unknown. Today, there are dozens of social media sites (if not hundreds) that crop up every single day, hoping to gain a share of the market and your attention.

Realistically though, anywhere from 10 to 15 social media sites are worth your time  — and even then, only if they suit your needs. Facebook is the resident juggernaut, followed by YouTube, TikTok, and Instagram. WhatsApp is one of the main platforms in European and Asian markets.

Scale your efforts back even further, though. Instead of trying to learn all of the social media platforms, focus on one and learn everything about it. The obvious choice for this would be Facebook since it boasts nearly 3 billion active users, but if your brand requires video, think about using YouTube or Instagram.

Experience is the best teacher when it comes to learning a platform, but you should also look into taking free online courses that can help you understand each outlet’s capabilities. StuDocu, for instance, offers a number of online educational materials and learning resources that anyone can access to expand their knowledge about a specific platform or social media marketing for SaaS.

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Focus on social media awareness

Although social media can be utilised across all parts of the SaaS marketing funnel, it’s best used at the TOFU (Top of Funnel) stage. At this point, your only objective is to generate as much awareness as you possibly can. You should look to inform your audience about the various products and services you offer and the values that your brand strives to achieve.

How you do this is contingent on your capabilities and your resources. Status updates are given on sites like Facebook and Twitter, but you can also utilise long-form blog content to teach your customers how to use your software or educate them about the industry. Professional tips and tactics are also welcome.

Another effective content type is user testimonials. Even as a startup, you should have a few generous reviews from your current customers, so create some graphics that highlight the various strengths of your software and publish them to your channel. SaaS LMS systems offer scalable and flexible solutions for educational needs, making them a valuable asset for startups aiming to enhance their training and development programs.

This technically counts as user-generated content, which describes any piece of content that is not developed in-house. On occasion, your employees may assist with creating UGC, but it always works better when the potential customer hears or sees the product in action from other customers. Be sure to tag whoever created that content for you in the comments or in the caption to help expand your reach.

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Invest in high-quality visuals

when it comes to social media marketing for SaaS, It doesn’t really matter which platform you use; visuals are important.

They can also be the most challenging. Infographics need to be detailed, and the statistics need to be verified. Gifs need to be visible on the platform, not a link that takes you to a third-party website. Pictures should be high definition, not grainy photos that look like they were taken through a potato. 

All of this costs money, whether you’re paying for a graphic designer or spending staff resources to create these images. But, once you do, the ROI is there; social media posts that include high-quality images typically get 650% higher engagement than those that don’t. Plus, you can repurpose these across multiple platforms.

But creating images is the easy part. The real question is what the content of those images looks like.

Most businesses choose to focus on video rather than still images, which is perfect for your SaaS startup. Live video, in particular, works really well. You can have a live question and answer session, a behind-the-scenes tour of the product and its capabilities, and panel discussions from various industry experts. This type of video shows your brand’s vulnerability and authority.

SaaS explainer videos work really well, too. It doesn’t necessarily need to be professionally produced. Still, a well-done video that shows your product and services in action can help customers visualise it in their own lives, which can go a long way.

Content is king. Blog articles, newsletters, or even investing in a podcast platform to share interviews and expert advice — all of it can be enhanced with a few high-quality images or videos.

Create partnerships

The very nature of social media is that it is collaborative. Forming communities and participating actively in groups strengthens our sense of belonging, so it makes sense that creating partnerships with complementary businesses will only benefit your startup.

To get started, identify a few brands that complement your business. These may be in the same industry — or even a competitor — or they could be in a completely separate niche. A lawn care company, for instance, may partner with a home cleaning service to provide bundled services to both audiences. 

Alternatively, you can share your resources with other businesses to increase visibility. For example, you could hire a writer to create long-form content for your SaaS product, then give it to other companies (as long as you get the link in the credit) to give to their audiences. Just make sure that it benefits everyone, or else the reputation of everybody involved will suffer.

Sponsorship is also a great way to give your business a quick, initial boost. Reach out to a company whose audience is in your target market, and offer a free trial of your product. You may have to pay for the initial placement, but if done correctly, you can create a valuable partnership that benefits everyone.

It’s important to remember that business relationships should not consist of one-off benefits. Instead, look to form collaborative relationships that you can harvest for years to come.

Leverage social media industry influencers

In years past, marketers typically referred to influencers as endorsers, but the concept is the same. Your company is paying somebody else to share your product with their audience for a small fee. Obviously, the larger the audience, the more you’ll have to pay for their endorsement, so make sure you find the right influencer that will help you have the broadest reach.

Instead of automatically paying for top talent, consider looking for mid-level influencers with a wad of engagements with their current market. Often, these influencers are eager to have sponsorship deals because it gives them added credibility to their audience. Moreover, if these influencers reach more people in time, you’ll have a relationship with them already that you’ll be able to leverage down the road.

Influencers work well because of the so-called “halo effect.” This theory argues that if someone likes a certain aspect of something — their speaking style, fashion choices, or political beliefs — you subconsciously assume certain other things about their character. If they speak well, for instance, they must also be intelligent. If they are attractive, they’d have to also be funny.

By the same token, if people associate positive feelings toward an influencer, they’ll transfer those positive feelings to your brand. That’s just one of the reasons that influencer marketing is expected to multiply exponentially over the next several years, just as it has in the past. Utilise it correctly, and it can be one of the biggest boosts to your SaaS startup.

Utilise social media paid ads

If you really want to push the envelope with your early-stage social media SaaS marketing, paid ads are hard to beat. Facebook has made the bulk of its fortune by harvesting and sharing important demographic data with advertisers, and other platforms have followed suit. 

Since social media’s organic reach has dropped over the past couple of years, marketers have been forced to use paid advertisements to enter communities that they wouldn’t be able to reach otherwise. The key is developing an audience that you can communicate with consistently, then retarget them with offers for your products and services.

In the beginning, you may not have a budget for social media marketing for SaaS or even an audience to work with. Start with low-budget awareness ads that simply announce who you are, then use that data to create your custom audience. You’ll also develop crucial insights into what kind of messaging your audience does and doesn’t respond to, which will transfer to other platforms.

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Offer customer support

Social media is the perfect intersection between businesses and customers, so it makes sense that customer service could be one of the use cases for sites like Facebook and Reddit. After all, if people log on to social media to complain about a product or service, it’s in the business’s best interest to respond on that same platform.

The research backs this up. 54% of survey respondents said they had a more favourable view of a specific brand after seeing them respond to complaints on social media. Failure to respond to comments at all can lead to a 15% churn rate for your customers. Those are two numbers that any SaaS startup needs to pay attention to. 

Customer requests can also be a gold mine for market research, especially in the early days. When you’re just finding out which aspects of your product and messaging work and which don’t, getting near-instant feedback from your customers is invaluable. This shapes your brand to respond to what customers want, not what you think they want.

The reactive nature of social media has prompted many SaaS businesses to also use their platforms as a storefront. Businesses can build their profiles to include in-app checkout, tags for various product categories, and links back to their main page. Copy AI builds on this idea by creating Instagram posts that share tips and offers on their products, like a sentence rewriter.

“Done is better than perfect”

Two things matter the most when it comes to social media marketing for SaaS: consistency and intentionality. Every venture into a new platform needs to come with a strategy parallel to it – one that you plan on following through to the end.

For that reason, worry less about taking the “right” step and focus on taking a step in general. Get present, get active, and start trying to reach your audience where they are.

Enjoyed this post? You might also like:

• Your Ultimate Guide to Instagram Carousel Posts
• Top 10 Tips for Instagram Growth for Small Businesses
• How to Choose The Best Social Media Management Tool for Your Business

Sarang Padhye

Sarang is a passionate content marketer and Account Manager at uSERP. He runs a successful blog on filmmaking and advertising and loves writing copy for video commercials in his spare time.

The post 8 Tips for Social Media Marketing for SaaS Startups in 2024 appeared first on Hopper HQ.

Grow Your Audience With #Hashtags

Discover better hashtags to reach the more people, grow your follower count and get more engagement on your posts.

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What is a hashtag?

Even if you are new to social media networking, you have probably seen the hashtag symbol #  on social media sites. Hashes are also called the pound or number sign. 

The word, hashtag, combines “Hash” and “tag.”  

However, you write a hashtag without spaces starting with the hash(#) sign and then the keyword or phrase. Then, they can be added at the end of a post, embedded in your story, or the bio too. 

In your posts, you can click on hashtags. Hashtags link to content on social media. Moreover, these can be text, images, or videos. Using hashtags, you can search for related topics.

Instagram users can search for related content using hashtags like #love or #NewYear. They are also often used as acronyms, such as #lol or #tbt.

Nowadays, you can regularly hear about challenges, discussions, or mass movements under a particular hashtag, such as #BlackLivesMatter.

With Instagram hashtags, users can express themselves, show their emotional state, or promote their content.

It’s beneficial not only for finding relevant content to share but also for giving your audience easy access to your content. Further, organizing it into categories and themes for easy searching. Further, it gives you greater visibility and opportunities to grow your audience. Thus, by using hashtags, you are reaching and engaging more people. 

In a breeze:

• A hashtag is a compound word: “hash” and “tag.”
• They work like hyperlinks that group related posts under a keyword/topic.
• You can write them in your posts, stories, or bio.
• They organize your content into categories and themes for easy searching.

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How long have hashtags been around?

Social media networks like Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, Pinterest, and LinkedIn have popularized hashtags over the years.

You may not know this, but hashtags were first used in 2007 by a Twitter user named Chris Messina.

The primary purpose was to group related posts under a keyword. But their value for marketing and building social media presence has grown dramatically since then.

Why do I need to use hashtags on my Instagram?

Most people will add a hashtag if they see it in a post. Adding one or more relevant hashtags to your content reaches 71% of your audience on average. 

People constantly search for hashtags to learn something new, feel a connection with the topic, and be part of a community. 

So whether you create custom hashtags or research trending ones, hashtags will make it easier for you to sort out data and engage more people with your content.

If you are considering marketing your business, you can:

• Research trending topics and reach more of your target audience
• Use relevant hashtags to give context and add value to your content
• Reuse hashtags across different platforms to reach more audiences
• Avoid making mistakes by learning from others and using social media analytics tools

If you want to know more, stick around to the end for a quick overview of what you need to know for hashtag research on Instagram.

In a breeze:

• Hashtag use can boost your content engagement to 71% on average
• Twitter was a pioneer in hashtag usage
• The primary purpose of hashtags was to group related posts
• Hashtag research and analytics tools are a must to reach a larger audience.

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What does hashtag research mean?

What does hashtag research mean? Researching hashtags essentially means analyzing the data gathered from a specific hashtag. This data can assist you in estimating niche hashtags and popular hashtags to increase engagement and reach more people. 

According to studies, there are many ways to apply hashtag analysis to practical purposes, such as strategic marketing and management. Thus, social media marketing can benefit from this finding. 

An article that studied 1,382 Instagram posts tagged with the same hashtag found that women used emotional hashtags more than men. In addition, there was a strong relationship between hashtags and likes. The authors concluded that hashtags could measure user satisfaction and feedback.

Several tools are available for predicting trends and increasing your audience using hashtag research for your business. Read on to know more.  

See Instagram’s 2023 Trend Report for predictions on beauty and style, social justice, food, and more.

In a breeze:

• Researching hashtags is analyzing the data gathered from a specific hashtag.
• Social media marketing can benefit from Hashtag Research
• Hashtags can measure user satisfaction and feedback

How to use Hashtags for your business?

You can use various types of hashtags to promote your business on Instagram. You can reach different communities by using a variety of hashtags. Listed below are 9. 

• Hashtags to identify your product, e.g., #Shoes or #Bakery
• Hashtags that indicate your niche in your industry, e.g., #WeddingPlanner or #InteriorDesigner
• Hashtags you can use to find Instagram communities in your field, e.g., #bakersofinstagram or #foodiesofinstagram
• Hashtags for special occasions, e.g. #foolsday or #nationaldonutday as
• Location-specific hashtags, such as #pizzanyc, #madeinDR, and #sydneysweets.
• Daily hashtags like #mondayworkout, #fridaytip, and #wellnesswednesday.
• Hashtags related to what you do, such as #thinkcreatively or #animallove.
• Hashtags with acronyms, like #qotd (quote of the day) or #ootd (outfit of the day).
• Hashtags with emojis, like #shoes or #.

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How to track your relevant hashtags?

You can use different types of hashtags on social media. The kind of hashtag you use will depend on your purpose. You can use content, branded, trending, campaign, or ad hashtags.

• Content hashtags. These are the keywords you tag at the end of your posts.
• Branded hashtags. You create this hashtag, so people can tag the company directly. Furthermore, tracking this one will give you an idea of how many people are talking about your specific business.
• Trending hashtags. On Instagram, you can quickly search the top section where top posts appear on trending hashtags to show you some popular posts tagged with that hashtag.
• Event hashtags. Big and small events are a great way to increase your company’s reach. So, make sure to incorporate your event’s hashtag in all the content you share related to the event, and encourage employees and the audience to do the same.
• Campaign/ad hashtags. This hashtag promotes a product, campaign, launch, or advertising. Equally important, It generates interest around what your company is doing and its latest posts.

Tools can speed up the process and make it easier, but you must carefully discern how to utilize them. 

In a breeze: 

• What hashtags to track will depend on your goal
• A brand or campaign hashtag attracts customers and promotes products
• Trending and event hashtags can boost your popularity

What Hashtag metrics should I track?

Hashtags are helpful, but how would you determine whether they are successful?

 Here are some top metrics to get you started: 

• Look at trends. Choose hashtags that are frequently used or searched. Hence, you’ll have a better chance of reaching more people. Otherwise, your posts will be buried quickly by all the new content.
• Consider the range. You can decide whether to include a hashtag based on the number of people using it.
• Engagement is key. It is not just about people seeing your content, but getting them to share and post.
• Your Audience. Who is your audience? Is your audience getting your message? For this purpose, make your content strategy based on the people interested in your services. That way, you won’t just copy random popular hashtags, instead, those that your clients may use but make sense to your business.

In a breeze:

• Focus your hashtag research on metrics.
• Select popular hashtags.
• Create engaging content
• Tailor hashtags to your target audience.

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Best Instagram analytics tools for Hashtags

Which hashtag research tool is best for Instagram? Great question! Keep in mind that the most reliable hashtag research tool is the platform you are using, Hence, in this context, Instagram.

As you type a keyword into Instagram’s search engine, it ranks the most relevant hashtags. Then, It is up to you to pick the ones that make sense to use in your case.

A hashtag is one of the most powerful organic social media strategies. Still, the best way to maximize its performance is to track it. In any case, hashtags are easier to find on Instagram if the appropriate tools are available.

Instagram has a search bar that allows you to browse hashtags for your content, but they may not always give you the information you want.

Here are some Instagram analytics tools you can use. 

• Brand 24
• Digimind
• YouScan

Brand 24

You can track hashtags and find influencers with Brand24. You can measure hashtag campaign effects, such as Reach and Engagement.

Further, Its user-friendly interface provides you with hashtag metrics to measure the number of mentions.

There are also ways to sort through the noise for the posts that matter. They offer a free 14-day trial with no hidden fees and no credit card needed.

 Key features

• Track and analyze contests. Additionally to campaigns based on hashtags.
• Hashtag popularity and performance
• Quick Reports in Excel / Data Export and customized PDFs
• Hashtag analytics
• Find influential social media profiles.
• Estimate Social Media Reach

Pros

• App version available
• Excellent customer service
• Simple dashboard

Cons

• Costly for small businesses or personal use.
• App needs improvement
• It may not have all functions in all languages.

Digimind

Digimind provides social listening and marketing intelligence services. It includes intelligent social media monitoring apps to listen, engage, analyze, and report.  

Key features

• Unlimited social media & web coverage
• Personalized tags and Re-tagging
• Automatic translation
• Real-time analysis
• Top influencers and Trending topics
• Personalized dashboard
• Daily/weekly/monthly reports in Multiple formats: pdf, ppt, Xls, jpg
• Presentation-ready reports and Custom templates
• Reach measurement and Social statistics
• Online reputation management
• Top search concepts, results, and domains

Pros

• Powerful monitoring tool
• An excellent sentiment analysis
• The interface that is easy to use
• Several report types to choose from

Cons

• Time-consuming to set up searches
• Complicated features
• Poor customer support

YouScan

The visual analysis included in YouScan‘s social intelligence platform makes it stand out. Additionally, you can collect all your brand mentions by keywords, logos, and text on images from thousands of media sources in real-time.

Key features

• Visual analysis
• Real-time consumer insights
• Monitored topic with spam filtering
• AI-powered automated data segmentation
• Find influencers and brand ambassadors
• Collaborate with a team
• Logo recognition

Pros

• Learning tools & features
• Image recognition
• Friendly interface
• Unlimited multiple access levels for users

Cons

• API limitations
• Multi-brand/multi-category businesses not supported
• Some glitches
• Pricey

Best Instagram hashtag generator tools

However, beneficial hashtags are, gimmicky ones can be harmful. In general, If you use spammy hashtags, your brand image will be less appealing.

You can find relevant hashtags to popular hashtags with these hashtag analytics tools. Generally, they offer hashtag finder functions, making it easier for you to choose the correct hashtags. 

Let’s review these today:

• All-Hashtag
• Ritetag
• HashtagsForLikes

All-Hashtag

The All-Hashtag generates relevant hashtags that you can copy and paste into your social media posts. The tool is simple, cost-free, and easy to use.

Key features

• Generate 30 hashtags for one post
• Create your Hashtags
• Analyze Hashtags with charts
• Find top Hashtags
• Hashtags counter
• All services and hashtag tools are 100% for free

Pros

• Easy to use for hashtag beginners
• No app or software needed

Cons

• Hashtags generated aren’t always relevant.

Ritetag

If you don’t have an idea for a hashtag to use, this tool can help. For this purpose, Ritetag helps you curate hashtags for desktop and mobile images and texts. 

Key features

• Real-time hashtag engagement
• Hashtag Suggestions for Texts and Images
• Tag Sets
• Group hashtags to easily compare them
• Integrations

Pros

• Google Chrome extension
• Boosts social media engagement
• Automate tweets and posts.
• Low cost

Cons

• May not identify less popular hashtags
• Looks outdated
• Limited insight into potential viral hashtags

HashtagsForLikes

What can HashtagsForLikes offer you? You can search hashtags while viewing difficulty scores. You can also curate hashtag campaigns to grow your reach organically. Lastly, it keeps your account safe!

So, to make better business decisions, you can track, measure, and even get insights into your competitors using their profile analyzer. Also, less time is wasted. 

Key Features:

• Live Instagram stats
• Audience Demographics
• Fraud Detection
• Brand Affinity
• TikTok Hashtags
• Research & create hashtag campaigns

Pros:

• Ensures relevant hashtags for business
• Find most responsive hashtags
• Easy to use
• Good customer support

Cons:

• No free version

Tips for your Instagram Research hashtag strategy

Do your research

Make sure you do not rely solely on hashtag generator tools to create hashtags for you. Equally important, check out what the competition uses to get an idea of what works.

You will then have a better idea of what hashtag strategy works for others in your industry. You may discover hashtags to add to your plan or come up with original ones.

Use hashtags your audience is using

What if your target audience is already using a hashtag? so, why not give it a try? Just type a keyword into the Instagram search tool. Then, you will get a list of popular hashtags associated with it.

Just make sure that the content tagged with the hashtag is relevant to your brand or business. It would also be good to see what hashtags your followers are using.

Use Instagram’s features

There will be a list of related hashtags on any hashtag page that can be swiped through by swiping left from the top and recent tabs. Using this method, you can quickly identify niche hashtags more relevant to your search than the generic keywords you were trying to find.

It means a more relevant audience with less competition for the exact key phrase. Furthermore, brands looking to connect with passionate communities can use these hashtags to their advantage.

Brand your hashtag

Creating your own hashtag may be the most effective way to promote your brand. Besides, a branded hashtag is simply tagging your brand or campaign. However, keep in mind the hashtags shouldn’t be too long or too complicated to remember. 

Your audience can then learn about your hashtag by including it in your Instagram bio and highlighting it in your Instagram Stories. In addition, you can run a contest with a branded hashtag to generate content while also popularizing it.

Final Thoughts about Instagram Hashtags work

In conclusion, when it comes to hashtags, there is no one-size-fits-all strategy. On Instagram, for example, you can share up to 30 hashtags within a single post, but the trend is to use just 1-3 hashtags per post.

Using as many hashtags as you can, is a good idea, but the use of repeated hashtags is penalized. Most people utilize 11 hashtags when posting.

Hashtags can contain numbers, but spaces and special characters won’t work.

Why Instagram, then? First, it’s free, but also, Instagram allows you to share photos and videos with users on iOS and Android devices and from the PC as well.

According to employees, globally, Instagram has more than 2 billion monthly active users (CNBC).

Thus, Instagram is ideal for gaining followers who can view, comment, share, like, and comment on your posts.

Finally, you can also connect Instagram to Facebook and get an automatic monthly report of your account activity, reach, and engagement. 

In a breeze:

• One post may contain up to 30 hashtags
• Repeated hashtags are penalized and may appear spammy
• Special characters are not allowed
• Instagram is free and accessible
• More than 2 billion users as of December 2021

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Top-rated digital marketing experts could be the key to your online success!

Marketers today need to be more than average talent to stand out from the crowd, likely through experience and evidence of outstanding results.

Considering their achievements, we gathered a group of digital marketing experts who have succeeded in their field of expertise. Be sure to track their success and listen to what they say!

What is a digital marketing expert?

They are leaders in online marketing and influencers in social media. Their work has an excellent track record in their field.

These people have been active on social media for years. They grow their audience daily with valuable content that helps others succeed in digital marketing.

The best digital marketers have learned from their mistakes and failures to become successful.

Hence, inspiring us by their success and wisdom from their journey.

Why is digital marketing expertise so necessary?

These digital marketers’ experiences are essential because internet marketing is a relatively new industry that many do not know how it works.

They show us how to do it by doing it themselves. Besides, you can learn directly from digital marketing leaders by following their proven tactics.

Although digital marketing has a few decades under its belt, it’s still in its developmental phase. Here are a few interesting facts to give you an idea of how young the industry is.

• The first clickable banner was released in 1994
• Geocities was the first social media website founded in 1994
• The term Search Engine Optimization came into use in 1997
• The Google Ads campaign started in 2000
• Facebook was born in 2004, and the rest is history

Now you can realize why it can be challenging to learn digital marketing on your own.

There are so many things to acknowledge; for instance, today, you dominate the latest tactics and be immersed in new marketing trends to learn.

Of course, to pay for an agency or have a marketing team is possible but can be daunting for small businesses with a tight budget.

Therefore, following those skilled marketers already thriving can lead to growth and, at the same time, frustration and money-saving.

Can I access the top leaders in online marketing?

It can be expensive to hire an online marketing expert; some of these marketers have even consulted for companies worth millions of dollars. But it turns out you can have access to the best marketing experts!

Fortunately, in the world of modern marketing, there are influencers on social media who are willing to show off their expertise and share quality content regularly. 

For this reason, adding their content to your social media feeds will help you, undoubtedly, to get the best from the internet marketing experts around.

Who should follow these social media marketing influencers?

If you are still reading this post, you are probably on the hunt for the right way to make the most of your digital marketing strategy. So, here it is for you.

Anyone can use this list, but if you are a marketing agency, business, brand, or influencer, you can find answers such as how can you increase conversion rates on your website? Does video marketing work? Does marketing automation work? And so on.

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Who is leading the way in the digital marketing space?

In this group, we find founders, marketing managers, best-selling authors, writers for significant publications, search engine experts, popular speakers who have found ways to excel in online marketing.

The following social media influencers are perfect for staying ahead of the curve!

They are digital marketing experts known for their ethics and success in the industry. Not only do they know their stuff, but also they have failed and learned and overcame many challenges.

The List. The ultimate collection of the best digital marketing experts

#01 Neil Patel:

Neil Patel is one of the top digital marketing influencers. Listed as the world’s leading marketing ad consultant, and now boasts a track record as an investor and co-founder of software companies. For instance, Crazy egg and other startups.

His digital marketing course and free resources in digital marketing advertising, and his groundbreaking efforts in obtaining organic search results, have helped his business clients achieve outstanding returns.

Neil Patel specializes in explaining the fundamentals of the internet business world and has become one of its leading online marketers.

He keeps them engaged by sharing his latest blog posts, insights, and thoughts on digital marketing.

LinkedIn: Neil Patel

Twitter: @neilpatel

In his YouTube, Neil Patel discusses his career and explains the progression of his own business. Check it out,

#02 Ann Handle

One of today’s most widely read and influential DMEs, Ann Handley’s passion for social media, content marketing, integrated marketing communications, and customer experience is contagious.

Ann Handley is the co-founder of MarketingProfs, which helps business professionals learn about digital marketing and stay up to date.

Ann is a best-selling author on content creation, writing for the Huffington Post. She covers topics like finding your voice in writing or tips for improving your blog posts. Ann’s articles are intelligent and actionable: she makes you want to take notes! 

Her Twitter account has over 457k followers, and she seems to share her blog posts frequently. Her feed is a great way for digital marketing experts to stay updated with the best content creation practices!

Ann Handley’s LinkedIn account has over 450k followers (and counting)!

#03. Rand Fishkin

Rand Fishkin is a hard working SEO professional with a notable reputation in digital marketing. He was the co-founder of SparkToro and MOZ, an SEO company, and is very active on Twitter and other social media platforms.

Rand Fishkin is a digital marketing expert with a lot of knowledge to share on search engine optimization; in the case of his SEO company (MOZ) has received many awards.

Rand’s Twitter account has over 454k followers, and he tweets about a variety of digital marketing topics, from SEO to online advertising. Moreover, it is nice to know that he likes to answer questions and interact with other DMEs.

LinkedIn: Rand Fishkin

Twitter: @randfish

#04. Andrew Warner

Andrew Warner, Founder and CEO of Mixergy. An online business school that teaches budding entrepreneurs how to get started online.

Mixergy is a fantastic story to read. His high-quality interviews are must-listen-to content for anyone looking to gain valuable online marketing skills.

Andrew Warner has more than 35,500 followers on Twitter. He tweets about a variety of digital marketing topics, including SEO to online advertising.

LinkedIn: Andrew Warner

Twitter: @andrewwarner

In addition to creating excellent resources for digital marketing advice. Andrew Warner does an incredible job of extracting actionable insights from his guests.

#05. Neil Strauss

American author and journalist. New York Times Best Seller Neil Strauss is an award-winning journalist who authored several dating and relationships books.

His investigative journalism background was instrumental in applying new knowledge of digital marketing to create success online, helping men learn the secrets of online dating. He is a contributing editor at Rolling Stone and a regular contributor for The New York Times.

Neil writes about pickup artist culture and other topics related to dating advice. He has written for Men’s Health, Rolling Stone, Esquire, and The New York Times. His Twitter account has over 122k followers! 

Neil Strauss’s Twitter account is an excellent resource for dating advice, pickup artist culture, and other topics related to men’s health. His tweets are funny and engaging, making it worth the follow!

Twitter: @neilstrauss

#06. Ben Settle:

Ben Settle is a New York Times bestselling author and the founder of “The Ad Commune,” an agency specializing in digital marketing.  

The best-selling author is known for providing up-to-date information and tools that allow entrepreneurs to use the power of social media. To show that Facebook marketing can generate leads, boost sales, and land new customers.

Facebook: Ben Settle

#07. Shama Hyder

A best-selling author and international keynote speaker, and media personality. Forbes recognized her as one of the “Top 30 under 30” entrepreneurs in marketing.

Her success led to her becoming a winner of several awards. LinkedIn has named her one of their “Top Voices” in Marketing & Social Media. Hence, her outstanding followers +600k. 

Shama Hyder’s Twitter account has over 45k followers (and counting)! Her tweets are engaging and informational.

LinkedIn: Shamahyder

Twitter: @Shama

08. Tim Ash

Former digital agency & conference founder. He is one of the world’s foremost experts on search engine optimization and pay-per-click advertising.

Tim, CEO and co-founder of SiteTuners for 19 years, has deep expertise in user-centered design, persuasion, understanding consumer behavior, and neuromarketing and landing page testing.

In the mid-1990s, he became an early innovator in website conversion rate optimization.

Twitter: @tim_ash (with more than 28k followers)

LinkedIn: Tim Ash

#09 Jay Baer

Get your site converted by Jay Baer, a leading digital marketing consultant. Born and raised in the suburbs of New York City, Jay Baer has always been a big-city guy. 

He is an internationally acclaimed speaker and bestselling author. He was featured in the Wall Street Journal, The Harvard Business Review, and The Atlantic.

Apart from being a strong proponent of community, Jay also has always spent a large portion of his time on issues relevant to people outside the business world.

Twitter: @jaybaer +276K followers

LinkedIn: Jaybaer +32k followers

#10 Mike Allton

The founder of The Social Media Hat provides extensive information and regular updates about social media, tools, and best practices. While he offers paid services, his updates give a detailed, actionable explanation.

Twitter: @mike_allton with 49.6K accumulated Followers

#11 Brian Fanzo:

He becomes a well-known keynote speaker and panelist for his vast knowledge of digital marketing, social media, and technology. As a result, He has been featured in Forbes and Entrepreneur Magazine.

Brian has a passion for digital marketing. Furthermore, Fanzo welcomes new developments and technologies openly and looks into using them in the best possible way.

LinkedIn: Brian Fanzo (with more than 19k followers)

#12 Melonie Dorado

Author of top dog’s social network websites, Dorado has been listed as a leading Digital Marketing Specialist. Moreover, she teaches how to leverage social networking to get maximum results using LinkedIn.

LinkedIn: Melonie Dorado 53,778 followers

Twitter: @meloniedorado 94.2K Followers

#13 Tami Cannizzaro

Tami is a proven marketing executive with a high-performance track record of building category market leadership teams and driving revenue.

Her expertise includes digital marketing, social media, Web, SaaS, and communications. Evidently, Tami has been successful in all her roles, managing demand generation for both B2B and B2C markets. She has won numerous awards.

LinkedIn: Tami Cannizzaro

Twitter: @tamicann

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#14 Mari Smith

Mari Smith has been ranked fourth on Forbes among 100 social media influencers and thereafter named the queen of Facebook. So, go and follow her; I think she holds some hacks that we all should know.

IG: @mari_smith with 43.6k followers

LinkedIn: Mari Smith

Twitter: @MariSmith (566.1K Followers)

#15 Linsey Anderson

Digital Marketing Expert Linsey Anderson is a well-known digital marketing expert. She is the Manager at Search Engine Land as well. In addition, Lindsey Anderson is an expert in search engine optimization (SEO) and pay-per-click advertising (PPC).

LinkedIn: thelindseyanderson (4,238 followers)

IG: @the.lindsay.anderson (6,329 followers)

FB: Buildandmonetize

#16 John Lee

John Lee is the co-founder and CEO of Wealth Dragons Group PLC. Which is set to become one of the largest E-learning platforms for business entrepreneurs. Additionally, He started investing in property in his early 20s and by the time he was 27, John had achieved his goal of becoming a self-made millionaire. Certainly, worth checking!

IG: @john_lee_official ( 2.7m followers)

LinkedIn: John Lee

Anita has been working in the industry since 2003 and has more than 12 years of experience in digital marketing. Currently, she’s focused on the industrial internet marketing sector. As a result, Anita excels at what she does best: helping businesses grow their online presence through innovation. She manages topics such as Search Engine Optimization (SEO), website development, pay-per-click (PPC) management, content creation, and marketing campaigns.

Twitter: @arpvaldez

LinkedIn: Anita Perez

#18 Gary Vaynerchuk

Gary Vaynerchuk is the self-made entrepreneur and social media influencer known as the “King of Twitter.” As a result, his story, and success, embody all about building a brand. Although the business space can be intense at times, people worldwide can’t get enough of Gary, his sassy style, and how he uses social media to break down barriers in business.

Twitter: @garyvee (2.8M Followers)

Finally, we hope you enjoy our ever-expanding list of top digital marketing experts that will continue to grow, so keep an eye out for new and noteworthy names to add to your network.

We also want to hear from you. For instance, share with us who would you add to this list? Let us know in the comments below, and we might feature it in this article or a future blog post!

Furthermore, If you enjoyed this list, please share using the social sharing icons below, so your audience can benefit from this list as well.

Thank you!

About the Author: Mariela Casanova is a creative content writer, digital marketing expert, and marketing researcher. She is always on the hunt for the best strategy to scale your content marketing.

The post Best Digital Marketing Experts to Follow appeared first on Hopper HQ.

Digital Marketing trends have changed drastically over the last few years. In part because Social Media (SM) channels, such as Instagram, are growing in popularity among users, advertisers, and companies who want to reach their target audience.

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With new trends popping up every day, keeping up with what works best for your business cannot be easy. This blog post will discuss how you can use some of the newest marketing trends for a strategy to bring home the bacon.

Yes, I know! New year, new trends!

It’s time to focus on what it’s going on, in the online space, in 2023. Therefore, we set up, this guide to support you.

What is digital marketing in today’s world?

Digital marketing (DM) is the process of marketing your products or services through digital channels. We can infer that online marketing provides an excellent opportunity to boost your products and services online.

An online marketing specialist: Why do you need one?

In today’s world where almost all can be found online, it’s imperative to have some sort of online presence. This means that eventually, you will need a DM specialist.

What kind of role will online marketing trends play in the future?

DM is constantly changing. To stay ahead, we need to update our strategies. We will review some changes in online marketing and suggest what you can do to get the best results.

The aims of this article?

Find some of the latest trends in the online marketing space to smash your strategies on SM.

Suggestions in how the trends can be utilized to reach the best results on your brands.

Resources for marketers, as digital marketing continues to evolve, so should professionals employed in it.

Analyzes some of the most interesting emerging trends for next year and how to implement them.

For who is this article?

Digital marketer, business owner, Influencer, and brands! Everyone is interested in the trends in online marketing.

To stay competitive in the market, you need to keep up with the latest digital marketing trends and social media changes!

Almost most business owners are setting the next year’s goals too. Take the latest marketing predictions to thrive online and be on-trend. 

Trend #01 – Invest in personalization marketing

As consumers are becoming more sophisticated, businesses need to understand the one size fits all approach, it’s not working as before. Brands need to provide a better personalized marketing experience that will keep your clients coming back.

To achieve this, it’s vital for businesses to understand what it is that keeps consumers coming back for more. This is where search results (SEO) and web analytics tools really come into play for digital marketers’ daily work.

What it is personalization marketing?

Personalization Marketing is a marketing method based on adapting any online advertising message to the behavioral and preference patterns of consumers.

When you know your customer, you can understand what drives their choices and their purchase intent. This path to connect with your audience can be achieved by researching and targeting your products to customers’ favorite interests.

Key takeaways Trend #01 – Personalize your offer following the digital marketing trends

• The best and first advice for next year is to get to know your consumers!
• Get your statistics and analytics set up to understand your audience.
• Send personalized email marketing and engaging content that matters to your audience.
• Social platforms, Google Ads, and choosing Keywords with Search-Driven intent are the way to go.

Trend #02 – “Cause marketing” has become increasingly popular

Rather than just buying products and services, this strategy encourages customers to endorse your company’s cause.

Ethos and values are important to your marketing. You need to offer real value without hidden costs. Your audience needs to trust you to become more than a mere client, actually loyal customers.

What makes this campaign “cause marketing” unique is that the company attempted to be transparent and unselfish.

Nowadays, customers are more likely to engage with honest companies that support causes they care about.

Key takeaways Trend #02 – “Cause marketing” has become increasingly fashionable

• Define your ethos and values, and be coherent through your marketing actions.
• Take care even of your personal branding and the causes you support.
• Offer real value with no hidden costs, and at the same time let your audience decide whether to buy or not.
• If you have a cause that people care about, then your customers will support it and your brand.

Trend #03 – The public prefers conversational marketing

People prefer talking to other people. People love technology, artificial intelligence, and so on, but the users want to talk to humans. After hashtags and chatbots, even people loving automation tools, it turns out that most users ironically prefer talking to humans innately.

We enjoy talking to real people, showing a genuine interest in consumer concerns, and engaging through authentic content marketing even through SM networks or messaging apps, but please with human beings rather than robotic answers!

During the COVID-19 pandemic, social media was a lifesaving tool. It helped people to connect and build relationships. The trend still stays, and actually, we discover that those followers ideally convert digital users to be clients of your brand.

Key takeaways Trend #03 – The public prefers informal marketing

• Show genuine interest in consumer concerns and engage with authentic curiosity.
• It’s essential to use social platforms—in addition to traditional media—to communicate with your consumers.
• Try to be authentic and sincere in your conversations and messages like email marketing and other campaigns.

Trend #04 – Shopping experiences are becoming more social

In successful sales in the past few years, people used digital advertising. Nowadays, there are other ways to increase sales. For example, search marketing, organic rankings, and engagement on social networks.

User search intent, organic reach through SEO, and user engagement through content published by social networks are just as positive as paid advertising. Start with a Google rank checker to track which keywords perform better and fulfil user search intent. With the rise of people, using social media is the best way to put your business where the potential customer is. (At some point of the scrolling social media posts)

Today, people use SM to sell anything. Certainly, we can see some marketing tools are gaining space in social channels like social media stories, bio links, video marketing, customer relationship management (CRM), and other resources offered within the social networks platforms.

In DM, businesses also use the recognized persona of the “social media marketing influencer” as a very useful marketing tactic. They share reviews with their followers, increasing your reach to other potential customers.

Key takeaways Trend #04 – Shopping experiences are becoming more social

• With SM channels and smartphone users on the rise, that is to say, businesses have more digital channels to sell.
• Paid search has always been associated with successful web traffic and marketing campaigns;
• But now is a rising trend to drive traffic to get new customers through social posts and personalized experiences.
• With SM marketing, you can make one-click sales while staying in touch with your audience.
• Businesses are also harnessing the power of the influencer marketing persona in SM marketing.

Trend #05 – Social Media Marketing is the king

No doubt, social platforms lead the way in digital marketing trends. If you don’t have an online presence or a strategy in place, now is the time to start one.

The rise of social networks and the rise of mobile devices have changed how we communicate. It also changed how businesses market their products and services. Business owners engage followers through stories, interactive posts.

People want a strong connection with their favorite brands. As a result, people often tell their friends about the products they like, giving valuable and direct promotion to your brand.

Key takeaways Trend #05 – Social Media Marketing is the king

• Prepare your SM strategy in the same way that you prepare any paid campaign.
• With social platforms and mobile technology on the rise, businesses have more digital channels to sell through.
• Social platforms help people share product information and reviews with their friends.

Trend #06 – Search Engine Optimization (SEO) and paid advertising

In light of the rise of the digital presence of businesses, to appear in the Google search becomes relevant for an online business. Following the search queries that your customers are interested in is very valuable. This means you can create what your audience needs, to become the best option to appear at the top of their search.

SEO and paid advertising are a way to make sure that your business can be found when people search for it. As a result, the best practice to make sure you get seen is to investigate with keyword research of your potential clients and their interest and behaves.

This year includes learning about “search marketing”, “voice search”, “search engine” which aims to use machine learning and progressive web apps to understand your clients (customer data) and use the right plan of action to improve the volume or quality of traffic and web visitors to your website.

Search Engine Optimization or Paid Ads, even both.

SEO is based on algorithms, still, they are many others “behind the scenes” SEO skills that you can learn to understand the Search Engine Land better. Above all, learning the basics of SEO to follow along with the web design trends, needs to do proper investigation research, etc. takes time and some headaches at the beginning.

If you want to avoid getting deep in organic reach since it takes more time and knowledge, you can always get some paid advertising running to get faster results or do a combination of both.

Moreover, another solution is to find a professional, freelance, or agency that can help you!

Key takeaways Trend #06 – SEO and Google Ads

• Online growth makes SEO (Blogs) and content for SM (Posts) increasingly important for brands.
• Potential customers can find the businesses that best meet their needs on search engine results pages (SERPs).
• When you have a web business, it is an efficient way to increase customer loyalty, through observing your consumer behavior.
• You can try to grow your traffic to your website through SEO and Google Ads.

Trends #07 – The focus should be on Content, Content, and Content!

Digital marketing is a way to show people your company’s services and products. It is used to reach potential customers through the internet with interactive content and other DM techniques.

This year, you should make sure that your marketing is providing the right content for the right audience. Also, it is the user generated content that comes as a consequence of good customer relationships and your brands.

In 2023 focus on a content marketing plan of action.

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Tips:

Online Marketers can plan a DM strategy that’s low cost and can provide results. For example; using keywords research within more SEO-orientated blog posts on your web page; similarly using hashtags, on Social Media to be found organically.

A tactic to magnify your CMS is repurposing the content marketing for use in different DM channels that can be coordinated by your digital marketing teams or by yourself.

Key takeaways Trends #07 – Where needs to be your focus when you are planning your Online Marketing Strategies?

• Digital marketing activities should focus on creating good content that targets the interests of your audience.
• Use SEO as a cost effective strategy to bring results as part of your DMS.
• Content marketing can be multiplied by reusing your fabulous content on different channels.

Trend #08 – To have a Digital Marketing Strategy, is part of the trends!

The online marketing space has created a lot of noise recently, and all the buzz was justified. In other words, SM Marketing will be the most important DM strategy for any business in 2023.

Social Media platforms are everywhere these days, making it tough for companies to keep up with the competition. In short, start to create your DMS while you write your list of goals for 2023.

Tip for medium size and big brands:

New tools for marketing come out every day. But most businesses do not have enough time or money to invest in all of them.

As a solution, you can contract virtual assistants or freelancers, and eventually, create a marketing team or an agency. The most important whatever you decide is choosing the right tools that help automate part of the process.

Key takeaways – To have an Online Marketing Strategy is a must!

• If you own a Business account on SM and you don’t have a strategy, create a DM strategy, it doesn’t matter the industry you are in!
• Create a content strategy plan to use across your email marketing campaigns and DM activities.
• Create marketing campaigns in coordination with all the marketing channels, organic reach, and paid ads as well.

Conclusion about the Latest Online Marketing Trends

Thanks to the latest changes, digital marketing offers a wealth of paths to grow our brands in the online space.

The new year is a perfect time to make positive changes in your life and business.

First, you need to be authentic by being genuine with your user and potential customers;

Second, define your value proposition and ethos and be coherent in your communication;

Third, get the right tools that will help keep consistency on your marketing messages;

Last, still vital, learn about what makes people connect with you and your brands and with help of a data collection and daily interaction and to respond to your audience needs.

In conclusion, Digital Marketing and SMS with interactive content will be the most important strategies for any business in 2023.

In the coming year, many social networks will be growing. We think Instagram will grow the fastest.
.

Take a look at The 2023 Instagram Trend Report

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Now that visual search and image search is in our daily way to interact on SM. As a result, Hopper HQ makes it easy for anyone who wants to share videos and images on Instagram. With our intuitive interface, scheduling outstanding visual content has never been easier!

You can easily create new posts or edit existing ones in just a few clicks with the drag-and-drop editor. And if you ever need help, we’ve got an outstanding support team standing by 24/7. It’s time to take control of your feed and start sharing like a pro!

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About the Author: Mariela Casanova is a creative content writer, digital marketing expert, and well-being advocate.

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Founder, Keri Haw, is an inspirational advocate for mental health and wellbeing. Not only does she work as a house mistress, and consult in schools for mental health and wellbeing; as of two months ago, she took the leap, followed her passion and became an entrepreneur!

Keri’s passion and love for her work is extremely evident. The love she’s put into launching her business in such a short time proves this. In our chat we covered everything from her business, to social media scheduling tips, and platforms new business owners shouldn’t be without!

Introducing Keri…

I’m Keri.  I am many things: my day job is that I’m a housemistress at a boarding school, as well as a mental health and wellbeing lead.  So nothing to do with small business really!  Recently, I decided to start a ‘side hustle’ (as they say) and I’ve started a print on demand business, consisting mostly of t-shirts, sweatshirts and mugs.  My business is aimed at spreading joy and raising awareness about wellbeing and mental health through t-shirts and sweatshirts.

Did your background in social care lead you to create Adventures in Wellbeing Apparel?

Exactly.  Mental health and wellbeing is my jam – in all ways!  It has manifested itself in lots of different ways.  Professionally, I support young people.  I lead on our mental health and wellbeing provision, and created a whole school approach to this.  I also consult in different schools too.  Thus supporting mental health and wellbeing in education as a whole.  

But also, it’s my passion, my drive and my raison d’etre.  I get very geeky about mental health and wellbeing.  It comes out in all areas.  My social accounts are very much focused towards that, and that’s very much the focus of my products that I produce.  

For example, we’ve got an affirmation series, t-shirts and mugs that have an affirmation focus.  But also a little tongue-in-cheek!  Because as much as I’m slightly obsessed with wellbeing, I’m also a bit rubbish at it!  It’s trying not to take myself, or ourselves, too seriously along the journey.

Is Adventures in Wellbeing Apparel something you take into school and your consultancy?

To a degree, but mostly in a sense that my students who know me really well take the mickey out of me for it.  

A lot of the phrases that I’ve used on the products like “Recovery is possible”.  They hear me say all the time.  “I’m not judging, I’m noticing” – they are signature me phrases in school and out. This one came about during a mentoring conversation with a student. I always talk about listening non-judgmentally and during our conversation I reacted with a bit of judgement and they called me out on it. In a moment of quick thinking I joked that I wasn’t judging, I was noticing and the phrase stuck. Again, it’s about not taking ourselves too seriously, even around serious topics like mental health and wellbeing.

What is Adventures in Wellbeing Apparel‘s mission statement?

Adventures in Wellbeing Apparel is wearable joy for the wellbeing warrior.

If you had to describe Adventures in Wellbeing Apparel in a couple of adjectives what would you choose?

Adventures in Wellbeing Apparel is: 

• Joyful – it has to be!
• Tongue-in-cheek – can this be an adjective?
• Produced for the wellbeing warrior.

How important is social media to Adventures in Wellbeing Apparel?

My business is brand new.  I’ve only been doing this for just over a month!  Whilst I started out on Etsy, I’ve since created my own website.  In terms of starting out and being fresh on any platform, I’m relying almost entirely on social media to build my community, to grab people’s attention and hopefully to eventually create that community where people like me feel seen.  

I want those people who have a passion about looking after themselves, self care and wellbeing for improving our mental health.  But also, not really taking ourselves too seriously.  I want those people to find me and for us all to find our tribe, and be something together.  

Social media is absolutely vital for doing that.  If you’re just set up on a website, how do people know that you are there?  Especially on Instagram, I have found you discover your people and you connect over something really silly.  You know, I’m a massive Drag Race fan, so I’ve got a couple of products which are a little bit Drag Race-y.  And I did something on my Instagram stories the other day and mentioned Drag Race, and somebody straight away was like “oh my gosh, you’re my people!”.  That’s what social media can do.  

You know, starting out a new business, there are a few things that are really important to me.  One is definitely community, and that can only come from engaging with social media really.

@adventuresinwellbeingapparel has amazing Instagram Stories, how do you keep that channel active?

It’s all a bit bonkers really!  My day job is a 62 hour week already.  So this is all on top of that.  But that’s where Hopper HQ comes in and how Hopper HQ has been absolutely game-changing.  Because it means that I can have posts going out really easily and I can be 100% confident that they are going out exactly how I want them, when I want them, when it suits my community and my audience, not when I have free time – which is really limited.  That’s been hugely key for me, with keeping up with things.  

I think from what I’m picking up,  I’m not really au fait with social media.  My sister is very much more ‘in the know’ about all of these things.  But from what I am picking up, with stories, the key at the moment seems to be, not being on there all the time.  Previously, I think it used to be ‘keep that light on all the time’, and ‘make sure that you’ve got stories posted all the time’.  But now, it seems to be actually if you take a break for a day, come back to it, do something with purpose, ask questions, use the polls, etc.  Then you get much more engagement that way.

You recently said Adventures in Wellbeing Apparel went through a rebrand, would you like to talk us through that?

When I first started the company, I used an old logo, which I had set up for a blog a few years ago.  It was fine, the Adventures in Wellbeing has been part of my identity for a while.

I used that logo to get things going, and I wanted things to be colourful and bright etc.  A couple of weeks in I asked my sister for feedback, as she’s much more cued up as she does a little social media managing – she’s a lot more entrepreneurial than me.  Actually, she recommended Hopper HQ when I asked what scheduling tool she uses, as I’ve used Later before, but she recommended Hopper HQ as she really liked the interface.

So I arranged a call with her for a little bit of coaching.  And she had a look at my feed and said “ooooh it’s a lot isn’t it, there’s a lot going on’.  It had all different colours and was quite busy.  So anyway, bless her, she didn’t say ‘I think you need a rebrand’.  I just came away from it knowing I can rethink this.  Thinking about it, it was a pink and grey theme, and it felt very 2017 Keri and I thought actually maybe now is a good time to have an overhaul!  I went away and played with some colours.  And came back with a more succinct colour palette for the branding.  I did it all on Canva – love Canva!  What’s not to love?  And yeah!  Hopefully the colour themes will start coming through a bit more consistently.

Also Read: How To Embed Instagram Feed On Your Website

What’s fantastic is I already had quite a lot of content scheduled on Hopper HQ, but actually it’s super easy to move things around and change things up.  Again, that’s another reason I’m obsessed with Hopper HQ.

Also, your social media is scheduled in Hopper HQ until August! How have you done that?

I’m just a keen bean as it’s early days.  Again, what I’m finding and what’s been really good, is that I know there is no point in me sitting down and thinking ok, I have to do this now.  Rather, I have to go with the flow.  I can procrastinate, and put things off, because if I make myself do something if I’m not in the zone to do it, it will be 10 times as hard and take me 10 times as long.  Whereas, if I can, wait for that moment when I’m in the right zone for it, it’s so much easier.  

And so, that is why scheduling is really important as well, for helping me work in flow.  So Friday is meme day.  I’m definitely not always in the right frame of mind to be making memes, but you know if I can schedule those as and when the creative juices are flowing, they go straight in the scheduler and then I know that it’s taken care of.  And I’m not thinking on a Friday ‘ oh gosh it’s Friday, I need to post a meme today I don’t really have any inspiration’.  Actually it’s all already there, because I’ve harnessed those moments when I’m in the right place for it.

Meme fridays? Is that something you’re bringing out on your account?

Yes, another tip from my sister was to post certain things on certain days.  So that’s another thing that I’ve chopped and changed and moved things around about.  So the calendar view in Hopper HQ has been really useful for that.

Tuesdays are shareable content, Thursdays are quotes, and Fridays are memes.  And then interspersed around that is actually stuff that I’m trying to sell!

I’m genuinely such a fan, it’s been the most fantastic tool, it really has.  There are a few things that have been absolute game-changers in terms of making it easy to start a business and using social media for marketing, Canva, Hopper HQ, and Placeit are right up there.

What’s Placeit?

That’s a website for mockups.  Basically all of the images that you see are product mock-ups.  They have a huge variety of different scenarios, flatlays, and they’ve got lots of different models.  That’s another fundamental thing that I want to promote through the social media accounts is representation of lots of different body types and ethnicities and they’ve got a fantastic selection of options you can use for your mockups.

I’m really keen to make sure that there are people with disabilities, different genders and ethnicities showing up on my feed.  Anybody that comes to the account can feel like there is somebody like me on there.

What would your advice be to someone on the fence for starting a new business?

I think it would be; just do it.  Don’t wait for the right time because there won’t be a right time.  Whatever is holding you back, there will be a way around it.  I don’t have any startup or anything, and so I’ve gone down a print-on-demand route.  So I don’t need any startup.  There is always an answer to things and I think we can be held back by, waiting for the perfect time.  It might not come.  

But there are ways of working smart and making life easy for yourself.  There are ways around any possible hurdle.  Just start and feel your way as you go.  It’s ok if you make mistakes.  For example, the very busy rainbow of my first few posts was very much in your face and colourful – but you know that’s fine!  It’s ok to go on a journey with it and feel your way as you go.

If you had to pinpoint a favourite Hopper HQ feature what would you say it is?

I think I really like the calendar view, because it gives me a really good overview of everything that is coming up.  

There’s too many features!  I love that you can schedule the first comment!  That’s where all my hashtags go.  I love that when you enter your hashtags it gives you potential suggested ones.  And also, how many people follow that hashtag so that gives you an idea of where you should be placing that.  

Everything in one place which is absolutely fantastic; the fact that you can schedule carousels.  Other scheduling tools that I’ve used can do some things but not everything.  Whereas, I haven’t come across anything in Hopper HQ that I wish it did.

The post In Conversation with Keri Haw | Hopper HQ Spotlight appeared first on Hopper HQ.

Maintain is a digital marketing agency powered by a team of game-changing strategists, enthusiastic collaborators, forward-thinkers, and passionate creators. They love what they do, which is probably why they are so good at it.

We were lucky enough to steal 20 minutes out of Elisa’s jam-packed schedule to ask some wonderful questions about Maintain, her client process, opinions of social media and, of course, Hopper HQ.

Be sure to check out their Instagram @MaintainDigital to stay up to date with everything they are doing in their company and their community.

Introducing Elisa…

I’m Elisa, wife to Jonathan and mother to three little humans but also the Owner and Creative Director of Maintain – a digital marketing company that my husband and I started about four years ago from our little home in Florida.  It started as Jonathan freelancing at first – building websites and managing Google Adword accounts – while I freelanced as a photographer; all this in the midst of having babies. 

Now we have a full fledged team of marketing, branding, photography, and videography experts – Along with social media, of course.  And we’re just taking it day-by-day and growing as we go.  As far as the company goes, we do everything from inbound marketing to web design to social media management, branding, photography and videography.  We’re kind of a one-stop shop for companies who are all around us.

What is it that makes Maintain unique as a digital marketing agency?

I think something that makes us unique, is that our clients become a part of our family.  As I said Jonathon and I are married and we have three kids, so our employees become part of the mishmash and craziness of our lives. And along with that our clients do as well. I really think the hospitality we provide our clients really sets us apart. And our dedication to stay true to our clients and what makes them, them. Maintain does not ever want to turn them or their brand into something they are not.  We encourage an in-depth exploration process while giving our expertise and our advice and steering them in the direction that we believe will work best for them, and their audience.

Also, we try to make ourselves available, just the ability to get hold of us, whenever they can, and not have to go through a lot of communication lines is probably something else that sets us apart too.

What’s your process with taking on a new client for digital marketing?

The first process we go through with our clients is called a deep-dive.  We’ll all usually meet in person – during Covid it was a lot of Zoom calls – and still some Zoom now.  For the deep-dive, we will usually meet in person and dive into everything: from brands that they look up to, to the clientele they’ve had in the past, any pain points that they are having now, to where they see themselves and their company in the future.  So it’s generally a couple hours of really getting to know them as a company, and getting to know the thought leaders they find inspiring, and their goals and aspirations. 

And then, the real fun begins.  We book a creative meeting to talk through all  “the fluff” –  colours, textures, photography, branding. What they love, what they hate, and how they want their company to make others feel.  

Then, we meet back up as a team and decide on a content strategy for website, ads, branding and social media. Making sure it all correlates in a way that will bring their potential clients through a journey of discovery and getting to know them and then actually becoming a customer.

In your perspective what’s the key to quality content creation for businesses?

As we’ve been getting busier we’ve started noticing something that is the key; an initial plan and setting boundaries. Whether it’s in creative and you are using a moodboard or branding colours or through content and you are sticking to a specific subject matter, boundaries and planning are key. For example, we have a tree company as a client and hurricane season is coming. We are going to plan all our content around hurricane season and getting ready for that in the Bay Area.  As a creative it’s easy to look here and there and everywhere, and think you need to do that – oh and a little bit of that- ah and that too.  And you kind of wind up with a lovely mess of beautiful photos, graphics and content, but they don’t really go well together. They don’t really tell a story.

So, I think the initial planning, and that’s something we are working on now with our team, THAT is where a lot of success can start.  

• Knowing your target demographic
• Setting boundaries that you want to work within content-wise and aesthetically
• Taking the planning process one step at a time

How important is social media presence for businesses in 2021?

I would like to say it is of utmost importance, but not any more important than all the other moving parts within a business. I believe that being on social media is important, but it’s not everything.  Rather, it’s important for companies to maintain their health on the inside of their company so that it shows on the outside of their company.  

And that’s kind of where social media comes into play. Where you can highlight the really good things that are happening, or what you are doing in the community or new products you’re coming out with.  And all that is all really important and really beautiful, but you want to make sure that your company is healthy as well.  It just kind of all works together. You can have all of the planning in the world, but still have your company fall apart, because you’re not maintaining the health of your employees, or the health of yourself, or your financial health.  Putting all that first and then doing some planning on the pieces that you really like about your company, or what you’re offering people and kind of let it shine from the inside out.

Do you think it’s important to break down that third wall and have a face behind the content and the company?

Yeah, I think that’s super powerful for people to see the raw ‘what’s going on?’ ‘Who’s the owner’?  ‘What’s the owner doing?’ ‘How did you make that furniture’ ‘Where did your company start?’ – just kind of seeing the everyday, because then people aren’t just getting this beautiful sheen on the outside. They are gaining the value of  ‘what it’s really made of’ and that’s what draws people in, you know, knowing the story behind something.

I’ll tell you this – I won’t go out and buy a $50 mug.  But if I know the mug was made by someone in another country, where it was sourced well and they were paid right, then I will pay $50 for that mug, because of the story of that mug.

A more personal question, I fell across your Instagram account @the_morey_story, how do you have the time to keep that channel active and beautiful?

I don’t always have the time.  It’s just my own personal account where I can share pretty snaps of the every day. Plus the kiddos are just full of so much life and craziness! 

To be able to capture that and look back on it really brings me a lot of joy.  There’s not really any time for that, but somehow we fit it in.

Is there anything exciting that we should keep an eye out on Maintain accounts?

We are in the middle of rebranding.  So we’re going to have some new stuff popping up later on this year.  And we’re in the process of finding a physical location for ourselves and to share with other artists in our community.

So there’s something exciting on the horizon.

What do you think about Hopper HQ?

We really like using Hopper HQ.  We did a lot of research before we decided on Hopper HQ.  A huge thing that our social team likes is the ability to see the grid on the side and move things around that way.  

The chat is also super helpful. When I chat with support they are always really good about letting me know when an issue will be fixed, or what’s going on, and what I can do on my end.  So they are really responsive, which I love.

The post In Conversation with Elisa Morey | Hopper HQ Spotlight appeared first on Hopper HQ.

Social media is a staple area of digital marketing for businesses of all shapes and sizes, industries and audiences.

However, with updates and new releases making it an ever-shifting landscape, brands need to keep up to date with the latest developments and changes to the space in order to benefit from their social channels.

Apply the practical advice in this guide to help strategise your social media marketing plan for 2023…

Simple Post, Story + Reel Scheduling

Visually plan your social content. Instagram, TikTok, Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn + Pinterest

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1. Social Media Marketing: The Basics

In 2023, it’s estimated that 3.5 billion people will use social media networks worldwide. That’s almost 40% of the globe’s population. With those kinds of figures, it’s no surprise that businesses put so much effort into social media marketing.

If you’re just starting out on your social media marketing journey, I recommend you check out our Social Media Marketing Glossary for a full list of definitions to bring you up-to-date with all the jargon!

What is social media marketing?

Social media marketing refers to business activity on social media platforms which contributes to marketing objectives such as brand awareness, website traffic, and customer acquisition.

This activity is predominantly in the form of content —such as text, images and videos — but also includes community engagement and paid ads.

At the heart of great social media content is the audience’s desire to share it. When your audience share your content, they become your channel of distribution.

Whether it’s tagging a friend in an Instagram post or retweeting something to their audience, content that is highly relevant and visually attractive is likely to receive high engagement and shares.

What is the most effective social media channel?

There’s no straightforward answer to this, and social media marketing isn’t a one-size-fits-all solution.

Different social media channels generate better results than others for certain business objectives, and the content published will also vary depending on these factors.

For example, a video on Facebook is unlikely to be more effective for driving business audience traffic than an article on LinkedIn, and so on. The great thing about this is that you can utilise the different social channel’s purposes for different kinds of marketing campaigns, ensuring the content is highly tailored for that platform and audience. More on this in the strategy section!

(As you can see, there’s immediately a lot to consider when it comes to social media marketing, so it’s no wonder companies have whole departments dedicated to the cause…)

What are the benefits of social media marketing?

As mentioned, the specific business outcomes of social media marketing campaigns (such as sales, traffic etc) will depend on what objectives you set in the first place.

However, there are other general benefits that come from brands being active on social media, such as:

• Being more discoverable
  If you’re posting content on a number of social media channels that’s tailored to your target demographic, you’re naturally likely to be discovered by new potential customers.
• Having valuable conversations with customers
  It’s no wonder so many companies use Twitter for customer support, or run Q&As on Instagram Stories. Social media marketing offers a personal and informal way to get to know your audience.
• Recruitment opportunities 
  Social media marketing makes it easier than ever to share company culture and the people behind a business with the world. This not only increases customer loyalty but also helps when it comes to hiring brilliant new people!
• Building a community
  No matter your industry, social media marketing helps to connect you with your target audience and other relevant businesses.

With every app-update comes more creative ways to enhance your social media marketing and hit those KPIs.

The benefits are endless, and the more you learn about what platforms and content work best for your objectives, the more you’ll get out of social media marketing!

2. How To Create A Social Media Marketing Strategy

Now we’ve covered a brief overview of what social media marketing is and how it can benefit your business, let’s move on to the practical bit.

Before diving straight in with a few tweets and Instagram posts, all social media marketing activity needs to start with a strategy.

NB. If you’re already well set up with social media marketing and have your strategy in place, you can probably skip this part and head straight to our top tips for 2023!

#1 Set your objectives

As discussed, you can’t plan which channels to use or what kind of content to produce until you determine your business objectives. i.e what do you want your social media marketing to achieve? 

Deciding these targets in advance will:

• Save time and resources
• Ensure you’re not producing content ‘for the sake of it’
• Help you establish the key metrics to track success

These objectives will naturally vary business to business, which is why there isn’t a blanket answer for ‘what works best’.

Write a list of everything you want out of your social media marketing activity, and then prioritise them in terms of value for your business. Once you have your core objectives decided, you can proceed with the next steps…

#2 Outline your audience

Just as it’s important to outline why you’re using social media marketing, you also need to clarify who you’re trying to reach. This will help to determine which social channels will be most effective for your objectives.

For example, 72% of teenagers are on Instagram, whereas the majority of Twitter users are aged 18-29. Depending who your target demographic is, you might decide to prioritise a certain social network over another.

Clearly outline your audience demographic, and go into as much detail as possible: age, gender, location, hobbies, interests, challenges they face, where they hang out, what other brands they like – the lists can go on and on.

Determining these characteristics will ensure you use the best social networks to reach them, and also cater your content to best reach your objectives! See how it all links up?

#3 Market research

Analysing your competitors’ social media marketing activity is an important and valuable part of your strategy. After all, their target audience is your target audience. Spend some time researching:

• Which platforms they’re most active on
• What kind of content they publish
• How much average engagement they get
• What hashtags they use
• What tone of voice they use
• What kind of conversations they have with their audience
• What call to action they promote

The list goes on…

Taking the time to do this social media marketing analysis will put you in a good position to decide which platforms are best for your audience and objectives, as well as help you get to know your target demographics’ behaviour on social media.

#4 Prioritise social networks

With all of the above strategising, you should now have a pretty good idea of which social networks are most valuable to your business.

All social channels can benefit all businesses in some ways, but you will spread yourself too thinly by trying to be highly active on all of them.

Instead, prioritise which networks are the most effective for your audience and business objectives, and focus on producing different kinds of content to maximise results.

If you sell a consumer product which lends itself well to visual marketing, Instagram should be the obvious choice. Contrastingly, if you are a B2B service provider you’ll probably find Twitter or LinkedIn more effective.

Find out how to verified on Twitter here.

#5 Set brand guidelines

This an important step for any social media marketing strategy, particularly if you’re working in a team.

Brand guidelines should cover all details regarding brand activity on social media – and should be clear and accessible to everyone with access to the social accounts.

Outlining these details early on in your social media marketing strategy will ensure everyone is on the same page, and help you create a consistent and recognisable brand persona on social media.

Here are some things you’ll want to consider including in your social media marketing brand guidelines:

• Brand voice
  What kind of tone/language do you use? Is it the same on every platform?
  
• Use of emojis
  How formally/informally do you want to be perceived? 
• Use of hashtags 
  Which hashtags do you always use on each social network? Which do you want to avoid?
• Protocol on interacting with audience 
  Who is responsible for replying to comments and messages? Do you reply personally or as the brand?
• Banned words/topics 
  There are some things you never want your brand to talk about on social media – even if it’s obvious to you, avoid any potential faux pas by outlining them in the guidelines

These are just a few examples – but the list will go on depending on your brand and how many social networks you’re using in your marketing.

Remember, however you decide to portray your brand on social media, the important thing is that you stick to your guidelines! You want your audience to feel a familiarity that will engender loyalty, so ensure your activity across all social networks is consistent.

Missguided have a very clear and recognisable brand voice on Instagram which is well aligned with their target demographic:

 

 

 

 

 

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HAPPY 1ST DECEMBER BABES #missguided #christmas

A post shared by MISSGUIDED (@missguided) on Dec 1, 2018 at 12:00pm PST

#6 Plan your content

Now comes the more creative part – deciding what type of content will best achieve your objectives on each social network. This may vary depending on resources, but predominantly involves weighing up:

• Photos
• Videos
• Graphics
• Articles
• Livestreams
• Stories

It’s hard to know where to start, so try and think about your target audience and really get to the heart of what matters to them and what they’re most likely to react to.

If you’ve carried out your demographic and competitor market research thoroughly, this hopefully won’t be too difficult a decision!

All of these content options have sub-categories to consider, for example, if you decide that Instagram photos will make up the majority of your content, you’ll need to think about:

• What the photos are of
• What style they are taken in
• Colour scheme and feed aesthetic
• Who will take them
• Where they’ll be taken
• Using user-generated photographs

A lot of these details will take shape as you get going and learn what your audience best respond to, and it’s good to adjust your content accordingly!

#7 Use a content calendar

Social media marketing is a huge task, especially when you’re active across many different channels. Without sufficient planning, it’s easy to post sporadically or neglect certain social networks.

The best way to stay on top of all this content is using a social media marketing calendar, so you can see how frequently you are publishing and ensure posting consistency.

Using a content calendar, you can plan ahead for big events or milestones, brand announcements, or relevant social media holidays!

#8 Schedule social media content

If you want to save yourself hours of time and generally enhance the quality of your social media marketing, you need to schedule content.

Using an automated management and scheduling tool like Hopper HQ, you can bulk upload your photos, videos and text posts for Instagram, Facebook and Twitter — and set them to be published in the weeks ahead!

Scheduling social media content in advance improves efficiency, keeping everything in one place and freeing up more time for content creation and other creative aspects of social media marketing.

For practical advice on how to get started, check out our step-by-step guides for how to schedule posts on Instagram and Facebook!

#9 Track your metrics

Last but definitely not least! One of the most important aspects of social media marketing is that you track the metrics and KPIs linked to your objectives for each social network.

It’s all well and good putting out excellent material and engaging with your audience, but if you aren’t listening to the numbers you won’t learn what works best. You might think a Facebook campaign is brilliant, but if it doesn’t do what it was meant to, then it’s a waste of time and resources.

By tracking key metrics you can develop and optimise your activity and become excellent at social media marketing!

With business social media accounts, you have access to insights such as reach, impressions, engagement as well as information about your audience demographics, such as age, gender and location.

Whether you’re just starting out with social media marketing or are looking to reconsider your strategy, follow those 9 steps to skyrocket your presence across social media networks and smash those targets!

3. Hopper HQ’s Top Social Media Marketing Tips For 2023

Now you’re feeling ready to dive into social media marketing, here are some of our top tips for your strategy in 2023 for Instagram and Facebook…

Instagram

The most engaged social media channel in the world, Instagram is a necessity for brands of all shapes and sizes. The Instagram algorithm is constantly evolving, and consequently changing the game for social media marketing.

With competition higher than ever, brands needs to keep up to date with new features in order to grow an engaged following on Instagram.

 More info on the Instagram Algorithm here

#1 Post user-generated content

Instagram is first and foremost about community, and one of the best performing types of post on the app is user-generated content.

This is when brands share photos taken by a user on their business profile, and is a great opportunity to acknowledge customers while spreading brand awareness.

User-generated content has a 4.5% higher conversion rate on Instagram, proving its value for businesses. UGC is really a win win for consumer and brand for a number of reasons…

Benefits of User-Generated Content on Instagram:

• Community building
  By acknowledging and encouraging customer’s posts about your business, you’re interacting with your audience and building a community!
• Customer loyalty
  Stemming from this sense of community is an increase in customer loyalty. If you’re taking the time to engage with your customers and share their content on your profile, they will feel happy and fall in love with your brand that little bit more.
• Free content
  A huge perk of UGC is that your customers are essentially doing your social media marketing for you! 75% of users find UGC more authentic, and finding ways to humanise your brand on Instagram is always a win.
• Increased reach
  UGC often receives higher engagement than branded content, meaning the algorithm will receive the nod that it’s a strong post and increase its reach. Similarly, the person who took the photo is highly likely to share the post or tag friends in the comments!

The king of user-generated content on Instagram is undoubtedly GoPro, with almost 100% of their content being taken by athletes and explorers in their community!

They’ve made UGC align so perfectly with their brand, showing that it’s not just about the camera, but about where you go and what you do with it.

Their Instagram profile has become a travel and adventure inspiration feed with their product at the core, all thanks to user-generated content:

 

 

 

 

 

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One month left in 2018. Where will you go? • @girl_lovinglife threw rules to the wind + set her imagination free to capture this #BucketList view in France. Show us how you’re closing out the year by uploading your shots on gopro.com/awards. • • • @GoProFR #GoProFR #GoPro #December #Mediterranean #2018 #NewYear #Coastal

A post shared by GoPro (@gopro) on Dec 1, 2018 at 6:53am PST

But it’s not only products that can utilise UGC on Instagram! Websites such as Booking.com share photos of incredible travel destinations taken by the Instagram community, making their feed a haven for anyone with a dose of wanderlust.

Similarly, Parkrun share their members’ running posts to tell their stories of fitness and positivity. These are great examples of brands thinking outside of the box, celebrating their community, and using UGC to make their social media marketing more meaningful.

 

 

 

 

 

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“parkrun no 41 at Severn Bridge parkrun: Blustery and tough going up!” Pete Johnson #loveparkrun #parkrun

A post shared by parkrun UK (@parkrunuk) on Dec 5, 2018 at 3:00am PST

How to use User-Generated Content on Instagram:

Sounds good right? You can make the most of this social media marketing strategy in 2023 by sharing photos your community are posting!

Create a brand hashtag for your business profile and encourage your followers to use it so you can find all relevant UGC on Instagram.

Remember: you need consent to repost somebody’s content! Drop a comment on the post asking permission to feature it on your profile – this is also a great chance to chat to customers and get your brand personality across!

#2 Post when your audience are active

This may sound obvious, but is more important than ever as the Instagram algorithm continues to change the way we use the app.

The faster an Instagram post gets likes, comments and shares, the higher the algorithm ranks it as a piece of content, revealing it to more of your audience and giving it an organic boost.

The easiest way to ensure fast engagement on your posts is to publish them when the majority of your followers are online and actively using Instagram.

The team here at Hopper HQ built a free tool to make finding your best time to post on Instagram as easy as possible – simply follow the link below and connect your business Instagram account!

#3 Plan Instagram campaigns around social media holidays

A tip to increase the reach of your Instagram posts is to utilise hashtags that will be getting a lot of attention in a short space of time, such as global events (#Superbowl), social media holidays (#NationalCoffeeDay), and time-limited trends (#ThrowbackThursday).

Thankfully, we live in a modern world where everything seems to have a commemorative day of some kind, and so there’s plenty of opportunities to make the most of the boost in traffic no matter your industry!

Take a leaf out of this hotel’s book, who utilised #NationalPineappleDay to create some fun and unique content relevant to their business:

 

 

 

 

 

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Shades on, blue skies, no worries. What better way to celebrate #nationalpineappleday! #westinmaui #nationalsunglassesday @blinnkphotography

A post shared by TheWestinMaui (@thewestinmaui) on Jun 27, 2018 at 1:46pm PDT

Never miss a hashtag opportunity! Sign up to Trending to get the week’s social media holidays and trends straight to your inbox every Monday morning

#4 Make the most of Instagram Stories

Stories were a complete game changer when Instagram introduced them back in 2016, and they have not stopped developing valuable features since.

If you decide Instagram is the primary network for your social media marketing, Stories need to be a part of the plan. They are incredibly diverse, and the 24 hour time limit allows brands to be a bit less regimented with the content they put out.

You can do a lot design-wise on Instagram Stories directly, however, if you want to take it to the next level check out these free Instagram Story templates.

Here’s just a few things your business can try out on Instagram Stories:

• Go behind the scenes
  The beauty of Stories is the personal and authentic nature of them. Use the casual format to show your company culture and let your followers into the world of your business.
• Questions
  Use the questions sticker to run an anonymous Q&A with your audience, or to gain customer feedback.
• Polls
  Similarly, encourage follower interaction and feedback with the poll sticker.
• Story takeover
  Collaborate with an influencer, or another brand with the same audience as you, and try out a Story takeover.
• Tag locations
  Get your Story featured on a location Story by using the location sticker! This will increase your reach and could result in more followers.
• Go live
  Plan a livestream via Instagram Story – whether it’s an event, a Q&A, a sneak preview or something else – Live Stories are naturally featured higher up in Story feed.

For more in-depth Instagram Story tips and examples to help your social media marketing, check out:

 14 Ridiculously Easy Ways To Use Instagram Stories For Your Business

#5 Run an Instagram contest

An Instagram contest is a great social media marketing tactic as they bring in tonnes of likes and comments on a post.

By making the requirement to enter involve ‘tagging a friend’, you also draw lots of new users to your profile, increasing your reach and spreading brand awareness!

There are a number of ways to run an Instagram contest, and the type of competition and prize will naturally vary based on your business. The majority of Instagram contests are in the form of ‘giveaways’, and may be a bundle of products, an experience, or a voucher.

Around Christmas time, many brands are utilising the festive season to host daily giveaways and drive a lot of new users to their profile in a short space of time. This strategy links back to tip #3 and is a great example of planning campaigns in advance for time-sensitive trends!

 

 

 

 

 

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It’s Day 6 of Revlon’s 12 days of Beauty, and we want to help you revive your #skin before the celebrations truly begin! So that’s why we’re giving you our whole range of prep + prime products… to help for the festive #party week! … To #WIN Day 6 of Revlon’s 12 Days of Beauty: 1⃣ Like this gram 2⃣ Tag 3 friends in the comment below 3⃣ Make sure you’re following us @revlon_uk Winner will be announced tomorrow Competition open for the UK ONLY ! Link in bio for T&Cs #giveaway #competition #12daysofbeauty

A post shared by Revlon UK (@revlon_uk) on Dec 6, 2018 at 12:00am PST

For more info and practical tips on how to include Instagram contests in your social media marketing, check out our 5 Step Guide!

Facebook

With over 2 billion monthly users, Facebook remains the biggest social media platform on earth.

As a result, their features for businesses when it comes to social media marketing are incredibly advanced. Despite it being more and more difficult to get organic engagement on Facebook, there’s still plenty of ways you can increase your reach and grow a community on the social network…

#1 Video

Video content is a winner on Facebook. With the platform aiming to become a true hub for video streaming and compete with the big television providers, its focus on video will only grow in 2023.

If you’re looking to use Facebook in your social media marketing, get planning some captivating video content! The possibilities are endless with video, and provide the opportunity for creative freedom.

Regardless of budget and resources, there are many ways to make engaging video content: whether it’s professionally filmed in a studio, intentionally informal on mobile, stop motion or animation – it can work on Facebook!

Most importantly, Facebook video is the best form of content to boost your brand and send you on your way to hitting those objectives we talked about…

The key to creating successful video content for Facebook is to make it instantly captivating. The fact that videos automatically play in News Feed when you land on them is a great opportunity to capture your audience’s attention – although you only have a few seconds!

Remember that a huge proportion of Facebook users watch videos on the app without sound – so make sure to annotate and subtitle all your video content to keep people watching.

You can also use overlaid text to highlight your call to action in your video. What do you want people to do after they’ve watched it? A CTA is particularly important if you’re planning on your video content being a Facebook Ad, as it will help drive users towards your website.

So in your 2023 social media marketing plan, don’t miss out on the opportunities Facebook video provides!

#2 Go Live

Following on from the power of video on Facebook, going Live should be another strategy in your social media marketing plan for 2023.

As with all new features, Facebook promotes accounts using them in order to encourage more users to do so. You’ll notice that ‘Live’ is the first option in the status bar, and you sometimes get notified when someone ‘goes Live’.

All of this demonstrates Facebook’s desire for people to utilise and watch their Live content (another indicator of their plan to become a leader in the streaming space). This is great for businesses, as your content is less likely to get lost in the sea of regular post and videos on the site.

Use the opportunity of Live to stream an event, a product launch, run a Q&A, or share behind the scenes going ons at the business! You can also ‘Bring a friend’ to a Facebook Live video, which is a great feature to run a mini webinar or interview.

#3 Facebook Groups

Facebook is a platform for communities, and in a world where we’re rejecting advertising more than ever, Facebook groups offer a saving grace for individuals looking to share knowledge and support one another.

I know I said all social media marketing activity needs to be linked to business objectives, but that doesn’t always mean sales. An important aspect of social media marketing is community building and brand awareness, and so any activity helping meet these goals is highly valuable.

There are two ways you can utilise Facebook groups to get to know people in your target demographic and establish yourself in the space:

1. Make a community Facebook group related — but not exclusive — to your business
2. Join already established groups and start conversations

The former is naturally more groundwork, but can be very rewarding if you gain a lot of members. The second is great for market research and will ultimately put you in a good position to start your own group.

The most important thing about brand behaviour in Facebook groups is that it’s not self-promotional. The whole purpose of this kind of social media marketing strategy is that it’s community first rather than sales first.

Activity needs to be authentic and human in order to position your brand as a friendly, trustworthy source. Once you have built a relationship with members, you can share your content in a way that is genuinely helpful rather than overly promotional.

#4 Think shares, not sales

Following this line of thought, the key with Facebook content is to have ‘shareability’ at the forefront. The aim is to have people tagging their friends in the comments of your posts and sharing it on their profile.

Whether this is done by being entertaining, informing or thought-provoking, the important questions to ask when planning your Facebook content are: ‘would I watch this?’ and ‘would I share this?’.

One of the most effective ways of increasing your reach on Facebook is by your audience tagging people in the comments. This will not only show your post to the new people tagged, but also to their friends on News Feed.

Often, a brand’s post will appear on your Facebook feed with the preface: ‘[Friend] commented on this post’ or ‘[Friend] was tagged in a comment on this post’. This kind of sharing is invaluable for your brand’s Facebook content, and will mean your posts are seen by far more eyeballs than usual.

A great (and low-cost) way to encourage tagging and sharing is with branded memes appealing to your target audience. Don’t just take my word for it! Look at the difference in these 2 Facebook posts from In The Style:

This post is not a direct sell: it has nothing to do with their products, offers, or even fashion. However, its content is relevant to their audience, and they have included their logo, so when it gets shared, their branding will be shared with it.

Contrastingly, a post including a discount and a clear call to action did not perform anywhere near as well:

These examples show how the social media marketing game has changed, and highlight how shareability needs to be embedded into all Facebook content your brand is producing.

#5 Promote to a lookalike audience

One of the most important and tricky aspects of Facebook ads or promoted content is testing out different target audiences. Facebook offer a great feature called ‘Lookalike Audience’ to help you reach an entirely new group of people who share characteristics with your existing customers and target demographic.

You can choose your source audience based on data from the pixel on your site, email addresses, or Custom Audiences you’ve used in the past on Facebook. Regardless of where these source users are from, you can choose countries to target with for the lookalike audience – and one source audience can produce up to 500 lookalike audiences!

For more information on Facebook Lookalike Audiences, check out their help centre guide!

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There you have Hopper HQ’s top social media marketing tips for Instagram and Facebook!

I hope you utilise the information in this guide to smash your 2023 objectives out of the park, and would love to hear from you if you have any comments or questions!

Hopper HQ is a social media scheduling and management platform that frees up time to focus on the fun creative stuff! Named in the Top 5 Most Popular Social Media Marketing Software list 2018. Start your 14-day trial today.

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Some of you may remember a time on Myspace when you’d copy questionnaires and fill them in on a bulletin to tell your friends the last thing you ate or that you prefer dogs to cats:

Well, friends, we’ve come full circle, because it’s been reborn for Instagram!

What Is An Instagram Story Template?

Story Templates are well-designed images with graphics and text, including spaces left blank to be filled in by the user. Here’s what I’m talking about:

The main purpose of these templates is to share information about yourself with your followers. On a social platform that is almost completely visual, Story Templates provide a new text-based way of getting your personality out there. (You can’t deny it, it looks a lot better than it did on Myspace, sorry Tom).

Thanks to Story Highlights, these templates can stay at the top of your profile and become an extension of your bio, ready to tell anyone who lands on your page some fun stuff about you! Search ‘templates’ on Instagram and you’ll find loads of accounts creating templates for users to screenshot and use. Upload to your Story, fill in and share!

How Can Story Templates Work For Businesses?

At the moment, Instagram Story Templates have been predominantly used on a consumer-to-consumer basis, or created by influencers to increase their reach.

As you can see, whoever makes the template includes their name and potentially any trademarks or recognisable branding. Once they start getting shared, their account will be discovered by people outside of their current network. This is fantastic marketing because their followers are doing the distributing for them!

Branded Story Templates are a great form of #InstagramMarketing because when your followers screenshot and share them, they will reach people outside of your network
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So you can probably see that there’s a real opportunity for businesses and brands to get involved here. By giving away something cool that your followers can use and share, you’re increasing brand awareness and growing engagement.

By making your own branded Story Templates, your business has the opportunity to be seen by thousands of new people who are likely to have similar interests to your target audience! Not to mention, if your templates look amazing, users will go to your profile to see if they can get their hands on any more.

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Instagram Story Template Ideas

1) Stay relevant to your audience

Think about what your business does, and ways that Story Templates could apply to your target audience. For example, if you’re in the travel industry, you could share templates around themes such as:

• Countries I Want To Visit Next…
• Pin Places You’ve Been On The Map!
• Travel: This / That

Because that’s the kind of thing people who like travelling or who go on holiday are lot are likely to want to fill in and share. Similarly, if you’re in the fitness industry, you could share templates like:

• Today’s Workout
• Weekly Progress
• Favourite Gym Equipment

Encouraging your audience to share their routines and progress on their own Stories. Get into the mindset of your audience and produce templates relevant to your industry!

2) Top Trends

You could also create Story Templates around the top trends for the week – which you can get direct to your inbox by clicking here!

Think of templates you could create around important events or trends. For example, Mother’s Day sees hundreds of people take to Stories to complement their mums and share memories. This would therefore be a great opportunity to create a template such as: ‘Reasons My Mum Is The Best‘ (or something to that effect) because it’s likely to get a lot of engagement in a short space of time.

Other recurring trends like #WCW (Woman Crush Wednesday) and #MCM (Man Crush Monday) could be a good thing to make templates around depending on your audience. They are guaranteed to get traction every week and if your template looks appealing to your target demographic then it will get shared!

Here are some other good examples:

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3) Current Affairs

Similarly, if you’re looking to appeal to a large proportion of people, you could jump on to current affairs such as news, politics and sports to encourage interaction amongst your followers. This is a great example of a Story Template that is likely to be shared amongst football fans, with space at the bottom to include any further opinions:

The only problem with these kinds of templates is that they expire very quickly, and will not continue to be used once the event has passed. However, if done well they have the potential to get a huge amount of reach!

4) Drawings, Emojis, GIFs and Stickers

Story Templates don’t have to be solely text-based! There are loads of ways to be creative on Instagram Stories, such as using emojis, GIFs stickers and pen tools.

Think outside the box for ways your brand could engage followers by utilising emojis in Story Templates – it’s easier and quicker than writing answers out, so this type of template might appeal more to certain people. If your audience is creative, why not encourage them to let artistic license reign and draw something on a template?

For example, if you sell trainers you could create a blank trainer template and ask your followers to design their dream pair and share it on their Instagram Story. Minimal work at your end but great potential to get a lot of reach and engagement!

Here are some other examples:

As you might have noticed from the number of examples of theirs I’ve used in this blog, @storytemps are all over this trend. Check them out for some inspiration — they have covered all areas and genres of Story Templates for people to screenshot and use.

If you want to test out Story Templates in your marketing strategy before spending lots of time creating your own, I’d recommend heading to their Instagram account. Have a look through the different topics and screenshot ones that are relevant to your target market!

Remember: hold a finger down somewhere on the Story before screenshotting, as it will remove the username and countdown bar from the top

How To Create An Instagram Story Template?

When using Story Templates as part of your Instagram marketing, it makes sense to make your own so you can design them on brand and get your company name out there.

Creating Story Templates can be done from within Instagram, for example, I just made this one in 5 minutes:

It’s obviously a bit rough around the edges, but due to the newest range of fonts you can actually do a lot within Instagram Stories itself. If (like me) you don’t have a steady enough hand to use the pen tool, use different forms of blown up punctuation to create the blank spaces!

You can also use the colour-picker tool to make sure everything matches, like how I chose the pink from the flag for the text. It does a job, and if you’re pressed for time or want to test Story Templates out before allocating time and budget to them, then it’s probably best to make them from within the app.

However, if you want to make Story Templates that stand out and look really high quality, make them using a third-party tool such as Canva.

Once you have set the dimensions for Instagram Stories, which are 1080px X 1920px, Canva will bring up loads of potential designs that you can customise and repurpose for your perfect Story template!

From here making Instagram Story Templates is simple, and you can let your creativity flow to create magazine-worthy images!

If you have Adobe Creative Crowd it’s also possible to make Story Templates in Photoshop and Illustrator.

 Remember: when making Story Templates don’t hashtag or tag locations or accounts. While this is a great strategy in normal Stories, when the intention is for them to be screenshotted they will lose their interactiveness

Story Templates For B2B Marketing?

So far, we’ve only talked about Story Templates in a B2C context. When we saw this trend arise a few weeks ago we wondered if there was potential for them to work on a business-to-business-to-level. Without any inspiration out there, we decided to give it a go and make our own!

The reason Story Templates are so popular is because people like getting to know each other in fun and interesting ways. Another reason why Stories, in general, are so popular for businesses, is that their followers get to see behind the scenes and get to know the people behind the brand.

So why not combine these 2 trends and let people learn a bit more about the companies they follow on Instagram? The boring facts can be found on websites and LinkedIn pages, but what I actually want to know is what kind of company culture businesses have and what their employees enjoy doing!

The people likely to use these Story Templates will be social media managers or marketers, hence the reason for the digital marketing questions! There’s a great business community on Twitter and LinkedIn with people sharing ideas and experiences, so why not try and bring a touch of that to Instagram?

Parting Words

There’s so much potential to integrate Story Templates into your Instagram marketing, and it’s still a really novel trend! These Hopper HQ templates are now up on our Instagram @hopper_hq in a Templates Highlight – I’d love to see your answers so go ahead and screenshot them

If you also end up creating your own Story Templates after reading this blog let me know!

Happy posting 

Can you think of any more ways businesses could make the most of this latest craze? Let me know or tweet me @Nicola_HHQ

Get on the hype early and create branded Instagram Story Templates for your audience! Read how here:
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