Showing posts tagged with: social media Influencers

March 20, 2023

Everything You Need to Know About Instagram’s “Hidden Likes” Test

Everything You Need to Know About Instagram’s “Hidden Likes” Test

If you’ve landed on our Hawaii Marketing Tips blog by accident while searching for Team Vision Marketing, please visit our homepage, creative portfolio or client video testimonials to learn more. Otherwise, please continue reading.

We all saw this coming, but in case you missed it, Instagram just launched its game-changing “Likes-Free” test update to the whole world.

Tests for the “hidden” Likes started last April in Canada and then rolled out to Australia, New Zealand, Japan, Ireland, Italy, and Brazil, resulting in mixed feelings. Recently, Adam Mosseri, Head of Instagram, announced at the WIRED25 Summit 2019 that the test was expanding to the U.S., and now it’s in effect for a small group of users in every country. So far, there is no news about how long the tests will last or if the update will be permanent.

WHY IS INSTAGRAM TAKING AWAY OUR LIKES?

Instagram wants to promote a healthier environment for all of its users. According to Mosseri, the purpose of a “Likes-Free” Instagram is to depressurize the platform and make it less competitive. Moving away from likes will help users “focus more on connecting with people that they love, and things that inspire them…”

Many studies and reputable news sources have shared that interacting with social media platforms can incur negative psychological problems, especially with young audiences.

– NBC News reports that a recent study, published by the American Psychology Association, found that individuals reporting symptoms consistent with major depression increased by 52% in teens and 63% in young adults age 18 to 25 from 2009 to 2017.

– U.S. News states that “Young people who spend more than 3 hours a day on social media are susceptible to depression, anxiety, and other illnesses and are more likely to internalize bad feelings about themselves,” according to a study by Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg School of Public Health.

– CNN shared a study published in The Lancet Child & Adolescent Health journal which found that content posted on social media can hinder the healthy sleep and exercise of young people.

ARE MY LIKES DISAPPEARING FOREVER?

We put quotation marks around “Likes-Free” and “hidden” for a reason. No, Likes will not totally disappear from your posts. Instead, Instagram is removing the public’s view of the Like count and replacing it with a preview of mutual followers who liked the post. Although, Instagram users can still see their Likes and other posts’ Likes by clicking on “others.”

Preview of Hidden Likes on Instagram

HOW WILL THIS AFFECT MY BRAND? WILL THIS KILL INFLUENCER MARKETING?

Naturally, brands and influencers are feeling nervous about the negative effects of this update as it rolls out. Some brands predict that their engagements will decline and some influencers are boycotting Instagram for “hiding” Likes because it will affect their brand deals.

But here at Team Vision Marketing, we see that “hiding” Likes will bring good change to how brands and influencers market themselves on the platform. Plus, Instagram has assured the public that the “disappearing Likes” shouldn’t affect your brand’s current engagement rates.

We predict that this “no Likes” update will produce non-vanity based – and therefore more valuable – engagement metrics, including comments, impressions, reach, and rise in merit. Ryan Detert, CEO and co-founder of Influential, shared with Emarketer.com that his company’s analytics sees no correlation between Likes (a vanity based metric) and sales. Instead, brands should focus on attention metrics, like views and reach, which analyze how users engage with content.

Our digital marketing firm also foresees that the update will not only see better, more authentic influencer marketing strategies, but also nurture stronger relationships between brands and influencers. Vice President of Marketing for Stoli Vodka, Dave McNulty, says on Emarketer.com that “hiding likes shouldn’t negatively impact how brands work with influencers… [because] successful content is a result of brands building real relationships with credible influencers and giving them the creative license to be authentic with their audience.”

SOCIAL MEDIA MARKETING TIPS FOR A “LIKE-FREE” INSTAGRAM

This new update is all about building a healthier community on social media, so naturally, social media strategies will need to be more focused on engaging with the audience or cultivating your brand’s community. Here are some social media marketing tips centered on community building for your brand to try out:

– Share something valuable for your audience to engage with, like comedic posts (see our #DreadedAgencyRequests posts) or tips and market statistics.

– Get personal with your fans. Try posting more community-based content, like office life or team bonding activities. Inviting your audience to experience your company culture will evoke sentimental feelings with your brand and foster brand loyalty.

– If you do rely on influencer marketing, develop authentic – not gimmicky – social media marketing campaigns. Also, make sure you are building a relationship with an influencer that fits your brand and can help you engage with your target audience.

– Sponsor a reaction/review video.
– Fit your brand or product within the influencer’s passions or brand, like Fiji Water’s BodyWoreWhat.
– Partner with an influencer who is advocating for a cause that your product or brand can relate to.

– Make your content thought-provoking or irresistible for your audience to share their opinions on. This type of content can include the following:

– Posting a Story with a poll, question, or a multiple-choice sticker.
– Posting a “Question of the Day” post.
– Hosting an “Ask Me Anything” session.
– Hosting a “Reaction to your assumptions” session.
– Hosting a Live Stream.
– Asking your followers to share their opinions or favorite things about your brand or products in the caption.

– Keep the discussion in the comments going. Instead of just saying “Mahalo for your comment!”, reply with a question or a conversation-starter. After all, a strong social media community is all about continuous interactions with your audience.

– Engage with your audience and the people you follow. Stay active in liking, commenting, and interacting with other posts, especially with the ones your brand is tagged in.

– You can take this tip a step further by interacting with posts on the Explore tab! Browsing through the Explore tab is a great way to find new audiences to build relationships with.

– Spotlight your top followers. Repost and share your top followers to your feed. Use this to express your appreciation for their love of your brand and products. It’ll make your spotlight followers feel good and encourage the rest of your audience to want to start sharing their love for your company.

If you need help with your Hawaii advertising, marketing or social media management for 2020, send us an inquiry via our web site. You can also check out our extensive portfolio to see our most recent creative works in our portfolio – from social media campaigns to logo designs. Team Vision Marketing is one of Hawaii’s leading full-service advertising agencies and digital marketing firms, helping local brands on Oahu, Maui, The Big Island of Hawaii, Lanai, and Kauai.

 

Contact Us:

Phone: (808) 536-0416

Email: info@www.teamvision.com

Web: www.www.teamvision.com

Hear from Bruce Barrett, former VP of Sales & Marketing at Castle & Cooke Hawaii, on his experience working with Team Vision Marketing.

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March 13, 2019

2018 Social Media Trends: Were We Right On The Money?

2018 Social Media Trends: Were We Right On The Money?

In 2018, we suggested that Hawaii brands try out these four social media trends: Stories, Transparency, A.I. and Chatbots, and Videos and Live Streaming. Now it’s time to check-in to see if these trends lived up to the hype in 2018 and what their future looks like for 2019.

Need help executing high-quality marketing campaigns that utilize the latest trends to achieve your business goals? Send us an email at info@www.teamvision.com or give us a call at (808) 536-0416.

Did you land on our Hawaii Marketing Tips blog by accident while searching for Team Vision Marketing? Please visit our homepage, creative portfolio or client video testimonials.

1. Stories

2018: Stories include photo or video content that is only available for 24 hours and they are quickly growing in popularity. This type of content is versatile; the possibilities of content are endless. Brands have been using stories for branding, promoting, and advertising.

The following infographic, compiled by story-experience producer Fastory, shows the popularity growth of stories.

Read more on Rise of the Story Format.

The Verdict: 2018 was a major win for the story format.

The Stories trend continues to be victorious! EMarketer reported that 400 million people used Instagram Stories, 450 million use What’s App Stories (owned by Facebook), 300 million used Facebook Stories, and 186 million used SnapChat Stories.

In fact, its wild success got Mark Zuckerberg, Facebook’s CEO, to claim that stories will eventually be bigger than the News Feed. Many other prominent brands, such as Facebook, Vogue, Microsoft, and Deutsche Bank, recognize the influence and see a strong future for this new content and ad placement medium.

So, what’s next for Stories? SocialMediaToday.com reports that Instagram is currently testing a new Stories feature where users can ask their followers to donate to their favorite charities. Another new Story feature in the works, as reported by Mashable.com, will give Netflix users the ability to share what they’re watching on the Netflix app to their Instagram Stories. This means that brands could possibly have another organic way to interact with the story format beyond posting on stories or buying ads.

2. Transparency

2018: One of the greatest (and sometimes worst) things about being on social media is how quick news spreads. One tweet or post can go viral, and with this political climate, people are feeling more empowered to voice their opinions. Audiences are demanding change, transparency, and advocating for social justice (i.e. #MeToo and #MarchForOurLives).

  • 81% of consumers say social media increased accountability for businesses
  • 47% of consumers use social media for complaints
  • Only 8% of consumers say they would be silent if a brand posted something inappropriate

Statistics provided by Social Sprout.

The Verdict: Transparency is evolving and the public want brands to be more transparent.

Last year some brands and influencers are really making an effort to appease the demand for transparency and social justice movements:

  • Last year, Facebook made some major changes in the social media’s platform algorithms and security measures after sitting on the hot seat before the public and court.
  • CVS is debuting a new social campaign where consumers are encouraged to upload their own unaltered photos under #beautyunaltered to social media for the chance to have them displayed on the brand’s Times Square billboard. As part of the effort, CVS partnered with lifestyle influencers Sara and Erin Foster on a new Beauty Mark t-shirt; proceeds will support nonprofit Girls Inc.
  • An increasing amount of celebrities and social media influencers are pledging to improve the way they declare sponsored posts and endorsing goods.

Although extra transparency actions taken by Facebook and other brands are appreciated, there is still so much room for improvement. Jen Wong, COO of Reddit, says, “There’s going to be a much longer arc [in 2019] around this movement around data transparency and management.” According to a Sprout Social report, topics consumers want brands to be more transparent on business operations, marketing, policy changes, and business values.

For 2019, brands have two challenges to overcome: 1) Go deeper in their transparency and 2) Create new, engaging ways to address public issues as big as scandals to individual complaints on products and services other than press releases and replies in the comment section.

3. Artificial Intelligence (A.I.) and Chatbots

2018: To help effectively communicate with consumers, more brands are using chatbots or A.I. programs to increase positive experiences, handle customer service, complete purchases, or to provide more information about a product or service. According to CMO by Adobe, 72% of business leaders agree that A.I. can provide a fundamental business advantage. These bots can help your brand identify business issues, compile data, and target audiences with your posts better.

Read more A.I. statistics from CMO by Adobe.

The Verdict: How did we live without AI?

The growth in AI usage is undeniable. According to Hootsuite, the International Data Centre reported that worldwide spending on AI solutions will increase more than 22.1% from January 2017 – that’s $103 billion. In 2018, Salesforce’s State of Marketing reported that 52% of consumers are more inclined to change brands if a company doesn’t offer personalized communication.

The future for AI Marketing in 2019 is to incorporate it into personalized marketing strategies to form a deeper relationship with their consumers. Big names, such as Digital North America, Reddit, Unilever, and Clorox, say that data marketing, data-driven marketing, AI, and personalized marketing is the future.

Read more on Let’s Get Personal: How To Win At Personalized Marketing

4. Videos & Live Streaming

2018: Live streaming and videos are quickly becoming an important tool to communicate and market your brand. They add authenticity, keep your audience engaged, and can get your audience talking about your brand. Video also entertains and can help influence purchases.

Here are some tips for creating successful videos and live streams:

  • Catch the audience’s attention in the first 7 seconds
  • Rehearse before filming live
  • Have a concise message
  • Host a live Q & A and get your audience to post their questions on your social platforms

Check out Team Vision’s video work.

Read more video and live streaming tips.

The Verdict: The stats don’t lie! Make 2019 the year you start video marketing.

If your brand is not on the video and live streaming train, you better hop on now. Why deny your brand from using the top engaging media format, which has been a staple in digital marketing for years? If you want to stay relevant to your current audience and attract potential consumers, get your team started on producing videos, building their skills in video/live streaming, and collecting data on what engages with your audience most. Still need convincing? Here are some stats from 2018 that prove the success of videos and live streams:

 

If you’re looking for help with your Hawaii Social Media Marketing, give Team Vision Marketing a call at (808) 536-0416, or check out samples of our social media work in our extensive online marketing portfolio at www.www.teamvision.com/portfolio.

To read more about social media marketing tips, please check out and subscribe to our Hawaii Marketing Tips Blog.

Hear from Dolly Moreno, Director of Sales & Marketing, Honua Kai Resort & Spa, on her experience working with Team Vision Marketing.

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Top 10 Instagram Story Sticker TipsHow to Rank in Google AI and Chat GPT SearchHow to Select The Best Honolulu, Hawaii Advertising Agency for Your BusinessWhat Is IP Targeting and How Can I Use It for My Business?How AI Will Transform MarketingHawaii Social Media Marketing TipsEverything You Need to Know About Instagram’s “Hidden Likes” TestHow To Succeed in Zero-Click Search SEOSocial Media Marketing TrendsYour Guide to Google Rich Search FeaturesWhat to Expect After A Google Broad Core Algorithm Update
Contact Us for Help with your Social Media Marketing

Call Us Today at (808) 536-0416.

March 11, 2019

Dreaded Advertising Agency Requests Roundup

If you’ve landed on our Hawaii Marketing Tips blog by accident while searching for Team Vision Marketing, please visit our homepage, creative portfolio or client video testimonials to learn more.

#Dreaded Agency Requests Roundup

Team Vision Marketing has been in business in Hawaii for over 20 years, and during that time we’ve  received some humorous ad agency requests.  Just for fun, we developed a social media campaign consisting of a series of the best of those requests.  You can find the full campaign series on our Instagram page at @teamvisionhi, or you can search for #DreadedAgencyRequests on Instagram or Facebook.  Here are a few of our favorites that you can scroll through below.

For many of these #DreadedAgencyRequests, the captions in the social media posts take the humor to another level.  Please visit our Instagram page at @teamvisionhi (on the app) or www.instagram.com/teamvisionhi  to view the full series. And please make sure to Follow Us on Instagram to receive our future #DreadedAgencyRequests posts.

If you’re interested in learning more about our full-service advertising agency and social media marketing services, please contact us at (808) 536-0416, or via our contact form.

This is the blog of Team Vision Marketing, a full-service advertising and marketing agency located in Honolulu, Hawaii and serving clients on Oahu, Maui, Kauai and the Big Island of Hawaii.

 

Contact Us:

Phone: (808) 536-0416

Email: info@www.teamvision.com

Web: www.www.teamvision.com

Hear from Bruce Barrett, VP of Sales & Marketing at Castle & Cooke Hawaii, on his experience working with Team Vision Marketing.

Recent blog post
Top 10 Instagram Story Sticker TipsHow to Rank in Google AI and Chat GPT SearchHow to Select The Best Honolulu, Hawaii Advertising Agency for Your BusinessWhat Is IP Targeting and How Can I Use It for My Business?How AI Will Transform MarketingHawaii Social Media Marketing TipsEverything You Need to Know About Instagram’s “Hidden Likes” TestHow To Succeed in Zero-Click Search SEOSocial Media Marketing TrendsYour Guide to Google Rich Search FeaturesWhat to Expect After A Google Broad Core Algorithm Update
Contact Us for Help with All Your Marketing Needs

Call Us Today at (808) 536-0416.

November 22, 2018

Busting Social Media Myths #4

Busting Social Media Myths #4

It’s common knowledge among digital marketing agencies that Social Media Marketing is an essential marketing tool, but some businesses still believe in some misconceptions surrounding it. Believing in these myths can affect the quality and growth of your brand’s social media presence. Team Vision Marketing’s team feels obligated to bust some of these common myths and help guide your business in the right direction. In this edition of Busting Social Media Marketing Myths, our team will weigh in on which online advertising networks are most popular, audience targeting, and sustainable methods for growing your social media follower counts.

Make sure to read Busting Social Media Marketing Myths #1, Busting Social Media Marketing Myths #2, and Busting Social Media Marketing Myths #3 for more busts on social media marketing myths.

MYTH 1: Facebook And Instagram Are The Only Effective Social Media Platforms To Advertise On.

Although Facebook Ads, which distributes social media ads on both Facebook and Instagram, is the dominant social media advertising network, agencies and brands shouldn’t disregard advertising on other social media platforms, such as YouTube and SnapChat. In fact, these other social media advertising networks have been improving their operating systems to increase advertising effectiveness and ROI. Digital agencies recognize the potential and value of these smaller social media advertising networks, as seen in the graphic below by Clutch.

Most Valuable Social Media Advertising Platforms for B2B and B2C

Team Vision Marketing recommends that brands be open-minded and research how you can potentially utilize these smaller social media advertising networks in your digital marketing plans.  Here are some pros and cons of each.

 

YouTube:

Pros

    • YouTube is used by a wide range of age groups.

YouTube Useage by Age Groups

  • It’s a creative platform with six different ad formats. Skippable video ads (a.k.a. TrueView ads), Non-skippable video ads, 6-second Bumper ads, Overlay ads, Display ads, and Sponsored cards.
  • There are 1.5 billion monthly users that watch one billion hours of YouTube videos daily. YouTube mobile video consumptions are increasing by 100% every year, according to HubSpot.
  • Video ads are an effective form of digital marketing/advertising. A 2016 study by Google and comScore found that 48% of online video viewers prefer YouTube as their top video site. Videos provide agencies and brands the opportunity to tell their story and educate their target audiences with their products or services in a creative way. With video ads, advertising can be engaging, compelling, and entertaining.
  • Keyword targeting on YouTube can be less expensive than keyword targeting on Google with views costing an average of $0.06 per click on YouTube (HubSpot).
  • YouTube Ads and videos can improve your SEO ranking.
  • There are new audience targeting developments. In addition to the YouTube behavioral video viewing algorithm, YouTube advertisers will be able to target viewers based on their past Google search history of products or services in the near future (HubSpot).
  • Another form of YouTube Advertising can take form as a collaboration with YouTube influencers. Influencer marketing can be effective because some consumers like to watch testimonials, reviews, or product demo videos before buying a product or service (Forbes). In fact, more than 80% of people trust online reviews as much as personal recommendations, like unboxing videos (Forbes). 90% of YouTube users say that product videos are helpful in the decision process and after watching a video, 64% of users are more likely to buy a product online (HubSpot).

Cons

  • It can cost a company a lot of time and money to produce high-quality video ads. There are numerous case studies that show that YouTube ads successfully increased brand awareness, conversions, and web site traffic. However, a successful YouTube ad depends on the quality of the video or if the YouTube influencer has a positive review of your products or service. Now that YouTube’s Director On-Site program has been terminated, small businesses will have to rely on in-house resources, an advertising agency, or YouTube recommended third-party video creating platforms to make video ads. For businesses that want to self-produce their YouTube ads, understand that it takes time to conceptualize the storyboard, write dialogue or copy for the ad, and block out shooting days. Then, it might be expensive to hire the right people to shoot, produce, and edit the video. In addition, your team might have to hire talent, rent a space to film at, and so on. Hiring or using one of the YouTube recommended third-party video creators might be a more affordable option. But the process will still require a lot of time and coordination between you and the third party video creator to create the ad.
  • Influencer marketing could be costly and might not produce the results you are looking for.
  • YouTube ads can be annoying. YouTube ads that play before or in the middle of a YouTube video can be seen as annoying by some. It’s easy for your audience to skip right past your ad and not pay attention to the message at all. Even so, these ads can be used effectively to create brand awareness, even with minimal viewing times.

SnapChat:

Pros:

  • Agencies and brands can reach millennials and Gen Z audiences.4 million 12- to 17-year-olds will use Snapchat. Emarketer.com estimates that Snapchat will add 1.2 million new users in that age group by 2022, while Facebook will lose 2.2 million.
  • About 187 million people use SnapChat 25 times per day.
  • SnapChat has high engagements. SnapChat says that for every 1,000 followers a profile has, 900 of them will watch their story (Hootsuite.com). Taco Bell reports that 80% of their approximate 200,000 SnapChat friends saw their stories (Hootsuite.com). Not to mention that it’s one of the best platforms for User-Generated content.
  • SnapChat has cool, interactive digital ad formats. SnapChat has three interactive ad formats: Snap Ads, Sponsored Geo-Filters, and Sponsored Lenses. When SnapChat users touch a Snap Ad, the ad can expand to a full screen video with audio, link to the brand’s web site, install an app, lead you to a long form video, or download an exclusive lens for the user to interact with. Sponsored Geo-Filters are great for increasing brand awareness and expressing the brand’s creativity. Sponsored lenses are interactive face filter animations that are really great for brand awareness and collecting user-generated content.
  • SnapChat made some cool marketing upgrades. SnapChat has updated its insight features to track more valuable analytics data and improved their targeting features. According to AdWeek.com, SnapChat now offers pixels that can track web traffic, conversions, and create retargeting and lookalike audiences lists. AdWeek.com also reported that SnapChat advertisers can now upload customer email lists to match their SnapChat ads to the users.
  • Ads are seen as less disruptive. Unlike Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram, ads don’t pop up on SnapChat’s feed or interrupt the user’s content. Instead, ads run in the Discover tab on the SnapChat app. Also, sponsored Geo-filters, like the ones we designed for Honua Kai Resort & Spa and Dole Plantation, and Sponsored Lenses only show up if the SnapChat user is within a brand’s geo-fence.
  • Advertising costs for Sponsored Geo-Filters went down. SnapChat dropped their expensive advertising daily fees and opted to start using auction bids, like Facebook Ads and Google Ads (AdAge.com). However, according to Hootsuite, Geo-Filters can be as low as $5 to reach within the immediate location or $45 for 2 days to reach people in a city. According to AdAge.com, SnapChat is also developing a “Reach and Frequency” option for guaranteed prices according to approximate audience sizes.
  • There’s less competition on SnapChat than Facebook and Instagram. This means that, potentially, the keyword targeting bids are cheaper on SnapChat Ads than for Facebook Ads. It could also mean that there is less noise for the SnapChat audience, so viewers may be more willing to watch your brand’s ads.

Cons:

  • This digital advertising network is still new, and the audience is smaller than Facebook and Instagram’s advertising audience.
  • Audience exposure to SnapChat ads is limited to the users that browse through the app’s Discovery tab.
  • This digital advertising network is best for reaching younger people. If the target audience is older than teens and younger millennials, then it will be more effective to advertise on a different platform, like Facebook and Instagram ads.
  • Sponsored Lenses can be very expensive. This ad format is not suitable for smaller businesses due to the costs required to create and code lenses, and the ad space. This is why mainly big-name brands, like Urban Decay or Pepsi, uses Sponsored Lenses.
  • Designing custom Geo-Filters can be, potentially, expensive.
  • SnapChat Geo-Filters are best for brand awareness. These ads can be less effective for generating increases in conversions.

MYTH 2: Targeting A Broader Audience With My Social Media Ads Will Give Me The Best Results

Yes, targeting a broader audience can generate more impressions, a greater reach, and increased clicks for your brand’s digital marketing ads, which is why this targeting strategy is ideal for increasing brand awareness, lead generation, and collecting customer data. For example, using a broad audience targeting strategy, a boutique hotel on Maui might target West Coast USA markets and bid on more vague search phrases, like “Hawaii Hotels”, instead of a more targeted phrase like “West Maui boutique hotels”. However, using less targeted filters for your brand’s digital marketing campaigns also means that the ads won’t attract the highest quality audience. You’ll wind up paying more (because you’re reaching a much larger audience), but since your audience targeting is less specific to your brand, you won’t necessarily see a proportionate increase in conversions.

If your company wants to increase sales and attract a higher quality audience to your site, then consider marketing to a specific audience with targeting filters, like location, interests, income, age, groups, and likes. For a specific audience targeting to work efficiently, your brand needs to have existing customer data, a solid idea of who your customer is, or buy data from a third-party data sharing firm. For example, a local Hawaii furniture store advertising on social media will want to specifically target an audience who is at least 25 years or older and interested in home decor or home improvements. For Google Ads, this local furniture store would find that bidding on search phrases that name a specific location or product, like “Contemporary Furniture stores on Oahu” or “Where to buy couches on Oahu”, is more effective than “couches” or just “Hawaii furniture stores”. However, targeting a highly curated audience or bidding on really specific search phrases may counteract the effectiveness of the campaign by attracting too niche of an audience, or by being too expensive.

Team Vision Marketing recommends that brands first establish their marketing goals and objectives and then determine which type of targeting strategy to implement.  For our clients, we normally recommend a healthy mix of broad targeting (to attract new customers) and specific targeting (to increase conversions of existing customers) as there are benefits to both strategies.

MYTH 3: The Best Way To Gain Followers Is To Follow A Lot Of People And Then Unfollow Them.

Mass social media following, and unfollowing is an unsustainable follower growth strategy and it makes your brand seem unauthentic. And, having a lot of followers doesn’t necessarily mean that your social media profile produces great content. In fact, having a large follower base, but only receiving a small number of likes per post on Instagram, will seem strange. Brands can still follow a lot of social media profiles, but the motivation behind your follows should be that the brands you follow are somehow relevant to your business, or they produce great content of interest to you and your customers.  Our recommendation: don’t follow people and brands for the sole purpose of trying to get them to follow you back.

The best way to grow your social media followers is to produce quality posts and to interact in a meaningful manner with the pages you follow by liking and commenting on posts you enjoy.

Here are a few more suggested tips from Team Vision Marketing that will help you gain followers:

  • Create a good social media strategy.
  • Use free social media insights or social media analytics tools to determine the best times to post and what posts work for your business.
  • Use hashtags and tag a location on your posts.
  • Post high-quality content that brings value to your audience consistently.
  • Follow relevant profiles, companies, and influencers.
  • Promote your page or sponsor posts when relevant.
  • Collaborate with another profile with a bigger following, or with a social media influencer.
  • Incorporate promotions and/or incentives to encourage people to follow you. But remember, to keep them as followers long-term, you’ll have to consistently produce quality content.

It’s important to note that these social media marketing strategies and tactics will require a substantial investment of your time and energy on an ongoing basis. If your company doesn’t have an in-house social media management expert, it’s recommended that you hire a social media management team or a digital marketing agency to manage your social media accounts.

Does your business need assistance with managing your social media accounts? Give Team Vision Marketing a call and let us help you out. Be sure to check out some of our creative social media campaigns and promotions on our web site portfolio at www.www.teamvision.com/portfolio/#social-media.

Phone: (808) 536-0416

Email: info@www.teamvision.com

Hear from Bruce Barrett, VP of Sales & Marketing at Castle & Cooke Hawaii, on his experience working with Team Vision Marketing.

Recent blog post
Top 10 Instagram Story Sticker TipsHow to Rank in Google AI and Chat GPT SearchHow to Select The Best Honolulu, Hawaii Advertising Agency for Your BusinessWhat Is IP Targeting and How Can I Use It for My Business?How AI Will Transform MarketingHawaii Social Media Marketing TipsEverything You Need to Know About Instagram’s “Hidden Likes” TestHow To Succeed in Zero-Click Search SEOSocial Media Marketing TrendsYour Guide to Google Rich Search FeaturesWhat to Expect After A Google Broad Core Algorithm Update
Contact Us for Help with your Social Media Marketing

Call Us Today at (808) 536-0416.

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https://neilpatel.com/blog/how-to-use-youtube-ads-to-grow-your-business/

https://techcrunch.com/2018/03/20/get-ready-to-start-seeing-more-local-ads-on-youtube/amp/

https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbesagencycouncil/2018/06/26/how-small-businesses-can-leverage-influencers-when-advertising-on-youtube/amp/&ved=2ahUKEwj0z5zlsdjdAhV0CTQIHV1iDBA4ChAWMAR6BAgBEAE&usg=AOvVaw2L0rd9-od7FbNZk2fKvabj

https://blog.hubspot.com/marketing/video-marketing-statistics#sm.0000h4rgwfoa1fouwqm23llpma557

https://www.blog.google/products/ads/six-online-video-insights-from-comscore-to-inform-your-2017-media-plan/

July 3, 2018

Busting Social Media Marketing Myths #2

Busting Social Media Marketing Myths #2

Welcome to part two of Busting Social Media Marketing Myths. Although social media marketing has been an essential tool for marketers for years, some businesses still believe in the misconceptions surrounding it. Thus, they miss out on having a presence on social media or go about it the wrong way. We feel it’s our responsibility to dispel some of these common myths and help steer your business down the right path.

Make sure to read Busting Social Media Marketing Myths #1 for more busts on social media marketing myths.

Myth: Influencers will help boost sales

Team Vision Marketing recognizes the power behind social media influencers and their benefit as a spokesperson or promotion vehicle. But, you’ll be wasting your money if you use influencers solely to increase your sales. It’s tricky for brands to track how influencers are making them money. Also, influencer marketing can be expensive, so it’s hard to tell if your money is being well spent. According to Market Week, 38% of marketers are not sure if influencer activity actually drives sales and 86% are unsure how influencers calculate their fees, according to a survey of 200 marketers conducted by Rakuten Marketing.

Instead, we want our clients to view these unique partnerships as brand promotions. Partnering with an influencer can help your brand gain credibility, reach, and awareness. According to ShaneBarker.com, 77% of marketers use influencers to drive up engagement, 89% use influencers to create more authentic content for their brand. Influencers can also help drive traffic to your website and introduce your brand to new markets. 56% of marketers use influencers to drive traffic to their website and 43% use influencers to reach younger markets.

However, influencer marketing isn’t for every brand. Collaborations with influencers need to make sense and businesses need to be selective about who they hire. Do they reach your target market? Are they reliable? What other brands do they do collaborations with? What type of content do they post? Brands also need to realize that no matter how popular an influencer is, not all of their followers are going to fully trust their sponsored content.

Myth: It’s all about likes and followers

Many people mistake follower growth and likes as metrics for success. Don’t get us wrong, being popular on social media is great, but the metric a brand should be paying attention to is engagement. Engagement measures all the likes, comments, and retweets/shares of a post and this metric tells you how engaged your followers are. The key point to take away from this myth busting is quality over quantity. A lot of likes are still good, but the quality of the comments and the number of retweets/shares determine the quality of the post. We recommend analyzing the insights of your posts and asking your audience to weigh in on what type of content they want to see more of.

Myth: I can be my own social media manager! It’s easy!

Managing business social media accounts is not as easy as some might think. It’s not like managing your personal account. As we said in our Busting Social Media Marketing Myths – #1 blog post, it takes a lot of time and money to maintain and upkeep your brand’s social media presence, which means that you are spending less time on your primary business responsibilities. Among other things, these are some of the requirements of maintaining your brand’s social media presence:

  • Create a social media marketing plan
  • Create a content calendar
  • Create social media campaigns
  • Develop and design content
  • Copy writing
  • Schedule posts
  • Continuously engage in posting, liking and commenting on all social media networks
  • Review and respond to customer questions/comments
  • Analyze and evaluate report data, make appropriate adjustments to your campaign and content strategies

This is why successful companies on social media either have an in-house social media manager or hire a social media marketing agency to handle their accounts.

Myth: I can just post one kind of content every time.

If you scroll through other successful social media profiles, you will see how wrong this myth is. The diversity of content is key to keeping your feed feeling fresh to your followers and for attracting new leads. Your content needs to add value and connect to your followers’ lives. Plus, your brand’s posts are competing with posts from thousands of other brands, so you need to stand out.

To get some ideas on what types of content to post, read our “Social Media Marketing – Tips” blog post

See screenshots of Team Vision Marketing’s and Castle & Cooke Homes Hawaii’s Instagram feeds as an example of providing a diverse array of posts. Both have a strong mixture of stories, videos, graphics, and photos.

Castle & Cooke, Social media marketing, social media feed, instagram, instagram feed, content marketing, social media marketing tips, marketing tips
Team Vision Marketing, Instagram Feed, Instagram, Social media marketing, social media marketing tips, marketing tips, marketing myths

If you’re feeling overwhelmed trying to keep up with managing your business’s social media, give Team Vision Marketing a call and let us help you out.  In the meantime, check out some of our social media programs and promotions on our web site portfolio at www.www.teamvision.com/portfolio/#social-media.

Phone: (808) 536-0416

Email: info@www.teamvision.com

 

Enjoy this article? Let us know below or share it!

Read More Team Vision Blog Posts on Social Media:

“Busting Social Media Marketing Myths #1”

“Social Media Marketing During Events – Tips”

“Social Media Marketing Tips”

Hear from Harry A. Saunders, President of Castle & Cooke Hawaii, on his experience working with Team Vision.

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Contact Us for Help with Your Social Media Marketing

Call Us Today at (808) 536-0416.

Sources:

https://www.marketingweek.com/2017/08/30/roi-look-like-world-influencer-marketing/

https://www.adweek.com/digital/paul-johnson-lumanu-guest-post-wasting-money-on-influencer-marketing/

https://www.forbes.com/sites/ellevate/2017/12/21/why-influencer-marketing-is-essential-for-any-business-looking-to-grow/#691081867d48

https://medium.com/@JBBC/17-common-social-media-marketing-myths-and-how-to-bust-them-ce70a70b8674

https://shanebarker.com/blog/influencer-marketing-tactics-amplify-boost-brand-presence/

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