Showing posts tagged with: social media marketing

January 20, 2024

How to Select The Best Hawaii Advertising Agency for Your Business

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.

How Do I Select the Best Hawaii Advertising Agency?

Updated: January 20, 2024

Team Vision Marketing is a full-service advertising and marketing agency that has been serving Hawaii clients for over 25 years. We thought it might be helpful to provide Hawaii businesses with an insider’s perspective on the key things you should look for when searching for a new Hawaii advertising agency. Here are our 9 key recommendations.

1. First, decide which specific marketing services you need.

Find an ad agency that specializes in those specific marketing services. If you only need a logo, there may be one graphic design agency that really shines in logo design and you might want to go with them. If you’re in need of a full-service advertising agency to handle all of your advertising and marketing needs, then search Google for Hawaii Full-Service Advertising Agencies and start there. Every agency has their core strengths from branding and web design to social media management, graphic design and digital marketing, and you’ll want to find the one that best meets your specific needs.

2. Get client referrals.

Direct Referrals: When you’re looking for a new agency, try to get referrals from their existing clients, and ideally from someone you know within their client’s company directly. Cold calling an agency’s client might yield similar results to a typical employee reference (most HR managers are going to give you the safe answer and not ruin the employee’s chances of getting the job). You’ll want to talk to someone in the client’s organization that you know and who will give you the straight story on how well their advertising agency performs for them.

Video Testimonials: Good agencies with a solid track record will normally offer client video testimonials on their web site. Video testimonials are much better than simple text testimonials because you don’t really know who is behind the text only testimonials, who actually wrote them, and how sincere they really are. Video testimonials take time out of the client’s day and it really puts their reputation on the line. In our experience, if clients are willing to make the effort to do a video testimonial for an advertising agency, they sincerely have a strong relationship with that agency and believe in their referral.

 3. Make sure the advertising agency handles accounts similar to yours.

Let’s face it, if you run a Hawaii luxury hotel brand, it will be really helpful if you hire an agency that has previous experience in managing the full-service marketing for a Hawaii luxury hotel. This is not to say a good agency can’t learn a new industry or business, but guess who is going to be the one to have to teach them… and pay for their learning curve? If you are looking for a new advertising and marketing agency and need them to get up to speed and running quickly, it makes the most sense to hire an agency that has handled an account similar to yours.

4. Whatever services an ad agency is selling to you, make sure they are executing them well for their own business.

We call it putting your money where your mouth is. If an agency claims to be great at web design, check out their own web site and make sure it is top-notch. If they claim to be great at social media, check out their Instagram, Facebook, Twitter and other social accounts to make sure they are active, innovative, and check on their user engagement levels. If an agency claims to be great at search engine optimization, make sure to search for some key industry phrases (i.e. Hawaii advertising agencies, Hawaii Marketing Agencies, Hawaii Branding firms, Hawaii social media agencies, etc.) on Google Search and see where they show up in the results. A good advertising and marketing agency will utilize all the key marketing tools and services they are selling to you (after all, an agency is a business and needs to market itself) and they make sure their marketing programs are high quality– since it is a representation of what they can do for you. Sometimes agencies will use the excuse that they are “too busy with client work to maintain their own marketing,” but this is another good indication that the agency may not have enough resources to handle your business needs.

5. Make sure there is a personality and cultural fit between the advertising agency and your company.

In our over 20 years of doing business in Hawaii, we can tell you that each client has a very unique personality. Without mentioning names :), some clients are extremely easy to work with, some are difficult, some are very complimentary, some are micro-managers, and then there are others that trust in your expertise and let you run with everything. These same characteristics mentioned above apply to agencies  as well. Here are our recommendations on how to address the agency culture issue.

Meet the key team members. You will want to meet your main contacts for each of the major departments: Account Service Executive, Creative Director, Media Manager, Social Media Manager, Web Manager, Production Manager. In addition to the formal pitch meeting, set up a casual get to know you lunch. Ask questions to each team member and let their personalities unfold. When agencies and clients work together intensely on major ongoing projects, flexibility, multi-tasking, the ability to handle stress and problem-solving skills will all come into play. Make sure your prospective agency team members possess most of these traits.

Ask their clients about the agency’s personality. It will be hard to gauge an advertising agency’s personality in one or two meetings, so the best thing you can do is get client referrals. Call and ask their existing client’s things like: Are they easy to work with? Are they flexible? Are they reasonable with their billing and do they charge rush charges? Do you trust them? Are they fair? Can they react quickly when it’s needed?

 6. Review an agency’s portfolio of work.

An established full-service advertising agency will have an extensive portfolio of advertising, graphic design, web design, social media, digital marketing and search engine optimization portfolio examples. They will also have examples of each of these core services for different clients in different industries which will give you a good feel for their quality and consistency across a range of clients. Most agencies will offer these portfolios on their web site, but others may require you to go into their office to view them. This alone could be another sign of whether or not the ad agency is a good fit for you. If your company is a technology forward company, you might not be a good fit for an agency who doesn’t practice that same type of thinking in the day to day operation of their business.

7. Make sure your ad agency understands the Hawaii market.

A growing trend we’ve seen over the past ten to fifteen years is Hawaii clients using mainland-based advertising, web design and social media firms. In some cases, this works out just fine. In other cases, we have received many client complaints about the “lack of understanding of our culture, our market, our language nuances (i.e. use of okina and kahako).” If your business is a Hawaii business that caters to locals and visitors, we recommend you hire a local Hawaii advertising agency. The reason, you likely want your business to be branded as local and authentic, and not the typical “palm trees and hula skirts” representation often developed by non-local agencies. In addition to just understanding the overall Hawaii market, an experienced advertising agency that has worked with clients on the different islands of Oahu, Maui, The Big Island of Hawaii, Kauai and Lanai, will understand that there are also different cultural nuances for each island. This becomes very important when executing campaigns in local island markets.

8. Don’t hire an agency solely based on their past, look toward their future.

Yes, ideally you want to choose an advertising agency that has longevity and a proven track record in the Hawaii market, but you don’t want to choose an agency that has outlived its success and one that is resting on its laurels. Find out how well the agency understands and utilizes technology. Have they consistently demonstrated a leadership position in the marketplace for adapting to, and implementing, the latest technologies in web design, social media, digital displays, etc.? Technology is advancing more rapidly than ever before, so you want to hire an agency that has proven it has the ability to guide you through future changes.

9. Don’t choose by price alone.

Look, we’ve seen it all and can only offer you advice based on our experiences. Don’t always go after the lowest bid. Many times, less reputable agencies will lowball the initial bid to get the business and then try to increase fees later on. Other agencies may truly offer a low price, but are you getting the same level of service you would have received from the agency charging a little more? Going for the low-cost agency could result in downgrading the quality of talent on your business (the B Team) and provide you with a lower quality product. Instead, pay the agency fairly and increase savings by improving operational efficiencies. You are hiring an agency for the quality of its creative products and services, so don’t undermine that by tightening the reigns too tight on compensation.

We hope you found these tips helpful on “how to select the best Hawaii advertising agency for your company.” If you are in the process of looking for a new Hawaii advertising agency, we kindly ask that you consider Team Vision Marketing as an option. We’re more than happy to be tested on the nine initial criteria we provided above. And in the meantime, you can check out our client video testimonials and our extensive web site portfolio.

Hear from Harry A. Saunders, President of Castle & Cooke Hawaii, on his 20 years of experience working with Team Vision.

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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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February 20, 2023

Hawaii Social Media Marketing Tips

Do you keep your Hawaii social media content fresh, creative, relevant and unique? Or, are you just going through the motions?

Maintaining quality social media channels takes a lot more work than most people realize, and that’s why many companies have relatively little success with it. There are a lot of factors to take into consideration when managing successful social media channels, but here are just a few tips from Team Vision Marketing, a full-service Hawaii advertising agency. If you’d like to see examples of creative social media campaigns, please visit our online portfolio.

1. Keep your social media content interesting and offer variety. If’ you’re a retail store, don’t just publish product photos every day. Show off your staff. Incorporate beautiful pics of Hawaii in your backgrounds. Recognize key Holidays with creative images and tie them back to your store, product or service.

2. Use a combination of photo and video posts. Creating and editing videos is easier than ever using free phone and desktop apps. Practice and get good at it. Videos don’t perform well all of the time, but we find a good mix of photo and video posts creates the best engagement for your social media campaigns.

3. Post Stories. Stories have become a very popular tool on the major social media like Facebook and Instagram. Get comfortable with posting to stories, and figure out (by trial and error) what your customers respond to best.

4. Provide educational content and tips (if you know what you’re talking about). Again, do this in moderation and as part of your overall mix of creative social media content. People may not respond well to educational posts every day, but if you take time to do research and offer quality advice to your customers on areas that you have an expertise in, they will appreciate it and continue to follow your channels.

5. Finally, Boost your posts and pay for  Facebook and Instagram Sponsored Posts from time to time. Certain social media channels (FACEBOOK!) are making it harder and harder for businesses to gain Impressions and Likes organically. Even if you don’t have a large budget, low cost boosts can achieve tremendous results for you and help you acquire more Followers – so that in the future you will get more traction organically (free).

If you’re looking for help with your Social Media  Management, Faceboook Advertising, or Google AdWords marketing management, 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.

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

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September 3, 2019

Top 5 Facebook Story Sticker Tips

Accidentally landed on our Hawaii Marketing Tips blog while searching for Team Vision Marketing? Please visit our homepage, creative portfolio or client video testimonials to learn more about our  Hawaii advertising agency and digital marketing services.

Top 5 Facebook Story Sticker Tips

Facebook Stories are entertaining, 24-hour content that are easy to create and easy to engage with. While most of Facebook’s 500 million daily users post about their day-to-day experiences, local Hawaii brands can use Stories as an alternative to market their businesses organically on Facebook, seeing that its new algorithm is purposefully deprioritizing business content on the feed. To create an even bigger impact, Team Vision recommends that businesses incorporate Facebook Stories with interactive stickers into their social media marketing strategy.

If used strategically, Interactive Story stickers will not only enhance your Story content, they can also help generate new leads, improve engagement, and increase sales and web site traffic. Brands can also track the effectiveness of every interactive Facebook Story sticker and use the analytics to help their business.

Do you want to learn how to use Story stickers to market your brand on social media? Continue reading this post to learn Team Vision Marketing’s top five interactive Facebook Story stickers tips and tricks to creating engaging Stories to market your business.

How to Access and Post Facebook Stories

Before we jump into our tips and tricks, here are the three ways your brand can post Stories on your Facebook Business Page.

1. The easiest way to post a Story is by tapping on your profile picture with the blue plus (+) sign on your page.

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2. You can also post Facebook Stories from the desktop by clicking on your profile picture with the blue plus (+) sign on your page. However, you will not be able to access any of the Story stickers or other decorative features.

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3. Last but not least, you can share your Instagram Story to your Facebook Story. Look for the small, white Facebook icon on the bottom right corner, which shows up when you view the Story you just posted on Instagram. Forewarning, by using this method, most of your Instagram Story stickers will not translate over onto Facebook. This means that your audience cannot interact with most Instagram stickers on Facebook.

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How to Access and Post Facebook Story Stickers

After you capture a photo, video, boomerang, or upload content from your phone, you can scroll up or click on the Story icon to add the interactive stickers. Tap on the sticker to change its color and look.

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Drive Web Site Traffic With The Swipe Up Sticker

The Swipe Up sticker is the most beneficial Story sticker your brand can use on Facebook Stories. These Call-to-Action (CTA) stickers allow businesses to easily direct their audiences from their Stories to their web site. The Swipe Up stickers will not only help drive web traffic, but they can also help increase sales.

Unfortunately, this feature is only accessible to certain profiles. For Facebook, your business page must be verified (shown as a checkmark next to your profile name) by Facebook to access the five standard Swipe Up buttons: “Book Now”, “Call Now”, “Shop Now”, “Learn More”, and “Get Directions”.

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When your business page reaches 10,000 Page Likes, you can add a Swipe Up button with a custom link. For Instagram, your business profile needs to be verified or have at least 10,000 followers to use their Swipe Up feature.  

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To access this Story feature, tap on the link icon on the top right corner, then add the desired button or assign a custom URL link to the Story.

TIP: If you are just short of 10,000 page likes, you can post the desired link on your page, then pin it to the top of your feed. Then, direct your audience to see the link on your profile page by tagging your profile with the Tag sticker.

Promote Your Event With The Event Story Sticker

This Facebook exclusive sticker is ideal for creating buzz for an event on social media. This is a great way for your brand to spread awareness for an event and track followers who are interested in attending. To add this to your story, select the Event sticker in the sticker menu, then type in the name of your event. You can see how our team used the Event sticker to promote the Made in Hawaii festival on Castle & Cooke Hawaii’s Facebook Story, which attracted 116 unique views.

An event can also be shared on Stories via the “Share to my Story” option on the event page. Once shared, your followers and friends will see a clickable sticker on your Story that direct them to the event page to see all the event details, RSVP, and see who else is interested in attending.

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TIP: Encourage your followers to share your event on their Story.

BONUS TIP: Combine the Story Event sticker with a Swipe Up link to the landing page where people can register or buy tickets to attend the event.

Use Polling Story Stickers To Your Advantage

Just like Instagram, your brand can post interesting, quick polling questions on Facebook Stories to add some fun to your social media feed while increasing audience interaction and engagement. Social media users enjoy interacting with the one-touch Polling stickers, especially since it gives the instant gratification of seeing if your vote is part of the majority. Our team has seen high interactions with our client’s and our own polling stories.

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TIP: Use these polls to survey your audience and use the data to improve your marketing efforts on Facebook. For example, you can ask your followers where they prefer to get the latest news on their favorite brands.

Followers Can Rate With The 5 Star Rating Story Sticker

Increase engagement on your Facebook Stories with the new 5 Star Rating sticker that functions similarly to the Emoji Slider sticker on Instagram. Ask your users to rate something without the need for them to have to write a detailed written review. For example, for our client, Dole Plantation, we asked Followers to rate their Dole Plantation experience from 1 to 5 stars on their Story feed, which attracted 400 unique views.

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From what we have seen, this sticker does not affect your Facebook Recommendation, so direct your audience to your profile (using the Tag sticker) if they want to leave a recommendation. 

TIP: You can use this to crowdsource new ideas for your brand. Ask your audience how they feel about a new feature or colorway.

Direct People To Your Page with Tag Stickers

The Tag sticker is a great way to grow your Page Views, reach, and engagements. Direct the audience on your Story to interact with your business page, whether it’s to like and follow your page, or to write a Recommendation, by tapping on the Tag sticker. From there, they will be instantly directed to your page.

To add this sticker to your story, tap the Tag sticker, shown below, and type in the profile name.

TIP: Tag affiliated profiles or influencers on your Story to increase the post’s exposure. They might repost your story to their feed! 

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In conclusion, Team Vision Marketing highly recommends local Hawaii businesses incorporate Facebook Stories and Facebook Story stickers into their organic social media marketing strategies. Facebook Stories provide a great opportunity for you to market to your audience on a platform that is openly giving less exposure to business pages. To enhance your Story content, use the trending Story stickers to help your business reach a wider audience, generate new leads, grow engagement, and increase sales and web site traffic. 

If you found this article helpful for your social media marketing planning, please subscribe to the Team Vision Marketing Tips Blog to get the latest news on advertising, social media trends, digital marketing tips and more.

Need assistance with social media marketing or content creation? Team Vision, experts in social media management and digital marketing, is more than happy to assist. Team Vision is a full-service advertising agency and digital marketing firm with over 20 years of experience working with some of Hawaii’s top advertising brands, including Castle and Cooke Hawaii, Honua Kai Resort and Spa, Dole Plantation, and more.

See more of our creative work in advertising, branding, web design, social media marketing, digital marketing and more in our extensive digital portfolio.

Listen to what Dolly Moreno, Director of Sales & Marketing at Honua Kai Resort & Spa,  says about her experience working with Team Vision Marketing as her full-service advertising agency.

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June 12, 2019

10 Types of Content That Will Boost Engagement

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.

10 Types of Content That Will Boost Social Media Engagement

Are you noticing your likes, reach, and web site traffic from social media posts are dying down? Well, your suspicions are correct. According to SocialMediaToday.com, only 6% of your Facebook and Instagram audiences will see your posts on their feeds.

This is because social media platforms are prioritizing content that evokes deeper interactions among users. Receiving comments and shares, not just obtaining Likes, may be  the best engagement metric to gauge the success of your brand’s posts because they can indicate a wider reach.

This challenges your social media agency to craft organic posts that will incite conversation and shares. But, creating organic content that generates deeper interactions can require more effort than the standard pretty photo and catchy caption. To help inspire you and give you some direction, our team has outlined 10 types of social media content that will boost your engagement!

 

1. Take advantage of trending social media topics

Although there’s a small window of time to capitalize on trending content, these posts can attract more conversations on your feed. After all, these topics are trending because they are widely discussed online. In addition, social media platforms reward profiles posting trending topics by boosting their discoverability, which may lead to stronger engagements.

TIP: Facebook, YouTube, and Twitter automatically list the top trending topics in a “Trending” tab or section, which is usually located in the side menu.

2. Create an organic social media campaign!

Developing engaging organic social media campaigns are great for promoting brand awareness and showing off your team’s creativity. Make your campaign inspiring with motivational quotes, informational with industry tips, or humorous with memes.

Recently, we developed the #DreadedAgencyRequests (#DAR) organic hashtag campaign, a humorous collection of client requests we’ve received over our 20 years in the marketing and advertising industry. Our industry peers found our humorous #DAR series amusing and relatable, which generated a lot of new likes, comments, and followers, creating a 100% gain in Instagram followers in just 3 months.

TIP: Pair your organic campaigns with a unique hashtag. Then, encourage your audience to follow that hashtag to view more of their favorite content. By following your hashtag, content from your campaign can reach audiences who don’t normally see your brand’s posts in their feed.

3. Post More Videos

Videos are much more entertaining content for your audience to engage with than static images and graphics. With video, it’s easier to convey information or share a story in a more amusing and relatable way. Videos are also likely to earn more comments than static posts. According to SocialMediaExaminer.com, a study by Mention found that out of 115 million analyzed posts on Instagram, videos earned 46% of the total comments.

TIP: The higher the quality the video is, the more engagements it will receive. However, creating a high-quality video isn’t as easy or as cheap as one might think. There are many elements to consider and plan out before production, including storyboards, talent, lighting, sound, equipment, and much more. If you don’t have the resources or time to produce your own video, consider reposting a video created by another profile,  or create more simple videos on apps, like Ripl.

4. Repost Content

Building your brand’s community by proactively engaging with your audience is just as important as getting engagements from them. By reposting, you are interacting with your audience, sharing meaningful content on your page, and strengthening your brand’s online community. Reposts also diversify your profile with great content that your social media agency team didn’t have to create.

Reposting user-generated content is a great strategy to start with, for two reasons. First, customer reposts are considered as engaging customer testimonials. Second, it’s a great way to show your appreciation to your community of consumers for using your product or services. Most people will feel flattered that one of their favorite companies wants to feature their content on the company’s feed.

Our client, Dole Plantation’s, social media community continues to strengthen due to our Dole Plantation repost program. We found that our reposts perform strongly on our feed, earning a lot of comments, shares, and likes. It’s also a sustainable content strategy that doesn’t require our team to create new content from scratch, which saves our client time and money when used as one piece of an integrated social media program.

You can also repost content that is on-brand but not directly linked to it, like quotes, memes, stats, or anything that you think your audience will enjoy. For example, for Castle & Cooke Hawaii, one of Hawaii’s leading real estate developers, we repost homemaking and home improvement content, including delicious recipes and simple DIY crafts, to diversify their feed.

TIP: Make sure to get permission to repost other people’s content, preferably by having them sign a waiver, and properly credit the original posters. Without these extra steps, you can potentially face legal issues.

5. Post Questions & Fill-In-The-Blanks

Remember, comments are social media metric gold! The more your posts get, the more discoverable and viral your post will become. Comments can also give valuable insight into your follower’s likes and dislikes.

Naturally, a practical strategy to boost the number of comments on a post is by asking audiences to share their opinion on a hot topic. Your questions can include something about your industry, brand, or something fun, like your audience’s favorite ice cream flavor. Your brand can also take this opportunity to get to know your followers better by having them share something about themselves, like what their favorite things to do in Hawaii are.

Another option that’s more convenient for your audience to interact with, are fill-in-the-blank questions. These questions usually require a one-word or very short answer, and they are just as effective.

TIP: Make sure to ask questions that don’t require long answers from your followers. The key to increasing audience interaction and participation is to make the interactions as convenient as possible.

6. Implement a Stories Poll

Polls are an effective option to entice audience interaction and feedback with their easy, one-click format. They can be sales orientated or fun and conversational, like this poll on what’s the best way to #DoleWhip, which we posted on our client’s  Instagram Story:

Hawaii Social Media - Dole Plantation Instagram Stories

TIP: If the polling topic is interesting enough, the  results can also act as bonus content! On Instagram stories, you can easily share the results of the poll before it disappears. Keep your followers on edge by sharing updates on the current poll results.

7. Host a series of Ask Me Anything (AMA)

Popularized on Reddit, AMAs are essentially Q&As. This social media trend is a great opportunity for brands to educate and connect with their audiences. With AMAs, brands can accomplish:

– Raising brand awareness
– Showing more brand personality
– Establishing your brand or key team members as business influencers
– Help your team learn more about what your audience’s interests  are, and what questions/concerns they may have about your company, products, or industry

Whether your social media team answers questions in a live stream or by writing replies in the comments, this type of content will boost your engagements.

TIP: Instead of hosting one general AMA session, organize them into a series where each AMA session covers one topic at a time. For example, if Team Vision hosts an AMA, each session would be broken down into “How To Start Your Own Hawaii Agency”, “How To Create A Successful Marketing Campaign”, or “How to Increase Your Social Media Engagement.” By breaking up your brand’s AMAs into focused topics, your team can receive better questions and you can provide more specific answers. It also gives your audience the flexibility to tune in on the AMAs they are most interested in.

BONUS TIP: If you choose to live stream your AMA, promote it beforehand. Although Instagram and Facebook will notify your followers when you’re live streaming, promoting it can draw an even bigger crowd and build up the hype.

8. Run a Social Media Contest or Launch a Giveaway

Entering for a chance to win a free prize is irresistible for anyone, which is why social media contests and giveaways are one of the most popular posts on many business feeds. Whether the purpose is to build hype for a new product, promote your hashtag, or create user-generated content, these posts can help drive a strong increase in engagements.

TIP: Keep the rules simple and geared towards interacting with the post. For example, have participants share the post on their feed or share why they should be selected as the winner in the comments below.

9. Post Accomplishments & Company Milestones

Your social media audience is made up of more than just your customers, they are fans of your brand. Winning awards, accomplishing goals, and reaching company milestones are the type of meaningful content many of your followers will want to interact with!

TIP: Posting accomplishments is  also a great marketing opportunity to boost your company’s clout, if it’s publicized properly. To avoid coming off as arrogant, celebrate your brand’s accomplishments with the team. Post a group shot of your team (with the award) along with a message that shares how proud and thankful the company is for their talented team.

10. Take Your Social Media Followers Behind-the-Scenes

The behind-the-scenes action can be just as engaging as the end product. Audiences enjoy seeing what it takes to plan an event, set up photo shoots, or create a project from start to finish. It’s also great for building hype or extending the buzz around an event, premier, or new product release.

Of course, not everything happening behind the curtain is interesting, and just like a magician, you might not want to give everything away. To keep the audience engaged or overly informed, capture the highlights of the process. You can also keep your followers on their toes by making the caption a little vague on what is going on in the photo.

TIP: Try having your followers guess in the comments on what is going on in the scene. Our secretive behind-the-scenes Instagram post of our team filming a Castle and Cooke Hawaii social media video ad for the recently sold out Waipahu real estate community, Pu’uwai Place, is an effective example.

Hawaii Advertising Agencies, Social Media companies, branding, social media, digital marketing, hawaii, Team Vision

There you have it, Team Vision Marketing’s Top 10 recommended organic social media content ideas that will help increase engagement on your company’s posts. Just remember that the best business social media pages have a healthy mixture of content, and it  might take some experimenting to get just the right mix.

Have you tried any of these content strategies on your brand’s social media channel? Tell us in the comments below. To get the latest news on social media trends and marketing tips, subscribe to the Team Vision Hawaii marketing blog.

If you need help with your organic social media marketing or content creation, reach out to our team for expert assistance. Team Vision is a full-service advertising agency and digital marketing firm with over 20 years of experience working with some of the top Hawaii brands, including Castle and Cooke Hawaii, Honua Kai Resort and Spa, Dole Plantation, and more.

See more of our creative work that spans beyond organic and paid social media campaigns in our comprehensive portfolio.

 

Contact Us:

Phone: (808) 536-0416

Email: info@www.teamvision.com

Web: www.www.teamvision.com

Hear from Harry A. Saunders, President of Castle & Cooke Hawaii, on his 20 years of experience working with Team Vision.

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