As business owners we are constantly battling marketing blindness, especially with digital marketing. How do you stop your audience scrolling past your content and stay on brand. We were asked by Curtis of Gorilla Property Services of Nanaimo to explore what AI would produce and still stay on brand.
Here are the initial results. Please note these will probably be changed so follow us and them on Facebook and Instagram to see the final results.
On some social media platforms hashtags have been around since they were launched and with others such as Facebook and Linkedin they were adopted by the social platforms.
However just because they have been around for over a decade do they still have relevance today?
Like many marketing communication mediums, social media is noticing that people are becoming increasingly wary of spam posts and the ever-increasing noise as more and more businesses try to extract business growth from numerous social media platforms. Technology changes by the hour too. Nothing stays the same for long in the digital world. Also, with some demographics, an element of distrust has crept in and some are switching off to social media. So, what is the value of the hashtag in the shifting digital landscape? Let us explore a little of the history of the humble hashtag and what it can really do for you and your business.
Hashtags are the lifeblood of Instagram. Instagram has always let users include long strings of tags in their posts. They help the algorithm understand the content of the post. However, in order to get the most out of them on Instagram, you need to do some clever thinking and some out the box considerations.
This is even truer if you work in an incredibly busy industry. Many are struggling to cut through the noise in digital spaces cluttered with similar ideas and accounts. Using synonyms can help you cut through the noise in an overcrowded digital space.
On a regular post, you can use a maximum of 30 hashtags. However, on Stories, you can use a maximum of 10. Again, while Instagram is the most hashtag-friendly site, you don’t want your posts to look spammy. You can actually use hashtags to enhance the content of your post.
As a business, your goal is to use the right combination of hashtags to achieve maximum reach. On the other hand, you don’t want to weigh your posts down with so many hashtags that they look pushy and clunky.
Regardless of how you use them or your opinion of hashtags, they remain a key part of Instagram. They are how users find relevant content on the platform.
LinkedIn introduced hashtags in 2018. However, as this site is different from other social media sites, the way you might engage with hashtags on it is a little bit different.
When you use hashtags on LinkedIn, you make your content more discoverable. You also raise the chances that people who are interested in your content or company will come across it.
However, as LinkedIn is primarily a platform for professionals to connect, it is important to keep your tags professional. While Instagram is known for its aesthetic-driven landscape and Twitter is known for its raunchy and irreverent culture, the kinds of things that do well on Twitter will likely not impress your boss or sponsors on LinkedIn.
On LinkedIn, you can add hashtags to your posts, headline, and summary.
In 2007, they began being used on Twitter and quickly took over the social media sphere. However, their use on Twitter is a bit different than on Instagram.
On Twitter, you have to find popular tags. What is popular is generated by the audience and can’t be latched onto by businesses. On Twitter, you really have to know what you are doing. You have to know how the Twitter landscape works and what is popular on it.
Twitter is where the hashtag was born. Here is a look at the first tweet ever, sent in 2006, by creator Jack Dorsey.
While this can be difficult to figure out, it has definite rewards. There are also free tools like Hashtagify which you can use to do basic hashtag research on Twitter. If you do not know what is trending, you are largely wasting your time. However, once you put in the time, you can unlock entire communities.
The Facebook hashtag is a bit of a different story. No one is really sure how exactly they work. We know that the site supports the use of them, but what exactly they do for posts on the platform is unclear, some claim it helps the algorithm understand the post content. However, you also have to factor in the attention span of your audience, will they read them? Will the hashtags distract or enhance from the content.
Facebook is definitely not as hashtag-friendly as Instagram. This means that you have to understand your audience, what they want to see, and how they use hashtags. In order to accomplish this, you have to know what they are searching for. When they search, you want to make sure you pop up.
Overstuffing posts with hashtags after hashtag is generally not recommended across all platforms. However, this is especially not useful on Facebook. It is best to figure out which few hashtags work best for your brand and then use them to build a campaign over time.
Youtube
YouTube has been late when it comes to the use of the hashtag. In 2018, they introduced this feature. They can appear and be clickable in both video titles and descriptions. This is part of YouTube’s new strategy to try and ensure viewers can access the content they want and avoid the content that they do not wish to see.
A part of this is limiting how many you can use. In fact, including more than 15 can lead to the platform ignoring all of the ones you used. If YouTube thinks your content is spam, it may remove it.
Keep in mind that YouTube is the second largest search engine in the world after Google. This update makes its vast library of content even more searchable. How hashtags are used on the site is critical to YouTube SEO.
What part do hashtags really play?
Hashtags are still going strong, however, this is not the end of the story across all social media platforms. If you are considering them the be-all-end-all of your campaigns, think again.
You should use hashtags only when you have worked out what tags will effectively get you the engagement you need. This involves both clever research and testing. However, leveraging hashtags properly can work wonders for your digital brand, especially on mobile.
If you are just starting out, you can take a look at the hashtag encyclopedia on Hashtags.org. It gives you definitions of hundreds of them across many niches. It can even help you figure out how to use them.
Final Thought
Don’t be shy about testing things out. Constant testing and exploration are key when it comes to finding the perfect hashtag to use in any situation.
After being introduced on Twitter over a decade ago, hashtags have played a huge part in social media. Many sites, for example, YouTube and Instagram, act as massive search engines. Hashtags help people find the content they want to consume.
However, their influence and use are not the same across all platforms. How you use them, how many you use, and which you choose will ultimately depend on your goals, your business, and the platform which you are using.
Are you a hashtag hater or do you love them? Let us know why below…
Always start with planning.
If you want to attract and engage social-media fans and followers — and convert them into paying customers — you need to map out a clear, goal-oriented social media plan. If you don’t, it will be obvious to your fans and a target market that you are disorganized. In addition to damaging your brand, you’ll risk losing sales by sending your audience to your competitors.
If you’re starting from scratch, it can feel overwhelming.
You know that others have been successful at social media marketing, but there are so many moving parts that creating a plan of your own can be daunting. If you are brand new to social media and looking for a straightforward way to start, follow the simple advice below.
Steps to Social Media Marketing Success
Research and know your audience. What topics and interests are they are most social about? What problems are they trying to solve? What are their pain points?
Use the same social networks as your audience. Are Facebook and Twitter their platforms of choice? Do most of them use Pinterest and Instagram? Go where your target audience is to create awareness, engagement, and brand ambassadors.
Identify your KPIs (key performance indicators). They measure progress toward your goals. What do you want your social media efforts to accomplish? What does success look like in quantifiable terms?
Write a social media marketing playbook. The playbook should detail your KPIs, audience profiles, brand values and persona, campaign concepts, promotional events, contests, content themed around benefit sought, potential contingency plans, etc. Make sure to tailor strategies that are unique to each of your social media channels.
Align the people at your company with the plan. Get everyone on board with your strategy. Divide responsibilities among your team, such as who is in charge of posting to your blog and each social media network, who will respond to comments and @mentions, and who will own metrics tracking and reporting.
Set aside some time at the beginning of each week to prepare. Take 30-60 minutes to schedule tweets, Facebook posts, LinkedIn posts, Pinterest pins, and other social media content. Come up with some original ideas, links to your own content, and links to outside content that is useful or interesting to your audience.
Develop a content marketing calendar. Use one of the example spreadsheets that we have created as a starting point to plan content topics, headlines, related links, desired scheduling, name of authors, etc. However please see further on about potential pitfalls.
Treat all of your social channels differently. Don’t post the same message everywhere – remember who the audience is on each platform and how they interact. What works on Facebook will fall flat on Twitter, and vice versa.
Assign someone to act as a customer service rep. It’s vital to be responsive to user-generated content, comments, and feedback (positive or not). CRM (customer relationship management) is fundamental to social media marketing success and business growth.
Schedule metrics reporting. Reporting metrics can occur weekly, monthly, or bimonthly depending on your goals and desired outcomes.
Reanalyze your plan on a regular basis. If something in your plan isn’t working, switch it up or do some split testing to determine what your audience responds to better. Use 2 versions of your content simultaneously and measure to see which one is more successful and use it going forward.
Why Social Media for Business Growth?
The great thing about social media is that it is potentially an excellent way to spread your word of mouth and if you are not geographically restricted, the world is your market. It is worth pointing out that some social platforms are now restricting your audience viewing through their algorithms, however where there is a will there is a way.
Although not free, as social media takes time and knowledge to create the right content, it is still relatively low cost compared to TV, Radio and large scale print advertising.
When managed correctly, social media offers small businesses a cost-effective way to reach their customers.
It’s a trade-off though. What you save in dollars you’ll invest in time. You have to be smart and efficient with the resources you have to achieve the results you need.
Social media is all about connecting with your audience on an authentic level. To do that, you have to intimately understand your current and potential customers, you will have done this as part of your planning and research process.
For any business growth strategy to work, you need to segment your audience, what do they look like, what problem are they looking for you to solve? What are they interested in besides your solution? Distinguish individual character profiles by age, gender, interests, profession, etc. Write down the details and find images that represent your target audience and review it on a regular basis. What makes business growth hard is the humans, we like to change our minds often.
Next, crystallize your message. Based on your defined target audience, what are the key problems or concerns you can address or solve? Expand on and define those pain points for each character and write it under each profile.
Now that you’ve defined your audience and message, take the time to find out which social networks they prefer.
All social media channels are not created equal. It may look like they are the same but each provides a slightly different solution.. It is important to understand the differences so you expend your efforts on the right channels.
Coordinate Your Social Channels
If you treat each social media platform as a stand-alone effort, your success will be limited. Your networks should work together to provide an integrated uniform tone of voice. This also applies to the seven P’s of your marketing mix.
Your website is your brand’s home base. Coordinate your social media efforts to push people to your website where they can buy your product or service.
Use your blog to establish your brand’s voice and share information. It’s also a valuable opportunity to engage with your site visitors and lead them through your sales funnel.
You can optimize your website and blog for social media by adding a few easy elements to your design.
Include a call to action (CTA) in all of your content marketing. Content marketing is about engagement, a call to action will improve your engagement.
You want advocates of your busines and using them to spread your word of mouth, your blogs should have a share option to encourage your fans to spread the word.
When people come across valuable content, they want to share it with their friends and followers. If you don’t have sharing buttons, you’ve lost that opportunity to reach a wider related audience.
A quick break from social media. If you haven’t started an email marketing campaign, I encourage you to start one now. They are still an extremely important tool to stay in front of current and prospective customers.
Get Started, but Start Small
You’ve defined your target audience, you know where to reach them and you’ve optimized your other marketing touch points. It’s time to get social.
This is one of the most important pieces of advice to keep in mind, so listen up! Start small.
Social Media takes time and energy, which are precious resources. Set yourself up for success by starting with a manageable load. I suggest you choose one or two platforms to start with.
The best way to guarantee consistency is to incorporate social media into your daily routine. Block out the time on your calendar, turn off all distractions and dedicate time to managing your social media accounts. Do this in one or two different time slots every day.
In your first month or two, expect to spend a minimum of 15-30 minutes a day on social activities. You can increase the time as you see fit.
Remember those audience profiles and sample messages? Use them to determine what original and curated content you’ll share and create an editorial calendar to keep track of that content.
A lot of businesses use content calendars to create a month of posts (for Facebook, Google+ or any other channel) ahead of time and then submit it for review. This seems organized and diligent, which is great however, you must review the stats of any content to ensure you are adapting and improving your posts. Always review prior to creating the content for the next month, or at the very least adapt an plan based on metrics received.
An alternative is to create two types of posts you want to test or creating your posts daily, or at least weekly.
Listen and Share
Social media conversations are happening all around in real time.
Social listening is an excellent tactic to monitor what people are saying about your business. Respond to comments, mentions and feedback even if they’re negative. You want to turn that negative into a positive!
In addition be aware of what your target audience are listening to and sharing and join in the conversation with your own tone of voice.
This is where the content calendar may require changing during the month.
Consider joining groups and communities to target specific demographics. Initiate and participate in more conversations by asking questions and posting comments to updates by others.
Continue to personalize your brand by welcoming new followers and thanking them for sharing your content or offering a compliment.
The last step is the most critical: Measure and analyze your results.
Above all, be intentional about your social activities. Success is not about chance, it’s about strategy and tactics.
Still unsure take a look at our simple guide to socail media.
When using social media for the growth of your business, the most important thing to remember is that social media is a marathon, not a sprint. Use this introduction to social media guide to start your social marketing efforts. Define your audience and choose the best platform to reach them. Do your research, integrate your social media icons and links, share your (and others’) content and keep track of how things are going.
Parasocial Interaction is it important to the sustainability of your business?
If you are like many, you look at certain celebrities and Politicians and wonder why are they so popular?
Has society gone mad or is there a reason for their popularity? I mean in terms of their ability to create perceived intimate relationships with their fans, rather than actually being successful at their chosen careers.
This is Parasocial interaction in action. Now what is Parasocial Interaction and more importantly how can it help provide sustainability for a business.
The theory was first developed by Horton and Wohl in 1956, in its simplest terms it is the refers to the psychological perceived closeness and friendship people feel with a celebrity of fictional figure, despite having no physical interactions.
In the study that coined Parasocial interaction by Horton and Wohl, they describe what is known as the “Persona”, or the person who creates that intimate connection – in today’s world, that’s likely to be a celebrity or an influencer who we admire or look up to or it can be a business or brand (Apple adopted this principle when they first started with their branding).
The persona can create a sense intimacy with millions of strangers all at the same time. Above all, they offer a continuing relationship with fans, in that they’re dependable and integrated into the routines of daily life.
The new age of social media gives audiences the illusion of a face-to-face relationship with the person.
Of course, the relationship is one-sided. Take radio DJ’s, we can’t just respond to questions they asks, however how often have you answered the question in your head or out loud, this is because it feels like a real-life, face-to-face relationship because they’re speaking to us like we’re a friend in the same room as them.
Advertising is everywhere, if you look at some of the stats, now the average person gets hit 20-40 a day with an advert of some description. Humans have become the dominant species because they are excellent at learning and adapting, therefore we have become excellent at what I call marketing blindness and tuning out adverts and looking behind the advert, hence why Facebook offers recommendations and Google offers reviews.
With the popular figures of the community, they have intentionally (with help) created a story that makes them feel like a friend to their fans, so when they share a product with us (that they’re inevitably getting paid to promote), we don’t see it as an advert; we see it as a recommendation.
Horton and Wohl researched and created the term “personality” programs, which are basically the celeb-driven, authentic marketing campaigns of today. During these campaigns (or programs), the Persona is required to create an illusion of intimacy with their audience.
The part that really interests you, however for this interaction to really work, you must read and understand the introduction to the theory above.
How can you advertise your own products and run intimate campaigns that connect with your audience – because, at its very core, that’s precisely what Parasocial interaction does?
It creates a community where the audience feel a part of something, like they are connected to the brand or business who is advertising. There are numerous studies by brands and independent agencies that show there is a direct correlation between brand love and loyalty and Parasocial interaction with that brand.
So, to that effect, the intimate relationship can be tied to a brand as a whole.
You hopefully know by now that talking at your audience won’t do you any favours, nor will creating fictional stories that are highly polished by your marketing team.
Instead, you want to be creating campaigns that feel like they’re raw and connective, kind of like a face-to-face conversation.
In Horton and Wohl’s report, they suggested this could be achieved by maintaining a flow of small talk which gives the impression that the Persona (or brand) is responding to a conversation.
How does this transfer to marketing?
Speak to your audience, like you are talking to them directly. In your copy, use words like “you” and “us” to create a sense of belonging, and in your social campaigns, tell real stories and chat as if someone was on the other end.
Creating a connection and a relationship with your audience is all about storytelling (why do you think Facebook and Instagram developed stories?). People connect with stories and are more likely to feel a bond with someone or a brand if they resonate with the story they’re telling.
User Generated Content (UGC) is perfect for sharing connective stories from people who are just like your audience. You’re creating a “brand persona” via your customers who can create an intimate relationship with your audience by sharing their first-hand stories and experiences, almost like an extended family member.
This makes your business more real to the audience and makes them appear on the same level – you are just like me and I am just like you.
Find out where your audience hangs out and hang out there with them. Create connections by becoming part of the group instead of essentially shouting at them from afar.
This means the Brand becomes a kind of magic mirror that reflects back to the audience what they want to see, does drinking a coke really make you that happy, being part of the apple community make you more connected?
In marketing you can use your brand to reflect the Persona your audience want to be or, at least, want to have in their lives. Consider the emotive benefits why your customers want to be associated with you rather than physical solution.
This is content marketing at its finest. You want your audience to become blind to the fact that your brand is not a part of their “real life”.
In order to recreate this with your marketing, you need to be consistent and show up in your audience’s’ lives every single day, whether that’s through social sharing, interacting with them via photographic platforms, or by hanging out where they are. By becoming a part of their everyday, you become an important fixture. You become less of a brand that’s selling them something, and more like a figural part of their lives.
The switch might go unnoticed, but once it happens, you’ll find you have a raving community of loyal followers who treat you like one of their own.
Instagram’s change how will it impact on businesses?
For some time, we have all been guessing how Instagram actually works, with some of us, using data to justify our estimations.
However, now Instagram has finally explained the inner-workings of its algorithm-based feed. It was two years ago that the photo-sharing platform shifted to a machine-learning approach from reverse chronological order, keeping it in line with its current owners Facebook. Of course, many do not like change and complained about the change, yet Instagram stayed with the change and is now sharing how its algorithm ranking works.
Similar to Facebook, the algorithm uses the past behaviour of its user to generate a personalized feed, thus it is claimed a better experience for the user. To simplify matters three criteria, influence your feed: interest, recency, and relationship.
Interest, looks at your previous behaviour on a particular post and the content of said post, the more you like and comment on a particular subject, the more of that subject it will show you. It could mean that hash tagging becomes less important to the viewer and more so to the algorithm, depending on how it identifies the content of posts.
Recency, relates to the time frame of your shared post. What users will see are recent posts, say a few minutes or days ago, and not something shared weeks before.
Relationship is based on the user’s prior interaction with the account posting the content. If you have been commenting on posts or being tagged in photos, you will see more of them in your feed. For business users it is now even more vital to keep your audience engaging with your content.
Alas it is not that simple, the above looks at the core criteria, the algorithm also looks these additional patterns when considering ranking and feed content: frequency, following, and usage.
If the user opens the app frequently, Instagram will refresh the feed based on the above factors for relevant content. If a user follows several accounts, Instagram will try to diversify feed content, so they won’t miss out on posts of interest. Lastly, your average time spent on the app increases the likelihood that you’ll only see the most relevant content. Browsing for more prolonged periods allows you to explore a wider variety of feed content. This makes knowing your target markets browsing behaviour vital when it comes to your business keeping on their screens and engaged, and keeping them browsing through your content for longer, IGTV could be the answer.
Instagram claims it does not hide content on purpose nor downrank users with successive, separate posts or due to other behaviours. Instagram also stated that it does not prioritize business accounts over personal ones.
Make use of Stories, Live, and other features of the app, but don’t expect higher feed ranking since Instagram is not playing favourites.
To summarise for those that will just skip to this part.
Interest: How much Instagram predicts you’ll care about a post, with higher ranking for what matters to you, determined by past behaviour on similar content and potentially machine vision analysing the actual content of the post.
Recency: How recently the post was shared, with prioritization for timely posts over weeks-old ones.
Relationship: How close you are to the person who shared it, with higher ranking for people you’ve interacted with a lot in the past on Instagram, such as by commenting on their posts or being tagged together in photos.
Frequency: How often you open Instagram, as it will try to show you the best posts since your last visit.
Following: If you follow a lot of people, Instagram will be picking from a wider breadth of authors, so you might see less of any specific person.
Usage: How long you spend on Instagram determines if you’re just seeing the best posts during short sessions, or it’s digging deeper into its catalog if you spend more total time browsing.
Instagram myth busting
As more users and businesses join Instagram and post more often, but feed browsing time stays stable per user, the average post will get drowned out and receive fewer views. People will inevitably complain that Instagram is trying to force them to buy ads, but it’s a natural and inevitable consequence of increasingly popular algorithmic feeds.
The following could be also applied to Twitter, Facebook and Linkedin. Although your audiences might differ so your hashtag ratios might alter.
Instagram Hashtags, do you really need to use them?
The short answer is yes. How you use them and when you use them will depend on both your audience and your industry. But there is no getting away from them, the sooner you embrace them, the more effective any Instagram marketing will be.
With each and every Instagram post you need to include a range of hashtags to ensure you reach the maximum audience possible.
After extensive reading and testing of hashtags there are several that I believe any small business must include in your Instagram social media marketing.
Branded hashtags: Every business is a brand, from the individual hairstylist to a global business-like Apple. You may not consider your business to be a brand but in your customers eyes it has certain values and ethos, thus making it a brand. You need to create a few unique branded hashtag (well as unique as you can, they still need to make sense). They should be attached to every post not just on Instagram but every social media platform that allows hashtags. Also in any printed material. You can now add hashtags to your profile. Encourage your audience to use them in any content they create. It can include your brand name, but it doesn’t have to as long as it is relatable to you.
Contest hashtags: Almost everybody is running competitions on Instagram, it is an excellent way to extend the reach of both your content and your brand awareness. You can include both your own branded competition hashtags along with general contest hashtags like #instacontest #freecompetition #giveaway.
Geographic hashtags: Most small businesses are pulling their customers from a certain geographical area so need to include relevant hashtags, this is important as people tend to follow their local area hashtag. An idea would be to create local related content thus helping you get significant geographical reach on your posts, because they’re more likely to be sought out.
Niche-specific customer hashtags: Your industry will have phrases and keywords that are relevant only to your audience. Although these hashtags won’t get you the same potential reach as the general-appeal hashtags, they will get you more relevant traffic. Which is better quality engagement or general engagement and lots of likes and comments from people who in the short term will not be your customers? With these hashtags it is vital to consider what your audience might be searching for!
Timely hashtags: Current events and seasonal holidays can make great hashtags, also known as news hijacking. Especially if you are providing a solution to a customer problem. People are likely to be searching for content that’s relevant right now, so take advantage of a few #valentineformyvalentine and #stockingstuffer #weddingdressideas hashtags. However never post content that is not relevant to the timely hashtag just to gain likes or followers they will not stay engaged and your loyal followers may unfollow.
Entertaining hashtags: Not all hashtags are there to extend your reach, you can use hashtags to enhance the content of your post. Remember as well as extending your reach you need to keep those that already follow you engaged. You can use hashtags to entertain your audience and help you to establish your business brand. They’re meant purely to be funny or clever, and that’s it. Examples #iknowitstooearlyforchristmasstuff and #thisiswhyweallhatemonday #realwordproblems. It is a good idea to group them together to add to your message #iknowitstooearlyforchristmasstuff #toobad #itshereanyway #230daystillchristmas
General appeal hashtags: There are certain hashtags that are popular among large, diverse audiences. Some social media experts would argue that these need to be included in your posts. I would suggest testing these hashtags. Depending on your influence you could be wasting a hashtag, yes it is nice to include #love but when you are competing with 1.6 Billion other posts with the same hashtag. Ask yourself is that hashtag going to achieve anything?
Finally, when creating your own hashtags for your brand or entertainment always wise to have a second pair of eyes look them over.
#susanalbumparty Even the great Simon Cowell gets it wrong.
#nowthatchersdead People thought Cher had died.
#clitfest a branded hashtag for Chester Literary Festival
#rimjobs We wonder why Blackberry fell and Apple took over. Nobody applied for their jobs.
If you would like support and guidance on hashtag use for your business please get in touch.