Social Media Marketing

Marketing Strategy

Which Social Media Platforms are Best for Your Business?

/

Whether you are starting a new business, have been in business for decades, or are just starting out in the world of marketing, social media is an ever-changing game.

When was the last time you did an audit on your social media accounts, and how they impact your business?

Regardless of your activity levels on social media, having a plan is essential. As things change globally, social media evolves as well. Now the question begs: Where should I spend my time and money?

Let’s take a look at each platform to see which ones, if not all, are right for your business!

1. Facebook

With over 2 billion monthly users, chances are everyone you know is on Facebook, and maybe even their pets are too! Facebook’s biggest asset is being able to turn your customer base into a family, or a welcomed community.

Creating a Facebook group is very simple, free, and creates an environment for your followers to exchange information and form a sense of community.
Photos and videos are what drives success on Facebook. The key is to stand out and show a different side of your company. Don’t be afraid to step outside the box and get creative with your visuals.

If you have some money set aside for paid ads, then Facebook’s ads manager, with it’s sophisticated targeting options, is a great way to grow your business.

2. Twitter (X)

Twitter is all about timely and immediate information. With approximately 330 million monthly active users, it is a great way to raise brand awareness.

Keep in mind that you have 280 characters to convey your message, once you get the copywriting down packed, with just a simple share or like, your tweet can reach a broad audience fast!

3. Instagram

With a whopping 1 billion monthly active users, it’s hard to pass on this visual platform. If your target audience is younger, then Instagram is the right platform for you. 50 percent of users are 34 years old and under. These users are also very comfortable with the following brands on the platform and are even buying products right from the app.

Quick fun fact: 80% of users follow at least one brand on Instagram.

If influencer marketing is something you are interested in, this is the place to be. Influencer marketing is a content marketing strategy that allows you to promote products, services, or brands by partnering with an influencer.

An influencer is someone who has the power to affect the purchasing decisions of others because of their relationship with their followers. These influencers have a distinct niche, and usually have a following of over 10,000 on Instagram.

Some of the most successful brands are built around influencer marketing.

4. LinkedIn

If you are selling business to business (B2B), then LinkedIn is your best bet! With 303 million monthly users, LinkedIn should not be overlooked.

LinkedIn is a great way to showcase your brand and the knowledge that you have around your business. By building your brand’s authority and sharing insightful content, you will gain connections that can lead to conversations and sales.

Some content examples are blog posts, curated content, quick tips from an industry expert, and infographics with updated statistics.

5. Pinterest

This is one of the social media platforms where the majority of its users are female. If you are in the food, fashion, décor, art, wedding, travel business, or can produce beautiful images weekly, you may find Pinterest very helpful!

Pinterest is a great way to showcase your products. This platform is not for every business, but if implemented correctly, you will be surprised at how many people will come in contact with your beautiful crafted “pins.”

6. Tiktok

The new kid on the block. Since they launched internationally in September 2017, Tiktok has gained over 850 million monthly active users.

Tiktok really wants you to be creative and to have fun. Like other social media platforms, you can use paid advertising, organic content, and influencer marketing to promote your brand. There is a fun way that Tiktok has allowed brands to go viral, and that is hashtag challenges.

A branded hashtag challenge is when a company asks Tiktok users to perform a particular task and tag them using a specific hashtag. The brand usually gives the winning video free products.

Best of all, you don’t have to invest a lot of money in creating high-quality videos. It is all about how creative you can be!

Contact the Social Media Connoisseurs at Treefrog

There are many other social media platforms out there, and it can get overwhelming because they all offer a unique opportunity for your brand. That is why agencies like Treefrog have experts who are constantly studying these platforms and keeping up to date with the latest tools and trends.

Our goal is to provide you with the results that your brand deserves.

That being said, you can also give the social media game a shot. To give you a head start, we have a special treat. A social media posting calendar:

Download it today.

"*" indicates required fields

This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.
overhead view of iPhone, showing Treefrog's instagram page
Marketing Strategy

6 Factors that Affect the Instagram Algorithm

/

Are you keeping up to date with the Instagram algorithm? Instagram is continuously evolving, and keeping up with these changes will help you perform better in the platform and create a unique bond with your Instagram community!

Instagram finally broke its silence and put some rumours to rest about how the algorithm actually works. Here are the 6 key factors, as broken down by our social media team at Treefrog:

Let’s learn more about these factors, so you don’t get left behind!

1. How interesting are your posts?

The Instagram algorithm is smarter than you think. The days of trying to trick it are over. Your feed is based on how likely you are to be interested in a particular post, and this is formulated on your actions within the app.

For example, if you are liking, watching, commenting and sharing dog content from your favourite dog influencer, then that type of content will be at the top of your news feed.

To sum it up, the friends that you are interacting with the most, the stories you watch, and even the pictures you are tagged in contribute to your behaviour in the app, which determines who and what pops up in your news feed.

Have you ever wondered why your top stories are always the same accounts? It’s because the same formula applies to Instagram stories as well!

2. Timing is, in fact, everything.

Consider Instagram as the cool kid in class, someone who wants to always be up to date with the latest news and trends. You won’t find them showing you a Halloween post when it’s Christmas season.

Group of friends looking at a smart phone outdoors in the city

That being said, using your Instagram Insights tool will help you see when your followers are the most active on the platform. That’s the time to release your content in order to set yourself up for success. It may seem like a small detail, but it is an essential piece of the Instagram algorithm puzzle.

3. Relationship Goals

Instagram doesn’t want you to miss posts from your friends and family, or favourite brands and celebrities. It values your relationships and doesn’t like one-night stands. Content from accounts you engage with more often will rank higher in the feed. For example, if you search for the same profile often, they will become one of your popular friends, and you will see their content more often.

For a content creator, that means it’s time to roll up your sleeves and get posting. You want your followers to engage with your content and form a relationship.

With this tactic, the more you post, the more followers will see your posts. Keep in mind; quality does trump quantity. The key is to find a happy balance.

We all don’t have the manpower of Gary V. So posting 3 times a week constantly while throwing Instagram Stories into the mix will help you see an increase in your engagement.

4. How frequently are you opening the app?

Take a look at your daily screentime. How many minutes, or should I say hours, have you spent on Instagram today? If you have some self-control and are on the app less often, your news feed will be sorted for what it thinks you will like best!

Close up of a young woman listening to music while riding in a bus

If you are a frequent Instagram visitor, your feed may start to look more chronological. This is because Instagram is trying it’s best to show you the best posts since you’ve last started scrolling.

5. No follower is left behind, well, not really.

Another thing to take into consideration is the number of people you follow. If you follow more people, the app has more content to choose from. This means, you’ll likely see fewer posts from each account, and for many accounts, you may not even see their posts on your feed.

As a business and content creator, the tricky part is to become a part of their Instagram family. That is easier said than done. By the end of this article, you will know how to achieve just that, so keep reading!

6. Usage: Daily or Hourly?

Do you open your Instagram app daily or hourly? It’s pretty straightforward, the more time you spend on the app, the more content you will see, and the deeper Instagram digs into it’s catalog of content to show you posts.

However, if you spend only a few minutes on the app each day, the algorithm will only show you highlights of the day’s posts.

Two restaurant workers take mobile photo of latte

Start Stepping Up Your Instagram Game Today!

Instagram is a great social media platform for visual storytelling. No matter your industry, it’s an incredible online community where businesses can connect with potential customers and grow their business organically. Whether you have a personal account, creator account or business account, Instagram could be the platform for you to grow your online presence.

The key is to educate yourself and stay up to date with trends.

Start applying what you learned from this blog into your Instagram strategy! We’ll help get you started with our free Social Media Calendar, now available for download! Plan out your Instagram content, collaborate with team members, research hashtags and track all your images all in one organized excel sheet.

Download Our Social Calendar Template

"*" indicates required fields

This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.

 

Don’t Do Social, Be Social!

At Treefrog, we believe that social media strategy is a delicate mix of both art and science. Our social media team combines compelling visuals with data-driven analytics to engage with the audiences of our clients in real time – so that their message gets heard and people are inspired to take action.

If you have any questions, feel free to reach out to the Instagram experts at Treefrog! You can also connect with us via email, on our website or on social media to stay up to date on Instagram tools, tricks and tips!

We can do all the dirty work for you, keep you informed and help your Instagram game reach a new level!

Bearded senior using mobile phone outdoors
Creative Strategy

What is SEO or Social Without Content Marketing?

/

It would be cliché to suggest that the digital marketing landscape is becoming increasingly complex. Marketing and advertising have always been faced with the often-complex problem of knowing what will resonate with potential customers. Digital marketers face the same problem but unlike “traditional” marketing we have access to unprecedented levels of data about our intended audience. Learning as we go, we’re often able to craft content (blogs, articles, images, graphics) that users find valuable. Understanding that value is a nuanced and completely subjective concept, we try to gather and analyse multiple data sets before we ever put pen to paper.

What is contemporary content marketing?

Traditional marketing—think of a television commercial, for example—is based on the concept of interruption. A commercial diverts the viewer’s attention and interrupts them from viewing the “valuable” television program they were watching. Content marketing, in contrast, is based on the idea that trust is garnered through a genuine attempt to offer something that the reader or viewer will want to read, view, watch, or best yet—share.  Content marketing talks “to” them rather than “at” audience.  Depending on the product or service, thoughtful content marketing will help move a potential prospect through the digital funnel towards purchase and beyond towards becoming an advocate.

Unlike traditional advertising, content marketing is a persuasive soft sell and seeks to help the buyer make an informed decision. Sometimes, as digital marketers we attempt to create social proof of a product or service’s benefit through relying on the endorsement of key opinion leaders, or “influencers” in a particular industry. Think about it, it is far more effective if someone you trust endorses that new widget or gadget. This type of content, a kind of digital word-of-mouth, is as traditional as traditional gets—it’s just been given a new lease via content marketing.

The photo was taken indoors in a domestic room by photographing over the model's shoulder.

Traditional Marketing vs Content Marketing

Let’s explore an example: If you’re in the floral business, getting a certain amount of walk-in traffic to your business would be expected if your business is centrally located in town. If you want to reach more customers, you might take out an ad in the local paper and maybe send out some direct mail postcards. Perhaps you decide to exhibit in the annual bridal show and home show. But how do you attract customers outside of these moments?  How do you provide value for the user, even when they are not looking for your services? How will you keep them engaged and your business top-of-mind between purchases?

This could take a variety of forms:

  1. Beautiful images on your social media of recent work
  2. A bi-weekly blog with articles on relevant content such as “Best Flower Arrangements for a Winter Wedding” or “Easy, DIY Flower Arrangements for Your Next Dinner Party.”
  3. A weekly newsletter with a DIY home décor activity
  4. A monthly contest to encourage social media engagement
  5. A monthly donation of flowers to an important local cause

Content like this provides your audience with something they see value in and ensures you’re in front of them long before they are at the point of purchase. And, importantly, it provides an opportunity to build a connection to your brand.

You can’t go wrong creating content of various kinds that your customers see value in. If they see value, likely so will Google. If your content can be the answer to a searched question, you will likely rank higher in search results. Again, it’s about creating something that your customers see value in before you ever ask for the sale.

The beauty of it all?

Your content will sell for you while you’re asleep. It works even when you’re not.

Getting started!

When it comes to producing content, it can be a daunting task. You might have no idea where or how to get started. Remember: quality content, produced frequently will have the greatest effect on your business. To start, explore the topics that resonate with your prospective audience, consider why your audience works with you, what pain points to address or problems you solve, be creative, take a different approach, and have fun.

Today, we are more connected and more engaged than ever with digital media. Creating a space for your customer (and potential customer) to interact with your brand and develop trust at their own pace, will have lasting effects on your business. It is critical to continue to provide this opportunity, even after the sale is complete. Creating opportunity to further the dialogue with your customers will help lead to long-lasting brand loyalty and repeat business.

And if you are to take one thing away from this article…remember: providing something of value takes time and effort but can yield huge returns!

An asian woman concentrating on a touch screen display. The point of view is from behind the screen, looking through the data and images to the woman's face as she manipulates the windows of information.
Creative Strategy

The Science Behind Engaging Visuals

/

One of the fundamental ways to make sure your social media posts are getting engagement is to include visuals. Images, infographics, and videos are more likely to capture a person’s attention when compared to text. If your post doesn’t include visual content, it risks getting lost in people’s timelines amidst all of the posts that do include visuals. To illustrate this point, let’s explore the facts (yay, statistics!)

  • According to Buffer, Tweets with images are retweeted 150% more than Tweets without.
  • 74% of social media marketers use visual assets in their social media marketing, ahead of blogs (68%) and videos (60%).
  • Eye tracking studies performed by Nielsen Norman Group suggested that when people find images relevant, they spend more time looking at them on a webpage than reading the text.
Group of multicultural friends using smartphone outdoors - People hands addicted by mobile smart phone - Technology concept with connected men and women - Shallow depth of field on vintage filter tone

Bottom Line: Visuals. Use Them. Whether it’s a photo, an infographic, a video, or anything else!

But keep in mind, all visuals are not created equal, and there are things that make certain visuals more engaging than others. While these will differ depending on your industry (different audiences react differently to images), here are some general tips that are crucial when selecting visuals to include in your post:

1. Include Eyes

A tried and true method of getting people to stop at your image when scrolling through their newsfeeds is to include images where people appear to be staring at the viewer. Eye contact is a super engaging visual, and if your image draws eyes to your post, the viewer is more likely to stop, stare, and read your content.

This is a perfect example of an image where the entire visual appeal is based on eye contact.

woman's eyes

2. Include a Lot of Colours, when Appropriate

We generally recommend sticking to a similar colour scheme (preferably your brand colours) when creating images – in order to make sure people are able to quickly connect the visuals to your brand. However, visuals that include a variety of colours are more eye-catching than those with few colours. So, whichever colour scheme you choose, at the very least, avoid images with only shades or dark colours.

Good:

The picturesque Spirit Island is a world famous Canadian Rockies landmark on Maligne Lake, Jasper National Park, Alberta, Canada. In the background is part of the Hall of the Gods, with Mount Warren, Valad Peak, Mount Henry MacLeod, Coronet Glacier and Mount Mary Vaux visible.

Bad:

Residential buildings and the favela in the background

3. Design them for Easy Comprehension

Because the brain is able to quickly determine relationships between objects, people can create connections more quickly by looking at visuals than reading text. In the clever image below, Coke uses this idea to quickly teach people a new way of making iced tea – all without using a single word of text. Talk about taking advantage of the human brain!

4. Try Incorporating Humour

If you’re ever struggling to figure out how to connect with your audience, try using humour! Different types of people like different things, but a sense of humour is innate (we laugh even before we learn to talk).

Old Spice is a master at creating visuals that catch people’s eyes by using humour that’s immediately noticeable. This image is simple, creative, and effective!

5. Guide the Eyes with Lines

Using lines can help guide people’s eyes to sections of images that you want them to see. For example, try using lines to guide people’s eyes to an image labelled “call now” (or similar) – to direct their attention where you’d like it to be.

In the post below, we used arrows to encourage people to swipe left and see the next image in the post. This is perfect for Instagram, where you can include multiple photos in one post.

Treefrog Tip: When you are absolutely out of ideas for what visuals to include, or simply don’t have the resources to generate ones, use royalty-free image websites like Pixabay or PEXELS to search for images relevant to your post.

Keep in mind, you can’t always Google image search photos to include in your posts, as someone else may own the rights to them, and you may end up in trouble if you use them.

Need help creating eye-catching visuals that get noticed? Our graphic design and social media teams are made up of experts who understand the power of captivating imagery.

Request a free quote or give us a call at 905.836.4442 today!

Close up of hands playing an electric guitar
Marketing Strategy

5 “Boring” Companies That Are Rocking It On Social Media

/

Most people tend to think that social media only works for companies in industries that have a target audience of social media-motivated Millennials and Gen X-ers. It’s often believed that only “fun” and “young” industries, like Go Pro or Red Bull, can really rock social media… but this just an assumption.

While it’s true that some industries do lend themselves better to social media, there are some “boring” companies who have dared to show what makes them unique and are connecting with users as a result.

Struggling to figure out how you can make your industry, product, or service seem exciting on social media? Check out how and why these seemingly “boring” companies are truly killing it when it comes to making their content more appealing to their audience.

1. Magna International

Some companies are at a natural disadvantage when trying to leverage their products as visually appealing social media content. However, Magna International, a massive ‘behind-the-scenes’ automotive supplier, has spiced up their Instagram content by choosing to focus on the finished product they helped to make.

Why?

There’s no denying that a cherry red Lykan HyperSports car is going to get much more attention and likes than a photo of a high-pressure vacuum casting. By focusing on the beautiful cars designed using their mechanical parts, Magna’s social content becomes more visually pleasing and yet remains relevant to what they do.

2. MailChimp

Email automation platforms are exciting, right? Uh, not so much.

However, while creating quality visuals for MailChimp might seem like a challenge, the company expertly leverages social media for something other than advertising their software.

How?

MailChimp uses Instagram to show off their lighthearted company culture and to attract young talent to their team. MailChimp uses the image-based platform to meet their hiring and recruitment goals, even though an email marketing social page might not seem glamourous or “worth the follow” to most users.

3. SAS Software

Software analytics company SAS is smart about the content that they post on Facebook. Rather than strictly posting about things related to their niche market, they branch out into other topics that are fun but not entirely off base.

How?

In their Thanksgiving-themed Facebook post (see below), SAS managed to relate the hugely popular American holiday with data analytics; giving a regional breakdown of where popular holiday foods are sourced. A very clever connection!

4. Mr. Clean

Cleaning products probably don’t get you excited, but Mr. Clean is trying to change that by posting hilarious GIFS and memes on Twitter.

Why?

Mr. Clean has chosen to add a “sexy” and humourous flare to their line of cleaning products to attach some fun and youthfulness to their “tough” cleaning image. As a result of their use of funny GIFS and memes, they are able to connect with the next generation of cleaners and have earned nearly 30,000 followers on Twitter to date. Wow!

5. General Electric

General Electric has managed to breathe life into their social media content, not just for their consumer products, but for their business-to-business products as well.

How?

To make their Facebook content more engaging, General Electric avoids tech jargon in favor of staggering facts about the capabilities of their products (which acts as an attention grabber). Compliment this with edgy visuals, and you’ve got a business-to-business company that is finding success on multiple social platforms, not just LinkedIn.

Struggling to figure out how to make your social media content engaging? At Treefrog, our social media team specializes in providing out-of-the-box digital marketing solutions for companies of all types and in all industries. Leave it to us. We’ll take your social media presence from “meh” to “that’s amazing!”.

Request a free quote or give us a call at 905.836.4442 today!

Laptop on a long table with the YouTube logo on its screen
Marketing Strategy

YouTube is Social Media Too!

/

Most people use only Facebook, Twitter and Instagram when developing a social media strategy and miss opportunities to have success with other platforms. YouTube is not usually thought of as a social media platform, but it is one with a lot of potential to drive success for brands.

Read on to learn why YouTube is awesome for marketers and how to best use it to achieve your goals.

How is YouTube Related to Success?

Video marketing is increasingly driving results:

  • 4x as many customers would rather watch a video about a product than read about it.
  •  Landing pages with videos have higher conversion rates compared to those without by up to 80%.
  • Almost 50% of internet users look for videos related to a product or service before visiting a store.
  • Online shoppers who view demo videos are 1.81x more likely to purchase than non-viewers.

YouTube is the biggest hub for video content online:

Why are these figures important?

Bringing epic success to companies, YouTube has proven to be effective for driving clear figures that are used to measure success, such as conversions. Trends of YouTube use are also on the rise, and as a modern business you’ll want to stay ahead of the curve:

  • 48% of marketers plan to add YouTube to their content strategy by the end of 2017.
  • 43% of marketers said they’d create more video content if there were no obstacles like time, resources and budget.

At Treefrog, if we are not creating and leveraging video content to meet clients’ goals, we risk putting them at a disadvantage because their competitors may do this first. However, if their competitors are among the 43% who are concerned about resources, there is an opportunity to bring them epic success by leveraging YouTube before they do.

How to be Successful on YouTube (Best Practices)

As is the case with other social media websites, some people are killing it on YouTube and others are not seeing the results that they want.

Here are qualities of incredibly successful YouTubers (measured in subscribers) that are important to consider when trying to use YouTube to achieve your goals.

1.  Post consistent & relevant content:

  • Just like with blogging, you will attract a larger and more engaged audience if you post frequently and if your content is tailored to a specific audience.
  • Jenna Marbles (17.5 million subscribers) posts a new video to her channel every single week, so her viewers know when/how often to visit her channel.

2.  Go for an angle:

  • Have something that sets you apart from YouTube channels run by other companies in your industry or niche.
  • Tastemade’s YouTube channel (900 thousand subscribers) is not a generic cooking channel; it combines cooking and travel by focusing on locational pieces (“Crispy Rice in Brooklyn”) that set it apart from countless other YouTube cooking channels – including the Food Network’s channel (which has 300 thousand subscribers).

3.  Produce videos with good production value:

  • Make videos as high quality as is possible within your budget.
  • Nigahiga (20 million subscribers) is successful because his videos have high production value that is also unique (he can draw an entire video and often edits videos with special effects).
  • Resources might restrict production quality, but at the very least you should have good camera quality, sound and lighting.

4.  Be entertaining:

  • Maintaining a certain level of professionalism is important, but consider delivering your brand’s message through some form of entertainment (gags, parodies). Entertainment is the most popular reason that people watch YouTube videos in the first place.
  • Super Cooper Sunday (TmarTn2) is entertaining because the hosts share the life of their dogs, even though they talk about mundane, ordinary things.

5.  Be genuine & relatable:

  • Successful YouTubers usually appear ordinary, relatable, authentic and engaging, which is the difference between popular YouTubers and carefully created brand videos.
  • Try making videos that look candid and natural. Try taking risks by displaying a sense of humor that would not typically be shown by certain companies and in certain industries.
  • KSI (17 million subscribers) has candid looking videos that are often filmed in the first person, which creates an intimate viewing experience for people.

Getting Social on YouTube

YouTube is a video-sharing website and therefore a social media website (to share is to be social!). Luckily for businesses, it is possible to build and engage a relevant community on YouTube as it is on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

Here’s how it’s done:

  • Subscribe to other relevant channels and interact with their content (share, like, comment).
  • Interact with users using your own videos (as you would on any other social media website).
  • Leverage your other social media followings by directing them from other social media websites to your YouTube channel (YouTube accounts can be connected with other social media accounts. If you have video content on YouTube, why not use it on your other social media profiles to drive engagement?).

By leveraging YouTube for clients, Treefrog delivers smarter and more complete social media experiences that drive successful branding results for businesses like yours. Get in touch with us at 905.836.4442 to learn more today!

Decorative illustration of "#Hashtag"
Marketing Strategy

Instagram Hashtags 101

/

Is your brand on Instagram? Your answer should be a big ‘Yes!’ Otherwise, you’re missing out on the chance to potentially reach up to 700 million monthly users!

Instagram is a photo-sharing mobile platform that allows users to share photos and videos, individually or as a set. Getting ahead on Instagram involves following some common best-practices which include posting high-quality visual content, making a list of accounts to @mention and tag that relate to your content, and creating the perfect schedule to post.

However, one aspect of Instagram that arguably isn’t being used to its full potential is hashtags.

Instagram hashtags are one of the best ways to grow your account. Did you know that posts with at least one hashtag average 12.6% more engagement than posts without any hashtags.

PetaPixel words it best: “Think of hashtags as a pipeline to the rest of the world.”

Using the right combination of hashtags in the captions of your Instagram posts (and Instagram Stories) can help you expose your brand to large and targeted audiences. In fact, your chances of attracting new followers, gaining more likes, and increasing engagement are massively improved by the use of hashtags! However, if you’re not choosing your hashtags strategically, your posts will not get in front of the right people.

How Instagram Hashtags Work

Every Instagram post can be accompanied by a caption and up to 30 hashtags. These hashtags help categorize photos and videos, which supports the process of content discovery and optimization.

For example, Luxy Hair, a hair extensions brand, posts images of intricate hairstyles with hashtags like #hairideas, #hairgoals, #hairtutorial, etc.

Due to these hashtags, any user searching for hashtags about #hairideas, #hairgoals, or any of the other hashtags used, may come across this post.

Branded Vs. Community Hashtags

There are two types of hashtags that are commonly used in conjunction with regular content-related hashtags: Branded Hashtags and Community Hashtags.

Having a general understanding of the different types of hashtags (and their corresponding audiences) can help you develop a more effective Instagram strategy.

Branded Hashtags

Branded hashtags are unique to a brand or campaign. It could be as simple as your company’s name, tagline, or the name of one of your products or campaign. These hashtags can also communicate your brand identity or lifestyle messaging.

For example, Herschel Supply Co. uses a few branded hashtags, including #HerschelSupply, #WellTravelled and #CityLimitless. The hashtag #WellTravelled was created for a campaign to encourage customers to share travel photos featuring Herschel products. Now tagged in more than 2.57 million posts, it is often cited as one of the most popular travel hashtags on Instagram.

Like Herschel, you can create a branded hashtag for a specific campaign, contest, or to simply showcase your company’s culture, products, or services.

If you’re running an Instagram campaign or contest, having a brand hashtag will help drive participation and engagement. It will also organize all the posts that are tagged with it on a hashtag page. This is helpful if you’re using the hashtag to collect entries for a promotion or contest submissions, or looking for content to ‘re-post’ onto your brand’s account.

Use branded hashtags to get your most loyal followers and customers to engage, and to improve your overall online brand awareness.

Community Hashtags

Community hashtags connect like-minded users around a specific topic. These hashtags are more general and don’t necessarily have anything to do with your company or brand.

Some examples include #instafood or #dogsofinstagram. These hashtags are widely used and aren’t specific to any one person or brand.

For example, the photo above from @white_coffee_cat_ uses multiple community hashtags including #catsofinstagram, #catstagram and #weeklyfluff.

The benefit of community hashtags is that people actively search for these common word sets, so, if your brand’s photos and videos show up in the search results, you’ll get instant exposure to a new audience.

However, you need to make sure the community hashtags are relevant to the content you’re posting. If @white_coffee_cat had used hashtags like #instafood or #ootd in the photo, it wouldn’t have made sense.

The best way to figure out which community-oriented hashtags are right for your brand is by researching which hashtags your audience or competitors are already using.

How to Find The Best Hashtags For Your Account

If you are not being strategic with which hashtags you are using, your posts will not get in front of the right people. The first step to figuring out which hashtags are best for your brand is to put yourself into the shoes of your ideal audience.

For example, if you are a real estate agent serving the city of Hamilton, you ideally want to target potential homebuyers looking to move into a house in the Hamilton area. Logically, some keywords that the target group may search for include #HamiltonHomes and #HamiltonLiving. It is then important to further develop this list and to investigate what else the target market may be interested in.

Next, create a list or home buying hashtags that are directly relevant to your company, brand, and include the location that you serve. For example, if your company is called ‘Hamilton House Hunters’, one of your hashtags could be #HamiltonHouseHunter.

As a real estate agent, the obvious industry hashtag is #RealEstate, but you can narrow it down further to the specific location that you are serving: #HamiltonRealEstate. Some other hashtags could include #RentalProperties, #Hamilton, #GTAHomes, and #HouseHunter.

Finally, make a list of the hashtags that your top competitors and ideal audiences are using. This involves some research, but it is well worth it if it means you’ll be attracting potential clients to your business.

Once you have your list of hashtags, do a search of each hashtag on your list to ensure that the content that pops up is relevant to your brand, is appropriate, and has a good amount of users using the hashtag.

Additional Tips

  • Instagram currently limits the number of hashtags you can use per post to 30. Many users avoid using more than 5-10 hashtags simply because it looks like spam. One way to avoid the unprofessional, ‘spammy’ look of using many hashtags is to post your main brand hashtags in your main caption, and the rest of the hashtags as a comment. This will ensure that your post still falls under each of your hashtags, but avoids viewers from seeing all the hashtags at first glance.
  • Keep your main hashtags typed out in a note on your phone, which you can easily copy and paste into your Instagram posts without having to re-type them each time. This will save you a ton of time!
  • Make sure you update your hashtags every 3-6 months! Hashtag trends are always changing, and some may become blocked by Instagram due to inappropriate content.

Using the tips and strategies you’ve learned here, you’ll be well on your way to growing your audience on Instagram.

Want to learn more about how your business can leverage the benefits of Instagram and other social media platforms? Give us a call at 905.836.4442 and let our social media specialists strategize your next Instagram campaign!

Pensive woman looks at floating social media platform icons
Marketing Strategy

Picking The Right Social Media Platforms for Your Business

/

With over 2 billion active users, popular social media platforms have become marketing giants, offering businesses valuable data about their customers. However, with so many options, how do you figure out which social media platforms are right for your business?

Here are a few tips to help you get started:

Facebook

Facebook is the biggest social network on the web, with nearly 2 billion active users! Considering that Facebook has a wealth of options for any organization, it’s a great starting point for your business, regardless of your industry. Facebook can be thought of as the “social hub” of your business, where people can go to leave messages, browse through products and photos, or chat with you online.

Twitter

Twitter averages about 328 million active users worldwide and is an effective channel for marketing your business and handling customer service. With Twitter, you can share short text updates (of 140 characters or fewer), along with videos, images, links, polls and more. As with Facebook, Twitter is more effective when it is a two-way platform in which you respond to and engage with followers.

LinkedIn

LinkedIn is right for you if you are B2B or are in another industry or role in which you can provide useful insights to people who are thinking about their work, looking to make business connections, or who are exploring their next career move. Most users are in work mode on LinkedIn, so it is optimal for peer networking and industry-specific information.

Instagram

Instagram is a mobile-only visual social media platform based entirely on photo and video posts. The Facebook-owned network has more than 700 million active users, many of whom post about food, art, travel, fashion, and similar subjects. More artistic niches tend to excel on Instagram, so it’s important that the person running your account has a good eye for detail and some basic photography skills, so the photos and videos posted to your account are high quality.

Pinterest

Pinterest, another highly visual platform, is popular among women, so it is the place to be if that is your target audience. Every pin includes an image or video, and it is fairly low-maintenance in terms of post frequency. However, keeping your boards organized and search-friendly can be time-consuming. Popular categories on the site are DIY projects, fashion, exercise, beauty, photography, and food.

Woman looking at a laptop in a meeting room
Marketing Strategy

Leveraging Reddit for Paid and Organic Advertising

/

What if I told you that there is a social networking website that could potentially get you 20x the reach of Facebook, Instagram, or Twitter? It sounds too good to be true, right? Wrong! The website I’m talking about is called Reddit.

So what is Reddit?

By definition, Reddit is an “American social news aggregation, web content rating, and discussion website” where members can submit content such as text posts, photos, videos, or direct links into sub-categories of Reddit with specific themes and topics (these are called subreddits). The content posted to these subreddits by members is then voted up (up-votes) or down (down-votes) by other members, determining the position of the post. Posts with more up-votes stay at the top of the subreddit, while posts with less up-votes, or posts with lots of down-votes are pushed down towards the bottom of the subreddit. Essentially, just like any social networking and discussion website, posting high quality content will result in more shares, likes, comments, and maybe even conversions.

Numbers Don’t Lie

So far in 2017, Reddit has been bringing in approximately 542 million monthly visitors, 234 million of them being unique visitors, making it the 7th most visited website in America, and 22nd in the world. If that wasn’t enough, in 2015 Reddit reached 82.54 billion pageviews, 73.15 million submissions, and consisted of 853,824 subreddits.

Now that we know what Reddit is, and why it has such great potential from a marketer’s point of view, I am going to share with you my favourite tactics for leveraging Reddit for organic and paid advertising.

Paying For Targeted Ads

Although I don’t have actual experience with targeted ads on Reddit, I’ve seen them in action and I know they work. Reddit offers advertising options where you can actually advertise in specific subreddits, giving the advertiser an opportunity to target specific users with a super relevant ad. This is great because when a user sees a relevant ad in a relevant place, they are more likely to click through and convert. For example, when I was on the /r/adops/ subreddit earlier today, I found two paid ads that would be very relevant to the /r/adops/ community.

The first is a native looking ad at the top of the subreddit, disguising itself as a normal post:

The second ad, featured on the right side of the webpage is not a native ad. It is still however a high quality ad that is very relevant to just about anyone visiting the /r/adops/ subreddit:

How Much Does It Cost?

In order to advertise on Reddit, advertisers must be willing to spend a minimum of $5 per campaign, and a $0.75 charge per thousand pageviews. Currently, Reddit only offers CPM (cost per thousand impressions) as a cost model, and like Adwords, the CPM price you pay depends on a variety of factors, like targeting, bid, and competing ads. Reddit also allows advertisers to purchase up to 3 months prior to a campaign, so plan ahead!

Organic Marketing

Another form of advertising that I like on Reddit, and one that I have personal experience with, is organic marketing. One tactic that is arguably the easiest is to position yourself as a thought leader within the subreddit you are trying to advertise on. Let’s say that you are working for a landing page optimization company, and come across a user in the ad operations subreddit looking for information on landing page optimization. You could answer the user’s question and also provide a backlink to the company you work for. Doing this (well) would provide you with authority within the subreddit, which will benefit you should you decide to keep posting, and will drive traffic back to the website you have just linked to.

Organic marketing is trickier to pull off successfully than paid advertising, because like most people on social networking websites, people on Reddit hate ads, even more so when the ads are low quality, intrusive, aren’t relevant, or are ads disguised as regular posts. Failing to follow the rules, or “reddiquette”, you may find your content getting downvoted, and you getting banned. Having said that, there are a number of ways to organically market on Reddit without pissing off all of the people who could be potentially clicking on your ad.

Things To Avoid

As I mentioned above, Reddit users hate ads and being deceived into clicking on them. There are some things that every company should avoid doing, whether you’re marketing for Starbucks or a local coffee shop.

The big no-no is posting memes. Just don’t do it. If this is the only take away you have from this article, you’ll have still learned something valuable. It’s a risky move that few brands (if any) have managed to pull off without looking incredibly desperate.

One cringe-worthy example that demands a discussion is when Pilot posted a series of memes to various social networking sites in an effort to try to promote their new line of pens. The memes featured slogans like “The only pen that matters” and “I will not lose any of these” that make you want to put your head in your hands. Once they found their way to Reddit, users weren’t happy, and felt betrayed by the user who originally posted the memes, and maybe even by Reddit as a whole. One user even went on to say “Even if he’s [the poster] not paid by the company or an advertising agency, I don’t really want people who are just fans of some brand making accounts just to post about that product. What would Reddit be then?”

I’ve managed to track down a few of the original memes, and have attached my personal favourites. I truly hope you find them as horrible as I did.

In conclusion, marketing on Reddit is not easy or for the faint at heart. It’s a lively community that offers a huge potential for marketing. If you aren’t afraid of criticism, and are targeting certain niches – there’s really no better place to be. If done correctly, you could be on your way to tapping into a valuable goldmine of targeted traffic directly to your website, while increasing brand awareness at the same time.

Resources

Close up of a microphone with a stage and audience out of focus in the background
Marketing Strategy

How to Become a Key Opinion Leader in the Digital World

/

A Key Opinion Leader.

“What’s that?” you ask.

“A Key Opinion Leader is a person who successfully combines expertise and passion, both online and off”
– Sean Stephens

A mainstay in the pharmaceutical and life sciences fields, the concept of Key Opinion Leader, or ‘KOL’, has infiltrated digital spaces as an adjunct to the popular, and perhaps cliché, concept of ‘Thought Leader’.

What makes a Key Opinion Leader? In the medical field, a Key Opinion Leader is a person with long-standing respect, who builds their influence and reputation by speaking at conferences, developing new theories, being published and re-quoted in journals, popular press, and by others who possess considerable influence. A KOL is a person who other professionals look to for answers and guidance because they have distinguished themselves by pushing the boundaries of their field.

Pharmaceutical marketing teams look for KOL’s to act as product advocates – someone who will give their ‘stamp of approval’ on the efficacy and effectiveness of the product. As advocates for the drug brand, KOLs are used to generate increased revenue by capitalizing on their popularity.

Within the realm of digital media and marketing, a KOL possesses social, rather than purely academic, influence. This social variant of a KOL is open to regular, everyday people who can become influential to their peers or “following”.

Out of our discussion with two real-life Key Opinion Leaders in the digital world, Treefrog Inc. CEO Sean Stephens, and Perfect Community Manager and local entrepreneur Lucas Chang, we’ve assessed how both content and social media can help launch and support your KOL career.

Get Social

“It’s critical to be involved and accessible.”

Sean Stephens and Lucas Chang both agreed that Key Opinion Leaders don’t necessarily need to be high profile, but they do need to get out there and be social.

If you are interested in becoming a KOL, it is critical that you make yourself accessible to your community, both in person and online. It is also important that you ensure to leave a positive impact on those you encounter, making your followers feel valued, heard, and more informed after speaking to or hearing from you.

To accomplish this, take advantage of various speaking opportunities and attend conferences in your field of expertise. Afterward, make time to shake hands, exchange contact information with those who may present further opportunities to you, and join in for pictures. The more you are seen, the more you will become recognizable and established.

Another key tip is to be engaging and active on various social media platforms. Social media will allow you to access a wider audience, as well as to spread your message instantly. By leveraging social media, your material has greater potential to be shared, liked, and commented on.

You should also consider pitching interview topics with both local and national media, increasing your platform’s visibility. Not only will producing this material build your resume, but it will also provide documented proof of your ability to lead and educate, establishing a more concrete reputation.

Make Strategic Connections

“In order to develop an opinion that isn’t just fluff, you have to surround yourself with people who are also equally engaged in the same material as you.” 

Using the analogy of iron sharpening iron, Sean Stephens stressed the importance of surrounding yourself with people who are passionate about the same material as you; yet don’t necessarily share your same exact opinion. Stephens went on to explain that Key Opinion Leaders gain credibility when they engage with other leaders and not only express their personal opinions, but also actively listen and learn.

Social media can significantly support these types of connections as social websites like Facebook contain customizable group and event pages where meetings can be set up, conferences can be advertised, and discussions can be had.

While Lucas Chang reminded us that there is still a lot of value in face-to-face interaction, social media now plays a huge role in guiding people to an actual in-person meet. Think about it. When you read a book or article that genuinely interests you, you are more likely to reach out to the author, through either social media or email. Once an online relationship is fostered, you are then more apt, (and likely more comfortable) to meet and interact with that person in real life.

Using social media as a tool, there are limited boundaries with whom you can connect with online and in person. Why not give it a try?

Become A Specialized Expert

“A KOL is a person who successfully combines expertise and passion.” 

By attending local events and networking, you can begin to build your personal brand and reputation. However, Sean Stephens reminded us that the social persona of a true Key Opinion Leader is only valuable if based on validated expertise.

KOL’s must responsibly invest in themselves, as well as their area of interest, consistently working to develop their opinion by further investigating the subject. KOL’s can become experts through online research, meeting with others who are interested in their same field, and through receiving accreditation.

Above all, creating quality publishable content will position your brand as reputable. Experts become known when their novels, theories, and opinions are published on websites or in credible magazines, newspapers, and journals. Without a foundation of content, your ‘expertise’ will be seen as just talk.

Be Consistent & Present

“Always go to the things you say you’re going to go to.” 

Sean Stephens expressed that one of the most valuable things a KOL can be is consistent and therefore reliable. He stressed that absence and lateness do not go unnoticed and that being considered inconsistent can ruin a reputation. Stephens also claims that there’s a notable difference between being present and truly having a presence both in person and online.

In a digital era, online presences can either make or break a Key Opinion Leader. When a person chooses to support a social media account by following and engaging with it, that person is essentially saying, “I like what this page has to offer me” and “I’d like to see more”. However, when media platforms are neglected, or if the posts do not reflect the messaging a follower initially followed that page for, that person is likely to un-follow and disengage with the account.

If you commit to having a social media page, be sure that you are able to set ample time aside to support that page, making frequent, appropriate, and applicable updates, which will keep your audience interested.

When strategized correctly, social media can launch your brand towards success, but when not executed well, these failed campaigns can damage your reputation.

Be Passionate

“When you can tell that someone is passionate, whether it be quietly passionate, or overtly passionate, you want to hear more about what they have to say.” 

While anyone can educate themselves on any topic, especially in a digital era, both Sean Stephens and Lucas Chang believe that passion is what sets regular experts and Key Opinion Leaders apart. When a speaker is truly passionate, their level of excitement will naturally transfer to their spectators, leaving a lasting impact.

To build one’s passion into a credible opinion, you must allow yourself to continuously learn and rediscover the meaning behind your passion as it grows. In a technology-obsessed world that is constantly changing, a KOL must be adaptable, finding new ways to keep their message interesting, informative, and up-to-date.

One of the most powerful ways to express passion is through open, genuine, and relatable online posts. Key Opinion Leaders can demonstrate love for their specialty by writing exciting articles about new finds in their field, sharing promotional material for related events on Facebook, posting pictures of themselves in action on Instagram, and more. When audiences physically can see that a Key Opinion Leader is consistently engaging with their area of interest, that person’s passion becomes believable.

Be Practical

“Any person can come up with an idea, but a majority of people never execute those ideas.”

Lucas Chang explained that aspiring KOL’s must pick a specialty that they are naturally passionate about, and then must find a way to make their dream practical. Chang claimed that most people fail in becoming a KOL when they are full of ideas and yet are unable to make their dream a tangible reality.

However, with incredible advances in technology, becoming a Key Opinion Leader has never more achievable. Social media sites are built with the intent to connect people to the things and people they find interesting, expediting one’s ability to gain momentum and success.

In the past, Key Opinion Leaders relied on content alone, to build a reputation of expertise. However, the value of printing words in a book is fading. Content now needs to be supported by the internet, making the sharing of content practical and accessible to more people.

It is then opportune for potential Key Opinion Leaders to leverage social media to support their written work, preventing incredible ideas from just being stored and ignored on a dusty bookshelf. You never know, your message might even go viral.

It is not enough to simply want to become a known expert; you must also be willing to put in the work to make it happen.

Too busy to do it alone?

Through expertise in the development of engaging social media campaigns, as well as content writing, Treefrog Inc. can help establish your Key Opinion Leadership.

By managing your social media profiles, building your website, developing blog topics, and more, the Frogs at Treefrog Inc. can customize your path to success, helping to relay your message to the right audience.

Scroll to Top