INBOUND ACCELERATOR

Although we at JONES are huge proponents of organic content on social media (download this case study to learn why), there are definitely times when advertising is a necessary complement to your regular schedule of high quality posts, videos, and links.

And while Facebook ads may seem inexpensive, it is essential to target them for your specific audience, rather than wasting money on ads that are primarily reaching people in the wrong geography, demographic group or interests.

While Twitter may have the first social media channel to embrace the hashtag as a way of organizing content and reach new audiences, Instagram has taken the hashtag to new levels. Using hashtags on Instagram is vital to extending your reach, but you still need to do your research and think strategically.

The first question may be how many hashtags you should incorporate into your Instagram captions. Some brands and ambassadors may stuff as many as 30 hashtags into a single caption (the maximum allowed), but that can end up just looking spammy, rather than creating the impression and image you are reaching for. Instead, focus on just 5 to 10 carefully selected hashtags that will attract an audience but maintain a focus on your specific targeted audience.

Small businesses can’t afford to ignore social media, but they also have to be aware of their own limitations in how much of their budget and time they can commit to staying on top of multiple channels.

In social media marketing, timing is essential. With more than 100 million new Instagram photos and videos posted on the site each day, getting your content in front of your target market means fighting for eyes of a busy audience. If you aren’t there when they are, your hard work to create great content falls flat.

So how do you know when to post?

Today is Monday, Feb. 17, 2020. That means that here in the U.S., it is also Presidents Day, which always falls on the third Monday of February. Aside from being a great time for retailers to offer sales on bath towels and bedding, appliances and mattresses, it is one of dozens of holiday’s listed in a downloadable calendar offered by our friends over at HubSpot.

The calendar lists both official holidays like Presidents Day, and less official but more Instagram-worthy options for small businesses to jump on board with such as Star Wars Day (May the Fourth, of course) and National Sunglasses Day.

Effective use of social media, which builds relationships and grows your audience, requires doing more than posting about your monthly specials or even featuring user-created content by hosting selfie stations in your place of business.

It requires understanding your customers and creating conversations and sharing information about other things they are interested in, besides just those your business offers.

Details matter. And sometimes, those details can be as simple as making sure you use the right images, in the right places, on all of your social media channels. Don’t fall into the trap of finding one photo and thinking it will work across Facebook, Instagram and Twitter without at least a little tweaking.

Congratulations! Another year full of successes celebrated and lessons learned has passed, and the next round of opportunities lies ahead. It’s been busy, hasn’t it?

If you are like me, you missed a few things along the way — I get it. With more than 100 new posts on the Inbound Accelerator, I doubt you had time to read every one. But there are a few I think you really need to see, so I’ve rounded them up together. These are the posts our visitors and followers read the most, and for good reason. This top 10 list touches on social media, contributed articles, how to create great content, and how to use that content in a complete integrated public relations and inbound marketing program.

Creating content for social media (or writing emails to send to your contact list, or having a designer create a great brochure, or updating your website with detailed descriptions of services and staff bios, etc.) is a significant investment of time, money or both. So don’t use that content — meaning images, videos, or text — only one time. Repurpose it!

Social media and video seem to be made for each other, but are you making the most of the opportunity?

A few statistics to know:

• 54 percent of consumers say they want to see more videos from brands and businesses they support.

• 72 percent of people would rather learn about a product or service through video than through text.

• Viewers are 95 percent more likely to remember a call-to-action after watching a video, compared to 10 percent when reading it in text format.

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