by Marelise da Silva | Apr 13, 2017 | Instagram, Social Media Marketing
Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn are now all commonplace in any quality digital marketing strategy. Unfortunately, there are countless businesses out there that are missing out on the many benefits associated with using another popular social media platform as a marketing tool. Yes, we’re talking about Instagram. Here are 3 reasons why you should include Instagram in YOUR digital marketing strategy going forward:
- Visual is better
It is safe to say that content marketing in the form of blogs is a huge dominating force in the world of digital right now. But, as the old saying goes, a picture is worth a thousand words – and this is the reason why Instagram is so very popular. It will give you the opportunity to communicate with your audience, and connect with them, in a more visual way. Plus, it’s sure to prove to be lots of fun when you start getting creative with your ideas!
- Your audience is there
While Facebook is still considered to be the social media platform on which people spend most of their free time, many of you will be surprised to learn that Instagram comes in second place. According to Forbes, and research done by comScore, US internet users spend approximately 12 billion minutes on Instagram each month. Along with this, Instagram is also constantly growing. If recent stats are to be believed, the platform’s rate of engagement per post has increased by 53% year after year.
- Your competition is there
Yes, your competition has also realised that Instagram is a wonderful opportunity to do something different and is sure to be making its mark as we speak. Do you want to fall behind? If not, it’s time to get moving!
Need some help getting it right? You can turn to WSI OMS for assistance when it comes to social media marketing. We will create a fool-proof digital marketing strategy for you! Contact us today to learn more.
by Marelise da Silva | Dec 22, 2016 | Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, Social Media Marketing, Twitter
Everyone and their grandmother seem to have a smartphone these days. In fact, the scope of smartphone users is growing to include much older and much younger users than ever before and you know what that means for your business? It means that you have more social media marketing opportunities than ever before. If your business isn’t performing as you thought it would on social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Pinterest, then it’s time to make a change, before you miss out on potential exposure and profits.
Below we share just a few social media marketing tips to help your online advertising campaign:
- Capitalize on images and videos. Social media platforms are predominantly flooded with pictures and videos because they’re quick to view, fun and don’t require too much reading. Keep it simple, fun and interesting on your social media accounts and you could notice a change in your target audience’s response.
- Narrow down your target audience. You cannot appeal to everyone: that’s an impossible task and a huge waste of time. Know who your target consumer is and make sure that all your social media posts will be particularly interesting or appealing to that specific person / type of person. It’s tempting to try to please and entertain everyone but that’s not going to engage with the right people or make sales.
- Analyze the success of your online content. If an online advert is doing particularly well, use it on your social media platforms too. Also, make sure that you’re posting the type of content that’s already working well for your brand. Trying new things is great, but don’t lose sight of what works in the process.
These are just a few strategic ways to ensure that your social media marketing can succeed.
Social media marketing services offered by WSI OMS
At WSI OMS we can provide advice on social media marketing or we can create full-fledged social media marketing campaigns across various platforms that are highly targeted and guaranteed to be a success for your business. For more information and advice, simply contact us via email or telephone at WSI OMS today.
by Francois Muscat | Jun 15, 2016 | Instagram, Social Media Optimization
Many people still think of Instagram as a cool place for sharing selfies or holiday pics, but it’s actually one of the fastest growing social media platforms, with many more times engagement than Twitter or Facebook. Instagram allows companies to tell a visual story easily viewed on a mobile phone, that is quick and easy to process.
Companies already leveraging on the success of Instagram have seen huge growth in brand use. One of the main reasons for this is the fact that consumers are more likely to consider or contact a company with an image that shows up in a local search. Studies show that consumers believe that images are very important for eCommerce, in fact more important than product descriptions and reviews.
Another handy thing about Instagram is the ability to post the published images on other social media platforms, from LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter, to Pinterest and Tmblr. Here are five tips for Instagramming:
- Use hashtags; visitors to Instagram use hashtags to search
- Post regularly and keep your followers looking forward to your next image
- Post timely content – use seasons, holidays or events to your advantage
- Run contests or giveaways, a great way to build your following
- Promote your Instagram on other social media platforms and your website
The two engagement measurements on Instagram are likes and comments. You can also use hashtags, which allow you to track posts and shares via hashtag tracking apps. By including phone numbers or URLs in your images or post texts, you can track call to action conversion rates for particular images or campaigns.
The kind of photos that build rapport with customers are varied, but here are the top five types, that see high levels of engagement:
- Customer-centric photos: pictures of customers using or wearing your products (which is basically free advertising).
- Employee-centric photos: Much like the Employee of the Week photo on the wall, people like to get a peek behind the scenes. This has the benefit of increased employee satisfaction too!
- Contest photos: inviting customers to Instagram a picture from an event or for a contest is a great way to keep customers excited and engaged.
- Product-centric photos: A grouping of products of various colours or prints is surprisingly popular, as well as pairing of clothing items and accessories.
- Blogger-centric photos: Popular bloggers have their own fan base, so bloggers can cross-post your Instagram posts and your products to a wider audience.
Engaging on Instagram is easy for users – once in the app, they only have to like or comment, quick, easy and perfect for those with short attention spans (the majority of the population!).
To harness the power of social selling for your business, contact us. We’ll take you through the many channels and options and create a solution ideal for your business and brand.
by Francois Muscat | Apr 4, 2016 | Instagram, Social Media Marketing
Instagram, established in 2012, has 300 million users. This tremendous number of users makes Instagram a highly effective social media tool used to showcase business products and services.
The 2015 Instagram study shows most users are shoppers and do not need any hard sales pitch to become customers. In fact, they use social media as a reference to see which products and services to purchase. Marketing departments must take advantage of this and create Instagram ads that boost sales when advertising online.
Creating the Instagram ads
Here is a step-by-step process to create social media marketing ads:
- The first step is to create a business Instagram Create and optimise your business account for increased visibility through linking the bio to your official website (to boost traffic). Also use a consistent name and picture on Instagram related to those found on other social media sites. This makes you recognisable, and your bio interesting and informative when attracting followers.
- Create popular ads. Your ads must attract viewers and make them interested in your services and products. Use pictures in ads because 90% of information retained in the mind is visual. Social selling picture ads remove the hard selling mentality that potential customers have towards the way businesses market products and services. The use of images in Instagram ads allows a viewer to make a buying decision without pressure. However, use professionally done photos. 67% of customers buy products and services through the influence of detailed and valuable ad images.
- Reach a higher Instagram No matter how good you are at creating business ads, if you have a small following on Instagram your social selling efforts are useless. Learn to reach a wider following to boost sales of your products and services. Increase your Instagram followers through the use of strategies like hashtags (they improve visibility), team up with Instagram Ambassadors (these are influential representatives tasked with promoting the brand) to promote your services and products, share your followers’ tagged photos, and engage with customers on Instagram to strengthen relationships.
Social media has revolutionised how businesses are run today. Social selling, through the use of social media platforms like Instagram, is the way to go. We at WSI OMS offer cutting-edge digital services designed for business success. For more information on our services, contact WSI OMS today.
by Francois Muscat | Mar 9, 2016 | Facebook, Instagram, Social Media Marketing, Twitter
Thanks to social media, a lot of new words have been added to the dictionary in the past 20 or so years, with the most widely used and accepted being hashtag. So popular the word, in fact, that a baby was named Hashtag Jameson a few years ago, triggering worldwide trending and spawning a host of new hashtags, like #Foolishparents and #StupidestNameEver. Silliness aside though, hashtags are now used on many social networks, including Twitter, Instagram and Facebook.
A hashtag is a simple keyword phrase, spelled without spaces, with a pound sign (#) in front of it. You can put these hashtags anywhere in your social media posts. What they do is tie public conversations from all different users into a single stream, which you can find by searching for a hashtag and clicking on one. What makes them great, is that hashtags are the ideal way for individuals and brands to make their social posts more visible and increase engagement. They can provide useful context and update a group of like-minded individuals on a certain topic in real time. The key is to use them sparingly and only when they add value. Too many can be annoying, confusing or frustrating.
How to use hashtags on Twitter:
A Twitter hashtag ties the conversations of different users into one stream. If Twitter users who aren’t otherwise connected to one another talk about the same topic using a specific hashtag, their tweets will appear in the same stream. Using a hashtag on Twitter is as simple as publishing a tweet from a public account that includes the hashtag. As long as your account is public, anyone who does a search for that hashtag will find your tweet. One to two hashtags per tweet show the best results for engagement. Tweets with hashtags get twice the engagement of tweets without.
How to use hashtags on Facebook:
Like on Twitter, a Facebook hashtag ties the conversations of different users into one stream. But unlike Twitter and Instagram, where many people have public accounts and their posts can be seen by anyone, most people’s Facebook posts and accounts are private. This means that even if individuals are using hashtags, they aren’t searchable. The result? The hashtags you can search for on Facebook tend to be published by influencers, brands and publishers, rather than by individuals. To use a hashtag on Facebook, all you have to do is publish a Facebook post to your Page or timeline that includes the hashtag.
Be sure your post is public if you want people other than your Facebook friends to be able to find it. To make a Facebook post public, click on the button to the right of “Post” and choose “Public” from the dropdown menu. Once you publish the post to your Page or timeline, the hashtag becomes a clickable link, which takes folks to the hashtag page. One to two hashtags per post show the highest engagement.
How to use hashtags on Instagram:
An Instagram hashtag works just the same as on Twitter and Facebook. If Instagram users who aren’t otherwise connected to one another talk about the same topic using a specific hashtag, their posts will appear in the same stream. The user interface on Instagram’s hashtag stream is much simpler than those on Twitter and Facebook. Using a hashtag on Instagram is as simple as publishing an Instagram post from a public account that includes the hashtag. As long as your account is public, anyone who does a search for that hashtag may find your Instagram post. When you write a new post and start typing in a hashtag using the # symbol, Instagram will actually suggest hashtags to you based on their popularity. Interactions are highest on Instagram posts with 11+ hashtags.
Although hashtags were born and work best online, they can be seen in other places, like on billboards, print ads or menus. They really just encourage people to check them out. Using hashtags in all your social media posts can effectively increase the reach of your messages, which can boost a brand’s engagement and following overnight. For more on social media and digital marketing, get in touch with us. We’ll see what we can do together to increase your following.
by Marelise da Silva | Jan 21, 2016 | Instagram, Social Media Marketing, Website Optimization
Instagram has become a necessity in social media marketing and for a good reason. Top brands which use Instagram as part of their digital marketing strategy have seen an interaction rate of 2.3% per follower. This is 0.2% higher than Facebook and 0.02% higher than Twitter. This, combined with the high active monthly users (more than 400 million), have made Instagram a top priority for businesses looking for ways to take their social media marketing strategies to the next level.
Growing your followers
There is no magic bullet. There is no way to instantly gather thousands of followers on Instagram. However, you can improve your strategy and build up your audience with these tips.
- Have a clear strategy
Going into a marketing campaign without a clear strategy can result in wasting resources. Define your goals so that you develop a more targeted approach to attract followers.
Begin by researching your competition. This will give you a better idea of what to expect in terms of following, within your industry or niche. It also gives you an idea of the type of content that is popular and the behaviour of your target audience.
Decide on your approach. What story do you intend to tell? Having a compelling story will give your content purpose and inspire your community while attracting even more followers.
- Put your account out there
Make it easier for your target audience to find you by making your account more visible.
- You can use other social networking platforms e.g. Pinterest, Facebook or Twitter, to announce your account.
- Consider linking your account to your website and including a link in your email signature as well as in your newsletters. This will make it easier for people to find you.
- Follow other people popular with your target audience. Comment on their photos.
- Embed your photos on Instagram into your posts and content.
- Ensure you’re using relevant hash tags. This will ensure your content will appear in search results pages.
- Contests and Campaigns
Use contests to attract more followers. This will also drive more people to your website.
Contact us today for more information.
