by Francois Muscat | Dec 12, 2018 | Instagram, Social Media Marketing
The more aesthetically pleasing your Instagram feed is, the more likely you are to attract followers. But it is not always easy to build a following on Instagram. With the increasing number of users and brands on the platform, having unique content is just as important as ‘looking pretty’ if you want to stand out. With these tips, you will be able to strike a balance and create a stunning Instagram feed:
- Know Your Target Audience
If you know who you are speaking to, then you will know what to say. Making sure your content is relevant is vital to not only attract followers, but to keep them. One way to help organise the types of content for your target audience is using “content buckets”. Content buckets (or content pillars) are defined topics and/or themes that identify the types of posts your audience would love to see.
Content pillars are also a great tool to streamline your brand’s message on Instagram by focusing on key themes and topics that resonate with your target audience. For example, a business can establish a few core themes for their content such as products and services, company culture and customer activation. Under these main themes, they can include topics like ‘store locations’, ‘service offerings’ and ‘product features’ under Products and Services. From there they can decide the specific types of content to feature, whether it is video, GIFS, still images, etc.
- Choose An Overarching Instagram Aesthetic
Five seconds is all you have to convert users into followers, so first impressions count. That is why having an appropriate and consistent aesthetic for your feed is important. Depending on your brand personality, you might go for something dark and sultry, sleek and minimalist or bright with lots of natural lighting. Whatever it is, make sure it is aligned with your brand.
- Rope In A Graphic Designer
Great design is important, so it is worth it to get a graphic designer involved when establishing your Instagram aesthetic. They can ensure your feed is on-brand by giving your posts visual consistency.
Designers can look at the nitty-gritty of whether you have the correct colours or fonts and if your posts are easy to read.
- Promote Your Products Like A Pro
Used the right way, Instagram can act as a trendy catalogue for your products. Here are a few examples of how you can get creative with your product posts:
These highlight the product on its own. For these, it is great to use a simple mono-coloured background.
These are close-ups of things that you want to draw attention to. They create focus and attention to detail. Micro shots are perfect to communicate what your product is all about.
These place your product in a broader context and create associations about where and when it can be used. For example, a pair of hiking boots in a forest.
- Flatlays:
- These are photos taken from a top-down angle. They showcase a carefully styled setting like an office table or food.
- Instructionals:
These can be short ‘how-to’ videos on how your products should be used.
If you want to get the best out of your Instagram marketing strategy, contact WSI OMS today and request our social media services.
by Francois Muscat | Dec 6, 2018 | Social Media Marketing, Instagram
Instagram has 300 million daily active users and 70% of Instagram users report having looked up a brand on the platform. Instagram, like most popular social media sites, is a great place to gain influence over your consumer base by gathering a loyal following.
What sets Instagram apart from other social media platforms is its visual appeal. Research has shown that the brain conceives visuals faster than any other type of content. Here are a few ways to make Instagram work for your business:
- Switch To A Business Account
If you have not already, we suggest switching your existing profile to a business account. It is simple to do. Just follow these easy steps:
- Go to your settings menu,
- Scroll down, and then
- Select ‘switch to Business Profile’.
Business profiles have a number of handy extras like Instagram ads, analytics tools (Instagram Insights) and a contact button to boost your conversion rates.
- Offer Discounts
On Instagram, discount offers work well when accompanied by sharp imagery. Who does not want 40% off a stunning pair of shoes or a delicious looking smoothie? It is a great place to show off your product and provide an incentive for your customers to purchase it.
- Use Instagram Stories
One of Instagram’s newest and most interesting features is ‘Stories’. With content that lasts only 24 hours, you don’t have to worry about it fitting into your Instagram aesthetic, it can be spontaneous and there is more room for creativity. Live video, boomerangs, GIFS, and face-filters are just a few of the things you can feature in your stories. You can give your followers exclusive behind the scenes insights into your brand during live events or just a regular day at the office (showcasing company culture).
- Partner With Influencers
Leveraging an influencer’s audience-base is an easy way to reach more customers on Instagram. They trust them and so, by association will likely trust you. It is as simple as them giving a shout out to your brand and product on their page, doing a product review or offering discounts using a unique promo code. Influencers are a marketing goldmine on Instagram.
WSI OMS Iff you want to get the best out of your Instagram marketing strategy, contact WSI OMS today and request our social media services.
by Marianna Muscat | Dec 4, 2018 | Social Media Marketing
Tweets, DMs, mentions and impressions, are just a few of the terms you will find floating in the pool of social media jargon. If you are a business owner who is trying to use the power of social media to market your business, it can get overwhelming trying to keep up with the latest trends and hashtags.
We have compiled a list of social media terms you should add to your vocabulary if you want to stay in the know.
Ephemeral content is rich media (images, video and the like) that disappear after a set period of time. Think of ‘stories’ on Snapchat, Instagram and Facebook which disappear after 24 hours.
Celebrities, influencers and the like are the ‘twitterati’. They are users on Twitter who post frequently and have a huge following. If the twitterati are posting about a particular topic or sharing a certain hashtag, you can expect it to start trending among other Twitter users.
Follow Friday is a trend via the hashtag #ff every Friday on Twitter. Users select other usernames and tweet them with #ff in their post, meaning they recommend following those Twitter users.
First came ‘filters’ – then came lenses. But what are they? A ‘lens’ is an animated overlay effect used when the camera is in selfie mode. It can animate the user’s image to appear as anything from a cat, a clown or any other quirky motion graphic.
- User-Generated-Content (UGC)
User generated content is content created by unpaid contributors or fans of a brand. Blogs, tweets, videos, testimonials, quotes, etc, are all examples of UGC. It is when users promote the brand instead of the brand promoting itself, and marketers can collect this content to support a campaign or initiative.
Newsjacking refers to the process of leveraging trending news to elevate your brand’s message. The logic behind this is that if a topic or event is already generating a lot of buzz, why not insert your brand into the conversation?
A ‘story’ is a collection of photos or videos compiled into one album that can be shared with other users on the platform. Stories are found on Snapchat, Facebook and Instagram.
These Stories are only visible for 24 hours, making them ephemeral.
Social proof is a psychological phenomenon where people seek direction from those around them to determine how they are supposed to act or think in a given situation. In social media, social proof can be identified by the number of interactions a piece of content receives or the number of followers you have. The thought is that if others are sharing something or following someone, it must be good.
If you need help reaching customers on social media contact WSI OMS today.
by Francois Muscat | Nov 23, 2018 | LinkedIn, Social Media Marketing
LinkedIn is an incredible platform with more than 467 million members worldwide. This provides an excellent opportunity for anyone who wants to do more with their professional life. Here are a few LinkedIn hacks that will make you look like a pro:
If you have a business page on LinkedIn, you can add a Showcase page to promote permanent aspects of your business, such as annual events, news, product lines and more. The Showcase page offers many of the same features as a Company page, but offers a space to link employee profiles, have career pages and even job posting pages. You can also include sponsor updates, page analytics and update notifications. These pages appear in search results for searches and members can follow your Showcase page.
It is hard to judge your own photos. Many times, a photo of yourself that you like may not present you as trustworthy and attractive. One way to make sure you are using your best photos is to use Photofeeler to split test the photos that you are going to use. Photofeeler is a free online tool that lets the public vote on your photos. When you upload your photo, people will vote on the images in terms of likability, competence and influence.
- Use Other Social Platforms To Grow Your LinkedIn Network
If you do not have many connections on LinkedIn, start searching for people on your Facebook, Twitter and Email list. From here, you can move onto your former colleagues, old school friends and people you meet and industry events. Make a point of adding all your connections on LinkedIn.
Need help with your social media marketing? Then contact WSI OMS today.
by Marianna Muscat | Nov 21, 2018 | Facebook, Social Media Marketing
It is important to have more than one person assigned to manage your Facebook business page in case the profile of the person who created the page is ever compromised. Under the Page Roles tab in Settings, you can choose different roles such as Admin, Editor, Moderator, Advertiser, Analyst and Live Contributor. These roles give people varying degrees of access to page functions. Include at least two administrators to manage all aspects of the page and add the rest of the roles as needed.
Under page settings, you can set the public’s ability to tag photos, post to your page, and reach out to you via private message. Allowing people to post to your page and tag photos is a great way to allow your online community to interact with your brand, but this may require a lot of moderation. Consider whether you will have a full-time moderator checking the content to your page before you enable this setting. We would advise disabling this feature if you are not able to moderate your Facebook business page daily.
If you choose to allow people to post to your page, you can take pre-emptive measures to filter out inappropriate content or posts. The Profanity Filter in the settings tab blocks offensive language. Under the Page Moderation setting, you can block specific words so that comments and posts including these words are automatically marked as spam. If you see a competitor with an impressive Facebook strategy, you can learn from them by using the feature “Pages to Watch”, which is located under the Insights tab.
Need help with your social media marketing? Then contact WSI OMS today.
by Marelise da Silva | Nov 19, 2018 | Instagram, Social Media Marketing
The launch of Instagram Stories has been a game changer, but many brands report that fewer people are engaging with their feed photos since this launch. This means that marketers need to use videos along with photos if they want to effectively engage with their audience on Instagram.
The same rules that apply for photos also apply for videos on Instagram: you have to capture users’ attention within the first three seconds. If you are doing a video, you might want to consider adding text on top of the video or make sure that your video’s thumbnail is really interesting. When you record a video for Instagram, you have the option to scroll to the “Cover” option, move through your entire video and choose an interesting shot for your thumbnail picture.
If you have the ability to edit videos outside of Instagram and import it into Instagram, we highly recommend doing this. This way, you can film a video and include something like text or a well-designed heading to draw people into your video.
Solve a Problem
Your Instagram video should identify a problem that your target audience faces and show how your product or service can solve that problem. When you are able to solve a problem that a potential client faces, you will create an emotional bond with them. When they are ready to make a purchase, they will be spending their money with you.
Need help with your social media marketing? Then contact WSI OMS today.
