by Marianna Muscat | Apr 29, 2020 | Mobile Marketing, Social Media Marketing, Social Networking
South African’s, whether urban or rural, are all using mobile phones to access information on the latest news or search for products and services. Marketing strategies must now adapt to include mobile marketing. Every business should have a mobile-responsive website designed to respond to the screen size of the device used by its customer. This kind of positive user experience will make customers stay on your site longer, instead of moving on quickly.
Snapchat, a mobile messaging application (“app”) used to share photos, videos, text and drawings, are very popular with Millennials and Generation X, probably because the downloading of the app and sending of messages are free. Snapchat is not known to be marketing-friendly, but with the introduction of Snapchat Discover, this has changed slightly. Snapchat Discover is still not user-friendly for small businesses, but it is a good platform to get inspiration for the Facebook or Instagram story content of your business.
What Is Snapchat Discover?
Snapchat Discover is a page on the Snapchat app that shows story-styled content from brands, major influencers and brands that partner with Snapchat.
How Do Big Brands Use Snapchat Discover?
Let’s look at how National Geographic and Harvard Business Review use Snapchat Discover for visual storytelling.
National Geographic
National Geographic posts content to Snapchat Discover similar to what you might see on its television channel or magazines. However, because platforms such as Snapchat are so fast-paced, National Geographic often adds interactivity to their Stories. Their Stories also read more like fun-facts or news bytes, to keep users engaged. Exposed to the National Geographic brand on Snapchat, users might even start following them on other channels.
Harvard Business Review (HBR)
Harvard Business Review uses Snapchat Discover to tell easy to understand Stories about complex topics that include technology, finances, global warming, academics and job seeking. A mix of harder content and advise-orientated content, Harvard Business Review uses a mix of snap-based Stories, swipe-up Stories, video, animation and even interactive elements such as polls or quizzes.
Connect with WSI OMS if you want to start communicating with your target audience on their preferred platform and use mobile marketing to promote your business.
by Marelise da Silva | Apr 24, 2020 | Social Media Marketing, Social Networking
Launched in 2005, and since acquired by Condé Nast (think Vogue, GQ, Vanity Fair and Wired Magazines), Reddit is a social news aggregation, web content rating and discussion website functioning as a network of communities based on people’s interests.
Registered members submit content to the site such as links, text posts and images, which are then voted up or down by other members. Posts are organised by subject into user-created boards called “Subreddits” covering a variety of subjects. As a user-influenced platform embracing discussion and community engagement, rather than content creation or branding, Redditt has not been perceived as marketing or brand-friendly.
Reddit has however made attempts to gain brand attention, with advertising offerings and new features such as video streaming and video hosting. It is a good platform to keep in mind for future marketing opportunities, as the platform has grown between 2017 and 2019 from 330 million active monthly users to 430 million. The Reddit audience is predominantly male, and Generation Z (born between 1995 to 2015) make up 26 percent of Reddit users. Here are nine other interesting statistics:
User Behaviour
- 44% of monthly active users access the site via mobile app or mobile browser.
- 10 million posts are submitted by users monthly.
- 82% of Generation Z users say they trust Reddit when it comes to learning about products.
Hot Topics
- One of Reddit’s most popular topics is technology.
- Two of the most commented-on Subreddits relate to video games.
- Posts with questions generate twice as many comments as posts without them. Conversely, posts without questions get more up votes.
Videos on Reddit
- 50% of Reddit audiences under 34 years old watch short videos rather than long-form content.
- There are 1,4 billion monthly video viewers.
- 3 of the highest-performing posts included videos.
If your marketing audience includes Generation Z and your products and services are technology-focused, then Reddit might be the platform for you. Contact WSI OMS in South Africa to increase your company’s visibility and raise brand awareness through social networking.
by Francois Muscat | Jul 2, 2018 | Social Media Marketing, Social Networking
Social media marketing is a must-have for any business these days. As a small business owner, you may want to know how you can manage your corporate accounts without becoming a full-time social media slave. Here are a few things that you should do each day to manage your accounts effectively without making social media an all-consuming job:
Check For Mentions
Reply to all comments and questions that are directed at your brand. People expect social media accounts to respond to their customer service queries within a few hours (not days) so this should be something you do at least once a day.
Check for Related Content
Search for your brand name and relevant industry hashtags so that you can join the conversation. This will also keep you in the loop about newsworthy things happening in the market and you can use this information to boost your content marketing strategy.
Schedule Updates
If you’re only spending a few minutes to reply to mentions and check news, then you need to schedule social media updates throughout the day. Tools such as Tweetdeck.com and Hootsuite let you schedule posts in advance so that you don’t have to login and post content multiple times a day or week. Make sure you are posting a variety of unique as well as curated content to keep your followers engaged.
Incorporate Multi-Media
The type of content you post will depend on the social media platforms you are using. Make sure you aren’t only posting written content but that you are also linking to videos, infographics and share-worthy images.
Need help with your social media marketing? Then contact WSI OMS today.
by Marelise da Silva | Aug 25, 2016 | Social Media Marketing, Social Networking
LinkedIn remains one of the leading social media platforms for professionals to interact, while also being a great place to find influencers and engage with like-minded individuals on any number of topics. While many people or businesses set up a profile and occasionally log in to check it, using it more actively can benefit your career or the prospects of your business in many ways. While it is an excellent way to keep an updated resumé, it has much, much more to offer.
Writing content and publishing it on LinkedIn gives it a better chance of being read and shared. You can create an audience quite easily on LinkedIn, that reads, responds and engages with your content far more than on other social platforms. The content on LinkedIn is reaching the very people who want to read it and an article that resonates with readers is one of the quickest ways to increase your network. Another upside, is you improve your personal brand along the way.
LinkedIn is a great source of advice on project ideas, how to address issues and get feedback from your connections. You can catalogue your achievements and share your big moments, as well as see who is looking at your profile – you never know where the next opportunity may come from. Joining relevant LinkedIn groups can give your business a boost as you become more visible and possibly become regarded as a thought leader in your industry.
For someone just starting on LinkedIn, the three most important pieces of advice would be to keep your profile updated, build your network and look for opportunities. It’s easier to get connections than you think, some of who you may think are out of your reach. Adding a personal message with each connection request is a successful ploy. Getting found on LinkedIn is important, so make sure your profile is optimized for search. Use a header that is descriptive rather than vague and cleanse your profile of who you are and replace it with explanations of what you do.
LinkedIn has a number of clever tools that make finding people, prospects and customers more easily. Their profile organiser ensures that you can save profiles and make notes about the interactions with that person. Expanding your network and making your expertise available to others makes LinkedIn a most valuable marketing tool.
For more on using LinkedIn for your business, contact us today.
by Francois Muscat | Aug 10, 2016 | Digital Media Marketing, Social Networking
Gaining followers on Instagram isn’t only about taking the photograph and editing it to perfection. The quality of your photos and captions can be the difference between getting a few more followers, or getting more followers interested in your brand and the human side of your business. Captions are an opportunity to explain a bit about the picture, or say something humorous, not just an afterthought.
When composing your Instagram caption, think about the following:
- Write down a few versions of your caption and think about them for a while before posting. While Instagram might be about documenting your images in real time, the level of engagement your posts receive matters more than the chronology.
- Put the important stuff in at the start of your caption – the character limit on Instagram (2 200 characters) doesn’t really matter, it’s more about the cut-off after three or four lines of text in your user feed. Put any CTAs or important content at the start and save the hashtags and links for the end.
- Use Call To Actions in your caption – this can be a question to spark a conversation, a directive to click on a link in your bio, or an invitation for your followers to tag their friends. Using verbs in your caption increases the likelihood of sharing.
- Don’t use more than 4 hashtags. Like Twitter and Facebook, a hashtag ties the conversations of different users into one stream, so as long as your account is public, anyone searching under a certain hashtag will find your Instagram post. Too many starts to look spammy, so don’t be tempted to use a string of searchable hashtags.
- Use a lighter tone than you would on other social media platforms – keep it light-hearted and fun, to show off the more personable side of your business. Puns work well, showing cleverness with a twist of humour.
- Use emoji’s to add some personality. They are undisputedly successful with smartphone users, so they resonate well. They also take up less space, allowing you to ‘say’ more in your first few lines.
- Your caption might need to be long, like if you’re posting an entire recipe with your image, but if you’re unsure, keep your caption brief. Let your visual do the talking.
For more on social networking and using platforms, like Instagram, LinkedIn and Twitter to give your business a voice, contact us. There’s a mine of information out there, and we’d love to assist in crafting a digital marketing strategy that works for your business.
by Marianna Muscat | Aug 9, 2016 | Social Networking, Twitter
Twitter is one of the most widely used social media platforms and like all online apps or tools, is constantly evolving to keep up with the fast pace of change. They have made a number of small and big changes in the last six months or so, to drive user engagement and improve the overall experience, so here’s a summary of the top 5 features:
- Getting round the 140-character count
While some see the character limit as the fastest way to communicate and an essential part of Twitter’s identity, others argue that removing the 140-character cap would open it up for a new range of content. Media links on your tweet can take up around 16% of your character allotment, though tweets with images get a lot more retweets and click throughs. Twitter announced that media attachments to tweets (images, polls, videos) would no longer form part of your 140-character count. This also applies to the @handle when replying to a tweet.
- Connect tab
In order to really reap the value of Twitter, users need to follow a lot of users, but since some find it difficult to identify who to follow, Twitter has now released a Connect tab, which allows you to scan your contacts for people to follow. It also comes with custom recommendations based on your activity, location, existing follower profile and interests. By increasing the user base, Twitter hopes to increase the activity on timelines.
- ‘Go Live” for Periscope
Starting with Android phones, Twitter have added a “Go Live” button, which allows users to connect to Periscope while composing a tweet and broadcast directly through Twitter. Using live streaming to compile and publish longer thoughts and responses will reduce the need for complicated Twitter Q&A, while reducing the clutter on Twitter feeds. Focusing on the “live” aspect of Twitter, live video format will bring more engagement and a more compelling format to breaking news and every day topics alike.
- GIF search feature
In 2015, over 100 million GIFs were shared on Twitter, which is fairly impressive considering how long it took to load one. Now with Twitter’s new GIF search feature, searching for images is a quick and painless process – no more laborious hunts on search engines, saving images, returning to Twitter, composing a tweet, uploading your image. GIFs are set to become a whole lot more popular.
- Uncropped photos
While Twitter started as a text-based platform, it soon realised the power that images have, leading to some of its top engagement. To embrace this, Twitter have adjusted their image size requirements, allowing for more visually engaging images that are not cropped to death. They have also introduced a new view for multi-photo displays, which is great for collages.
In addition to these new great features, Twitter have also responded to the complaints about harassment on the network. Threatening tweets have been allowed to spread, causing people to delete their accounts. Twitter have formed a clearer definition of abusive behaviour in their terms of service, as well as increasing their functionality for blocking, muting and reporting abuse.
Unlike most businesses who merely try to keep up with their competitors’ development, these improvements have been largely aimed at improving the user experience. Are you using Twitter to keep abreast of news, developments and ideas for your business? For more on social media and digital marketing, contact us today.
