Why People Share: The Psychology Behind Social Media

Social media has taken the internet by storm. There are 31.25 million Facebook messages, 347,222 tweets, 17,361 LinkedIn profile views, 48,611 Instagram pictures, and 300 hours of YouTube videos uploaded each minute. The internet is full of content that’s constantly being created or shared.

We already know what is happening, but let’s dig a little deeper and get to the “why” of it. Why do people love sharing on social media? What’s the psychology behind it?

As luck would have it, a study by the New York Times Consumer Insight Group found the answer for us. Researchers concluded that there were five major reasons why people share on social media:

Entertainment

Perhaps this is the most obvious answer, but it was also the least common reason out of the five. Everyone loves a good dog video or a funny prank that they can laugh at and share with their friends. After all, what is the internet for if not entertainment?

Less than half of shares are motivated by entertainment or passion. Nevertheless, it does explain the tendency for funny YouTube videos to go viral as people want all their friends to see it.

Supporting a cause

It’s almost impossible to go onto social media and not see someone talking about a cause they are passionate about. The study found that 84% of respondents use social media to share their support for a social cause. Whether it’s fighting against immigration bans or police brutality, social media remains a powerful tool for expression.

A perfect example of this would be the Ice Bucket Challenge. Politicians, celebrities, athletes, and hundreds of others all participated in this viral challenge which helped raise over $130 million for various ALS organizations.

Self-Fulfillment

Related to the above point, many people share on social media to feel good about themselves. A simple click of a button can let all your Facebook friends know how they can best provide relief to hurricanes or donate to their local homeless shelter.

Sure, some might call it slacktivism, but it’s hard to overlook just how excellent social media is for raising awareness of important causes. It’s an easy way for people to make themselves feel better while fighting for a good and noble cause.

Expressing Yourself

The study found that 68% of respondents love sharing things that they feel helps them express who they are. Whether someone is showing the world their love of dogs or how excited they are for the latest blockbuster summer hit, there’s something that just feels good about expressing yourself. No places are as good at showing someone’s uniqueness as social media.

It only takes a few clicks to let the world know who you are and what you like. Many people don’t have the chance to divulge such details about themselves in the regular world, so social media provides a wonderful vehicle where they can truly be themselves without fear of judgment or restriction.

Friendship

This last point takes us to the social aspect of social media. More and more people are making new friends and connections online. It doesn’t matter if you’re finding your next hot date on Tinder or connecting with a potential new business partner on LinkedIn—social media and the internet has made meeting new people much easier than ever.

According to the study, 78% of respondents share on social media to keep in touch with old friends. It makes sense when you consider that the vast majority of Facebook friend lists are people that most users never keep in touch with. Sharing content allows them to reconnect with those who they haven’t talked to in a while and rekindle old friendships.

Conclusion

It’s impossible to deny the massive influence that social media has in our current day and age. The influence of companies like Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram also allows brands to capitalize on new opportunities as they can reach people who are just casually scrolling through pages from the comfort of their phone.

Take a look at your content and ask how it plays in to one of these five psychological factors. You never know what sort of marketing strategies might arise after a little bit of introspection. 

Safety Practices for Small Business Social Media Use

No longer the “New Kid in Town.” Social Media and its marketing resources have gone from a compulsive form of recreation for many to a fundamental piece of any business plan, large or small.

What is still not readily known by many business owners and managers is that use of social media by companies and their employees can seriously compromise a businesses’ security.  Very often, when it comes to maintaining safety and security via social media, employees can end up being the biggest issue.

Whether it’s from posting on their personal page about things happening at work, or clicking on things they shouldn’t while using an office computer, employees can accidentally leak information or download mal-ware into your network without even realizing they are doing it.

To help avoid the issues that can result in these seemingly small actions, here are some tips to assist you in keeping your business and your employees safe from social-media troubles, both at work and at home.

Advise Employees to Avoid Posting Info About Where They Work

Even though you can’t stop an employee from telling people where they work, explain that like giving out their home address and phone number online, revealing where they work can make it easy for people to find them and collect more info on their daily routine.

Employees should also be informed that associating the company with a personal account on questionable social networks could hurt the company and, by default, hurt the employee as well.

Keep Privacy Settings Updated

This is important on two fronts.  First, train your employees how to maintain their own accounts’ privacy settings, this will lessen the possibility of unauthorized info getting leaked.

On your businesses’ accounts, it’s likely you don’t know most of the followers you’ve cultivated.  Taking steps to secure those accounts as much as possible, with privacy settings that will work best for your company, will significantly add to your online security

Establish Work Place Use of Social Media

Most of us have done it, checked our Facebook page during lunch or a break.  Instead of trying to ban the use of social media on work computers, it may be better to create some policies on how to use it instead.

For instance, stating that visitation of these sites may only be made during breaks and that the use of apps like games, quizzes, or anything else that requires clicking on links, are prohibited on company computers. Putting these policies in place will assist you in avoiding issues that can affect your network.

Make Sure Your IT Specialists Are Trained to Handle Social Media Specific Issues

Once you’ve established an office policy for Social Media use, it will need to be enforced.  This means ongoing surveillance of online activities.  To accomplish this, invest in consulting, and antivirus protection via software and hardware.

Additionally, the company’s technical staff will need to be updated about current social-media security risks.

A Word on Hacking

All businesses and their social media accounts are potential targets. Any compromise of these tools could result in irreparable damage.  Fortunately, the items we’ve already discussed can help prevent a hacker from successfully breaking into your account.

Additionally, use strong passwords with unique alpha-numeric combinations.  These days to create the best possible login security, you need to use upper and lower-case letters, numbers, and accepted punctuation as allowed.

Once you have one password, don’t use it for multiple logins.  If a hacker manages to figure one account out, you’ll have given up the keys to the entire kingdom.

A Little Prevention Can Go A Long Way

The most important way to prevent harmful issues from social media use is to educated and even provide training for your employees.

Whether this is via a workshop, meeting or included in a section of the employee handbook, be sure your employees have the knowledge that can save your business’ social media accounts and their own from unnecessary attention and use.

Choosing the Most Effective Social Media Posting Times

It never fails, you received a free eBook and get excited to read about the latest, and best, way to utilized Social Media posting for your business.  You hungrily tear through the information and then re-write your marketing plan to implement this new strategy only to receive entirely different information the next day, week, month, and so on.

Fortunately, there is a light at the end of the tunnel, thanks to CoSchedule.  In their great wisdom, they have put together information from a variety of reports to provide you with the last word in Social Media Post schedules.

We learned in school that there are 4 time zones in the U.S. So, with clients spread from sea to shining sea, what are the best times to post on the various social media platforms?

To decide this, we need to take into consideration where most of these clients are living.  According to Census records, 80% of those people living in the United States are found in the Eastern and Central time zones.  It would make sense, then, to focus our schedules on time as it is followed in those locations.

Facebook

As the platform that brought social media into the spotlight and taught us a new way to communicate and market ourselves and our businesses, it’s still the first account most new businesses, and 13-year olds, open when getting started in the Social Media universe.

Best Days: Sunday, Thursday, Friday, and Saturday
Best Times: 9 am, 1 pm, and 3 pm

Notes:  Posting at 1 pm gets you the most shares while posting at 3 pm will get you the most clicks.

Twitter

Best Day:  Wednesday
Best Times: Noon, 3 pm, 5 pm and 6 pm

Notes: Wednesday about Noon and between 5-6 are the peak moments of an employee’s break times.  Also, Twitter users are 181% more likely to be on their account during the commute home. Hopefully, for the rest of us, this refers to carpoolers who are not in the driver’s seat.

LinkedIn

Best Days: Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday
Best Times: 7-8am, Noon, and 5-6pm

Notes:  Business people are most likely to peruse LinkedIn in the morning, in the same manner many (used to) peruse the paper.  Also, even though LinkedIn is geared more for the business market, the best time to post is still before or after work.

Pinterest

Best Days: Weekends (Saturday and Sunday)
Best Times: 2 pm, 9 pm, and 2 am

Notes:  The best window for posting is Saturday nights between 8-11pm. The worst time is during business hours.

Instagram

Best Days: Monday and Thursday
Best Times: 2am, 8-9am, 5pm

Notes:  Avoid posting between 3 pm and 4 pm.  Posting a video at 9 pm can get you 34% more interactions.

Google+

Best Day:  Wednesday
Best Time: 9am, 11am, 12-1pm

Notes: 90% of people on Google+ are lurkers, people who are just looking and not wanting or perhaps not ready to engage with the content or a call to action.

Additional Notes for Each Platform

Facebook: Widely used both via mobile and stationary devices, at home and at work.

Twitter: Audience dependent, as Facebook is also. Often set up as an RSS feed and visited during commutes, breaks and other down times.

Pinterest:  Used mostly in the evenings after work and on the weekends during a viewer’s free time.

LinkedIn:  Designed for the professional world, viewers use it during work hours and in the mornings.

Google+:  Targets professionals in a similar manner to LinkedIn

Instagram: Designed for the mobile platform and therefore used at any time.

So, a special thank you goes out to CoSchedule for their tireless efforts to make scheduling social media posts across all platforms as easy as pie.  For this and more information on their services, visit them at Coschedule.com.

Monitoring the social media marketing landscape is vital to your success. 

Generate More Traffic Via Social Media Influencing

Word-of-mouth, 20-50% of all purchasing decisions are made from it.  Customers are more likely to respond to endorsements from a person they respect than to advertisements.  In the world of digital relationships, word of mouth extends beyond friends and family, and into the realm of influencer marketing.

Twitter has shown that: 

• 49% of buyers will seek advice from social media influencers.
  
• 20% of users said that Tweets from an influencer motivated them to share their own product endorsements.
  
• 40% of users claimed they made a purchase as a direct result of an influencer’s Tweet.

Who Is a Social Media Influencer?

A Social Media Influencer is a user of social media who can show a level of authority in a specific industry. They have access to large audiences through their knowledge and scope of impact.

So, what is Social Media Influencer Marketing?

Influencer Marketing is the practice of creating relationships with people who can then build additional relationships for you in return. Whether the audience is small or large, an influencer can touch consumers via social networks and blogs, in ways traditional branding may not be able to reach.

Influencer Marketing Strategy Components

Celebrity endorsements were the original form of influencer marketing.  We’ve all see T.V. commercials where a well-known person takes 30 seconds to tell you how great a product is.

Now, with online media, regular people have become online “celebrities” with highly engaging social media followings.  A survey last year found that YouTube creators took eight of the ten top spots in a survey of influencers, outranking traditional celebrities.

Increase Your Traffic by Becoming a Social Media Influencer

Social Media Influencing has become very popular with blog enthusiasts to make passive income through affiliate marketing and utilizing these Influencers have become standard practice among many of the top companies selling on the market today.

But why stop there?  Why not generate even more leads and traffic to your Brand by becoming one of the Influencers yourself.  There are a number of recommended actions out there to become a social media influencer.  Here we’ve gleaned together some steps to help you to get started.

Choose 2-4 social media channels you’ll use to cover your subject, taking into consideration what you excel at.  Are you good at writing engaging posts on Facebook and Twitter, or are you better at photography or creating and editing your own videos?  The type of content you want to publish should showcase your best skills.  If you’ve decided to be a platform-specific influencer, clearly, you’ll want to use that as your primary social network then utilize the others for greater exposure.

Create a strategy for your content. What are your information preferences? Try to imagine why people will be enthusiastic to follow you, then plan accordingly.  Try to plan for at least 3 months in advance, prepare the strategy, and then start posting.

The purpose of your content is to attract people.  To accomplish this, you must be publishing consistently. You know what message you want to convey so stick to it, but also make sure you are keeping a lookout for new info.

Promote yourself by guiding your audience to your content.  Share it everywhere it might seem interesting to other followers.  Build your community by going to forums, fan pages, and inviting new people to engage with them as well.

Contact other people and brands in your industry.  Chat, comment on other posts, exchange likes and ideas.  One of the fastest ways to gain status is to contribute your unique content to other blogs and publications.  Guest postings can improve your merit among peers and increase traffic to your own blog. Show that you notice other people and you’ll start to be noticed too.

Over time your efforts will start to pay off.  You’ll begin to cultivate an audience that will listen to and follow you. The more people that join your audience, the more seriously your views will be taken and the level of influence you create over others will increase.

Publish on LinkedIn.  People generally believe LinkedIn posts are from the most influential leaders in a particular subject. So, in addition to your own blog, create posts using LinkedIn’s publishing platform.  You can accomplish this most easily by cutting and pasting your previously published blog posts and add a headline with keywords and an image to draw the eye.  Consequently, when people in your network also see your articles on LinkedIn, they will start to view you as an authority too.

Finally, keep your content and sources organized for easy access.  This way if someone asks a question about a particular post, you can easily answer the question or elaborate. This will also assist you in giving the appearance of having a good knowledge base of your subject.  There is no reason to hold anything back.  Sharing your expertise is how you can truly be a good influencer.

So, make sure you interact and build meaningful relationships with your audience as well as your peers.  This way you can present yourself to brands as having a strong following in your subject.

For additional info on becoming a Social Media Influencer, check out this post at Marketingland.com

How to Run a Successful Giveaway for Maximum Online Exposure

There are several ways to grow your business online. From social media advertisements to PPC and content marketing, you have your pick on what to pursue. The last thing people think about when it comes to turning a profit is giving something away for free.

Giveaways are a great to put your business on the map and showcase your brand. Not only can giveaways be low in cost, but they can have a high return on investment.

Promoting a giveaway can be exciting for both a business and followers involved. Keep in mind that there are specific local and state laws in place regarding giveaways. Make sure to talk to a legal professional to make sure your rules and regulations are in order before announcing your giveaway.

A successful giveaway can generate hundreds to thousands of followers, subscribers, and an increase in sales. Giveaways can also help your business grow massive in a short amount of time. Here’s how to get started:

Have well-defined goals

By the end of your giveaway, what would you like your business to have achieved? Begin by putting together a list of goals to stay organized.

Focus on one key performance indicator and throw everything about your giveaway into achieving it. For your giveaway, you might want to think about:

• Creating excitement around a new product
• Increasing sales on a specific product or collection of products
• Growing your e-mail marketing list
• Increasing the number of followers on your social media accounts

Having an indicator to measure will make it easier to go back to see if your giveaway was successful. Don’t be afraid to set concrete number goals such as “a minimum of 1,000 followers” or “500 entrants”.

Giveaways are used to increase brand awareness and build and online following. You want your current followers to enter but you also want them to share to people who know nothing about your business.

Have an exciting prize

The prize is what people are here for—you need to make it worth it! The product is the first thing that will attract people to your contest. No excitement equals no participation.

Giveaway prizes come in several forms. Whether it’s a product or cash prize, it’s always something that will showcase the brand. Popular giveaway items include:

• A limited-edition product
• A collection of products
• Gift cards
• Travel

Limited-edition products are exclusive and will generate buzz just because the product may never be seen again. Not only is your product special, but the potential winner is too.

Even if your business isn’t large scale enough to giveaway something like a travel package, you can relate your products to such activities and still make them attractive.

Provide incentive for your giveaway

With a giveaway, you’re not just simply letting someone have your product for free. You are giving it away in the hopes that they’ll be encouraged to buy the product or explore what your business has to offer.

You must make your followers work for the giveaway. Think back to your original goals for this giveaway and tie it in with your incentive.

For instance, if you want to increase your followers on Instagram, require that entrants follow your page or tag friends in the comments to qualify. Do you have an attractive photo of your product? Request that users repost your photo to enter or hold a contest to see who gets the most likes to determine a winner.

Incentives like reposting and tagging of friends can work to validate entry, but they are a great way to gain free advertisement. Certain companies have asked that entrants post a video of why they want the product or why they should win. With this strategy, you’ll be reaching untapped timelines.

Promote your giveaway

Giveaways need constant hype to keep the ball rolling. Stalls in any type of contest lose traction and can become forgettable. You must go beyond personal promotion to achieve a successful giveaway.

You’re in charge of reminding your followers and the social media world that you’re holding a giveaway. Promote your giveaway across social media platforms, repost and re-share your entry rules, and engage with those who are participating.

Borrow the followers of someone else by utilizing partnerships with celebrities and influencers. Keep the personality relevant to your business so you know that you’re attracting your ideal customer. By partnering up with an influencer, you’ll increase traffic and spark engagement among followers.

Give credit to the winner

You spent a lot of time on your giveaway and the winner probably spent just as much time promoting it. Make sure to shine the spotlight on the winner when your giveaway ends. This also legitimizes your giveaway and builds trust for contests in the future.

Be sure to thank all the people who entered and take the opportunity to talk about your plans for future giveaways. For additional exposure, have the winner post a picture with their prize and share that as well.

Content You Didn’t Know You Had and How to Use It

Content marketing is extremely important when it comes to navigating the online world. Knowing which content to market and how is equally as important.

From social media to blogging, it is crucial for a business to establish its identity and find elements that express it properly. Content that is relatable and can be easily shared will take your campaigns from good to great.

How do you stay Google-relevant while maintaining a unique content marketing strategy? Read on for strategies that will enhance your next campaign.

Move past corporatization

Now more than ever, businesses have an all-access pass to their audiences. There’s no need to have a wall between corporate and the customers. Forming real relationships with the people who love you brand will not only keep them coming back, but attract others as well.

Your customers need to know that you are people just like them. Your business should express the passion that you and your employees have for what you do.

Remove the veil of mystery of your business and be more open with your customers. How do you turn openness into content?

• Utilize social media accounts such as Twitter and Instagram to give a behind-the-scenes look at the work your company is doing
  
• Confront rumors and myths through transparent and honest videos that allow your customers to interact and get involved in the process

Don’t be afraid to share those photos of late-night work sessions. Answer the questions that your customers have.

If you think that coming out and talking about some of the issues your company has, take this opportunity to address these issues and let people know you’re working on it.

Just because you’re marketing online doesn’t mean your company should get lost behind the internet. Show your customers real faces and establish trust.

Be more than just a brand

It’s one thing to sell a product and another to sell a lifestyle. Content marketing that offers a lifestyle through their products makes their products need, not just wanted.

Instead of beginning with a product, start with your targeted customer. Ask yourself the following questions when developing a targeted customer profile:

• What is their life like at this moment, without your product(s)?
  
• How would their life be better with your product(s)?
  
• How does using your product make them part of a different class?

Think about how your product will fit seamlessly into the life of your targeted customer. Tailor your content to an individual customer rather than your brand.

Cater to your customers by:

• Engaging with unexpected topics
  
• Put forward content that creates unique experiences—videos, product presentation
  
• Strive to work with like-minded collaborators
  
• Targeting their personalities from music tastes to fashion interests

This strategy will require more care than simply posting a somewhat-relevant blog or barely meaningful photos. Dig deep into the psyche of your customer and use your content to reach them there.

Let your followers share their story

Your followers are a big part of your success. Without them, no one’s buying your products, sharing your videos, or reading your blogs.

Content that evokes emotion through relatable or provocative stories invited audiences to share such an experience. Of course, these stories need to be real, genuine, and purposeful.

Companies that are genuine in their aim to support their customers and hear their story will be successful. Letting followers be a part of the story by sharing their experiences and attracting likeminded people will build community amongst your customers.

Create a platform where your followers can share their experiences. Be it a forum, a video-sharing challenge, or a hashtag, give your followers a chance to connect with you and others.

Knowing how your customers use your product is valuable insight that can be used to deliver creative content. Content that captures attention, is relatable, and is easy to share will take off in virality.

Set your blog, articles, and infographics apart by:

• Sharing information on general personal habits of your customers – people love reading about themselves!
  
• Integrating attractive, original photos from your followers – stock photos are a turn off

There are variety of resources for your company to create content from. If your business has customers, that means you have just as many stories, photos, and knowledge to share that will express your love of what you do.

Showing your customers that you are more than just a company will take you a long way. 

Adding a Personal Touch to Your Brand Through Influencer Marketing

Word-of-mouth is one of the most valuable forms of marketing as it has been shown to influence 20-50% of all purchasing decisions. People will take the recommendation of a person they know and trust over a corporate ad any day.

Moving beyond family and friends, influencer marketing has weaved its way into a highly sought out form of personal recommendation. To demonstrate this, 40% of Twitter users made a direct purchase because of an influencer’s tweet.

Influencer marketing is word-of-mouth for the digital age. Your company can use people with massive online followings to advertise your products on social media. Here’s a breakdown of influencer marketing and where to start.

What’s an influencer?

A social media influence is someone who leads in a specific niche and can use their following to market products of companies who share the same customer profile as their followers.

There are different types of influencers and more than one might work for your company. Understanding how these types of influencers attract a certain type of customer will help you choose which one is best for your brand.

• Celebrities
• Bloggers
• Micro-influencers

Celebrities are the most popular choice when it comes to endorsements. Major celebrities promote different products that are gifted to them or things they truly love or Instagram or Twitter. Some celebrities eventually go on to become official partners of a brand to create limited edition products and collections.

Influencers don’t always have to have a big name. Bloggers are a good choice for an influencer because depending on their field, they may have established a level of authority and expertise. Bloggers with strong followings in health, fashion, or technology have potential to spike an increase in sales with just one promotional post.

Micro-influencers have become extremely popular over Instagram. These people aren’t necessarily famous; they just happen to have many followers interested in a specific topic or product to make them a potential partner for a brand.

You may have seen micro-influencers with followers in the hundred-thousand’s promoting herbal fit teas, nutritional supplements, or clothing brands.

How do I find an influencer?

A large social media can be compelling enough to sign someone as an influencer for your brand. Don’t be so quick to send them your products just yet.

Ask yourself the following questions when considering a potential social media influencer:

• Who are you trying to influence?
• Who do your target customers trust?

An ideal influencer for your brand will need to be relevant to your brand. Remember that they will be sharing your company’s content and developing a following based on the market you want to target.

Resonance amongst your audience is another important quality for your influencer to possess. The potential level of engagement that a person can create with your target audience is incredibly valuable to your brand.

The benefits of influencer marketing

With the right influencer, you can reach a very specific audience that is ideal for the product you’re selling. By finding an influencer who shares the same interests as your product, you can assume their followers are the same.

A good influencer will be selective in what they choose to promote by rejecting those products they feel their audiences won’t gravitate towards.

Influencers want to get something out of your partnership. By creating content that is relatable, engaging, and sharable, influencers are gaining just as much exposure as your product.

With this motivation, the potential to go viral in comparison to a paid ad is much more likely. Organic buzz from these instances is a great way to increase your follower count and build up your email and targeting lists.

Even when a social media post is clearly marked as sponsored content, an influencer provides authenticity to your brand. An influencer that makes your product relatable by weaving their own story into it will receive a genuine response from followers.

70% of consumer’s value online opinions even if they don’t know the person. Influencers offer a tangible, human aspect to your brand that people can connect with.

Influencer marketing is only increasing in market share. While there are many benefits to incorporating influencers into your marketing strategy, take care to choose a person who embodies your brand and can reach your ideal audience.

Social Media Strategy | Social Media Marketing Tutorial | Simplilearn

Do you manage several social media platforms?  Are you making the most of them and pulling them back to one central hub?  If not, this video is gives a great example of how to do that and explains the benefits of following this simple strategy.

3 Ways to Master Social Media Content Marketing

Learn from these great business bloggers.

I dart around the Internet, mindlessly searching. I attach to things that are familiar, almost on autopilot. And then... a shiny, new idea or object catches my attention for a brief second. As a business owner, that’s the moment you need to generate and repeat, again and again, to connect with customers and win their trust and loyalty.

Great writers and business leaders create this environment of attraction through storytelling, the human brain’s most primitive and powerful form of communication. How do they do it? And how can you tap into their secrets to make your online content and social media continuously sticky and memorable?

1. Draw the reader in quickly with action and surprise.

Focus on the headline and first 10 words. Make it a game; make some new thing happen in six words or less. Use quirky verbs, surprising examples, uncanny twists. Seth Godin is the master of this. “Short order cooks rarely make things happen,” one recent headline proclaimed, with the subhead “How far does your agenda extend?” Or take Mr. Money Mustache, who almost always begins with a story: “It was a beautiful evening, and I was enjoying one of my giant homebrews on a deckchair I’d placed in the middle of the street…” You keep reading to make sure he doesn’t get run over!

There is a shift toward long-form content on sites like Medium and LinkedIn. Content marketers have coined the phrase “10x content” for social content that delivers radically new ways of thinking and solving problems. But even the best content is entirely lost without a way to reel your reader in, so focus there first.

2. Show how things changed in a palpable moment.

Once you have your readers’ attention, you keep them engaged with simple, human stories -- a story in which something happens and the protagonist is transformed. Bernie Sanders’ campaign has mastered the fundamental dynamics of storytelling. His marketing team highlights individuals who embody the campaign’s promise. Take Sanders’ “America Beyond” YouTube video: a young boy grows up so impoverished he uses buckets of snow to flush the toilet. He does poorly in high school. When he later lands at college, he discovers he’s a great student. He becomes a teacher, with the hopes of helping every student understand his or her full potential. If your business isn’t building momentum on social media, you’re moving backwards. Who are your core customers? What are their stories? How does your product or service change their lives for the better? 

3. Use specific details to deliver your message.

On the Internet we’re overwhelmed with visual detail: perfectly cropped and filtered photos, sunsets and selfies, and products galore. In a sea of visual stimulation, authentic stories are increasingly valuable. Every sentence matters. When you work with an implicit story structure, the readers experience your message through their own memories.

It’s a bit counterintuitive, but the more specific you are, the more powerfully your story will resonate with other people. Starbucksconjures a whole world of experience through a single detail, and you’re invited to participate in that experience with your purchase: “Savor the complexities of our single-origin Sulawesi from Indonesia. Available in stores and online for a limited time only.” You can also use details to paint a picture of the future. Arizona State University asks a simple question -- ”What if we could detect diseases before symptoms even appear?” -- to draw visitors into their commitment to medical research.

Your brand is the accretion of these fleeting but memorable moments, when your company speaks to customers through the stories of our shared human experience. To succeed in social media, you need to maintain a cliché-free zone. Real people don’t respond to marketing lingo. Young people arrive suspicious, and will click out the instant they sniff anything inauthentic. As the world spins faster, and your customers’ attention is harder and harder to maintain, storytelling draws your customers into your vision and sustains their connection with your products and your brand.

Source: https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/273733

Don't Believe Those Reports You're Hearing About the Death of Social-Media Marketing

It's getting harder to get anybody's attention. That's why you can't afford to stop trying

Is social media marketing really dead? That’s one question business owners, marketers and leaders are currently struggling to answer. According to recent reports, social media platforms are losing their momentum, with the likes of Snapchat losing subscribers and Twitter losing the conversation appeal. This, in turn, is affecting the impact social media marketing has on business.

In a study of B2B buyers, only 19 percent of those surveyed said that social media played an important role in their discovery process. This report, among others from industry influencers, has sparked a new concern about the future of social media in business. But don’t be alarmed.

In reality, social media isn’t dead. In fact, it’s not dying anytime soon. It is very much alive and remains an effective tool for marketing your products and services. This is why 78 percent of companies have dedicated entire teams to social media and others have reported more than a 700 percent increase in social media sales from their efforts on social media.

If you are thinking of boycotting social media in your marketing efforts, think again.

1. When used right, social media helps reach a wider audience.

It’s undeniable the way we use social media today isn’t the way we used it a few years ago. Due to the fast advancement of technology, more people are now online, and the amount of information available is enormous. Users, bombarded with a never-ending flow of information on different social platforms, can only read a fraction of it.

As a business owner, you have a challenge to reach your audience in the midst of all this information. To succeed, you need to:

• Know where your readers like to hang out
• Understand the type of content they like
• Strategically plan your content based on that information

It’s the only way you can guarantee readership and an increase in customer base. That’s why a company like TED, known for its TED Talks, is winning on social media. The company has managed to leverage its content by turning those long videos into short, easily shareable viral videos. They found their winning formula because they understood what their users were looking for.

2. It is only a promotional channel, not the end game.

To understand why you shouldn’t give up on social media, you need to understand how it works today. Some time ago, a business could easily go on social media to sell its products and services directly to consumers. Today, the landscape has changed.

People no longer appreciate direct sales on social media. They want to be enticed with interesting information or videos before they decide whether or not to buy what you’re selling. That’s why an informational blog post will be shared more times than an advertisement. By posting easily shareable content like videos, images or posts, you will:

• Achieve better online visibility
• Improve your credibility as an expert 
• Increase your customer base

3. Social media provides insights and helps convert leads into customers.

Through the data you are able to gather on different social media platforms, you can better understand the demographics of your followers, their preferences and their thoughts on your brand. This information can help you generate targeted content that will lead to improved readership, an expanded follower base and increased service inquiries -- all of which are good for business.

In addition to providing valuable insights, social media is a great tool for converting leads to customers. When you respond to their concerns or make them feel special in some way, they regard your company as more desirable. They also become more loyal to the brand and are more likely to recommend your products or services to friends.

Through personalized customer service and regular interaction on social media, your business can gain new customers and retain existing ones very easily.

4. Social media helps increase website traffic.

In today’s digital era, the importance of website traffic cannot be overstated. More traffic to your website means more subscribers and more potential customers. You can later convert these subscribers into buyers, increasing sales.

While website traffic can come from different sources, including organic search and links from other websites, social media is a great component of it. When you post clickable content, people share it among their circles, and the cycle can be endless.

At a time when more people are online at one particular time, you can expect increased website traffic from increased social media presence.

Conclusion.

The reality is social media isn’t dead. I’s just changing and requires businesses to adjust accordingly. You have a shorter time than before to reach your audience, communicate your intention and draw them to whatever service you provide.

According to research, only 16 percent of your Facebook followers are able to see your company posts organically. And on Twitter, only 10 percent of your followers can see your tweet when it’s posted. To reach the right users, you need to make sure your content can be found. You can achieve that by sharing the right content at the right time and on the right platform.

The other reality is you cannot beat your competition without social media. Nearly 75 percent of companies using social selling report an increase in sales in 12 months. You do need social media in your business, and so do your users.

Source: https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/294864