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Image from Luce Media showing Google My Business logo

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Why Google My Business, Google Maps, and Online Reviews are CRUCIAL to your business? Here’s What You Need To Know.

Image from Luce Media showing Google My Business logoGoogle My Business provides you with the ability to list your business location on Google Maps and local search results. You can display valuable and key information about your business, including the opening/closing times, contact phone number or a link to your website. You can display important information about your business, including the opening/closing times, contact phone number or a link to your website. More recently Google has also released a new feature allowing you to post a link to articles or up and coming events.

Setting up your Google My Business listing is one of the simplest and most effective ways of establishing your business to be found online. More and more search queries are becoming geographically specific, and Google’s algorithms have been developed to consider user intent. Why do this? Check how often your business shows up in local searches by clicking here. (Scroll down to FREE Online Visibility Check)

So, how important are Google Reviews for Local SEO in 2018? Several studies regarding Google reviews provide proof of the reasons that your business should be soliciting reviews.  These reasons include things like “most consumers read reviews before making a decision” and “people trust online reviews as much as personal reviews.”

These reasons are completely valid and will come into play creating larger conversion and clickthrough rates to your website when a potential customer has found you and is deciding between your business and a competitor. For these reasons Luce Media Video Talks About Google My Business and Google Reviews

When it comes to reviews – here is the bottom line. 

The quality and quantity of reviews on Google is one of the most important ranking factors for local SEO. And, when a person scans the search results for a local product or service in Google, the business listings that include customer reviews present greater credibility and, naturally, receive more clicks.

Watch as Mark Toney, CEO of Luce Media talks about the latest information for small to medium-sized businesses in completely filling out the information on Google My Business as well as the importance of soliciting Google Reviews for your business.

 

We can not stress the Importance of Google My Business, Google Maps and Good Reviews for Small to Medium Sized Businesses.

This is just one of many of the aspects we focus on for your business -and encourage YOU to look at all these variables.  Do you want to GROW your business? Do you want more online presence?

Luce Media works strategically helping all of our clients grow. Get started today with our FREE Social Media Analysis. We analyze your website, all current social platforms you are on plus tell you immediately what your Online Visibility looks like.  I guarantee you will learn key elements to grow your business.  And it is FREE.

Please follow us on Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn to continue learning.

If your business needs help with social media marketing in McKinney, TX., please call us at (469) 907-1057.  Luce Media has deep expertise in Digital Marketing, B2B Marketing, Internet Marketing and is a well-established Digital Media Consultant in McKinney, TX.

10 Things You Need to Know Before Going Live on Facebook

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SinceWhat Small Businesses Need to Learn From Facebook Insights its launch in April 2016, Facebook Live video has swept the world.

As a platform, Facebook Live has unparalleled reach when it comes to reaching fans organically. Facebook’s News Feed algorithm highly prioritizes Live video, meaning your followers are way more likely to see one of your Live videos than any other content you post.

That’s why it’s not a half-bad idea to consider making Facebook Live a part of your social media marketing strategy.

You might be wondering where to start and what to do. That’s why we’ve put together this list of 10 Things You Need to Know Before You Go Live on Facebook!

Let’s get started.

10 Things You Need to Know Before Going Live on Facebook

1. Set a Goal

While celebrities, influencers, and more prominent brands have the gravitas and fanbase to use Facebook Live for more casual purposes, like broadcasting their surroundings or going Live for a few minutes at a time to interact with fans, chances are you don’t have the same resources.

Because of this, you need to focus the time you spend on Live.

Ask yourself what goal you’re trying to achieve with the video, as well as if and how the broadcast will help you make it.

If you can, try to choose an objective that’s more specific and results-driven than “social engagement” or “brand awareness.” Though these things are great, they should be secondary to other goals like lead generation or sales.

Once you and your team have settled on an objective, plan your video with that objective in mind. It should reflect in the topic you choose, as well as the way you present it.

For example, if we were putting together a Live video for a fitness center that wanted to highlight the benefits of personal training, we might choose to do a Live Q&A with one of our trainers, showing off his knowledge and encouraging viewers to sign up for a training session.

2. Have an Outline or Direction

Even though Facebook Live is relatively spontaneous as far as content mediums go, it’s still a good idea to craft at least some sort of outline, depending on the intent of your video.

This goes hand-in-hand with having an objective in mind, like the way you organize your speaking points should point Live viewers towards your goal – don’t go Live for the sake of going Live!

Before you go Live, outline your talking points and go over them with your co-host (assuming you have one). Get at least a rough idea of what you want to say, as well as any specific points or examples you’re sure you want to include.

My colleagues did a Live video a few months back about using content upgrades to generate leads for our sales team. Though it wasn’t without its hiccups, one “victory” of the broadcast was the way we organized it. It was clear and structured, highlighting the different steps of the process and the tools (within our product) viewers could use to generate leads for their own team.

Having an organized outline based on the goal of communicating the value of Wishpond and driving signups helped immensely with the quality of our broadcast.

That being said, don’t be afraid to go off-script – it is Live, after all! Be loose and have fun with it!

3. Prepare a Pre-Show

Even after you’ve announced your live video, many of your would-be viewers won’t show up right at the start of your broadcast.

Because of this, you’ll want to put together some sort of pre-show to fill time in your Live broadcast leading up to the start of your presentation (whatever that may be).

Don’t jump right into the meat of your content the moment you go Live. Either go Live 15-20 seconds before your scheduled start time to let people come in as they get notified, or start on time but don’t get into your content until a decent amount of people join your show.

You can do a couple of different things for this “pre-show” portion. If you’re not up to entertaining, feel free to pop in a countdown timer to get people ready and waiting. If you do feel like interacting (and we recommend you do), talk to your viewers. Welcome them to the broadcast, answer their comments, and get them excited for the show to start.

This is also a prime time to get your viewers to share your video – remember, Live videos get a massive boost on News Feed placement, so getting your fans to share your Live broadcast can significantly increase its organic reach.

4. Interact with Your Viewers

One of the principal benefits of Facebook Live is the fact that it allows you to interact with your fans in real-time, meaning you’re about as close to face-to-face as you can get without actually meeting them.

Though it’s not necessary, we’d recommend you put at least some effort into responding to fan comments and answering questions! It’s an easy way to make your Live broadcast super engaging, and it makes fans feel appreciated, meaning they’re more likely to stick around and watch.

At the start of your broadcast, greet people by name as they join. You don’t have to get to every single person, but acknowledging your viewers gets them pumped up for the upcoming broadcast.

As far as questions go, we’d recommend you set aside breaks in your broadcast or save for them the end, as opposed to answering them on the fly, which could put a serious wrench in your broadcasting flow and make your broadcast feel disorganized.

5. Promote Your Live Video

A Live video is a special occasion, and as far as promotion goes, you’d be well off treating it like a webinar.

By this, we mean you should put as much effort as you can into getting as many people as possible to show up for the Live broadcast as people, even though they’ll be able to watch it back later once the replay has gone live.

Here are a few ways you can make sure your Live video reaches as many people as possible:

  • Send an email: One benefit of having a mailing list is that you can reach out to them in cases like this! Send a simple newsletter a week or so before your Live video to your subscribers, linking them to your Facebook profile and letting them know when they’ll be able to catch you going Live.
  • Post on social: If you’re doing a Live video on Facebook, it makes perfect sense to promote it there, as well. Create a set of posts that count down the days to your Live broadcast to remind fans to tune in.
  • Advertise!: Though you can’t boost a live post, you can boost an announcement in the days leading up to it. Though it’s not a sure-fire way to get people to watch as you go Live, it opens the door for new potential fans to check out your broadcast.
  • Go Live beforehand: Do a short Live broadcast informing viewers that you’ll be going Live in the next few days. Though this might seem silly, Facebook’s News Feed algorithm heavily boosts Live video, meaning more people will see it. On top of that, you can prompt viewers to turn on Live notifications for your Page so they are reminded when you go Live next (and in the future).

6. Recap As You Go

Live Videos are unique in that people can join anytime during the broadcast.

It’s great in the sense that people don’t need to be ready beforehand – they can jump in as soon as they see it on their News Feed.

On the other hand, it can be tough as a content creator because people who join your video late might not be able to follow what you’re saying.

Because of this, it’s important that you periodically recap what you’ve been talking about as you go. Every so often, you can say something like “if you’re just joining us now, we’ve been talking about [recap].” This will help retain viewers who may otherwise leave because they have no idea what you’re talking about.

7. Check Your Hardware

There’s no worse feeling in a Live broadcast than having your audio or video randomly cut out, or watching your broadcast back and realizing everything is blurry, or you can’t hear anything.

Luckily, these are all issues you can easily avoid!

Before you double-check your setup, put some effort into making it as good as possible. Aim for high quality and reliability – an iPhone 7+ camera might be better than your 2012 MacBook’s webcam, but it also has a higher chance of dying while you’re broadcasting.

Pick a reliable setting as well – bright, solid-color backgrounds work great (see below). If you can, do a practice run-through with all of your hardware to make sure it’s all working.

Here are some quicker audio-visual rules of thumb:

  • Adequate lighting: Making sure your subjects are well-lit means you’re not left with two silhouettes on an overexposed background. Use some additional lights if you need them.
  • The sound is everything: Seriously. People can deal with 360p video (remember 2008?), but if they can’t hear you, they’re going to leave. I guarantee it. If you can, use an external mic (like a USB condenser mic) for your audio – it’s dozens of times better than your laptop’s built-in mic.
  • Use a tripod: Unless you’re live-streaming an event, you want your video to be as steady as possible. Thankfully, a tripod takes care of this easily.

8. Use Third-Party Broadcasting Software

Though we don’t condone or recommend it, there is a way to stream a Facebook Live video without actually being Live.

Without going too far into detail, Facebook allows you to broadcast Live to your page using an external program, such as Open Broadcasting Software (OBS). Because OBS can stream video and audio from a number of sources, you could technically stream a pre-recorded video to Facebook Live using the software, just as Tesla did in the example below.

Third-party broadcasting programs like OBS can also be helpful if you’d like to edit your videos slightly before they go Live. These cases might include adding overlays (like logos or graphics, as you can see below) or if you’re just not sure you’ll get it right on the first take.

That being said, don’t chop up your video or stream a professionally edited video as if it’s Live – your fans will know, and they probably won’t like it.

9. Get Viewers to Subscribe to Live Notifications

If you’re considering making Live video a big part of your social media marketing strategy, it’s essential to maximize the number who show up to your broadcasts.

One way to increase the chances your fans will tune in is to get them to turn on Live notifications. We touched on this earlier in the article, but it’s important enough to merit its own point.

We’d create a post or graphic with the following information, and maybe append it to your Facebook Live announcement mailout, too.

Here’s what your viewers need to do:

  • Visit your Page on desktop or mobile
  • Click the “Notifications” button under your cover photo
  • Pressing the “edit options” pencil icon in the drop-down menu
  • Turning on notifications under “Live videos” for “All Live Posts.”

Facebook Live Image 9.png

And that’s it! It’s super simple, and you now have the benefit of having your fans be notified every single time you go live.

This increases the effectiveness of future Live broadcasts, too, and your viewers only need to do it once (though we’d add this information to every Live announcement for new fans or people who haven’t already done it).

10. Add an Ask or CTA

Finally, add some sort of CTA to your Live broadcast. This is a tactic that will give you the best chance at generating some kind of immediate return on Facebook Live.

Either add an “ask” to the end of your video (or sporadically throughout it) to direct viewers towards your ultimate goal, whether that’s your e-commerce store to get them to buy the product you’re highlighting in your video, or to a sales page to get them to book a call.

One great way to add this without needing to bring it up during your video continually is to use OBS (or another software) to add it to your broadcast as an overlay. Make it unobtrusive, so your video is still the primary focus of the broadcast, but visible and enticing enough that people will act upon it.

Either way, make sure you give viewers an avenue to convert in some way – trust me, driving a sale or demo from a social media marketing strategy is a good feeling.

Wrapping it up

There you have it – 10 awesome tips and strategies to think about when you’re planning your next Facebook Live video. Hopefully, you’ve learned something new about this rapidly growing video format!

If you have any questions about Facebook Live (or just Facebook in general), we’d be more than happy to answer them in the comments below.

If your business needs help with social media marketing in McKinney, TX., please call us at (469) 907-1057.  Luce Media has deep expertise in Digital Marketing, B2B Marketing, Internet Marketing and is a well-established Digital Media Consultant in McKinney, TX.

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Instagram to Launch Long Form Video

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Instagram is reportedly just hours away from launching a new long-form video hub in a bid to take on YouTube.

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New editing tools expected to boost video upload limit from 60 seconds to an hour. At the moment, Instagram users can only upload videos that are a maximum of 60 seconds long, but the tech site says IGTV will increase that limit to up to 60 minutes.

The social network is aiming to attract internet celebrities, rather than media companies, with the new feature, The Verge reports. Instagram is also believed to be “courting individuals to start producing content”, the news site adds.

If the rumors are true, IGTV will pose a greater threat to YouTube than to video messaging app Snapchat, which features more content from “traditional outlets” such as MTV and Vice. Instagram has reportedly been in talks with content creators about making longer videos as it fights for younger audiences.

IGTV users will be able to link to existing posts and websites through the video feature, which could help social influencers drive traffic towards their online stores, says Engadget.

There may also be a financial incentive with a “monetization” option, the website adds. Some YouTubers make a living on that platform through advertising revenue. The image-sharing platform is well-placed to earn a lot of money from advertising if takes a leaf out of YouTube’s book.

If the new video features were to prove popular, Instagram might launch a dedicated IGTV app, according to TechCrunch.  This follows other recent changes by Instagram and owner Facebook.

IGTV is expected to be launched today during an Instagram press conference scheduled to take place at 9am PST.

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Social Media Marketing for Small Business – The Lucé Media Academy

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Things Your Competitors Do to Increase Instagram Engagement

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Have you checked out your competitor on Instagram recently and noticed how well their posts are performing? Almost every post is flooded with engagement. They’re getting hundreds of likes and comments, while you struggle to get even a handful of people to leave a comment. And when you do get comments, they rarely go beyond generic “This looks great” or a random smiley face emoji.

What magical formula are they using to get Instagram engagement? Is there a secret code you’re missing out on? Are they really that much better at Instagram marketing than you? You want to crack their Instagram strategy and make it work for you, but you’re not sure where to start.

Don’t worry, we’ve got you covered. Here are 12 things your competitors do to increase Instagram engagement, that you might be overlooking.

1. Actually Engage

We’re starting this list off easy. To drive more engagement from your followers, you need to interact with them. Social media isn’t a one-way street. If you want to build an engaged audience, you need to acknowledge your followers. Remember, every comment you get means someone took the time to stop, look at your post and share their thoughts. After all that, why wouldn’t you respond?

If you want to build up engagement, know that it takes time and you need to start conversations on posts other than your own. Asking questions, responding to comments and replying to Stories are some of the few ways you can engage more with your audience.

As your account starts to grow and you get more comments, you might not be able to respond to everyone. But that doesn’t mean you should give up entirely.

You can still Like comments or try to reply to as many as you can. Ted Chin creates captivating edited images and videos. Despite having hundreds of comments on each post, he still takes the time to engage with his followers as much as possible through quick replies and plenty of emojis.

instagram engagement example

The takeaway is whether you get three comments per post or 300, take the time to reply, and you’ll have a much easier time getting Instagram engagement.

2. Duplicate Your Best-Performing Posts

What works for you might not work for someone else. Take a look at your past months’ best-performing posts. Is there a common theme among your top performers? Perhaps the photos are bright and have blue tones. Or maybe the camera angle is from the side instead of above.

Here’s an example of a brand that found what works with their audience and integrated it into their strategy.Picture of ocean blue water

Camber Coffee is a coffee roaster. But every few posts, they share something unrelated to coffee such as landscape shots or nature-related photos. This might seem like an odd strategy for a food and drink company, but they’ve consistently posted like this long enough that it’s become part of their brand.

3. Post Instagram Stories With Call-to-Action

With verified Instagram accounts, you might have the opportunity to add links in your Instagram Stories. If you don’t have the option yet, you can always refer to the link in your bio or a different CTA.

Creating CTAs in your Stories prompts your fans to take notice of the product and gives them the opportunity to learn more. It increases engagement on your Stories and potentially increases clicks to your website.

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Anthropologie uploaded images designed explicitly for the Stories format and themed it around pants. Each product had a See More link at the bottom that people could instantly go to for purchase.

More laid back in their approach, Framebridge used Stories to promote a blog post. It was linked for each part of the Story.

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Furthermore, the Stories were timed with an Instagram post that also featured Pepper.

4. Promote Across Networks

It goes without saying that the audience for your Facebook Page might not be the same as the audience on your Instagram account. Chances are that some of your Facebook audience is on Instagram, but they don’t know that you exist there yet. Don’t be afraid to sprinkle some cross-network promotional posts to encourage more followers.

Dwell used a Facebook post to not just promote a home tour, but also to mention that more details could be found in their Instagram Stories. Instead of the usual “Follow our Instagram account!”, they offered something more enticing for their audience. For their existing Instagram fans, the live tour was still exciting content.

5. Be Strategic With Instagram Ads

When Facebook added Instagram to their Ads Manager, new targeting possibilities opened up. Sure, you can boost a post or promote your account, but you could also be more nuanced and strategic about it.

Take advantage of the customization by using retargeting. For instance, if you visit a shoe company like Toms and begin to interact with their posts, it’s possible that you’ll start to see other shoe companies being advertised to you.

After clicking on a few shoe ads, we found the above being advertised to us without ever engaging directly with the company.

Custom audiences can come from many sources. But to start, you can use:

  • Your newsletter lists
  • People who have visited your store
  • Those who purchased from your website
  • People who’ve engaged with your Facebook or Instagram accounts
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From there, utilizing the lookalike audience feature, you can find even more people similar to any of the above audiences.

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Getting familiar with all the Instagram advertising options can put you ahead of your competitors. And with retargeting, you can improve conversions and lower your ad costs.

6. Incorporate Videos

Grab someone’s attention with auto-playing videos and boost the post with ad dollars. Mediakix found that sponsored videos received three times more engagement than photos. So if you’re not using Instagram videos yet, it’s time to get started.

Instead of using a photo of someone texting, SFMOMA used a fun video to show off a new project. The video prompted over 24k views and 98 comments, most of which were people tagging friends.

Salt & Straw used a video to give a behind-the-scenes look at a new ice cream flavor. With over 262k views and 88 comments, it was a successful way to promote a new product and build engagement.

7. Partner with Creatives

Much like an influencer marketing program, partnering with creatives for your product or services lineup can give both parties a larger audience. It can be something as small as swag or as large as a mural in your cafe.

Away partnered with photographer Gray Malin for a limited-edition set of luggage colors. The luggage lining used is one of his photographs. Naturally, the product promotion involved Instagram posts, dedicated hashtags, and in-store signage.

When you partner up with a person or brand that has an active audience, some of their Instagram engagement tends to rub off on your own company. Their audience will visit your page to comment and like the posts that feature the influencer.

8. Give Sneak Peeks & Hints

Followers love being let in on a secret. Even if they’re public posts, giving sneak peeks and hints of new releases makes the audience think they’re part of a special group. It entices them to guess at what’s going on and encourages them to revisit the profile to see if something has been announced.

Elle-May gave her followers a preview of a new women’s section in the 1924us store. The previews resulted in dozens of comments from her followers and less than a week later, multiple items were already sold out.

9. Write Witty Captions

Along with an eye-catching photo, creating a witty or uniquely branded voice on Instagram can help you stand out from everyone else. Create a company voice that people want to hear from and you’ll find that they can’t help but strike up conversations with you.

Here’s an example of how Max Milla used the caption to play on the location name. It’s fun, short and engaging.

10. Time Your Posts

Find out when the best time to post is for you. You want to post when most of your followers are online and engaging on the app. Even with the best photo and wittiest caption, you could still miss out on engagement if you’re posting at the wrong hour.

We did some research into the best times to post on social media, and here’s what we found for Instagram.

best times to post on instagram

Instagram business accounts offer analytics that tells you when your followers are most active.

instagram follower active time

Use this information to schedule out your posts so you can spend your time engaging.

11. Encourage Customer & Employee Posts

Utilize branded hashtags to help you organize user-generated content. If you engage on these hashtags and incorporate a UGC strategy, more people will take notice and begin using the hashtags, too.

Your employees can also be your strongest advocates. Their accounts give a more personal, unfiltered perspective of the company. Remember, people like feeling as if they’re in a secret club. If you reshare from your employees, you’re offering perspectives that your brand normally wouldn’t offer.

Bon Appetit frequently reposts from their readers and their staffers. Each has their own hashtags: #BAstaff and #bareaders. The hashtags give their audience a quick guide on who originally posted the content and encourages a community vibe in their page.

12. Analyze Your Competitors

Here’s something you might not have thought about. But there’s a good chance your competitors are analyzing your brand and others in your industry. So why not do the same? Don’t feel like manually gathering up a bunch of data about your competitors one by one?

If they’re doing something interesting on their page, perhaps you could try it out on yours if it fits within your brand.

Should You Buy Instagram Engagement?

When you’re at a point of desperation and just can’t seem to get anything going, you might get tempted to buy Instagram engagement to give the appearance that you have an active following. You probably already know our response to this, but you should never buy Instagram likes or engagement of any kind.

On the surface, they probably seem like helpful engagement tools, but the reality is they do more harm than good. For one, you’re deceiving your real audience which is never a good idea. On top of that, Instagram has been cracking down on accounts that rely on bots and automation. For instance, your posts might not show up for the hashtags you use or worse case scenario, you could get banned altogether.

Leave the fake engagement alone and focus on building a real audience if you want long-term success.

Which Instagram Engagement Metrics Should You Measure?

By liking posts and leaving thoughtful comments—not self-promotional, but substantive—brands can use Instagram to cultivate a stronger community and drive brand awareness. Users can quantify and qualify their engagement efforts using Instagram’s data.

Give Your Instagram Engagement a Boost

Getting Instagram engagement is more important than ever. Engagement is one of the metrics Instagram uses to determine where your content shows up in your followers’ feeds. When your followers consistently comment and like your posts, Instagram sees it as a sign that they want to see more of your content. As a result, your posts will become prioritized in their feed.

So if you want to get more eyes on your content and build your audience, use the tips above to get more engagement on Instagram.

Luce Media has extensive experience in all things related to Instagram – creative posts, Instagram Stories, Instagram Ads, and analytics.  Contact us today for a Free analysis on your Instagram efforts and how they may be improved.

This post first appeared on Sprout Social at this location – https://sproutsocial.com/insights/instagram-engagement/

 

Luce Media - Digital Agency & Social Media Marketing McKinney, Frisco, Plano, Dallas

Create a Killer Content Marketing Campaign by Going Beyond the Written Word

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Content marketing is an essential consideration for any business hoping to build a robust online presence today. Chances are good that when you think of content marketing, you picture techniques like blogging, social media posts, creating reports and whitepapers, and the like.

Luce Media - Digital Agency & Social Media Marketing McKinney, Frisco, Plano, DallasThere’s good reason for this, too – written content is important, and can provide you with a significant return on your investment. However, there’s more to content marketing than the written word, and utilizing non-written types of content in your online marketing efforts can drive significant traffic, result in ongoing growth, and support profitability.

A Look at the Statistics

While the statistics surrounding written content are impressive, those surrounding non-written content marketing metrics are just as remarkable. Here are a few of the most important takeaways, according to HubSpot:

  • Podcast listening grew 23% between 2015 and 2016, and 21% of Americans 12 and older report listening to at least one podcast in the previous month.
  • Of the content distribution channels most heavily used in digital marketing, five have nothing to do with written content (YouTube, Facebook Video, Instagram, podcasts and Snapchat).
  • Visual content is 40x more likely to be shared on social platforms than other types of content.
  • Infographics are liked/shared on Facebook 3x more than any other type of content.

Those are pretty noteworthy statistics, and they clearly illustrate the need to ensure you have non-written content in your marketing strategy. What types of content work best, though? There are quite a few that you should know, and we’ll outline them below.

Vital Non-Written Content Types for Content Marketing Campaigns

Many of the content types mentioned below should be obvious from the statistics previously discussed, but there may be a few surprises.

Video: This should come as no surprise. Video has been, and will continue to be, the most frequently consumed type of content online. Consider the fact that YouTube is the second largest search engine in the world and deals only with video content.

Three of the platforms mentioned in the statistics section also cater towards video to one extent or another, and there’s the fact that this type of content can be used virtually anywhere, from YouTube and Vimeo to Facebook and Instagram to your company’s blog.

Infographics: Infographics are interesting combinations of written text and illustrative graphics. While the text provides important information, it’s the graphic elements that really capture your audience. These powerful tools do an incredible job of breaking down complex topics into manageable chunks, explaining convoluted subject areas and connections, and more, and they can be used by businesses in virtually any industry. They can also be used as content on social networks like Facebook and Twitter, Instagram, your website or blog, as guest posts on other sites and more.

Livestreaming: This one wasn’t mentioned in the statistics section, but bears a little scrutiny. While it should not be the cornerstone of your marketing, it can be an important addition. Livestreaming is being used by businesses and organizations in every industry, from Food Network to NASA, and everything in between.

It provides a dramatic, immediate connection between you and your audience, allows your audience to interact with you (or your presenters), and can be recorded and reused later. It can also be done on most of the big social networks today, including Snapchat, Facebook Live and YouTube Live. Instagram has also now introduced similar capabilities for their users.

Podcasts: For those not in the know, podcasts are essentially Internet radio shows. They’ve been around for a very long time, but have really caught on in recent years. You can use a podcast to create a reputation as a thought leader in your industry, to explore specific topics in depth, to provide entertainment, and more. They’re heavily used by creators today, but also by many others, including Fortune 500 companies and small businesses.

Other Visual Elements: There are quite a few other visual elements that can be used in your content marketing, either in addition to or conjunction with written content. Memes are hugely popular, and can help you tie into pop culture while remaining relevant, but they are not right for all companies.

You can (and should) be using images to pepper your written content, as well. Articles and blog posts with images outperform those without by a significant margin. Then there are things like presentations, slideshows (Slideshare is an incredibly popular site), and concept visualizations to name just a few.

As you can see, there are plenty of non-written options that can be vital inclusions in your content marketing plan. Perhaps the most important consideration is that you work with a partner who understands not just the importance of content marketing in today’s world, but the wide range of content types that should play a role in building your online presence and sales funnel.

The strategists at Lucé Media can help with all types of content marketing. Click here to get a free analysis of your companies digital marketing and social media marketing efforts. We do content marketing in McKinney, TX and Frisco, TX and Plano, TX.

Source:

https://www.hubspot.com/marketing-statistics

http://contentmarketinginstitute.com/developing-a-strategy/

https://www.forbes.com/sites/miketempleman/2016/11/03/content-marketing-trends-what-to-expect-in-2017-and-beyond/#7aba33d248bb

https://memeburn.com/2014/05/beyond-writing-8-alternative-content-marketing-ideas-and-how-to-leverage-them/

 

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Ways Small Businesses Can Improve Their Social Media Presence

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With the growth of more and more social platforms, it is a reminder to many small business owners that they need to be part of the social media evolution. But which network? Snapchat? Facebook? Instagram? All the above?

Social Media icons on mobile deviceAt Lucé Media, we would recommend that you opt for a mix of social platforms as each channel could and should be used in different ways. Unfortunately, there is no one size fits all.

For instance, if you are looking for young users – say 25 and below – you will find many of them on Snapchat and Instagram.  Women can be found on Pinterest and Facebook.  Business women and men alike are on LinkedIn.  With that said, the 800 lb. Gorilla is Facebook, and we would encourage every small business owner to begin there.

Facebook is the most widely used social media service, with a 2016 study by the Pew Research Center finding that nearly 80 percent of adults who use the internet are on Facebook. Thirty-two percent use Instagram, 31 percent are Pinterest users, 29 percent are on LinkedIn, and 24 percent use Twitter.

The reality is each business should not settle on just one platform – but have a digital and social media plan that is effectively used across several platforms.  Each platform should have a goal attached to it.  For instance, the owner of a small business needs to think about where their audiences are located, what they are watching or listening to, what they are reading and doing.

Creating the right post is another area that requires some planning.  Content is king on social media – but there is so much content available – you must find a way to break through that clutter.  There is much trial and error that can go on.  Hiring a social media firm that uses the right tools to measure how your efforts on social are performing is key to success.  These companies work with a variety of clients in a variety of industries, so they often have a very good idea on what works.

Today, creating an engaging social media post often requires several different elements.  Video would lead our list of must-haves – not in every post – but certainly, in at least 35% of the posts you do at a minimum.  No video – then a compelling picture or pictures would be advisable.  And there are other elements to consider such as using hashtags that help your content be more easily discovered, pursuing influencers with your content to get wider distribution and awareness and so on.

Posting frequency is the next element to think about and plan.  Social media can be a real challenge.  Posting only once or twice a day will get you little if any business.  At Lucé Media we believe that businesses should be posting 2-4 times a day on Facebook, at least a couple of times a day on Instagram, 4-5 times a day on Twitter, etc. Early on you may not have the content needed to accomplish it – but making a commitment to get it done will serve you better in the long run.

Social EngagementOnce you have created content and have started to post, it is important to know that social media is an open-ended platform for communication.  So, you are likely to get comments, questions and yes, criticism on various social platforms.  It is important to listen -watch for these comments and then RESPOND to them in a timely fashion.  This not helps you understand what your customers want – but provides a 2-way channel of communication that can quickly build loyalty amongst your customer base.

In today’s social media world, the best thing a small business owner can do to get real results from their social efforts is to automate as many of the tasks as possible.  As we said earlier – this starts with having a good amount of content from which to pick and choose.  And adding to that pool of content several times a week will also help.  The point is this: manually posting to multiple social media platforms is a difficult task for anyone to accomplish.  So, using scheduling and automation tools will help you succeed.

At Lucé  Media, we have discovered several “secrets.”  First, it’s not much of a secret, but hiring a company to handle most of your social media efforts will likely give you a far greater ROI on your social media efforts than doing it yourself.  A firm like ours has created hundreds of marketing and social media plans that consistently prove successful.  And we have the tools to create, schedule and automate posting at peak times for the best performance.  Second, many social media companies or “agencies” will come at you with their own plan – a kind of one size fits all approach.  Be wary of these companies.  One thing that sets us apart is our use of and deep understanding of social media metrics.  When Lucé Media comes calling – you can expect us to have relevant data, research, and years of experience in interpreting that data.  So, you will have the facts on how your efforts are performing before – we – together create the plan on how to grow and succeed in this space.

It costs nothing to talk with us.  Let’s schedule a time on the phone or in person and let us show you some of the data on your own efforts and how we can best help you.

You can always send us a quick note by clicking here or feel free to call us at (469) 907-1057

 

 

 

Digital Marketing Consultant McKinney – digital media McKinney – social media McKinney – SEO specialist McKinney – advertising agency McKinney – ad agency McKinney

Welcome to Luce’ Media – Social Media Strategy and Metrics

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Welcome to Lucé Media.  We are glad you stopped by.

Lucé Media is a collective of some of the best digital, social, video and innovation talent around.  I hope you had a chance to read about our group on the Our Team page.  Our company, Lucé Media is created to be a digital innovation consultancy designed to help business owners realize the true potential of this digital age. If you need a helping hand from experts in the world of digital innovation, our goal is to exceed all your expectations with our exceptional solutions for today’s digital world.

Our Luce Media - Digital Agency & Social Media Marketing McKinney, Frisco, Plano, Dallasunique and forward-thinking company strives to venture into the unknown. We don’t tread the same ground as other companies in the digital world, and that’s why our business solutions can completely reinvent companies such as yours. Our experience is unparalleled and our level of customer dedication and satisfaction is what really sets us apart as the gold standard in providing the best services.

The team we have constructed can help in many different areas.  Perhaps you have a special project that need a high level of digital expertise -whether that is in developing content, building software or as we have done before – taking the idea you have and building it from an initial visualization to launching it.  We have the talent to build all the elements in between.  So, a big part of what we do is analyze your touch points, evolve your brands and take advantage of “big idea” thinking.

We support our clients with digital strategy and innovation driven by data, web design, digital marketing, social media branding and video production…all guided by an overarching strategy.  We use an integrated and flexible approach, utilizing the diverse skill sets across our team, and we dedicate ourselves to constantly improving results. Thanks to our focused approach we design digital experiences that meet the demands of your clients and customers.

Please call us or shoot us an email.  We are happy to talk your opportunity and how to make it huge success.