Posts from November 2024

Social Media & Digital Marketing November 2024 Roundup

Posted on 28th November 2024

The end of November is here, and before we move into the Christmas period, we’ll be taking a look back at the biggest and most relevant social media news from this month!

Here’s the latest news from the last month…

Following Hashtags Removed on Instagram

After a surge in unrelated content being used under hashtags on Instagram, Meta have announced that users will no longer be able to follow hashtags on the platform. Whilst they’re still able to be used in posts, users will now have to search a specific hashtag instead of seeing it pop up on their feed as it would if they were following it – a potential limitation to marketers who rely on hashtags for visibility.

Reddit Overtakes LinkedIn & X in The UK

Reddit has become one of the UK’s most used social media sites, overtaking both LinkedIn and X. Why? Well, Google updated their search function this year, giving Reddit a huge boost in organic search traffic. Ads on Reddit appear in threads and on the homepage as if they’re part of the conversation or just another post, which is great for functionality and for getting the attention of users. Whilst the 97 million global user mark is smaller than some of the big-hitter platforms, it still remains one to keep an eye on over the coming year.

Bluesky On The Rise After US Election

After Donald Trumps Victory in the 2024 US Presidential Election, the announcement of Elon Musk’s new position in Government has caused a stir in the world of Social-Media. Musk, owner of X, has had a controversial run since taking over the platform – removing the way blocking works, adding in a subscription-based service, de-boosting posts with links, changing link reviews, pushing his own content onto timelines, and of course, changing the name from Twitter to be more in line with his own brand. Due to his affiliation with the US Government, many users have been looking for an alternative, with Bluesky emerging and growing at an incredible rate.

The app was in development before Musk took over X, and was created by developers who were behind Twitter in 2019, including former CEO Jack Dorsey (who left the project recently). It was an invite-only platform up until February 2024, and saw an uptake of users after X was banned in Brazil this year. Now, it’s growing beyond expectations – gaining over a million users a day, it’s completely overtaken another alternative – Threads – in both usage and growth. Bluesky shot to the top of the Appstore charts after the election, with X continuing to struggle, and whilst it’s still very much in development users haven’t yet been put off by some of the missing parts that made X an attractive platform originally.

TikTok Launches AI Studio

In order to help you with marketing 24/7, TikTok have launched their new Symphony Creative Studio – which they have explained by saying: “Input the information and assets for your brand or product, or import them directly from a URL. Symphony Creative Studio generates a range of video options with unique layouts and scripts. These videos draw inspiration from TikTok’s top-performing content and incorporate licensed assets - videos, images, sounds, and avatars sourced from partners like Billo and Getty Images - all cleared for commercial use to help make your content TikTok-ready.”

Whilst the use of AI has been debated, especially when it comes to marketing and the shift in audiences favouring authenticity, the new system has proved popular in China – so TikTok will be hoping that success translates worldwide.

That’s all for November! Have a great Christmas if you’re celebrating, and keep an eye out for any updates over the festive season in the social media and digital marketing world.

Finally, your social media tip for this month is: Anyone can create an ad campaign...

Doesn't mean it's going to be any good though

Any business owner can log into an ad account, click a few buttons and launch their first campaign

I'm not going to tell you that you can't... because you absolutely CAN

You may even get a few quick wins

But you'll likely get nothing or results that aren't as successful as you need them to be

But it's OK because you can then say that "paid ads don't work for my business"

But do you truly believe that?! Or is it just to save face from the failed campaign

It took me years of learning (you never really even stop learning). I've spent hundreds of thousands on paid ads but I've got the results to back up any claims I make

Endless split tests, creative testing’s, analysis

Evenings spelt learning new ways, testing different things

Thats the difference...

You can go learn it yourself if you want results in a few months or even years (but you more than likely want those results now)

Competitor Analysis: What It Means & How To Do One On Social Media

Posted on 21st November 2024

When your business starts marketing on social media, you’ll be competing with others in your industry who already have established strategies. As a “new” business to the platform, you will need to build your presence, create unique content and attract a loyal audience who’ll come to your business over others every time.

In order to do all of this, a competitor analysis is key to understanding what you’re up against, and can give you pointers into where your business can take advantage and excel to becoming an industry lead.

Here’s all you need to know about a competitor analysis, and how to do one successfully.

What Is It?

In a competitor analysis, you’ll be reviewing your direct competitions social media accounts and making notes based on everything you learn about their content, interaction with their audience, branding, SEO, keywords etc. You can then use this analysis to form your own strategy.

Find Your Competition

First, look up your competition and make a note of them. You can’t do a competitor analysis if you don’t know who they are, and when you’ve found them, you can separate these businesses into the following categories:

• Direct competitors – brands with the same product and audience.

• Indirect competitors – businesses offering the same product, but solving a different problem for the audience.

• Legacy competitors – established, well-known businesses that are trusted and known.

• Emerging competitors – new competitors that are trying to find space in the same market, similar to your business.

Analyse Your Competitors

You now need to look at your competitor’s social media and begin to learn more about them. Learn about the quality of the products they sell by looking at reviews, see how much they charge, check their style of interaction and customer service, see what their brand reputation is and discover how active they are. If you’ve already started out on social media, you can use some of these insights and compare them to your current marketing. Alternatively, you can use this information to form the foundations of your social media marketing strategy and craft the way you operate on your chosen platform.

Look At Their Keywords

What keywords do they use? You need to take advantage of using relevant keywords or phrases so that audiences can find you, so looking at what your competitors use will help you understand which keywords are delivering the best results. You should also be unique with the keywords you choose – there will obviously be some overlap, but coming up with terms or phrases that relate more to your business will help when users search those words or phrases. Keywords tell the algorithm what your business is about, allowing others to find your content easily when searching for a specific topic.

Look At Audience Feedback and Engagement

How much are audiences engaging with their business’ content? Are they frequently commenting, liking or sharing post? Is there a specific form of content they’re producing that’s attracting the most engagement? Even if they’re leading the industry, audiences may not enjoy their content if it’s not

getting a lot of engagement. If you see a post with a lot of feedback noting that their audience enjoyed a piece of content, then you can use this post as inspiration for when you start to design your own content. Don’t copy them however – create something original and individual that touches on elements used in successful content by competitors.

Identify Gaps

Finally, look for where there are gaps in content produced by competitors, make notes, and then fill those gaps with your content. For example, if they’re making video content but don’t have any captions or chapters, you can add these in when you create your video content to make them more accessible to your audience. Alternatively, if they don’t respond to comments, you should make this a key part of your marketing strategy. By identifying the weaker areas in their strategy, you can ensure they’re covered and strengthened in your own plans, advancing your opportunities to attract the platforms existing audiences.

Competitor Analysis’ are key for your business to carry out. Not only can you get to know other businesses in your industry, but you can use it to better your own output and show your audience that your business should be their go-to choice. Create yours today and see how it helps you with your marketing.

How To Do Video Marketing Right

Posted on 14th November 2024

Video Marketing has been booming for the last decade thanks to YouTube, TikTok and Reels – 91% of businesses use video as part of their strategy, with 88% seeing it as an important part of their strategy overall.

There are things you need to keep in mind when using video marketing – from your budget to your audience, crafting the perfect plan for your videos will help to set you up for success. Here are all the things you need to consider in order to do video marketing right.

What Do Your Audience Want?

Statistics show that videos that are educational and instructional videos are what engages audiences, along with testimonials. This doesn’t mean you have to stick rigidly to this style – your audience is unique, and you may find a different video style matches what they’re looking for more so than something that educates them, so when you first start test our a few different ones – testimonial, behind scenes, teasers, demonstrations etc. – and go for the one that brings in the best engagement from your audience.

Balance Your Budget

Investing tonnes of money into your video marketing may seem like the way to go, but it doesn’t necessarily mean you’ll get results. Having a high production may look good, it may look professional, but that doesn’t mean the viewers will watch. Funnelling money into video marketing that doesn’t work leaves less resources for the areas of your marketing that does work. You can build your budget over time, but when you start out you may not have the most-fancy equipment, confidence or style you’ll eventually acquire – and that’s not a problem. The better you get, the better your videos get, and you may even find your viewers engage more with lower produced videos than they do the ones made with more budget, allowing you to find your niche.

Have A Goal

What do you want your videos to achieve? If you have an idea of what you want to create, the next thing you need to think of is the goal of creating them. Providing value to the audience is a must, but what steps do you want your audience to take? 90% of marketers have said videos have increased brand awareness so this could always one of the things you aim for, alternatively you could want videos to instead push your audience to purchase a product, you may want to generate leads, you could increase your web traffic, or you could get more engagement on your social media pages. Whatever it is, make sure this goal is clear and defined – follow the SMART model and make sure your team are all on the same page. SMART stands for: Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, Time-Bound.

Use Live

Your videos don’t all have to be pre-recorded! Mix things up by going live and speak directly to active audience members. You can get them involved beforehand by asking them what they want to see and answer any questions they have instantly by engaging with the live chat. Most platforms offer a live feature – whether that’s video or audio – and are great ways to put a face or voice to the name and display your expertise and knowledge beyond text-based posts or pre-recorded content.

Creation Of Videos

Make sure your videos are clear, concise and edited before going out on your chosen platform. If desired, create an eye-catching thumbnail that draws in your viewers. Answer any pain-points your audience have and show them how your business is the solution – display what your products can do, using slick transitions and text on screen to add extra details where needed. Creating a map of how you want your videos to look before you start creating them will give you an idea on the direction to take.

Use The Right Format

The right format is key to ensuring your videos are displayed properly. Most platforms now support both vertical and landscape videos, but working out which format you’re more likely to go for will be great when setting up your content. If you’re thinking of vertical videos, then TikTok, Reels and YouTube Shorts are great options. If you’re business leans more towards landscape, then YouTube, Facebook, and X are the right ways to go, and Instagram potentially too.

Videos are a powerful marketing source, and one that requires time & attention from you an your team to perfect. By following these tips, you’ll be well on your way to creating fantastic videos that play a key role in your marketing.

Top 5 Mistakes Businesses Make On Social Media (And How To Avoid Them)

Posted on 7th November 2024

Social media is an essential part of marketing for businesses, allowing them to directly contact their customers and showcase their services or products, values and personality.

However, it’s easy to make mistakes that hinder growth and engagement. Whilst there are many things that you need to keep in mind before you start your social media marketing, these are some of the most important to be aware of. Here’s how you can avoid these top 5 mistakes and create a winning social media strategy.

Ignoring Analytics

Mistake: Many businesses will put a lot of time and effort inro creating and posting content, but fail to analyse their results to see how this content is performing. Ignoring your analytics, or being unable to find space in your day to monitor them means you miss insights that could help to improve your future campaigns.

Solution: Regularly reviewing your analytics on each platform, paying attention to key metrics like your engagement, reach, click—through-rate, cost-per-click and follower growth help you identify what content is resonating with members of your audience, which areas require improvement and when the best time to post is. Outsourcing your social media, or using third-party tools can help if you don’t have time to do these yourself.

Inconsistency

Mistake: If you don’t have a posting schedule, and do things on a whim or when you have a free minute, it can make your brand look inactive when there’s large gaps between your content. This may result in followers forgetting about your business, or losing interest in future posts.

Solution: Creating a content calendar will help you keep on track with your posting schedule. If you don’t want to log in and post every day, using platforms like Buffer or Hootsuite will let you plan your posts in advance, so they’ll be posted without needing your involvement on the day. You analytics will help you figure out the best time of day to post so you can get the maximum engagement from your audience.

Over-Promoting

Mistake: Whilst you can make the mistake of not posting enough, you can also promote your products too much. If all of your post’s focus on selling, your content may begin to be viewed as constant advertising – turning your followers away.

Solution: Create a plan centred around when you post your promotional content, and when you post your value content. Think about customer stories, industry insights, behind the scenes content, more information about your brand, tutorials – something that will keep your followers engaged for the type of business you own. Social media is all about being social, not all about selling.

Neglecting Engagement

Mistake: Posting then going silent means you’ll miss out on building communities and loyalty to your business. Neglecting engagent will end up with people no longer commenting, sharing or liking posts as they won't feel acknowledged.

Solution: Make it a habit to respond and interact with your audience, post user-generated content and answer any questions that are asked. Regularly check your messages and try to promptly respond to build brand trust. Your audience need to know you appreciate them which is why staying active is key to crafting a business page that puts your customers at the heart of what you do.

Ignoring Feedback

Mistake: Ignoring your feedback means you won’t know how your business is being perceived, or if there are any negative comments you need to clear up, take on board or clarify are false. Even worse than ignoring feedback is responding angrily and informally to bad reviews – so make sure to avoid this too.

Solution: Address your feedback promptly and professionally. Offer solutions, take conversations off line so they can be dealt with privately. Handling complaints, can help to turn these dissatisfied customers into loyal ones if you’re able to get things sorted quickly. Alternatively, acknowledging great reviews can help you encourage more happy customers to leave 5 star reviews and shows your brand to be reliable and trustworthy.

These mistakes are all rectifiable, and by avoiding them you can grow your business on social media. Even if you slip into any of these habits, making sure you make changes as soon as possible will help to get you back on track with your marketing and returning to your strategy for success.

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