Marketing on social media is great – but if you don’t check your analytics and create reports to track them, you won’t know if your marketing efforts are working or if you’re spending time on something that’s wasting money which could be directed elsewhere. 
 
Social Media Reports are more than just listing your numbers – they provide a detailed, visual insight into your performance that can be shared with the relevant teams in your business so they know where to make improvements. 
 
Here’s how you can create a social media report. 

Decide Your Presentation 

Knowing how to present your analytics in a clear and concise way relies on your presentation. Whether you prefer a spreadsheet, power point, word document or memo template, whichever you choose will form the basis for your future reports where you can simply input the data each month or every few weeks as they change. 
 
Having a consistent presentation will help you and your team spot trends and notice when or if things begin to improve or worsen with your marketing efforts. It’ll also help if your business grows and you hand the metrics reports over to another team or hire someone new, as they’ll be able to get to grips with reporting quickly. 

Know What Metrics You’re Reporting 

What is it that you want to track? You must be aware of what matters the most to your company when it comes to your metrics, but if you need some guidance on what you could look at here are some ideas: 
 
Audience Growth – If your goal is to expand your audience, then you need to track the growth of said audience. This metric is one of the core indicators of how well your social media marketing is doing, showing that your content is attracting the audience you set out to gain when you started up on these platforms. 
 
Post Volume – How many times are you posting? There is such thing as over-posting, but there’s also the chance you aren’t posting enough either. This will become clearer when you check your metrics and the engagement on these posts, and can give you indication on when your audience is more likely to be online. Tailoring your content to go out when your audience is about to log on will give you a better chance at appearing higher up on their feeds and capturing their attention straight away. 
 
Post Engagement – Tracking engagement is the main way you can see if your audience likes what you post – comments, shares, clicks and likes are all considered engagement, and helps you know what content is enjoyed by your audience, and what you may need to rethink or remove from your digital marketing strategies. 
 
Clickthrough Rate – When you link off your social media page and to your website or to another page, you need to know how many people are clicking these links. This is especially important if you’re running ads as clicks cost you money, and you want your cost per click to be as low as possible but your clickthrough rate to be high. This also allows you to measure your conversions and work out if you’re getting the best return on investment possible. 
 
Competitor Metrics – You’re in a competitive industry, so make sure you keep an eye on other businesses like yours. You can do analysis from time to time to see if you’re beginning to become a go-to source in your industry and if you begin to rank higher than the competition the more you improve your digital marketing efforts. 

Gather Data 

When you’ve worked out which metrics you’ll be reporting on, you need to get all of this data together. Know where you’ll be finding these analytics and make a note of your sources – link to where you get these analytics from for transparency with your team, allowing them to access these sources if they take on reporting or if they notice any discrepancies with what's within the report. 

Be Visual 

Visual information helps to break up your analytic reports, making data easier to digest and more understandable. Using graphs and charts to display your data also helps with making comparisons to previous reports, and with grasping key insights at a glance. If you want your employees to engage with your reports and use the data effectively when it comes to creating strategies, visual elements are the thing to use. 
Social Media Reports are imperative for taking your business to the next level online, and should be used to improve the way you approach digital marketing as whole. If you want to get your business out there, then creating reports is one of the main steps to ensuring you’re on track, so begin creating your social media reports and discover their power today. 
 
 
 
 
If you’re creating Facebook Ads, then you must ensure the dimensions are correct so they’re displayed perfectly when they start running. 
 
With a variety of ad formats and placements that are available, understanding Facebook Ad Dimensions make the difference between a professional ad and one that appears unfinished or distorted. 
 
In this blog, we’ll take a look at the different Facebook Ad Dimensions for 2024, and discuss the benefits to running an ad campaign on the platform itself. 

Facebook Ad Image Dimensions 

There are multiple different options for images with Facebook Ads that vary based on the ad format you choose. 
 
If you’re using Feed Ads, your image should be a resolution of at least 1080 by 1080 pixels, or anything up to 30 megabytes. The minimum requirement for your Facebook Ad dimensions is 600 by 600 pixels, but there is no maximum size. Feed Ad image ratios go from 1.91:1 to 4:5, however if you’re using any stock images or you are advertising an offer then your image should be in the 1.91:1 ratio. 
 
For Facebook Ad Dimensions for carousel ads, file size can also be up to 30 megabytes, and at least 1080 x 1080 pixels in resolution. The image ratio should be anywhere between 1.9:1 and 1:1, and the maximum image size is 600 x 600 pixels. The same thing applies for column ads, article ads, collection ads and marketplace ads, although image ratio for these is 1:1. 
 
For stories, things change slightly- file size stays at the maximum 30mb, but the image size can be up to 500 pixels and 1080 x 1080 in resolution. The ratio is 1:1. Facebook does recommend leaving space at the top and bottom of story ads for a call to action and in-app features such as links or text. 

Facebook Ad Video Dimensions 

If you’re using videos, then the Facebook Ad Dimensions are as follows: 
 
- At least 1080 x 1080 pixels 
- Use the highest resolutions, as Facebook doesn’t have a maximum for videos 
- Use MP4, MOV or GIF Ad formats 
- Video length can be anywhere between 1 second to 240 minutes 
- Ratio is 1:1 
 
In stream videos have this set up, and you can use 2-10 videos for this style of ad. 

Benefits Of Facebook Ads 

Facebook Ads give your business a direct opportunity to reach out to the exact audience you’ve been looking for, allowing you to target them specifically on things such as age, gender, job and location along with much more to give you a better chance at converting. They also offer in-depth analytics into your performance and make it easy to understand how your paid advertising methods are working for your business. As one of the most popular advertising platforms on social media, Facebook have perfected their offerings when it comes to their Ad offerings, ensuring your business is set up for success when your ads are created to perfectly display what your business is selling or advertising to users. 

Benefits Of Outsourcing 

If you don’t have time to manage your Facebook Ads, you’ve tried it with little success or you simply don’t know where to start, outsourcing could be the better – and cheaper – option. Instead of spending your money on trying and testing methods yourself, pay someone else to take on your Facebook Ads that know exactly what to do to bring you the highest ROI and conversions. 
 
22:22 Marketing offer outsourced Facebook Ads Management, where you’ll receive everything from the creation to management of your Ad on the platform. We know how to create an ad that performs, using our methods to deliver the right style of ad for your business. Don’t spend all of your time trying to figure out what work best for your business, hand it over to experts that can bring you results. See more of what we offer by taking a look at our Facebook Ads Management page, or Book A Call by filling out the form below to get started. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
June is coming to an end, which means it’s time for another social media roundup! 
 
We’ve seen quite a few updates to digital platforms over the last month, so let’s take a look at what’s been hitting the headlines over the last few weeks… 

AI Insights Added To Google Ads 

Google Analytics 4 has been updated, now offering AI-powered notes created to highlight key data events, using more simplified language for better understanding. Google have explained this by saying: “Imagine your “Purchase” events spiked on a series of individual dates. Our AI engine works through the countless combinations of dimensions and metrics to proactively connect the dots, explaining why these spikes are happening. These insights will be written in a natural, easy-to-understand way, almost like a colleague summarizing the key takeaways for you.” 
 
With Google Analytics 4 becoming the standard platform from July 1st, they’ll be adding aggregated impressions from the linked Campaign Manager 360 accounts. Cross-channel budgeting will also be added so users can see their projected performance against target objectives. 

AI Assistance Tools Expanded For YouTube Creators 

Struggling for video ideas? YouTube has updated their ‘Research’ tab – renamed the ‘Inspiration’ tab - in YouTube Studio to provide AI recommendations for creators looking for some ideas on what videos they should make. YouTube have commented on this: “Breakout Videos will highlight videos from similar channels that have performed exceedingly well. The goal is to give creators a more holistic understanding of channels similar to them, what content is resonating with their audience, and inspiration.” 
 
They’re also adding A.I. tips, where creators will add a topic into the search bar so YouTube’s AI can provide ideas and notes based on what viewers may be interested in watching, and can generate a bullet pointed outline to help you get to grips with these suggestions. 
 
They’re rolling these out currently, and hope to have them in the EU and the UK soon. 

TikTok to Add ‘Virtual Influencers’ 

TikTok stay ahead of the curve by taking the AI boom further – now allowing businesses to choose from digital characters in their ‘Symphony’ Platform that can advertise their products and services on TikTok Live. 
 
If you don’t want to use one of their digital creators, you can create your own, which have the ability to advertise in multiple languages. 
 
The feature has been used in China since 2022, and has seen huge results for business owners who have seen their sales rocket thanks to these 24/7 livestreaming virtual influencers. 
 
TikTok have added further detail on this new innovation: “To help creators and brands captivate global audiences and deliver impactful messages in an immersive and authentic way, we are excited to announce Symphony Digital Avatars. Digital Avatars help breathe life into branded content with generative A.I. avatars of real people, which will enable new ways to scale creative strategies on TikTok.” 

Meta Adding New Features 

AI seems to be the topic for June – and Meta aren’t getting left behind. 
 
First of all, they’re rolling out an A.I. Q and A feature to help streamline the query process for businesses and their customers. 
 
They’re also offering users the chance to sign up to business’ marketing – from then on, any messages, offers or information from businesses will be sent directly to a user’s Messenger inboxes. 
 
Broadcast Channels are set to be rolled out for Facebook Pages with 10,000 or more followers, allowing businesses with smaller audiences the chance to get their followers into one channel and communicate with them directly. 

X Analytics Updated…For Premium Users 

Probably the most significant update this month for marketers on X – they’ve finally switched over what was Twitter Analytics to X Analytics, with a catch. 
 
The previously free-for-all feature has been locked behind a paywall, with users signed up to X Premium or the tier above the only ones able to access their advanced analytics. 
 
These analytics are now offering the following: total impressions, engagement rate, profile visits, video performance, link clicks and a new display to allow ease of access to different data. 
 
X have been slowly trying to drive up subscriptions in the last 2 years, with little success of hitting any of their targets to do so. By putting analytics behind a paywall, it’s just another way they hope to get people to pay for previously free features. The question remains whether they will – analytics are imperative to businesses whose main marketing is done on X, but often they’ll be using multiple platforms – so using another website who can provide the same info in one central place is probably the way many will go. 
That’s all for June! Have a great July and keep an eye out for any updates to come over the next month. 
 
Your social media tip this month is: Many business owners I speak to struggle to get their ads in front of the right people, pouring money into campaigns but seeing little return. 
 
You see the key to cost-effective, profitable paid ad campaigns is understanding your audience better. 
 
By using detailed targeting options and creating content that resonates with your ideal customers, you can turn your ads around and start seeing some real results. 
 
So, here are three tips that when used will help improve your ad performance: 
✅️ Research Your Audience - Dive deep into their interests, behaviours, and demographics. 
✅️ Test Different Ad Formats - Experiment with images, videos, and carousels to see what works best. 
✅️ Monitor and Adjust - Regularly check your ad performance and tweak your targeting and content as needed. 
 
These 3 simple steps can transform your ad strategy and help you see much better results. 💡 
 
 
 
 
Advertising on social media has paved the way for businesses to grow their audiences, make more sales and see growing success. Facebook is one of the markets leaders when it comes to such ads, providing a platform that makes the creation of ads a relatively simple process, and gives valuable insights into your performance – allowing you to make tweaks to improve the performance of your ads as they run. Facebook Ads also have the highest ROI for social media advertising, making it a key component in a digital marketing strategy. 
 
If you don’t think Facebook Ads will work for you – think again. Here’s why your business should be advertising on Facebook…. 

Audience Reach 

One of the best things Facebook offers you is unparalleled access to your audience – with 3 billion worldwide users, you target customer will definitely be out there, waiting for a business just like yours to solve the problems they’re having with a product or service that matches their needs and requirements. 
 
Facebooks targeting capabilities are one of the most attractive parts of choosing Facebook over its counterparts, allowing not just the most basic levels of picking your ideal customers characteristics, but micro-targeting options that narrow down the size of your audience to help you not only with costs, but also ensures you mostly reach the audience who’ll be likely to make a purchase. Facebook has data on all of their users – such as age, gender, job - that makes targeting a simple process, with audience segments further boosting the suitability of the people your ads are displayed too. These segments include such things as income, behaviour, education, interests – metrics that can be leveraged to give your business a better chance at converting users. 

Brand Awareness 

Facebook Ads appear on feeds, and make audiences aware of your business whilst they’re scrolling through said feed. Ads that are creative, attractive and stop users in their tracks further help with this brand awareness even if the user doesn’t convert to a customer straight away, but interacts with the ad in some capacity. Ad are your chance to make an impression, and sticking in the minds of users is imperative if you want to grow your presence on social media. 

Analytics & Insights  

It’s pretty likely you’ll already know that checking your insights and analytics is one of the key components to social media marketing. Facebooks Ad Manager offers you information on clicks, cost per click, reach and impressions, letting you know what is or isn’t working with the ad so you can make the changes needed to keep expenses low and retain your customers. These are real time results that must be checked and tracked regularly so you can analyse your ad performance over time. 

A/B Testing 

A/B testing can be a huge help to advertising on social media – allowing you to make different versions of the same ad and review the results to see which performs best. Facebook offers this as a specific feature, with the ‘winner’ of the A/B testing becoming the ad that’s displayed Facebook wide. This style of ad helps you test strategies, and gives you the options of using different variables to figure out the best way to go forward with your advertising methods in future campaigns. 

Mobile Optimisation 

Facebook Ads are optimised for mobile, and with 98.5% of users using mobile devices to open Facebook, meaning you won’t have to worry about making different ad formats in order to fit with both mobile and desktop devices. Mobile optimisation provides a seamless and engaging experience for users and advertisers, allowing you to reach your target audience whether they’re at home or on the go. 
Facebook Advertising is a huge part of what makes social media marketing a key part of strategies for many businesses looking to excel their digital presence. Start your journey by creating an ad today! 
 
 
 
 
 
If you work in the digital marketing space, or you have some knowledge about the industry, it’s likely you’ll have heard the terms ‘remarketing’ and ‘retargeting' before. It’s also likely you’ve heard them be used interchangeably, despite both of them having some substantial differences. 
 
But what do these terms mean, and how do they differ from the other? In this blog we’ll cover all you need to know about both remarketing and retargeting, and the places in which they overlap. 

What is Retargeting? 

Retargeting is where businesses will advertise to people who have shown interest on your website without making a purchase. This is where cookies are useful, being set in browsers when users interact with something on your site. You can use this data to retarget them, reminding them of the products or services they were looking at whilst browsing. 
 
Retargeting is often split between ‘On-site’ and Off-site interactions. 
 
‘On-site’ interactions are those that target individuals who have already visited your site and had some interaction with your products and services before but haven’t completed purchasing. This method of retargeting helps to increase your conversions and will also help you retain those potential customers who’ve expressed an interest but aren’t ready to convert just yet. 
 
Methods you can use to do this include: 
 
• Targeting based on a product they’ve interacted with 
• Targeting based on the way they found your site 
• Targeting those on your email list who’ve shown interactions but haven’t purchased anything 
 
Google Analytics, Google Ads and Facebook Ads are all ideal ways to use ‘on-site’ retargeting. 
 
‘Off-site’ interactions are actions taken by users on your social media pages – for example, Facebook now offers ‘engagement targeting’ for their ads, allowing businesses to target audiences who have interacted with your page, events or other areas of Facebook that register as interest in your business. 

What Is Remarketing? 

Remarketing is all about re-engaging your existing customers through media or email platforms. Emailing a customer to renew a subscription or service, using previous purchase history to remind customers to take some kind of action or even asking for users to upgrade their previous purchases all count as remarketing, and mainly exist in the realm of email marketing campaigns. 
 
If your business has any of the following, you should consider using remarketing: 
 
• You have a product/service that is typically a repeat purchase. 
• You want to sell customers additional products 
• You don’t have a big budget. 

Do They Overlap? 

Remarketing and retargeting often overlap, with the terms often used to cover both definitions. For example, Google’s ‘Remarketing Tools’ can actually be considered ‘Retargeting Tools’. 
 
With Google and Meta also offering businesses the ability to use email lists for ad targeting, the terms have started to be used as one in the same. They do share the same goal – to re-engage potential or former customers with you business by utilising data on user behaviour in order to target a message via email or ad to drive conversions. Both can also be used alongside the other – pushing an on-site retargeting ad and emailing a similar offer means you’re doubly reaching your targeted audience using two methods that go hand-in-hand, reinforcing your businesses presence, message and increasing the likelihood of converting leads. 
Retargeting and Remarketing are two terms that businesses should consider using beyond the general acquiring of new customers, but you must understand what both of them entail and what they mean before slotting them into your campaign strategy. Take a look at how your business is performing on social media and see where you could use both of these things today. 
 
 
 
 
Social media has been increasingly used to sell products over the years, with many taking advantage of the ever-growing list of features available to users who are looking to these platforms for sales as well as engagement. 
 
Selling on socials doesn’t just limit you to creating ads – although this is a good way of getting your products out onto the feeds of the people you ideally want to target. Instagram is just one platform offering a ‘shopping’ function to users, keeping their audiences interacting with their page without having to exit out of the app to find products. 
 
Here’s how your business can sell on Instagram... 

Getting Set-Up 

Firstly, you need to make sure you meet the following requirements stated by Instagram in order to set up a shop: 
 
• Be located in one of these markets - Australia, India, Indonesia, Japan, Korea, Taiwan, Thailand, Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, Netherlands, Norway, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Ukraine*, United Kingdom, Brazil, Mexico, Canada, United States 
• Have an Instagram business or creator account 
• Comply with Instagram's merchant agreement and commerce policies. 
• Connect your Instagram account to a Facebook Business Page 
 
You can use a site like Shopify or manually upload through Facebook Business Manager to put your products onto Instagram. You should keep your product inventory on these sites updated as you get new items in your store. 
 
You then need to submit your account for approval to Instagram. You can do this by accessing your Professional Dashboard > Get Started > Select Catalogue > Submit For Review. 

Instagram Shop Posts 

When your account is approved, you can then upload photos and tag your products within them. To do this simply upload to the grid as you would usually, and then select the ‘Tag Products’ option. This will allow you to search for a product and select the right one before sharing to your audience. You can go back to your old posts and tag products too if needed to give your feed a more consistent appearance and boost your performance on social media. 

How To Optimize Selling On The Site 

If you have access to Instagram Shop Posts, then don’t change your posting style just because you want to use the features. Keep your posts consistent, tag your products and give them a natural feel on the feed. You may want to change your content strategy slightly when it comes to new product releases or sales, but don’t let these sales style posts take over from your usual social media marketing efforts.  

Use Influencers  

Influencer Marketing is something that may be possible for your business to take advantage of, even if the influencers you pick aren’t some of the top names in the industry. If you send a product ton them and they ake a post promoting and tagging your brand and what you’ve sent, you’ll be attracting their audience and potentially start making more sales thanks to the power of the influencer you’re working with. Building up industry connections like this can be really helpful in getting your business out there beyond promotional posts or adverts. 
 

Create Your Shop Page 

When you’ve posted nine shoppable ads on Instagram, you can then open your shop page, which will display all of your products linked on posts in one section, which users can then click to buy. Users can also save these products for future purchase from this tab, making Instagram a great place not just for purchases but also for creating wish lists too. 
 
Selling on social media is a big part of what makes digital marketing so powerful, and you’ll be able to take advantage of all of these features when you get yourself set up on Instagram. Take a look into the benefits of Instagram shop and get started today. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
We’ve come to the end of May, meaning it’s time for this months Social Media Roundup! 
 
There has been a couple of new things that may be handy for you to make note of in the digital marketing world this month. Here’s everything you need to know… 

New Ad Tools On TikTok 

The TikTok World Event 2024 took place this month, and there were some new things announced regarding the TikTok Ads system. 
 
First of all, they’re continuing to utilising AI to help creators with their advertising. This new suite is called ‘Symphony’, and is made for ad partners who will receive AI assistance with things such as writing scripts, producing videos, creating ideas, and more. TikTok began introducing all these features separately last year, but will be collecting them all into one place to make it easier for ad partners to access and use to their full potential. 
 
They’re also bringing in a platform for marketing named TikTok One, which will act as a replacement for the current Creative Centre. TikTok One will make it easier to access TikTok’s built in marketing tools and new creation elements. As explained by TikTok: “Brands will be able to tap into this one-stop-shop to access TikTok creators, production partners, and insights, including TikTok Creator Marketplace and TikTok Creative Challenge. With TikTok One, advertisers will be able to access nearly 2 million creators, discover top agency partners and leverage our creative tools to implement and scale successful TikTok campaigns, all with a single log-in.” It will launch later in 2024. 
 
They’re also improving AI and machine learning for Ad Targeting, and improving optimisation tools for those selling on TikTok Shop. 
 
They’re also launching something called ‘Unified Lift’, putting all existing campaign measurement options into a single performance measurement – with TikTok saying “[Unified Lift will] empower advertisers to confidently maximize the results of their investments on TikTok. Unified Lift combines the power of Brand Lift Studies and Conversion Lift Studies to give businesses a comprehensive view of their total TikTok campaigns’ impact.” 
 
Also announced were ad functions ‘Interactive Add-Ons for TopView’ and ‘Duet with Branded Mission’, both to help boost ad engagement and performance. 

Chat Option To Close On Google Business Profiles 

Google will shut down the chat and call history features on Google Business Profiles in July. 
 
The tools were underutilised, but allowed users on Google Search, Maps and Shopping to get in touch with your business directly from listings by starting a chat from the display. The closure of this feature is being done as Google streamlines its business tools. Chat will be disabled in mid-July, with the feature shut down entirely at the end of July. 

YouTube Rolls Out New Video Function 

For those who use YouTube often, the platform will now be able to identify specific sections of videos where demonetisation or restrictions have been triggered so you can remove content that flags up on the system. They’ll also let you know if the problem lies with your thumbnail or title, as per YouTube “The way this will work is that when a creator uploads a video using our Self-Certification process on web uploads, and that video receives a yellow icon, they’ll have the option to appeal, and have one of our experts review the video. When that review is complete, the issues our expert found that led to a yellow icon (for either Limited or No Ads) will appear for the creator in Studio, alongside timestamps of where in the video they appeared.” 

TikTok Management System Launched 

Finally, we end this month on another TikTok update – they’ve launched a Management dashboard for Creators to use for analysis. It includes all of their analytics in one place, and is called TikTok Studio – another section that has been taken from the original Creative Centre. They said of the launch: “Whether you’re a seasoned creator, a newbie debuting your first video, or a small business balancing content creation while managing a business, TikTok Studio provides free, easy-to-use creation tools and centralized operational capabilities designed to efficiently streamline content workflow. Using their TikTok account to log in or sign up, creators can upload, film, edit, and post to TikTok directly from TikTok Studio and use tools like auto caption, photo editor, and autocut to polish their content with professional finesse.” 
That’ all for May! Have a wonderful June and keep an eye out for more news in the digital marketing world next month. 
 
Your social media tip for this month is: "I dont get many likes" 😢 
 
"No one engages with my content"  
 
All excuses people use to not post on social. 
 
But you see likes, comments and shares can be vanity metrics. 
 
Yes the more engagement you get the more reach you get, but there is also "lurkers". People who watch your content, value your content and consume it but they never engage. 
 
To you it seems that no one is watching... but they are. 
 
So, stop getting caught in the trap of craving social media engagement and instead concentrate on offering value, showing your expertise and knowledge and showcasing your ability as the best in your industry. 
 
 
 
 
 
Reviews are a huge part of your social media presence. 49% of all consumers trust online reviews as much as recommendations from family and friends, with 91% of 18–34-year-olds feeling this way. These reviews have a huge influence on consumers, and being able to deal with them is an important part of ensuring you stay on top of your digital marketing performance. 
 
Here’s how you can deal with reviews on social media… 
 
 

Asking For Reviews 

Don’t be hesitant to ask customers to leave a review on your website or social media page. If you want to prove your business can be trusted, then reviews are an integral part of your digital marketing efforts. In fact, 60% of consumers believe the number of reviews a business has is crucial when deciding whether to use its services – therefore, getting these from your audience is an important step to ensuring you’ve fully optimised your digital marketing strategy. 

Dealing With Positive Reviews 

If you’re receiving good feedback, then you need to acknowledge those people who have taken time out to leave a nice comment about their experiences. By doing this, you can easily boost your brand’s reputation, showing people you’re appreciative of their feedback and happy that you’ve been able to provide them with a good experience. By making a customer feel valued, you can also boost brand loyalty as you’ll begin to build a good relationship with them on a foundation of respect on both sides. 

 

 

Dealing With Bad Reviews 

Negative reviews are part of your online marketing journey – when a customer has a bad experience with your products or your business and they make it known, you must make sure you get things sorted straight away. It can be easy to find yourself getting annoyed by bad reviews especially when it comes to your business – after all this is something you’ve worked hard on, and when someone doesn’t feel positive towards what you’ve provided it can be quite upsetting. It can also put future customers off from purchasing, so clearing things up can help to manage your reputation. 
 
In order to deal well with bad reviews, stay calm and professional – responding in an aggressive or negative manner will only raise the tensions more, which isn’t a good luck for your business. If you’ve heard the phrase ‘the customer is always right’, then you need to apply this to your business’ reviews on social media too. Be courteous, and offer help if needed. You should also consider taking the issue “offline” – this means out of the public eye, so you can have a conversation in a private chat about what went wrong and how you can rectify this if needed. This puts you back in control of the situation, and avoids discussions getting heated in front of the rest of your audience. By showing you can calmly deal with this situation, you’ll be able to keep your reputation at bay and show your audience that you’re genuinely committed to making their experience much better

Dealing With Fake Reviews 

You may not expect people to give you fake reviews, but they can be more common than you think. Fake reviews are exactly what they say – untrue and often negative comments left to damage your business. Some companies choose to manage fake reviews like they do with bad reviews or try to ignore them, but neither of these methods are the most effective ways to deal with this style of reviews. Instead, if the customer has a name, you can search your data base and find if this person has ever made a purchase from you. If they haven’t, and you can confirm their review is fake, leave a professional response stating that their comments aren’t real and mention how you know this. Clearly acknowledging that a review isn’t real will help you further with reputation management and assuring that your business isn’t being swamped by damaging comments from those who have never used your business before. 
 
Reviews are a big part of building presence online and can help drive a customer’s purchasing decision. Get your customers to begin leaving reviews today and get a strategy in place that’ll help you manage your business online. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Facebook and LinkedIn both have benefits for businesses looking to improve their online marketing efforts, but they both have features that may be more suited to how your business operates digitally. 
 
Want to know which is best for your business? Here’s all your need to know about LinkedIn and Facebook Marketing… 
 
 

User Base 

Facebook is the bigger platform, with over 3 billion users compared to LinkedIn’s 875 million, but that doesn’t mean Facebook is the better platform. Whilst it has a bigger audience, both platforms were created for different reasons, with Facebook made for people to connect with friends and LinkedIn for professional connections. Knowing exactly who your target market is will help when it comes to selecting your platform for digital marketing, as you’ll be able to get a feel for which site they may populate the most. 

Looking For B2B Marketing? Try LinkedIn 

LinkedIn is a platform for professionals, so if you’re looking to connect with like-minded business owners and use social-selling to get your business out there. Share thoughts with others in your industry, join groups that are relevant, and post content that’s valuable and insightful. LinkedIn was built for networking, so don’t worry about creating those valuable connections with people – they’ll likely be clued up on terminology and the ins and outs of your industry. 

Facebook Is Best For B2C 

If you would prefer B2C Marketing, you should take a look at Facebook. Facebook allows you to connect with your target customers and see what they think of your business. It also offers diverse targeting when it comes to paid ads, so you can reach out to the exact people who have an interest in your business and your products helping you build brand awareness, engage with customers directly and gather your insights through analytics. 

LinkedIn Groups vs Facebook Groups 

Both platforms offer groups, which are good ways to reach more people and build good relationships for your business. 
 
LinkedIn Groups are a place for industry professionals to gather and discuss the goings-on in your sector. You can also share your own experiences, and the latest news from your industry. There are also people in these groups that may not be leaders, but professionals who could benefit from the advice you share. Take a look into some groups that interest you and see the style of posts and engagements they get before joining. 
 
Facebook Groups also let you operate in a similar to LinkedIn, but you have to remember whilst you’re the professional, a lot of those in these groups won’t have heard the industry-lingo you know about so keep things a little more-simple. A lot of businesses create their own groups as an incentive to build brand loyalty and trust, offering those in there exclusive updates, discounts, Q&A sessions and more, and with over 400 million people in groups they find meaningful you can build a solid digital marketing foundation from Facebook just through your groups. 

Facebook Ads vs. LinkedIn Ads 

Facebook and LinkedIn both offer Ads, and whilst Facebook Ads are arguably the best out there on social media, LinkedIn Ads shouldn’t be discounted. LinkedIn Ads don’t have the same, low cost-per-click Facebook Ads do, but they are great - especially for Lead Generation adverts and reaching other Business owners. Facebook Ads are much more personalised, and have better targeting options that allow you to really narrow down you audience so you can be sure you’re reaching out exactly to the people who would be interested in your business and what you have to sell. 
 
Facebook and LinkedIn are both great platforms to use when it comes to your marketing, but selecting the right one and building on it will help to grow your business on either platform and create a loyal base of followers and customers. 
 
 
 
 
In the current digital landscape, social listening has become an easy yet under-utilised tool for businesses to use and pay attention to when it comes to their marketing online. 
 
Understanding your customers allows you to stay ahead of trends, and can transform the way you create your strategies and market on social media. Growing your business is often one of your main priorities, and social listening can be a helping hand in doing just that. 
 
Here’s why your business should be using social listening… 
 

Make Your Customers Feel Heard 

There are multiple ways to make your customers feel heard, whether that’s replying to their comments and messages, answering questions during live streams or even just acknowledging them with a like on one of their posts. 
 
When your customers feel valued, their overall satisfaction will be enhanced as they’ll feel like their comments, reviews and questions have been acknowledged. It shows your business cares about the customer experience and lets you manage your reputation. Knowing how your customers think and feel about your business means you’re able to effectively address any concerns before the problem grows. 
 
Research by Hubspot has found that 93% of customers are likely to make a repeat purchase with a business that offers them excellent customer service. Brand loyalty can be built by making customers fee heard – if they can see you’re actively taking on and applying their feedback to make positive changes for them and other customers, they’re more likely to become loyal to your brand and advocate for it. 

Keep Track Of Growth 

As your business grows, you may notice that you get fake reviews, more negative comments or find people are seeing genuine faults with someone you offer. This is where social listening comes in handy, as you can begin to address concerns that have been raised and change things to take things better. Positive management of your growth and your platforms will help you stay on top of all this. When it comes to fake reviews or angry comments, addressing them in a calm and professional manner and taking them out of the public space will let you directly solve any issues without drawing too much attention to it. Fake reviews should be investigated and cleared up as soon as possible, as not to affect your brand trust. 

New Opportunities 

If you’re running business and notice customers have complaints or suggestions, then you’ll be able to take this feedback on board and look to find ways to expand your business beyond what you’re offering, if budget enables. Say you run a course, and have an overwhelming number of applications but not enough spaces, you can use this interest to see how you could increase your business’ output and operations in the future. 

Identify Pain Points 

Looking at your products or services, do they solve your audience’s pain points? Social listening can be a huge help with this – looking at conversations your audience are having online will help you adapt your output in order to help solve their problems, and fill any gaps in your current marketing that could make the difference between success and failure. Use keywords to search for information and take a look at discussions that your audience are having to help you discover exactly what your business needs to be doing in order to get ahead of your competition and be the one people go to first. 
 
 
Facebook has over 3 billion users worldwide, and advertising on the platform can bring you a lot of sales and new audiences if done correctly. Facebook ads are one of the most popular forms of social media advertising, and can be a huge part of your digital marketing campaigns. 
 
Here are 5 reasons why you should consider Facebook Ads… 
 
Targeting 
 
Targeting options on Facebook are some of the most advanced, with businesses being able to go for specific interests to narrow down audiences more than they already have by looking at things such as gender, age, location and job. Targeting is such a highly important of creating great ads due to its ability to make sure you’re reaching the exact people you want engaging with your business, giving you a better ROI. 
 
 
 
 
Over April, there have been updates in the world of social media that will be important for you to make note of, to aid your business' digital marketing. 
 
Here’s all of the news from this month. 
 
TikTok Photo’s App Launched 
 
Last month you may remember the announcement that a potential Photo’s version of TikTok was in the works. 
 
Well, the app has now officially launched in Canada and Australia – titled ‘TikTok notes’, it allows users to share images just as they can already on TikTok or Instagram, giving other users a peek into their lives.