4 Ways to Integrate Instagram Ads Into Your Marketing

It's official: one of the fastest-growing social media networks worldwide is now offering advertising opportunities for marketers large and small. After months of testing its new ad format to a limited audience, Instagram rolled out the platform to advertisers everywhere on Sept. 30. If you're looking to integrate the ads into your social media marketing strategy, you've come to the right place! Keep reading for an in-depth guide to Instagram ads.

1. Understanding the network

Experienced digital marketers will be familiar with Instagram, the social network that has experienced a meteoric rise since its $1 billion purchase by Facebook three years ago. Today, the network boasts 400 million active users, propelling it to a high ranking behind industry giants like Facebook and its Chinese competitor, QZone.

Compared to its direct competitors, Instagram boasts a relatively young audience with 53 percent of its user base being 29 years or younger. Thanks in part to this young demographic, the network is one of the few which doesn't see college graduates as the top education demographic, though 31 percent of its users do have at least some college experience.

In other words, the network has long offered a premier opportunity for brands to expand their reach to millennials, promoting consumer-based products and services in the sub-30 age range. In fact, 32.5 percent of U.S. companies now use Instagram for marketing purposes, and eMarketer expects that number to rise to over 70 percent by 2017 -- surpassing Twitter.  

If I were a better person, I'd put money on the new ad capabilities for that induction of brands into Instagram.

2. The ad format

If you've been using Instagram since its early stages, you might think of the network as a digital photo album. And in essence, that remains true -- thanks to a layout that emphasizes pictures and the multitude of available filters, Instagram offers the perfect opportunity for brands to visualize their imagine and provide behind-the-scenes photographs of their operations. But now that the network has entered the ad landscape, it can offer so much more than that.

Currently, Instagram offers three types of ads to marketers: Image ads, video ads and carousel ads. Considering that the platform is owned by Facebook, it should come as no surprise that all three are closely related to their Facebook counterparts.

• Image ads are the equivalent of Facebook's Link Ads but with a heavier emphasis on visual. They offer brands the opportunity to add a call-to-action button to their ad, which enables them to drive web visits in addition to raising brand awareness. 
• Carousel ads are similar to image ads but offer additional functionality in the way that Facebook's carousel ads are essentially enhanced (and diversified) link ads. Instead of just one image, you add multiple images within the same ad, which enables you to showcase multiple pictures and calls to action with a single targeting option and ad copy.
• Finally, video ads do little more than drive video views -- you can add up to 30 seconds of moving images, but call-to-action buttons are not yet available for this ad type. 

While Instagram does not currently offer conversion optimization, the network has promised to add that feature in the near future.

3. Facebook integration

Here's without a doubt my favorite part of Instagram ads -- the set-up integrates seamlessly into Facebook's Power Editor, enabling marketers to take advantage of the numerous advanced targeting methods that they've come to love on the world's largest social-media platform. The new Power Editor even lets you create an integrated Instagram / Facebook marketing campaign that ensures you reach your target audience through a variety of channels.

When Facebook purchased Instagram in 2012, many users and marketers worried that it would mean the end of the picture network's independence of its larger brethren. The introduction of widely available, integrated Facebook ads have made that worry a reality -- but early on, it looks like marketers are benefiting rather than suffering from this integration.

Considering that Instagram ads became widely available less than a month ago, we don't yet have compelling statistics that show the network to be more effective than its competitors. But a variety of marketers who were able to take part in earlier tests, from Starwood to Levi's, has claimed to find significant success and favorable return on investment in their paid Instagram efforts. For what it's worth, the network itself is already showcasing a variety of success stories in promoting the new ad features.

4.Integrating Instagram into your social media marketing

Considering the early excitement around new ad features on the world's fastest-growing social media site, predict a large number of advertisers flocking to this shiny new toy. In fact, I encourage it. If only 32 percent of marketers are currently using Instagram for marketing purposes, the amount of competitive noise should be significantly less than some of the more established sites. But when moving to Instagram, it's important to integrate the new capabilities into your existing strategy rather than simply racing ahead.

Fortunately, the network has made this integration easy by working flawlessly alongside Facebook ads. But as most marketers know, that doesn't mean you should simply duplicate your efforts. Instead, you should develop ads that fit within your strategy and match the network's audience.

Business models that can provide easy visuals, from multimedia companies to fashion outlets, will find Instagram to be a great fit for their audience. Business-to-business companies, on the other hand, may not easily find footing on this consumer-based network. Put simply, Instagram ads make sense only if the network would have made sense for you even without the paid possibilities. If you haven't seen the need for an Instagram presence in the past, you should not change your mind now.

If, on the other hand, you're looking to enhance your presence on Instagram and spread awareness of your brand beyond your current followers, the new ad capabilities are huge news. They are without a doubt the new, shiny toy in social media marketing -- and I look forward to tracking just how well they perform compared to other networks.

 Source : http://bit.ly/1U0Wcwo

4 Marketing Mistakes That Cost Your Startup Money

Sartups often live and die by their marketing strategies.  While no marketing game is the same for two companies, there’s a number of common patterns that lead to success and a number of missteps that can cost your venture serious budgets.

Below are the four common mistakes startups make when it comes to marketing.

Not Tracking Your Cost Per Acquisition (CPA) Rate

When you are just starting out it’s hard to determine your best method for acquiring customers or growing your user-base. Be a smart marketer and don’t put all the eggs in one basket by investing all the budgets in one channel that was told to nail great result for company X.

Instead, create separate budgets to test different acquisition strategies – content marketing, email marketing, strategic PR and outreach, SEO, social media, growth hacking and so on.  The scale should be large enough to have an accurate sample number.

Ditch what didn’t work and focus on the tactics brining highest CPAs.

Not Trying at Least One Growth Hack

Growth hacking has been the winning strategy for a number of brands including Basecamp, Dropbox, Pinterest and Airbnb.  A smart growth hack can easily leverage your business onto the new level.  However, a lot of marketers prefer not to even try it.

Why? Growth hacking requires time, creativity and investments. You might be to busy looking into your analytics, analyzing previous marketing campaigns and counting the leads through affiliates, that you just don’t have the time to sit back, relax and dream how you can use technology to create a new creative way to market your product.

Good ideas are not necessary brand new ideas. So here are three strategies that worked great for other companies and may bring massive results for your venture too.

Worried about the financial aspect of the controversial strategy that may or may not work? Create a backup financial cushion with the help of a robo advisor or your CFO that will get your ends covered in case anything goes unplanned.

Ignoring Bad Numbers

Some great ideas simply don’t work. Sometimes what seemed like a winning marketing campaign just doesn’t pan out. And it’s not always your fault.

When it comes to analytics, leave your bias behind the door. If the numbers say that your marketing does not work, then you should pull the plug on it, even if it’s your pet project. Sure, if the CPC and CPV numbers don’t look attractive enough after a month of running the ad campaign, don’t wait for another month in hope that “things get better somehow” and cut down the project at the root. Reallocate your resources, so that in the long run you still receive the benefits.

Underestimating the Value of Long-Term Advertising

With marketing channels like display advertising or social media advertising things are simple: you pay X dollars and get Y impressions/clicks etc. You can precisely track the conversions you receive.

However, other marketing tactics are not so easy to scale e.g. influencer marketing or content marketing.  Both of them are long-term advertisements and you can’t try to price them the same as short-term advertising (display ads).

Long-term advertising take time to bring measurable results, however unlike display ads they don’t stop bringing value on the moment you stop investing into it.

Content marketing can continue to bring you results over a prolonged time span (and in fact it should!).  SEO takes time to start working; influencers will keep promoting your branded piece of content to their readers even after the campaign is over. Your brand recognition will continue to grow with time as reading has a much higher level of investment that an ad, which may or may not been viewed.

When you are creating budgets for a long-term advertising strategy you can’t simply rely on impressions.  Calculating the total media value is a better approach to use.  For this, put a price tag on each piece of content or action, for instance, $5 per Facebook share or $10 per one organic site visit with the help of SEO.

 Source : http://bit.ly/23Wzh8C

Boost Your Sales: Top 5 Tips to Successful Marketing Automation

The market for marketing automation software is in the midst of a rapid growth phase. Businesses of all sizes and industries are waking up to the fact that automating simple tasks allows them to target a larger number of leads while spending more time on building great content and driving higher conversions, shorter sales cycles, and more loyal customers.

Even for those business owners that understand the basics of marketing automation, implementation can still be a daunting task. You know what you need to do, but you’re still trying to figure out exactly how to make it all work. For a little extra help, check out these tips that have proven successful for some of the best in the business.

Have the Necessary Tools

Marketing automation software is great, but it only serves to enhance the resources and capabilities that your company already has. Before even considering purchasing the software, you should make sure that your company has:

• A quality list of leads
• An engaging and informative landing page
• Consistent, quality content creation
• A CRM that can integrate with the new software
• Established processes for moving leads through the sales funnel

Without these existing resources in place, any marketing automation software you buy will not deliver significant value.

Plan for Implementation

The first few months with any new technology are always going to be the hardest. Make sure you have a plan for training employees on the marketing automation solution and integrating it into your business. Consider this issue when selecting a software provider and try to find one that offers significant assistance and support during the onboarding process.

For your part, come up with a detailed list of employee responsibilities and have a plan for how the burden is going to be divided up. Identify any skill gaps that may exist and determine whether you’re going to need to bring in someone new or if an existing employee can be trained to fill the new need.

Have a Data Quality Solution

Getting data from customers is no longer the problem. In the past two years, we created more data than humanity has generated in its entire existence up to that point. The problem with that deluge of data is knowing what’s actually important, and how to turn those numbers into actionable insights.

This is another reason why integrating with your CRM and coordinating with the sales team is important, as they might need different data than marketers. There are several products that can help you automate the data collection process and turn those numbers into clear, understandable charts, stats, and insights.

Start Small and Experiment

You’re going to make some mistakes in the early stages of automation, and you’re going to have some failures. Those are inevitable, and can even be positives. Mistakes teach you what not to do in the future, and failure to target leads can help you gain a better understanding of who your target audience is in the first place.

The key is to conduct these experiments on a small enough scale that the failures aren’t too much of a setback for your business.

Nurture, Don’t Sell

This is the most basic tip, but it’s so important it must be reiterated. The goal of marketing automation software is not to make sales, it’s to get leads to the point in the funnel where they are ready to interact with your sales team and make a purchase. On average, that means 10 “touches” from first contact to the eventual sale.

It’s easy to get impatient and start bombarding leads with offers in an attempt to drive immediate conversions, but that actually defeats the purpose. Your goal should not be more efficient spamming, it should be to actually develop a relationship with potential leads and deepen their engagement with your brand.

Source : http://bit.ly/1NcBCEN

5 Secrets to Monetizing Your LinkedIn Experience

Follow five simple rules using this reliable platform to share your expertise in the marketplace. Here they are:

1. Know Your Brand

No one is going to buy from you if you don't have a brand. You've got to ask yourself, "What do I want to be known for?" If you do 10 different things, no one is going to know what you do best. You have to let people know what you're really good at if you want them to buy from you. 

Here's what I do: I write, speak, and coach. That's all I do. If someone wants something else from me, I just recommend them to someone else who can use the business. This is what makes my brand reliable. That is why I get one thousand profile views every week. This is why I get leads every day. 

2. Develop Your Story

If you have a story, why not share it on your LinkedIn profile? Most people don't enjoy running through bullet points as you enumerate your experience in a resume-like format. You've got to keep it interesting. Look at my profile. Does it tell you who I am? It should.

Your story must be captivating. People should be asking, "I wonder what this guy/gal is all about?" If people aren't wondering about who you are and what you do, your profile needs a story. You also need a great headline and professional head shot. I have several recommendations for profile makeovers if you need one. Just reach out to me. 

3. Use the Phone

If you're a salesperson, you better be using your phone. Iregularly use the phone to call  LinkedIn connections. 

Your phone can help you earn millions. If you're sending messages back and forth, you're wasting your time. You won't get that many opportunities that way. You've got to reach out and transact business. If people say that they're just "trying to get to know you" or "want to have coffee," don't even bother with them.

4. Write Articles

For every 100 views that you get, you must making a sale. That means that if  articles are reaching 1,000 people per week, you have 10 sales. Readers reach out to you regularly and you're able to have meaningful conversations with them. Because people love your articles, they find value in paying for your services. 

If you don't know how to write, go ahead and share other peoples' articles. Comment and like as many good articles as possible. When people view your profiles, follow up with them. If you aren't doing this, you aren't serious about conducting business and creating opportunities for yourself and others.

5. Contribute Daily

You have to connect with people by making a contribution. Send out endorsements and recommendations. Get serious about following up with people. Be as resourceful as possible. Add value like you never did before. Join groups and share information.

You should be investing one hour per day on LinkedIn. People want to deal with people. When you meet people in person, tell them to add you on LinkedIn. Reach out as much as possible and ask for help. Don't just view other's profiles, say something nice and do something. People need you. Get activated!

Bonus Tip: Use Email Marketing: If you're familiar with email marketing, you can import your contacts from LinkedIn and send out newsletters to reach potential clients.

The people who you are looking for you are the same people who are looking for you. LinkedIn gives us the ability to leverage ourselves by meeting new people every day from all over the world. If you want to monetize your LinkedIn experience, find a way to give people value in the most reliable way and you'll gain more influence than ever before.

Source : http://entm.ag/1Hcw4K3

Socializing Your Brand is Not an Option but a Must.

With the increasing popularity of Facebook and Twitter, almost every single company that has a website is on social media. For some people, social media marketing is just a fad that can provide advantage while it lasts. And then there are others who think it’s a lot of hype around something that holds no advantage. However, socializing your brand has become more important than ever before. 

Is Social Really Important?

Almost a decade ago, marketers were pondering over the same question, thinking that it’s just a fad and will fade away in a few months or a couple of years. It didn’t. Social media is here to stay and has become even more powerful as more and more people network on it.

If you’re looking for one good reason to get social media services for your website, we have a reference list for you.

1. Two-way Immediate Communication

If your customers are upset over something, they don’t want to wait for 30 minutes while their call is put on hold. And they don’t want a 24 hour waiting period for your email. They want a quick response. Your social media service should be active on the network and reply to complaints as soon as possible. This lets other people see how helpful you are, and thus it increases your sales.

2. Transparent Communication

When a customer brings up a complaint regarding your products or services, others can read that. And when your team replies to their concerns, your fans can see how you replied to the comment. This builds a positive brand image. When communication is transparent, it helps both sides. While you build a positive image, customers get their complaints resolved quickly – so it’s a win-win situation.

3. More Conversions

You can’t make new customers with each new post, but when you solve a customer’s complaint, other people will start liking your brand. Also, your posts and replies will reflect your brand essence. Make sure that no matter what the customers say, you have to reply with a positive tone. This will build a positive aura around your brand that will encourage conversions.

4. More Followers 

When a fan experiences positive communication with your brand, they will share this experience with their friends on social media. This is the main reason this platform is called social – people discuss their good and bad experiences. If a person had a bad experience with your company, they will discuss it with their friends, and this will not be good for your brand image. When you get social media marketing services from a good company, you can turn all customer communications into positive experiences and gain more followers.

Remember, being on social media isn’t just about posting content, but also about resolving customer issues. As you answer their questions and resolve their issues, your business will be a bit more vulnerable, but if you have the right social media services, this risk is certainly worth taking.

Source : http://bit.ly/1KFfL33

4 Ways To Boost Your Social Media

You’ve taken the time to set up social media accounts for your business on all the major sites. You’re posting regularly, taking the time to interact with your customers, and using your social media platforms as an opportunity to share information about your products or services. Social media marketing, however, isn’t just about regular posts. It’s also about providing your customers with opportunities to interact with your business. Through that interaction, you’ll be able to build relationships with your customers and increase their opinion of your business substantially.

1-Look for Opportunities for Discussion

What’s the latest hot topic in your field? Are there questions that are truly important to your customer base? If you’re marketing chocolate bars, the question might be simple: do customers prefer an entirely sweet bar with cookie pieces inside, or a slightly salty bar with nuts or sea salt? How do customers select that perfect chocolate bar? For situations like this, a simple poll might be enough to tell you what the majority of your customers prefer, but it’s not always about simply answering the question. Instead, offer your customers the opportunity to engage in discussion or debate. “Sweet or salty? Tell us why!” “What’s your favorite chocolate add-in? Tell us in the comments.” “If you could design the perfect chocolate bar, what would it look like?” Open-ended questions create far better opportunities for discussion and debate than multiple choice questions.

For more complicated marketing campaigns, you have an equally complex array of topics that will give you the opportunity to keep your followers up and debating long past their bedtime. As an added advantage, every time someone comments on your posts, it increases the odds that they’ll see the next one and that others will see it, too. You don’t want your question to be too complex, however! Ideally, you want to ask a question that your customers understand well enough to debate while still leaving plenty of room for differing opinions.

2-Set Up Chat Times

The larger your business, the more trouble you’ll have connecting with any of your customers on a personal level. For many small businesses, however, personal interaction can be the best way to increase customer satisfaction. Choose a social media platform, create an event or a hashtag, and take the opportunity to really chat with your customers. Offer troubleshooting tips about how to use a product that might be causing customers problems. Offer suggestions about how to make their experience with your company or product better. Ask for their questions and give serious, thoughtful answers. Chat times are a wonderful customer interaction tool because they are specific times when your customers know that they’ll be able to reach you.

When you plan chat times, go in with a list of topics ahead of time. Don’t, however, feel as though you have to be trapped by those topics. Let your customers take the lead and guide you through the topics that are of greatest interest to them. When conversation starts to lag, you have your list of topics to help re-engage them in the discussion. Often, it’s helpful to have several members of your marketing team available to help deal with the traffic and answer questions. It may take some trial and error to discover the mix that’s right for your business, but once you do, you’ll discover just how advantageous it can be.

3-Look at the Content that Drives Interaction

Your goal on social media is to engage your customers, so let your customers determine the type of interaction that you use. First, look at which social media platforms are getting the most engagement. Are your customers primarily interacting with you on Facebook, or do they prefer Twitter? How many views do you get on your products when you put them on Pinterest? What about pictures on Instagram: which ones do your customers really care about?

Look over that content regularly. Pay particular attention any time you see that a particular post has received far more or far less interaction than usual, but keep an eye on your median interaction, too. What are the surefire topics that are going to draw out your customers and have them returning to the post to chat with one another over a period of hours or even days? If you’re a clothing company, it might be the season’s newest designs or colors. Produce collectibles? A new announcement is sure to generate attention, but preparing for the big reveal ahead of time can help increase customer excitement and generate more interaction

.

4-Tie in Blog Posts

Most social media posts are intended to be relatively short. There’s a minimal amount that can be said before your platform cuts you off and tells you that you’re out of space; and even if you have unlimited characters to work with, you don’t want to write more than you know that your customers will read. That doesn’t mean, however, that you can’t share longer content on social media platforms. Use your social media platforms to drive greater traffic to your blog and your website. Offer a teaser, a graphic from the post that’s sure to catch your customers’ attention, or a question that will require your customers to read the entire post. Not only will this draw more in-depth interaction to your social media platforms, it will increase traffic to your blog.

Building an effective social media marketing campaign involves some trial and error. You won’t instantly know exactly what to post or how to engage the greatest number of people. With time, however, you’ll learn how to take full advantage of all of your social media accounts.

Source : http://bit.ly/1Q94IHi

14 WAYS TO SUCCESSFULLY MARKET YOUR STARTUP ON SOCIAL MEDIA

There was a time, not all that long ago, when social media didn’t exist – believe it or not. 

People actually read books, made phone calls, sent out hand-written invitations and kept photo albums. Oh how times have changed, for the younger generations anyway. Reports this year state that the number of social network users will rise to 1.73 billion, with the largest, Facebook, claiming to receive a whopping 1.49 billion monthly active users. Just take a minute to ruminate on that figure.

Whether we like it or not, social media has become a major part of our everyday lives, be it to communicate with friends, share pictures of our exotic forays, organise parties or, on a more serious note, grow a business. With the advent of social media, the ability to grow a startup by sharing, engaging and interacting has grown exponentially. Businesses now have a number of platforms – Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Google+, Pinterest, YouTube, Snapchat, etc. – to launch and flourish, platforms that business of old were not privy to.

Here’s how to successfully market your start up on social media…

1. Have a social media strategy before you launch
2. Choose the right social networks that suit your audience
3. Designate budget wisely – the right ads in the right places can be of huge benefit
4. Have a 24/7 presence
5. Interact with your audience – let them know there is a person behind the screen, not a robot
6. Stay true to your brand’s theme – do not be tempted to stray for the sake of cheap hits
7. Follow like-minded people
8. Recruit specific social media roles – it is a full-time job, and its importance to the brand’s growth can not be underestimated
9. Regular reviews on performance
10. Collaborations with other companies, ideally with bigger audiences than your own – competitions, etc...
11. Create achievable goals
12. Don’t be afraid to think out the box
13. Use videos and images to create a strong aesthetic
14. Listen to your audience.

Source : http://bit.ly/1j16OeR

Study: Is Instagram Becoming Saturated?

Follower Growth and Engagement Down

Locowise has found that Instagram growth and engagement were down in July by significant amounts. Did you notice?

The company looked at 2,500 Instagram profiles and their progress for the month of July and found the average follower growth was just 0.34 percent, down 77 percent from May.

• Organic growth dropped from: 1.95 percent in April, to 1.48 precernt in May, to 0.49 percent in June and now 0.34 perdent in July;
• However, this is still better than the 0.21 percent organic page likes growth on Facebook, or the 0.19 percent growth on Twitter.

The average engagement rate was 2.12 percent of all followers, down 19 percent since May.

• Engagement declined from 2.8 percent in April, to 2.61 percent in May, to 2.14 percent in June and now 2.12% in July;
• This is still better than 0.52 percent of total page likes that engage with an average post on Facebook or the 0.15 percent of total followers that engage with the average tweet.

According to a company blog post:

300 million people now actively use Instagram. Facebook reports that a user spends 46 minutes per day between Facebook, Facebook Messenger, and Instagram. 32 percent of U.S. teens see Instagram as their main platform compared to 24 percent for Twitter and 14 percent for Facebook.

Other stats:

• The 2,500 profiles Locowise studied posted 2.39 posts per day on average
• 93.29 percent of all the posts were images, while 11.28 percent of all comments were on videos, despite video being only 6.71 percent of all content posted
• 97.64 percent of all interactions were likes, 2.36 percent were comments and the response time for the first comment to be posted was 49 seconds on average
• Photos engaged 2.16 percent of followers on average, while videos engaged 1.58 percent
• Up to 24 million Instagram users could be bot accounts. These are fake accounts that are active on the platform and are interacting with other users. These spam accounts have posted 6 images on average and have a follower-to-following ratio of 1:41.  

Source : http://bit.ly/1VhAhyJ