9 Ways Influencer Marketing Can Exceed Traditional Advertising

Traditionally, online content was made to be delivered in a commercialized way, similar to pop-up ads and YouTube pre-rolls. But the problem with content like this is that it’s built with a brand’s perspective in mind, not a customer’s. This results in content that doesn’t resonate or engage with an audience.

To successfully resonate with a target audience, content must emulate something or someone that the customer relates to. The overwhelming nature of ads explains why marketing efforts through print, email campaigns, mainstream digital and TV are becoming less effective. But a new extension into the marketing world, known as influencer marketing, is making waves.

At its core, influencer marketing leverages people with heavily-engaged audiences to communicate a brand’s message. It breaks through the noise and connects to the masses, making it more likely to be seen, heard and absorbed than traditional advertising alone. 

As the founder of a global influencer marketing and talent agency that has launched hundreds of campaigns for brands, I’ve come to understand the value of the industry and how space really works. Here are nine reasons why influencer marketing is exceeding traditional advertising.

1. It’s Organic 

Brands that allow for influencers to have more creative freedom achieve incredible results with their content. According to data from Twitter, there is a 5.2 percent increase in purchase intent when users are exposed to both brand and influencer tweets, versus a mere 2.7 percent increase when users are exposed to tweets from brands alone. 

2.  It’s Shareable

Shareability is the driving force behind what makes social media as powerful as it is, as it takes word-of-mouth marketing to an entirely new level. For instance, it’s likely someone will feel more compelled to share a video of a lifestyle YouTuber conducting a beauty tutorial than sharing a product advertised on a YouTube pre-roll. In fact, 94 percent of people skip pre-roll ads after the five-second mark.

3. It Promotes Trust

Trust is the foundation that needs to be built between a consumer and a brand, and influencers assist in bridging the two. Consumers can feel comfortable relying on influencers for recommendations on a certain brand or product just as they would with a friend. 

4. It Can Tap Into Specific Audiences

Influencers can be the key to tapping into a target audience: This is because influencers aren’t unique to one area; they’re spread throughout the world. Each influencer audience differs significantly from one another, whether it be by location, age, gender, etc. More so, influencers tap into a variety of interests, including travel, food, art, sports, beauty, DIY, etc.

5. It Can Be Amplified by Paid Media

Paid media through social is a large part of many marketers’ current spend, and its landscape is ever-changing as platforms continue to transform. Paid media can be used to amplify influencer content on brand platforms or within the influencer’s channel.

6. It’s Cost-Effective

When compared to mainstream marketing, influencer marketing is more cost-effective in many ways. Traditionally, the costs associated with creating content can be extremely high, but influencers create content as part of the cost of leveraging their network. Content from creators is typically much more vibrant and engaging, thus achieving a more valuable result. Organic reach and the quality of the audience’s attention delivers more value than comparable media prices, with access to the same audience.

7. It Serves More Than One Purpose

Influencer marketing is not about merely posting to a large audience. Content produced by influencers can be reused for paid media, distribution, social content and commercials, just to name a few. Influencers have the ability to be multifaceted with a brand, just as content creators, strategists, brand ambassadors and spokespeople are. 

8. It Attracts a Younger Audience

Today’s generations aren’t engaging with advertisements on TV as previous generations once did. According to Think with Google, in 2015, 18- to 49-year-olds spent four percent less time watching TV, and 74 percent more time watching YouTube. Influencer marketing offers access to audiences that have been disengaged and grants more communication with them than ever before. 

9. It Connects the Consumer to the Brand

In traditional forms of advertising, there is little that ties the consumer to the brand. Influencer marketing has the ability to dramatically increase the way consumers interact with a brand, as influencers can create a voice for that brand. Consumers may also rely on influencers to dictate their decisions and preference. 

Ultimately, it comes down to this: Would you rather have a pop-up ad tell your story or a trusted voice? Influencer marketing is still overlooked and misunderstood in many ways within the media industry, but the amount of brands and agencies that are embracing influencer marketing continues to increase.

Source: http://huff.to/2cSmddV

5 Ways Small Business Brands Can Use Instagram Video

So it happened. Facebook owned Instagram released video functionality on their app to go head to head against Twitter’s Vine app. The battle lines are drawn and people and brands are already choosing sides. But what does this mean for your small business?

With Instagram already boasting more than 130 million users, there was already a case to be made that your company may want a presence on the photo sharing platform. That said, there are some stories that a still image just can’t capture. The addition of a video feature (even at a max of 15 sec.) provides even more flexibility to the message that your brand can share with your audience.

Still need more convincing? Instagram’s videos can be directly shared on your Facebook page. When posted to Facebook, they appear in a large, timeline filling thumbnail, there is no doubt that your fans will take notice.

If you are considering adding Instagram videos to your social media marketing mix, here are a few creative ideas you should try:

1. Before & Afters

Although not applicable to every business, before and after videos are a wonderful testament to the effectiveness of a product, or service. Showing a potential customer the end result of working with you may prove to be the final push that causes them to reach out. Unlike a before and after photo, video will allow you to show multiple angles, or focus points of the true difference you offer.

2. Previews

Are you about to launch a new product or service? A 15 second sneak peek behind the curtain may be the perfect way to build excitement and anticipation about its release. If you can show your existing and potential customers the value of your new release, you may be able to get a few pre-orders, or at least create a list of interested parties to eagerly anticipate your launch.

3. Comparisons

Is your product, or service really better than the competition? If so, it’s time to prove it! Show your solution toe to toe with the competition. If you can outperform them on video, it will be pretty hard for viewers to choose your rivals over you.

4. Mini Commercials

It’s time to get creative. Just because you are a small business doesn’t mean you can’t have commercials. Instagram’s video capabilities give you everything you need to produce short, free, and meaningful communications with your audience. Don’t be afraid to try something. If you don’t like what you’ve produced, simply delete it and start over. You never know, maybe you’re a regular Ron Howard.

5. Customer Testimonials

Customer testimonials may be the most powerful use of Instagram. Who has the budget to send a film crew out to every satisfied customer? Now you do. Anytime a customer brings up how your product, or service benefits them (saved time, saved money, increase production, improved sales, increase ROI, peace of mind, etc.), simply take out your phone and ask them for a 15 second testimonial on the spot. Not everyone will say yes, but the ones that do will be giving you pure video gold.

No matter if you decide to use Instagram and its video feature, or not, the addition to the app will make an impact on the way brands tell their stories. You have the chance to take advantage of this new feature and use it to tell your brand’s story. Will you accept the challenge?

How will your use Instagram videos to spread your message?

 Source : http://bit.ly/1RHWB6u

6 SOCIAL MEDIA TRUTHS EVERY BUSINESS PIONEER SHOULD UNDERSTAND

The modern business owner cannot assume a website is the only thing a company requires to tide through this digital era.

Two of the most volatile worlds collide when we mix business with the Internet. The former has to heavily depend on the latter to grow, stay afloat and survive in the competitive world of marketing.

Online marketing has become one of the most popular and efficient ways to not just reach new customers but also to understand and evaluate current trends and requirements. The modern business owner cannot assume a website is the only thing a company requires to tide through this digital era.

Social media is a powerful weapon in the field of marketing and is a double-edged sword at that. If used correctly, it can lead to enormous growth and positive publicity; whereas, if left unsupervised and unmonitored, it can be the cause for a downfall in no time.

There are a number of things one must keep in mind while investing time and money in online marketing. The few truths of the ever-changing world of social media, which one must abide by, are noted in this blog post.

Planning your marketing strategy

Out of the main giants of social media, the one that is often the most neglected is the one that may have the most potential if utilized in the right way. Google Plus must be used optimally when planning your online marketing strategy. It may still be in its infancy, even now, and is usually overshadowed by bigger fish in the social media field like Facebook or Twitter, but it has amassed a niche crowd in a short span of time.

Google Plus has the advantage of being linked with other Google services and will ultimately be able to provide your ad campaign with a wider audience with less investment of energy and resources.

Google Plus allows a company to start off its social media campaign in fresh light and with a clean slate. It has unique features such as “huddle” and “circles,” which allow for the grouping together of like-minded people, creating a ready consumer base for your idea/service/product.

Building your brand online

The reach provided to companies by social media platforms is unimaginable. Ranging from the youth right up to centenarians, everyone is taking to these websites and online portals to connect, share, debate and discuss events and ideas.

While it is not an easy task to get noticed and make a dent on the shiny, polished exterior of this world, once you do manage to crack the code to what catches the eye of your target audience, you will sail through. In order to do so, you have to be well aware of what makes your product(s)/service(s) better than your competitors.

Every day you do not use social media platforms, your rivals are getting the better of it and, ultimately, gaining from the exposure — not just in terms of reputation but also regarding consumer base and loyalty.

Building your brand online is the way to go in this day and age of flux. Review reporting is an ingenious method to gauge your growth and study trends which could become a rage in the future. This can only be done if you are a part of the cult that believes in social media advertising.

Increase your digital presence

Many people, if not most, who use the Internet usually have Facebook and/or Twitter and Google Plus accounts. This ready customer pool is always accepting of unique things or ideas that have potential.

Keeping your brand visible in these circles will increase your digital presence by multiple folds. Social media spreads across laptops, tablets and smartphones. This not only improves your visibility but also increases your reach. The number of people using smartphones has increased; and, simultaneously, the digital market has expanded.

Boost traffic with SEO

Search engine optimization (SEO) is another important aspect of maintaining your online presence. Many SEO experts say the easiest way to hide a dead company is in the third page of Google’s search results, and those words couldn’t be truer.

If your company doesn’t get listed on the first page then you automatically lose against your competitors who do. Once you begin to get clicks on your website and climb the rankings, your focus should shift to ensuring that the clicks are converted into actual customers. This will boost the traffic on your website and help your business grow.

Combine traditional and digital marketing approaches

While engaging in social media, the tertiary benefit is that your offline play becomes much stronger. This marrying of traditional and digital marketing is the key to a successful campaign.

The online strategy will increase your visibility and keep your product/service fresh in the minds of your target audience so that the traditional methods of advertising can build on a pre-established consumer base.

Grow your customer base

The biggest, and possibly the most underused, advantage of marketing via a social media platform is that every single share, like or comment creates a channel for your product/service’s page or post to be featured on the newsfeeds of thousands of people you didn’t even know had the potential to become your customers.

This vast untapped pool of virtual population can be used to not just boost click rates on your website but also, in the long run, increase the number of loyal and happy customers your company serves.

Engaging in conversations on posts over social media with those who take the time to give you an appraisal, and taking concrete steps to solve their grievances, will help you receive the goodwill of people you did not even know would stumble upon your post.

Social media marketing is a tough nut to crack; but once you realize how powerful a tool it can be and how gigantic the potential is, you will waste no time utilizing this approach as a main method of advertising. Social media has sealed its position as one of the most important ways to reach millions of customers — and with minimal resources and investment needed. It allows you to reinvent your marketing strategy every few months, or years; and the best thing about the Internet is that, although it can be ruthless at times, it is also very forgiving. You can’t help but be noticed when you use the Internet as a tool to grow your business if you do it right.

  Source: http://bit.ly/1UJgXN6

The Advantages of Working for a Startup

There are many different risks that appear when working for startup companies. Over 75 percent of startups fail, so it is quite obvious that job security is something that is not a given, no matter how great the initial project is. Short-term risks are definitely high and the pay is not normally high when you are initially hired.

While the disadvantages are obviously numerous and should not be taken lightly, many are still highly interested in finding startup jobs. You have various different sites to help you find a startup job. The demand is high for these jobs, but why is that? Mainly: a startup job offers many advantages that often can’t be found in other traditional jobs.

Motivating Growth Environment

One of the advantages of working for a startup company is that the companies will encourage individualism and creativity, and strict hierarchy normally doesn’t really exist. This basically means that you will get a lot of freedom. The workers manage to directly influence the evolution of a startup, making this highly attractive for those that want to make a difference.

Working in a startup is something that is normally associated with risks but it is also something that is attractive because of the environment offered. Combine this with the potential growth that is much higher with a corporate job and you have something that is attractive for a large part of the population, especially younger people.

Attractive Extra Perks

The salary that you get in a startup job is normally lower than what you would obtain something else but the business owners do manage to attract many through extra perks. For instance, the company can allow you to work from home or can offer free meals. We can also highlight the fact that for many that look for a startup job it is the satisfaction of doing a really good job that is enough. While many work for salaries, some are attracted by other things.

Quickly Gaining Skills and Experience

The startup environment is naturally one that is sped up. You basically end up learning everything that you need to do in a much shorter period of time as you are forced to do this. Many skills can be gained and all those can be added to the CV.

A problem with the larger corporations is that job descriptions naturally limit duties. This is not actually the case in a startup since working there will force you to move to other duties and to constantly adapt. You can even end up mastering a brand new job, making you a lot more valuable for the future employer.

Should You Work For A Startup Company?

The truth is that working for a startup company is definitely not something that is for everyone. You may want to try it out though since startups can help you to grow at a much faster pace than regular jobs in large corporations. For many, this is the largest advantage associated with working for a startup.

 Source : http://bit.ly/1QryE0S

4 Things Successful Change Leaders Do Well

We know that two-thirds of large scale transformation efforts fail. But that’s not a terribly helpful piece of information―unless we’re looking for confirmation that this is hard, really hard. What is useful is to understand what leaders can do to substantially increase the odds that their companies won’t be among the two-thirds of those that fail. From my research and work with companies around the world leading large-scale transformation initiatives, here are the four things I’ve found that virtually all successful change leaders do really well:

Recognize embedded tensions and paradoxes

Smart, capable, solid professionals most often perform well in their roles until they reach a level in their organizations at which they are confronted with a series of embedded tensions and paradoxes that make leading effectively much more complicated. The most common paradoxes leaders face when driving a transformation effort are:

1. Revitalization vs. Normalization. At the core of every change initiative is the desire to breathe new life into the organization―to revitalize ways of thinking, behaving and working. But one change initiative often morphs into many, and before long employees become “change weary.” Thus, we find ourselves in the conflicted situation of needing revitalization but desiring normalization.
2. Globalization vs. Simplification. Doing business today means doing business globally, but the complexities brought on by globalization are often in conflict with the need for organizations to make it simple for customers to do business with them. Leaders struggle with creating organizational responses that address the need to master globalization while offering customers and employees optimal simplification.
3. Innovation vs. Regulation. Many organizations, particularly in the aftermath of the global financial crisis, are saddled with trying to do business, let along innovate, under increasingly crushing regulatory environments. This is a stifling tax on a company’s capacity to find creative approaches to solving unmet customers’ needs. As such we struggle with the tension between the desire to boost innovation and the need to operate under increasing regulation.
4. Optimization vs. Rationalization. Customers not only have more power today―in some industries, they seem to have all of the power. Organizations are struggling to provide solutions that are better, faster, cheaper and increasingly customized. Leaders are caught in a seemingly endless struggle to reconcile the tension between optimizing benefits to customers while rationalizing their costs of doing business.
5. Digitization vs. Humanization. Advanced technology is at the core of virtually every company’s business model today. Entire value chains are being digitized. Yet, the onset of ubiquitous digitization is occurring at the same time that individuals are yearning for a sense of meaning in their organizations. Leaders are struggling with how to reconcile the increasing need for the digitization of their business models while trying to create organizational climates that have an authentic sense of humanization―creating an overarching sense of purpose and collective ambition.

Successful transformation leaders embrace these tensions even though they make the challenge more complex. There are no easy answers; however, the leader’s bedrock commitment to helping to reconcile these tensions is paramount. That means above all committing to an on-going communications and listening campaign so people know what’s going on and know how they might contribute to the transformation effort―and know that they are invited to do so. This process starts by the CEO and top team telling powerful and compelling stories of where the company has been, where it is now and where it needs to go―and why. But it doesn’t end there. Senior leaders must be ready to open up the flood gates so managers and employees closest to the client interface can surface these tensions and discuss them openly. While this might not resolve the tensions and paradoxes, it enables people to at least acknowledge that they exist, have their concerns heard, and discuss proactive ways forward together.

Hold everyone accountable

The leadership of the change effort can’t end with the top team, the top 100 managers, or the top 1,000 managers. It has to be an all-hands-on-deck engagement. The change leader must signal that enterprise-wide transformation will be a collective effort, with accountability distributed throughout the organization.

But it is far easier to say this than to do this, so change leaders must be ready to back up their statements with real world initiatives that will strengthen engagement. For example, when Hess Corporation launched its 2020 Change Initiative, CEO John Hess challenged his entire leadership team to come up with solutions that would make the company more agile, cost conscience, and faster at decision making. And to minimize change weariness brought on by needless duplication of effort, he created a champions team responsible for coordinating the variety of efforts underway.

Invest in new organizational capabilities

Change leaders must go beyond storytelling, motivation, and mobilization efforts―they need to provide resources so that the organization has what it needs to win in the new environment. This might include capital improvements, process improvements, and building new talent capabilities.

For example, for three decades leading up to 2010, HSBC had successfully pursued a growth strategy and organizational capability that was founded upon acquisitions. However, with acquisition upon acquisition, the leaders within HSBC failed to develop a one-company culture, which made it difficult to integrate its offerings to an increasingly demanding customer base. As such, Stephen Green, HSBC’s Chairman at the time, set the company on a course that called for a dramatic slowdown of acquisitions, at least until the current portfolio of companies was integrated and a culture of what Green referred to as Collective Management was cemented. This meant nothing short of building new organizational capabilities based upon collaboration and client-first thinking, which not only meant developing new systems and processes but building a collective mindset that would make aspiring to being a one-company culture a reality.

Emphasize continuous learning

It’s far easier to talk about revitalization and renewal than to actually do it. The companies that pull it off have transformation leaders that commit to a relentless learning process.

Perhaps the best example I know of a remarkably successful transformation leader is Alan Mulally, who not only led the transformation effort for Boeing Commercial Airlines, but also the stunning turnaround of Ford Motor Company. Mulally would be the first to insist that Ford’s transformation was not his achievement but rather the collective achievement of thousands of stakeholders, including employees, suppliers, dealers, unions, financial institutions, Board members and others. Mulally believed deeply in his “leading together” philosophy from his Boeing experience, but this became even more critical at Ford, due to the multitude of stakeholders and a political infighting culture that had become toxic. Mulally would have none of that. He brought his top managers together weekly to assess problems and progress, through his implementation process called the Creating Value Roadmap. Met with heavy resistance at first due to fear of admitting problems, Mulally pursued this course and built trust that those who were brave enough to acknowledge that they needed help were actually showcased as exactly the kind of leader that Mulally was looking for in Ford’s future. At every meeting, managers were asked: what have we learned by airing concerns, making course corrections, and especially, fixing problems together? By combining his relentless focus on implementation and making tough calls with an equally important focus on continuous learning, Mulally transformed Ford from a moribund company on the verge of bankruptcy to one of today’s most successful automobile companies in the world.

Leveraging these four activities, while framing the transformation effort as a collective challenge to be embraced together, fuels positive change over the long haul—which is important since the transformation journey is a never-ending one for most companies today. Ultimately, these practices create a culture of agility and resiliency that will pay dividends out into the future, as large-scale change becomes an organizational capability and not a recipe for management failure.

Source : http://bit.ly/1SlSxH1

The 5 Most Damaging Marketing Mistakes New Entrepreneurs Make

The term “mistakes” has a negative connotation: You've made a decision or implemented something that didn’t go as planned; now you have to deal with the repercussions.

Yet most mistakes, even ones that in the moment seem massive, end up being only temporary setbacks. In fact, they usually end up as positive assets because they teach valuable lessons about how to improve your business or approach.

Unfortunately, not all mistakes are this innocuous. Some, in the marketing realm, actually do long-term harm to your campaign. And, as described below, most of these mistakes are especially damaging because they aren’t obvious. Fixing a blog post with a spelling or accuracy issue is one thing. But when you exhibit a fundamental misunderstanding of best marketing practices, it’s much harder to smooth over the effects.

So, if you’re a new entrepreneur, or unsure if your marketing campaign is going well, take a moment to make sure you aren’t making these five truly damaging mistakes:

1. Ignoring the brand

Trying to market your business without a brand is like throwing a house party without specifying the address. Your brand serves as a foundation of identity for new and old customers alike. It should underline and inform all messaging you put out, from the content of your website to the images on your Facebook banner.

When people see your brand, or notice your logo, or pick up on your style of speaking and area of expertise, they’ll form an opinion of certain traits of your business. Without that connection, your material is floating in space with no association. Plus, the more connections you build, the more familiar your customers will become with your brand, and the more likely they’ll be to buy from you. Without that presence or consistency, you won’t be able to build relationships -- and you might not even get credit for your work.

2. Marketing to everyone

You have to choose whom you want to market to, but too many entrepreneurs make the simple choice: market to everybody. After all, “everybody” is the largest possible audience, so it offers the largest possible return, right? Wrong. Even if you could somehow use one selection of platforms to get a specific message to everyone in the world, that message would be too generic for the entire population to value or remember.

Instead, to stand out, you have to be unique, and if you want to make an impression, you have to be relevant. Being both unique and relevant requires you to create specifically crafted messaging for one segment of the population at a time.

3. Making assumptions about an audience 

All that being said, there are some marketers who understand they must create messaging for specific audience segments but still don't do it effectively. In large part, this is because they’ve made broad assumptions about their target audience, rather than relying on data and research to support their ideas.

For example, they might assume that middle-aged men interested in their product would want a stoic, professional voice and bare-bones, straightforward information, when in reality, this audience would prefer a more casual tone, with humor. As a general rule, you should question every assumption you make. Are you making your marketing decisions because of the way you think things work, or because of the way thingsactually work? Data is your only path to the truth.

4. Investing too much (or not enough)

Successful investment in a marketing campaign demands a careful balance. Investing too much money at the start of your campaign, before you’ve gotten to know your target audience intimately, can create excess waste. You don’t know what platforms work best because you haven’t had the opportunity to test them, and you’re essentially gambling on what you think might work in your favor.

On the other hand, investing too little will leave you with few results, and barely enough data to form any meaningful conclusions.

5. Failing to experiment

Marketing isn’t a point-and-shoot game, no matter how much we sometimes want it to be. It’s a game of setting and resetting expectations, getting asymptotically closer to a “perfect” strategy, without ever quite getting there. The only way to get better is by experimenting -- trying new things and being bold with your strategies, to see which ones work and which ones fail.

If you aren’t actively experimenting, you can’t possibly improve, and that means you’ll remain stagnant in your long-term progress. Never rule out a strategy unless you have data proving it to be ineffective; and never turn down an opportunity to learn more about your brand and customers.

In sum, these mistakes aren’t just the most damaging for new entrepreneurs -- they’re also some of the most common. I’ve spoken and worked with dozens of entrepreneurs who have banked their entire strategies on some of these ideas. And, the good news is that if you catch these mistakes early enough,

If, at this moment, you can identify yourself making them, you’ve already won half the battle. 

Source : http://entm.ag/1Sh696u

Top Trends in Marketing for This Year

At the start of every year, many inbound marketers like to take a glimpse into what the future holds. It’s exciting to see what new software, hardware, and strategies are at the forefront, and make predictions about what will become the next best thing … and what will fizzle out.

The marketing trends for this year will not disappoint, so here’s a look at what to expect and how to plan for what’s ahead.

Video and images are essential.

Much like the last two years, imagery will continue to drive traffic, generate leads, and convert sales. However, some marketers are still getting on board to use video and images, so you’ll be competing with many more companies for customer attention. Plus, Google is now incorporating in-SERP video ads, giving your content much more exposure.

Virtual reality and 3D are the next major shift.

Video and images will continue to be essential–even more so as developers launch products enabling virtual reality and 3D technology for marketing. While the market will generally focus on gaming, there are opportunities marketers must seize. Integration with social media and video channels will lead to more direct messaging for users.

Make sure you’re optimized for mobile.

Users of portable devices will become even more reliant on mobile usage as compared to desktops, so your pages must be developed accordingly. Use responsive design techniques or create a separate app for users to ensure smooth, glitch-free navigation.

Marketers must embrace the omnichannel approach.

Marketing has always been about reaching your potential customers in the places they’re hanging out. In 2016, they’ll be all over and expect you to be there with them. An integrated approach to the customer experience is important–one that blends interactions for a seamless encounter, instead of a series of connections through your website, social media, and app separately.

This is especially important for businesses with a brick-and-mortar location in addition to online marketplace. If there’s a disconnect between the two experiences, there will be a disruption in your messaging.

Social media is a channel, not a strategy.

For years, marketers have used social media as a strategy for reaching customers. However, these platforms aren’t an approach on their own; rather, your social media profile is a part of your comprehensive marketing strategy–it’s a channel for messaging, not a separate tactic. Think of it as a microphone that supplements and amplifies your content.

Wearables and the Internet of Things (IoT) will dominate.

Wearable technology means your customers are never without their smart device; the IoT is turning everyday objects into network connections. These solutions gained some traction in 2015 and you can expect them to boom in the coming months. The landscape of local marketing will see the most impact as the lines between online and traditional marketing become blurred.

The 2016 Outlook

If there’s one common theme tying together all of these sales and marketing trends, it’s that marketers must focus on the customer experience in their efforts. Your content must meet the desires of demanding customers, delivering relevance and context through the channels they want. They have high expectations and limited patience, so your strategies must meet their needs and expectations to get a leg up over the competition.

Source : http://bit.ly/1PIPq7o

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7 Ways For Startups To Build A Strong Social Media Following

If you’re a startup, operating on a limited budget, it becomes essential to focus your marketing on low-budget marketing strategies that are proven to work. You need to make every penny count.

Social media is essential to any new startup’s marketing plan because it offers free and low cost ways to promote a new website. Social can work better than techniques like SEO to build traffic in the initial states of promoting a startup.

Here are seven ways that startups can build a strong following on social media.

1. Create buyer personas

Buyer personas are an inbound marketing strategy that help you hone in and focus on the right target audience. With a limited marketing budget, the last thing you want to do is to throw money away on marketing to an audience that is not interested in your products or services.

Creating a buyer persona will help you focus only on those people that are likely to purchase what you have to offer. When creating your buyer personas for potential customers, you need to list:

• Their job and demographic information
• What a day in their life looks like
• Their challenges or pain points
• Places where they access the information they want
• Their most common objections to making a purchase

Understanding all these aspects of your buyers will help you focus your marketing and content to appeal to the right buyers at every stage in the sales funnel.

For example, this is what a buyer persona might look like for a startup like BigBasket.com.

2. Create a responsive website

With a majority of internet users now accessing the web from their mobile devices, your startup website needs to have responsive web design and be easily accessible on all mobile devices.

Google’s “Mobilegeddon” update made having a mobile-friendly site a ranking factor in the Google search results. That means, if you hope to use SEO to get traffic to your website, your design needs to be responsive, so it adapts to any mobile device that it is viewed on.

The alternative is creating a mobile app, which is an expensive proposition for a startup, and not really necessary if your website is responsive. If you use WordPress to build your website, it is easy to download a free or low-cost theme to make your website mobile friendly.

3. Create a social presence on select channels

One of the biggest misconceptions startups have is that they need to build a presence on every social network. This only means you’ll spread yourself thin and remain unfocused in your marketing strategy.

While I would recommend creating an account on all social networks, just to make sure no one else takes charge of your brand name, you need to focus your efforts only on those networks that your buyer persona is spending the most time on.

For example, for the Busy Mom Persona above, Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest and Instagram might be the best networks to focus on because these are thenetworks most frequently accessed by women. The more focused your efforts, the mbore successful your social media marketing campaign will be.

4. Invest in social advertisements

The fastest way to build a strong following on a network like Facebook is with paid advertising. Facebook Like ads can grow your following, while Promoted post ads can boost engagement on your best content.

Facebook advertising is still relatively low-cost, especially if you’re advertising to an audience in India. For just a few rupees a click, you can grow your network to thousands of targeted fans and followers.

On Twitter and Pinterest, it is still easy to build a following without advertising. But if you’re in a hurry to grow your numbers and get your startup in front of more people, explore Twitters follower ads and Pinterest’s Promoted Pinsoptions.

Set aside a budget for social media advertising and you will be able to build a strong social media follower base in a much shorter time.

5. Start a blog and post regularly

While your social media profiles are your outreach posts, I highly recommend that you make your blog the hub of your social presence. Publishing a regular blog is great for SEO, and also provides you with original content to post on your social networks.

Make sure your blog is setup to capture leads and emails from blog subscribers. There’s no point sending traffic to your blog, if you’re not generating targeted leads that you can add to a follow-up email campaign.

Your blog is an essential component of your sales funnel, so invest some time and effort in publishing posts that target the challenges and pain points of your buyer personas.

Publish content in multiple formats, like video, infographics and PPT (Slideshare) to reach those customers who prefer consuming content in these formats. Spend some time learning how to make your content stand out from the clutter.

6. Invest in social customer service

Social customer service is such an important aspect of social media today, that it’s no longer an option whether you should invest in it or not.

On average, 40 percent of customers complaining on social media expect a response within an hour, and 32 percent expect a response within 30 minutes. It would be wise to hire a dedicated social media manager to answer queries immediately.

Social networks like Facebook have even introduced features that display how quickly customers can expect a response from their favorite pages. If you respond to 90% of messages and maintain a median response time of 5 minutes for all replies sent, your page will qualify for a “very responsive to messages” icon.

As a new startup, you can build an advantage over more established competitors if you show your fans that you are super responsive to their queries and concerns.

Facebook also allows Page admins to reply to comments left on their Page with private messages. This can help you respond to personal requests and handle customer-specific information more effectively.

Facebook’s “Saved Replies” feature gives you the ability to use canned messages when communicating with potential customers on your page. This can help you cut down on the time you spend responding to frequently asked questions.

On Twitter, response times have to be quick, or else customers are likely to complain and spread negativity about your brand. To learn how to create a social customer service program that gets results, read the 2015 Definitive Guide to Social Customer Service.

7. Hold contests and promotions

The best way for a new startup to build visibility and buzz on social media is with the help of contests and promotions. Offering free versions of your products, discounts, or prizes, can help you get a lot of new followers and fans in a short amount of time.

Spend some time coming up with a creative idea for your contest. Use videos to announce your contest, and upload your videos directly to Facebook, so you can benefit from the viral nature of Facebook shares.

Use social ads to advertise your contests and promotions to a targeted audience of buyers. Contests and promotions can create a lot of positive publicity and word of mouth for your brand on social media. 

Source : http://bit.ly/1m7mazL