12 questions and answers – a guide to social media!

The growing popularity of social media and the transfer of many businesses to the Internet has meant that the structure of advertising today is largely based on activities centered around social media. After all, who among us does not use Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat or Pinterest. It’s hard to meet someone who, even without an account, doesn’t occasionally go to favorite profiles or look for information or inspiration right there.

It is estimated that currently more than 2 billion users have social media accounts. This is a gigantic number that grows every day. Today, not having a presence on Facebook or Instagram can be considered somewhat exclusionary.

If I search for a particular company or service and don’t find information about it on the Internet, I always wonder what kind of person is behind the company or service – does he/she focus on development since he/she is not present on social media, does he/she move with the times and improve the quality of his/her services, and does he/she develop his/her competence?

Similarly, when I see that a company is actively promoting its activities it is in a sense a manifesto: “yes, we are and we are growing, we want to build a relationship with you”. After all, today we no longer buy products, but relationships with the company owner or stories related to the brand.

This is the reason why a social media presence is a tangible benefit for any company. It’s a bridge to relationships with potential customers and an opportunity to present the day-to-day of your work in a unique way. At the same time, it’s a springboard to communicate expertise in your field.

1. Facebook – the king of social media

Facebook is a medium that currently has more than 2 billion users. Of these, most spend about 35 minutes on the portal. This is a time comparable to performing daily physiological activities.

In light of this statistic, it would be a sin not to take advantage of the traffic that users bring. If you have a local or global business, Facebook is one of the best and easiest ways to attract customers.e?

Effective promotion on Facebook must be preceded by performing an audit and creating an action strategy based on current algorithms. The basis is to determine the target group of customers and their preferences and adjust the strategy to reach them through promotional channels. It requires for thoughtful actions and having a budget within which the various activities can be undertaken.

Presence in social media channels requires a lot of work and strategies based on a solid foundation of knowledge, experience and creativity.

1.1 What is needed to get traffic from Facebook?

• Identify goals, related to Facebook presence. Goals should be short-term and long-term. The most common ones will include: increasing the number of likes on the profile, increasing the reach, getting specific results from a given advertising campaign. Each goal will require different actions, different types of content and a different strategy of action.
• Estimating the target audience of the product or service. Here it is very useful to determine whose problems your product or service solves, and then define how to communicate.
• Planning a strategy for publishing posts and sponsored posts.
• Observing the competition and drawing conclusions. It’s worth following your competitors’ channels for inspiration and to stay abreast of industry trends.
• It’s worth planning what will happen to the user after they perform a certain action. It would be beneficial to offer a free ebook, or the opportunity to sign up for a newsletter. This will create an opportunity to build a longer interaction.
• Do regular, insightful research on topics related to your industry so you can create intriguing posts.
• Bet on valuable content – interesting and engaging content will always defend itself, while giving you the opportunity for more. For more on this, see the post on how to engage your audience.

2. Instagram – the magic of photos

Instagram is an online photo-sharing platform that took the market by storm in 2010. Today, eight years after its launch, it boasts 1 billion users. For this reason, the benefits of having a brand profile in this medium cannot be overlooked. It’s a great tool for building brand awareness, expanding the audience channel and distributing products, and services.

Key in the context of activities on Instagram is distinction. Already today we can observe hundreds of thousands of accounts with unique, intriguing photos. This is a somewhat saturated market, which is why it is so important to create a strategy and define your goals and methods of promotion.

On the other hand, it may be beneficial to use additional apps that allow you to use special filters, such as Afterlight (0.99 euros) or Snapseed. Another noteworthy app is Camera+, designed exclusively for iOS, which allows you to get the effect of professional photos.

However, even the best photos won’t be seen by potential viewers if you don’t tag them properly. This is done by using hashtags, which are phrases preceded by the # sign. They allow you to assign photos to given subject groups, while allowing Facebook users to find your profile on Instagram. Some of the most popular hashtags include #instagood, #nofilter, #tbt, #follow, or #love.

2.1 What is needed to get traffic from Instagram?

• Valuable, interesting, intriguing content. There is one simple reason why these are the most important aspects – high saturation with photos. If you don’t stand out with content then you will have a very hard time regularly increasing your reach and reaching new people.

• Planned strategy. For this, you can use post planning tools to make the whole process less time-consuming. The key is to determine your audience and how you want to convey your message. If you are running a serious business then it would be a good idea to add reliable statistics and photos of successful businesses. If, on the other hand, you are a lifestyle blogger then it is very good if you add humorous elements to your photos.
• Be involved. Create stories, interact, let yourself be known as a normal person, or a company that has – like all of us – sometimes an uphill battle. Instagram is somewhat of a utopia, where everyone is perfect and has no problems. Make yourself stand out by depicting both successes and failures. Your fans will appreciate it.
• Take advantage of promotions on other social networks. Link to your Facebook profile, tag your Snapchat account. Be visible.
• Try to collaborate with companies and influencers. For example, you can offer a free service or product in exchange for sharing a post. There are plenty of possibilities.

3. Twitter – in 140 characters for information

Twitter is a platform that allows you to exchange short, concise information contained in 140 characters. It has been present on the market since 2006, and has been fiercely competing for the title of top social media. A distinctive feature of the portal is the character length limit of the aforementioned 140 characters. In a way, this has defined the portal and set it apart from others.

Short, concise and succinct comments are the domain of Twitter. Many of them contain a large number of “hashtags” (#) and “mentions” (@), which have redirects to the source of the tweet, or articles developing the topic.rozwijających temat.

The so-called Twitter search is responsible for navigating the portal. It allows you to search for the latest information and current trends in given topics. It’s also a great way to check whether the post you want to upload will find the right audience.

Twitter is characterized by high emotionality. Suffice it to say that with various sports events, the portal is the fastest commenting medium in the world. In addition, it provides an opportunity to learn the opinion of celebrities, experts, athletes or musicians.

Almost all activities on Twitter can be characterized as natural. This is a big difference from, among others, Instagram, where many photos are heavily retouched and improved with filters.

In addition to hashtags, the platform allows brands to “target” their potential customers. How? Based on the emojis they choose. For example, a burger maker can use knowledge of which users have used the burger emoji

3.1 What does it take to get traffic from Twitter?

• Unique, brilliant content, characterized by emotion. For this is the essence of Twitter. Make yourself known as a person with your own opinion and your own views. Express them in a cultured way, but from time to time let yourself ride the bandwagon. Observers will certainly pay attention to you.
• Be involved in discussions and interactions with fans. Don’t ignore negative comments – moreover, respond to them with boldness and spite. Remember that none of us is perfect, and it’s worthwhile to simply laugh at your flaws sometimes.
• Share valuable content. Retweet. Share interesting information. This way you will be able to inspire others, while remaining open to new stimuli yourself.
• Use hashtags wisely. This will allow you to reach a wider audience and increase your chances of having people interested in your topic. It’s simple. If you deal with SEO, for example, you should primarily use hashtags such as #seo, #optimization, #positioning in your posts.
• Create circles of interest and reach. Follow people with similar interests to you. It is estimated that nearly 30% of people with similar interests to you will become interested in your topics and start following you. Take advantage of economies of scale – observe interesting people, be active on their profiles, and you are likely to gain their favor and create a multi-dimensional interaction.
• Today, it is estimated that more than 800 million users visit the site each month.

YouTube is a platform that is growing by the day. Speculation is growing louder and louder that it is about to replace television. This is likely, given that the majority of 18-34 year olds do not watch TV, but are just taking advantage of the opportunities YouTube provides.

Today, it is estimated that more than 800 million users visit the site each month.

Video is one of the most attractive forms of promoting one’s brand. It allows you to operate in a wide range of topics – from showing an expert image, to sharing knowledge, to promoting your own products. You can do all this in different forms, and this is the greatest advantage of video. You can prepare interesting vlogs from your life, weaving elements of your company into it, or simply show your life from behind the scenes. You can sit in front of the camera and give a substantive lecture with a marker in your hand.

A valuable video has a very good chance of being promoted naturally, i.e. shared and recommended between users of the site.

4.1 What does it take to get traffic from YouTube?

• Interesting content, as in any social media. You can choose from many types of video. However, it is important that you determine the base form of the content you present. Do you want to bet on vlogs from your life, or on substantive speeches, or maybe you want to show how to perform certain activities on the computer? It’s all up to you. You don’t have to focus exclusively on one form at a time.
• Create an interesting profile. Come up with an interesting name, upload an intriguing graphic, prepare an interesting description. Put links to other social media channels in the information section.
• Determine your goal for a given period of time – whether it is to increase conversions (we wrote about how to achieve it in a separate post) or to increase the quality of your video, or to reach more potential interested parties.
• You can use “TrueView In-Stream” paid advertising. This is a form of video advertising that is displayed before the user plays a video of his/her choice. In this case, you pay only for the displayed video – not for the skipped video. In order to create it, it is necessary to set up a Google AdWords account.
• Take advantage of other forms of advertising, test, optimize and increase your conversion rate.
• Invite people to perform an action. Target viewers’ actions with subscriptions and video sharing. Carve out time in your videos for calls to action.

5. Pinterest – the power of a clear message

Pinterest is where the pinning process evolved. After all, since time immemorial we have been pinning colored pieces of paper to a cork board, or doing it on the refrigerator using a magnet. Today we reminisce on Pinterest, and it’s safe to say that this is the natural order of things in terms of the evolution of pinning as an activity.

The platform has been around since 2010. The number of users and observers is growing every day. In theory, it is a niche site, but looking at the statistics, we can see that the pinning message reaches a specific audience. The majority of users are women (79%).

 

Interestingly, at one time it ranked second among social media sites in terms of user growth.

In order to fully understand how Pinterest works, it is necessary to lean into the specific audience targeted by posts from the site. We can consider the archetype of the classic Pinterest user to be the “dreamer,” who shows things, events and places that he or she dreams about, but in all likelihood will not encounter them in reality. The creation of a dream life, the visualization of one’s desires is the reality of this medium.

5.1 What is needed to get traffic from Pinterest?

• Rich Pins – are the so-called enriched pins, an option that allows you to create an extended description of each Pin, which provides the user with additional information and interaction opportunities. They are divided into five categories: Place, Product, Article, Recipe and Video. In this way, you can accurately describe the place you are visiting, or plan to visit. Using, for example, the Product pin, online store owners can keep their inventory up to date and update prices. It is worth remembering to add appropriate metatags to the source code of the site.
• Use an open board – just create a board and then go into the edits of the board to invite users by entering the name of their Pinterest login or their email addresses. This is a very good method to engage fans in creating a collaborative project.
• Integrate the profile with the site, using the widget – just go to Pinterest for business and follow the instructions. From the left menu widget copy the ready source code in the appropriate place in the code of your site. And that’s it ? You can choose from: Pin Widget, Profile Widget, Board Widget.
• Pinlt button on the page – in case you have a business account, go to the Pinterest page for businesses and follow the instructions. This short process involves selecting the type of button and how it will be displayed, and specifying the source of the image.

As a result, the code is generated automatically – just paste it into the appropriate place in the source of your site. This will allow users to save your products by saving them to their boards, allowing them to revisit their purchasing decisions much faster.

At the same time, other users who see these actions can repin them to their profiles.

6 Snapchat – capture moments

Snapchat was launched in 2011. Currently, it is estimated that the number of users of the application oscillates around 200 million. It is currently losing out to Instagram Stories, which is very similar in the way it works, with nearly 450 million people using it every day.

Both apps work in a very similar way. They allow you to create short videos and send them to your friends, or share them with everyone in the communication channel. Typically, these are photos, videos or messages – popularly known as snaps – lasting from 1 to 10 seconds.

One term can best serve as the definition of Snapchat – ephemerality. The overarching goal is to catch moments, moments that happen every day and are somehow unique to the user, or become so after adding captions, drawings and filters. Most importantly – once a snap is displayed, it disappears forever.
Snapchat also has a history and chat. A story is a collection of snaps played one by one. Stories, unlike snaps, can be viewed by everyone who follows the account. They usually last up to 24 hours after publication. Profile followers can replay them whenever they want.
Chat, on the other hand, allows you to start a conversation with the person on the other side of the screen. Messages – as with snaps – disappear after they are read.

6.1 What is needed to get traffic from Snapchat?

• Create diverse content – a very important aspect of operating in this medium is originality. Every day we see the same content, looped in a narrow range of possibilities. The key aspect is to create engaging, interesting content – once entertaining, once strictly informative. Lack of creativity in this area will lead to loss of interest. It is very important to correctly define the audience (e.g., women 18-25 for a clothing brand). It is a good idea to create a publication plan so that observers know what to expect.Use scalability methods – one of the best methods to check the effectiveness of published posts is VPS (Views Per Snap). This is an indicator that shows the number of views of a particular snap. Using a publishing plan, you can mark the number of impressions each day and scale your efforts based on that.
• Create tension – create an atmosphere in which your followers will look forward to your post. For example, you can post and provide information about major events or company news.

7. LinkedIn – a business platform

LinkedIn is the place where professionals in their fields meet. It’s a business platform for networking, checking out experience and sharing industry news. It’s a place where employee-employer interactions already take place today, which can result in, for example, a job offer or an opportunity to gain experience in a specific position.
Yes, LinkedIn is used today in the recruitment process.
It is a platform that allows you to present yourself as the best candidate for a new position in the simplest way. You can easily present your knowledge, professionalism and experience. This is the reason why you should have LinkedIn as an individual.
The reasons why your company should be on LinkedIn are exactly the same. Having a presence there creates an opportunity to get orders and network with people in the industry. This makes it much easier to function in a world as competitive as ours today.
LinkedIn creates a wide corridor for increasing one’s credibility by publishing valuable content. It increases authenticity and positions us as an expert.

7.1 What does it take to get traffic from LinkedIn?

• A valuable profile – bet on quality. Get the details right. Make sure to present yourself in a positive light and build a very strong personal brand from the start. This, in turn, will create an opportunity to become visible.
• Substantive and interesting content – LinkedIn provides the opportunity to publish a variety of content – run a board or blog. It is worth taking advantage of these opportunities, for building your company’s reputation. Share knowledge, interact and participate in discussions – your voice is sure to be noticed.
• Be active – take part in discussions on other profiles as well, contribute. This is a very good way of free marketing. It’s an opportunity to get orders and contacts, so to speak, ricocheting off the actions you take.

Above all, remember to test what works best on your company profile. Don’t be afraid to test and try creative solutions.

8 Which medium to choose?

It depends. There is no one-size-fits-all way, as there are more factors that influence the choice of one or more mediums. Among the simplest are, first of all, time. If we do not have too much of it, it is definitely better to focus on one platform, such as Facebook, and publish content there regularly, optimize campaigns and try to increase conversions. Only if the actions taken in this sector do not bring the desired results then you can start thinking about whether to move to another platform.
Before choosing, it is worth tracing your industry and its specifications to make a rational decision – as it involves spending your time and usually spending money on promotions.
An example of a sensible social media activity, for example, is to follow industry profiles on Instagram if you are in the business of clothing distribution. This is by far the best and most popular medium when it comes to fashion and beauty. Observing your competitors’ doings combined with your own creativity should yield optimal results.
Remember one thing – whatever medium you choose – follow the top people in the field.

 

9 Social Media – what aspects to consider when choosing a channel?

When it comes to social media presence itself, it’s actually best to have accounts in all applications. This always creates the possibility of being found by a potential customer, while at the same time allowing you to start promoting at almost any time (assuming the simplest strategy, for example, publishing posts from the life of the company).
It is worth remembering to describe your profile as accurately as possible and highlight all the assets of the company. According to research – as customers – we pay most attention to the portfolio. These, too, should be reliably completed in order to fully present your capabilities.
The next two issues are budget and time.
If we have a small investment in promotions then again – as above – it is worth deciding on one medium and within it try to create interesting posts and optimize campaigns as much as possible, and only when there is a positive return on such an investment decide to act in another area.
At the same time, it is worth remembering that in order to get some information related to the optimal source of traffic for our company, it is necessary to check empirically, which is associated – unfortunately – with large investments. If we would have to spend even a few thousand zlotys on each medium, then monthly expenses can reach up to ten thousand zlotys. And it is worth remembering that in some mediums the effects are visible only after time. Read our comprehensive post on positioning.
Depending on the strategy being undertaken – whether these are to be purely ad hoc or long-term, brand-enhancing activities, the choice of medium varies. For example, in Google Ads and Facebook Ads we can run an advertising campaign even without having posts on Fanpage. Of course, a separate issue in this case is the conversion rate, which will certainly not be the highest, although it can already allow us to get a positive rate of return.
In the case of long-term activities (positioning), regular investments are necessary to push the page position to high positions. However, it is worth remembering that over time – in many cases – it is enough to regularly update the company website to maintain the desired position

 

10 – How can I take advantage of influencer opportunities?

Influencer marketing dominated 2018, setting new trends in marketing and promotional aspects. This is directly related to the growing importance of personal branding, which has long become increasingly important in the context of online marketing activities.

Who is an influencer in the world of social media?

It is a person who has a real influence on the opinions of others through social media and blogging platforms. By building a strong personal brand and a rich audience around his or her persona, an influencer has the ability to influence the decisions (usually purchasing decisions) of those who follow him or her. In some circles, he is even referred to as an opinion leader.
Typically, this is a person who has a blog, vlog or YouTube account where he or she shares his or her knowledge and experience, and often his or her purchasing decisions and life choices.
In Poland, some of the most popular influencers active in social media include DEYNN, Maffashion or Abstrachuje. These are individuals who have hundreds of thousands of followers online and who sensibly manage capital in the form of a very wide audience. Thanks to having multi-million dollar reach, brands are very eager to work with them – realizing that they will be very effective advertising campaigns.
How can I take advantage of influencer opportunities?
The most popular influencer marketing platform in Poland is WhitePress. It offers an extensive interface that allows us to search for bloggers we are interested in, dividing them by industry, reach, number of likes or past campaigns. We can also successfully determine the budget we have and adjust it to the length of the marketing strategy.

 

11. how to engage audiences on social media?

There are different ways to interact with your audience. First of all, you need to stand out so that the posts you publish do not get lost in the clutter of the board. It can be funny material that will draw attention from the spot, or factual material that will catch attention because of its substantive message.
In any case, it must intrigue. However.
If we already manage to interest the audience then it is very important to maintain the relationship, through interaction in the comments. Responding to them increases the organic reach of our posts and allows us to shorten the distance between the commenter and the owner of the site, blog or social media account.
It is worth publishing posts that encourage interaction from the get-go.
Example: We add several photos in the form of a carousel or collection on Facebook and ask people to tell us which one is the best and why. The result? Many interesting comments that provoke discussion.
Above is an example of a Sprite graphic that automatically encourages interaction and answers the question asked in it. It’s a simple way to evoke emotion in the recipient and establish a relationship.

 

12 Finally – which way will social media go?

Marketers around the world agree – 2020 will not be a breakthrough year, but a continuation of changes already underway. Social media activities will focus primarily on search engine optimization and adaptation to mobile devices.
Video and stories, which are already becoming the most effective form of communication, will certainly enjoy greater popularity. So will live.
In addition to all sorts of live streaming, we will see a lot of appeals to authority and a focus on the user, by providing valuable content and increased investment in UX (User Experience – user convenience on the site).

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