Category: Social Media

Instagram is all about engagement and the content value perceived by the end user. However, as more influencers and brands are catching in on the latest and greatest ways to create amazing content for their audience, it’s also getting harder to stand out from the crowd.

Think for a moment about the best speakers in the world today. Famous names like Tony Robbins, Steve Jobs, Martin Luther King and Oprah likely all come to mind — and the reason for this is that they are all great storytellers.

Now, think about some of the best brands and influencers you might be following on Instagram. They are likely great at creating content that tells a story as well.

With more than 500 million active users on Instagram, it’s now more important than ever to create content that grabs the attention of your audience.

The problem is, not everybody knows how to market their product on social media. Have you been listening to what’s going on out there? I mean, is it just me or is it getting crazier out there (Yes, I watched Joker, and I loved it!)

There are so many “best practices” to keep up with that you don’t even know if what you’re doing is right.

StoryBoost: Story Editor

StoryBoost is a mobile application that makes the process of creating content for Instagram easier, and more effective than ever before — and best of all, in just a few minutes time.

After downloading the app, users will have access to more than 1000+ templates to choose from, while also being able to add in unique animations, stickers and filters, animated text and more.

Within a few moments time you will start to see how easy it is to create new and engaging content for your Instagram feed, while also using the tools and features offered through StoryBoost to make your content stand out.

Best of all, you will be able to tell your story and build a brand that you’re proud of — while also impressing your fans, followers, and customers!

It’s also important to note that StoryBoost is part of the suite of apps called ‘BoostApps‘ — which is also accessible through the App Store. The other two applications that make up the complete bundle are VideoBoost and PosterBoost, which are both focusing on providing users and brands with the best tools and features to create video and image content that stands out from the crowd.

The BoostApps suite has set out on a mission to make their users’ lives a lot easier, by implementing into their app all of today’s best practices in digital marketing. That way, their users can rest assured that the content they create is aligned with the latest trends in social media marketing.

So without further ado, let’s dive in.

How StoryBoost Works

As powerful and effective as StoryBoost is, the process to create amazing and engaging content through the app is quite simple.

It can literally be broken down in the following four steps:

Pick the Perfect Template

First thing first, you will need to choose a template from the 1,000+ designs that are pre-built into the application. Go for one that best represents your brand, or choose a stylish one that best exemplifies whatever it is you might be trying to sell or promote.

Add Photos, Videos, Text and Stickers

Now it’s time to add some original content into the mix. Tap the + icons inside the template placements to add in your own photos or videos.

Add some stickers or GIFs. 

You can also add unique and call to action headlines in this step as well.

Add Filters to Your Photos

If there’s anything we know about Instagram, it’s that we can’t live without filters! Once you add your photos to the Story templates, tap the photo and click the edit icon and choose your preferred filter.

Add Animations and Transitions

Make your latest engagement and photos pop with the addition of unique and fun animations that will act as transitions between your Stories! Tap the icon that connects the steps of your Story and just pick one of the transitions in the animation library!

This is one of StoryBoost’s most appealing features, as it helps your followers experience your brand as a professional content creator, which channels authority and strengthens your brand.

Share with Your Audience

The last step of the process is to take a moment and be amazed with the awesome new content you’ve created through the mobile application. Oh yea… you also now get to share it with your Instagram audience as well, and get to see how much they love it!

Tap the upload/share icon on the top right corner of the screen to share your post or simply save the story in your video library.

Now… let’s put all of this in motion.

As much fun as it is to read about how to accomplish something in a step by step format, visuals work so much better. Check out the short video below to see how these four simple steps bring your brand, content, and story to life!

Once your content has been posted to your social profile, be sure to keep an eye on what type of templates and animations get the most engagement. Not only is this great for split testing and tracking user preference, it’s also great for future planning as well. Analyze which posts are getting the most likes, shares, and comments and then use this data to influence new ideas on what type of content to create for your audience in the coming weeks months.

Bring Your Content and Story to Life with StoryBoost

Now that you’ve seen what’s possible through the use of StoryBoost, it’s time to see what type of content you can create for your own site, brand, or online business.

To get started, all you need to do is head over to the iOS mobile app store, or search for “StoryBoost” on your mobile device or tablet.

With over a hundred reviews, thousands of downloads and a Product Hunt badge, the application is already listed amongst the top apps in the Photo & Video category, and currently has a 4.2 star rating out of 5 along with the app store’s “Editors’ Choice” award.

Pricing

StoryBoost is free to download and has in-app purchases for even more features to improve how your content looks and feels when posted to the Instagram platform.

You can subscribe to StoryBoost Premium, which offers unlimited access to all templates and page-to-page animations. Three payment options are available, which are monthly, annually, and lifetime.

Be sure to try the StoryBoost app out for free to see what features you like best, then decide on an access plan that works best for you and your brand.

Download the StoryBoost app today, and see what type of creative content you can start creating for your social audience.

Whether it’s a small local shop or a big corporation, every business needs to use social media for fast growth and lead generation. Social media is not just cost- effective but it’s also a perfect launch-pad for businesses to create awareness about their brands, popularize their products and boost their sales.

If you are a small business with a limited marketing budget, using social media can offer a good return on investment. Platforms like Facebook, Youtube and Instagram have turned into hangouts for customers you’re trying to connect with and engage.

Here are some key social media statistics you should know:

• 59% of people access social media on a daily basis.
• People aged 18-34 are most likely to follow a brand via social networking.
• 63% of customers expect to receive customer service via social media.
• On average, one internet user has 7-8 social media accounts.

There are many more statistics like these, all pointing to one fact: Having a business presence on social media is a must. 

And according to PewInternet, all social media platforms are NOT created equally. Throught the chart below you will see how Facebook and YouTube have some massive growth and usage amongst adults, but the other small platforms also have some nice reach of their own as well.

Picking those social media channels where your customers are and then connecting with them in an engaging way can make it easy for you to grow your business and boost your leads and sales. Thankfully, there are many services that you can use to quickly expand your social media reach over a short period of time.

One such service is BRSM.IO, which is focused on the art of delivering new followers, likes, shares, and subscribers to your social profiles. Their platform can also be used as a source of reference for where you can get all the expert marketing help you need to materialize your social media efforts rapidly.

BRSM – Your Ticket to Social Media Marketing Success

BRSM is headed by a group of savvy social media marketing professionals. Whether you are planning to build your company’s presence on Facebook, Instagram or Youtube, this service can offer remarkable results.

Over the last five years, social media has seen a tremendous growth. Likewise, the number of businesses using various social media platforms has also gone up quite rapidly. Today, 70% – 80% of small businesses use social media, which, in turn, has created a good amount of competition. Moreover, many social media platforms have made drastic changes to their algorithm which determines how content will be ranked and presented in people’s newsfeeds. All of this together have made it difficult for entrepreneurs and startups to achieve faster growth and reach for their products on social media. And that’s exactly where BRSM comes into play. BRSM is an ideal online service which offers innovative and unique social boosting solutions for multiple popular social media platforms.

You’ve definitely heard about word of mouth advertising. Think of social media as ‘word of mouth on steroids’. However, your success on any social media platform depends on how active and engaged your account is, which is only possible when you have a good number of followers and fans. It’s easy to attract more customers to your account when you already have an engaged account. When people see that others have followed and engaged with your brand, they too will do the same. Using BRSM, you can grow your social media accounts quite faster and get thousands of real people to like and follow your page over a short period of time — such as getting more brand mentions on Instagram.

BRSM has worked with a variety of small and big businesses and helped them gain an online presence. While the agency offers real results from real marketing, they also keep each of their clients up to date with all the key developments in the field of social media marketing. If there are changes in a social media platform’s algorithm or its policies, you’ll be the first to know it.

Choosing the Right Social Media Platforms

Once you are ready to leverage the potential of social media marketing, your next challenge is to pick the most suitable platforms for your business. The social media scene has changed a lot.

Today, simply starting a Facebook page and setting up a Twitter profile aren’t enough. Apart from these, you have Instagram which is a social media phenomenon in itself. If you are planning to create video content, Youtube is where you need to be.

But you can’t focus on too many platforms at a time. You need to be practical and targeted in your approach. You need to devote time to only those social platforms where your customers hang out in large numbers.

To be able to find out which social networks are the best for your business, you should clearly understand who your ideal customer is. At the same time, you need to think about the goals you want to fulfill. Based on these, you can identify which social media platforms can give you the best return.

Each social media platform is different in how it needs approaching. Facebook, for example, is the biggest social network at present and it’s the most suited for building a thriving community of followers. Facebook is also a good fit for all those businesses that want to promote local events. Being a video-sharing platform, Youtube is a platform where how-to tutorials resonate the best. If you have a visual brand and want to build connections on a personal level, Instagram is the way to go. If you have a knack for creativity, you can develop a deeper bond with your customers on Instagram and turn your account into an engagement goldmine.

How BRSM Works and Brings You New Social Followers

The process of growing your social media account using BRSM.IO is a fast and smooth one. Whether you plan to gain a significant following on Facebook, Instagram, Youtube or SoundCloud, BRSM makes it easy for everyone. Their website features a number of packages that you can choose from as per your specific budget and needs. Find the packages that suit your business best and then enter the URL and other details so that the order can be processed.

Next, you’ll be assigned an account manager who will keep you up-to-date with the progress of your project. Experts at BRSM will develop a well-structured campaign and plan out every step in detail. The campaign optimization can take up to 48 hours. But as soon as everything has been set up, you’ll receive an email that you campaign is ready for implementation.

Social media experts will constantly work on your orders and the orders will be delivered as per the deadline in your service packages. 

The social marketing service by BRSM comes with a 100% money back guarantee. The list of clients who have chosen BRSM to boost their social media marketing is quite long and includes thousands of actors, models, public figures, musicians, entrepreneurs, small business owners along with various corporations. Due to their high quality service and outstanding results, BRSM has been proudly featured in the Wall Street Journal, Forbes, Entrepreneur, Mashable etc.

Go Ahead – and Get Social!

When it comes to social media engagement and branding, the more reach you have, the more engagement and ROI you are doing to see, right? Well… as long as those followers and subscribers are real and have an actual interest in what you have to offer, that should be the case.

If you are going to use any of the latest technology, tools, and solutions to help with your outreach, growth and content automation, be sure to choose one that leverages latest technology, uses proven organic marketing tactics and offers multiple geo-targeting options to help you quickly gain thousands of authentic followers, subscribers and viewers.

Be sure to implement all of the recommended tips, solutions, and methods laid out in this branding and outreach resource to grow your social media marketing efforts and ROI today.

Gaining more followers on Instagram can open many doors for you and your brand.

People with large Instagram followings have a better opportunity to market their products and services, raise brand awareness, and even make more money by posting sponsored ads.

But, the road to gaining more followers is not an easy one. You can’t just start requesting everyone and their mom to follow you and hope that they follow back.

Nope, in order to get real followers on Instagram, you need a plan.

What do you need to do?

Read on as we cover some of the most basic and effective ways to get real followers on Instagram.

1. Optimize Your Bio

First impressions mean everything. And in the world of influencers on Instagram, the aesthetic of your bio is definitely your first impression.

And, seeing as people only take a quick second to glance at your bio, you better make that first impression count.

How do you do this?

Headline and Keyword

It all starts with your headline and keyword. Below your Instagram handle, there’s a line for you to put your brand name. Next to this, you should also write a keyword that helps describe who you are. For example, something like “Fitness trainer”, “makeup artist to the stars”, or “skincare expert”.

It doesn’t need to be anything fancy or lengthy. Instead, it should just be a couple of quick words to let people know what you do.

Body Section

The body section makes up the majority of your Instagram bio. However, it’s much different than the body section for a blog post. You want to keep it short and sweet.

The point of the body section is to clearly describe who you are and what you’re about, all while speaking in the voice of your brand.

You can see a nice example of this in the Lewis Howes social profile below. Notice how it has a nice profile picture, a URL to his podcast page, and high-quality content and images throughout the feed.

Here’s what should be included in the body section:

About Me

Your about me section should include a condensed version of your mission statement. You only have 150 characters, so use them wisely.

That being said, don’t be afraid to add a bit of personality here with hashtags and emojis.

Call to Action With URL Link

We’ve all seen brands do Instagram posts that say “link in bio” in them. Well, this is a perfect example of a call to action.

Below your about me section, you should have a call to action that entices your audience to click on the URL link that goes back to your site. Something simple like, “Click now for 10 percent off today only”, is perfect.

Social Proof

Customers are all about social proof these days, so be sure to add a line that gives your brand some credibility.

Examples of credibility include a certification, a social cause your brand gives back to, or a feature in a publication.

2. Get Crazy with the Hashtags

As you probably already know, Instagram now allows users to follow hashtags and not just profiles.

This provides a huge opportunity for those wanting to gain more followers, as the right hashtag can really boost your profile.

There are also plenty of useful tools out there to help you find the most relevant and popular hashtags trending at any given time.

But, you want to make sure you’re playing the hashtag game smart. First of all, make sure you’re not just using one-word hashtags. While these are valuable, it’s still smart to mix it up with multi-word hashtags that are more nice and creative.

And, don’t worry about every single hashtag being directly related to your brand. The goal of hashtags isn’t just about getting more immediate followers, it’s also about showing your personality so your current followers stick with you.

For example, let’s say you’re a personal trainer. It would be pretty boring if all of your hashtags were things like #workoutday or #staymotivated. Instead, you should try to have a little fun with it. For example, if it’s a leg day you could say #gettingaleguponthecompetition or #cantmoveafterthisworkout.

Lastly, make sure hashtags aren’t taking up the majority of your copy, as that can make your captions difficult to read. A smart thing many people do is put the hashtags at the end of the copy.

3. Get Descriptive With Your Captions

A picture certainly does say a thousand words. However, this doesn’t mean you want all of your captions to be super short.

While it’s definitely good to have some posts with short captions, you definitely want to dive into detail with other posts.

By being descriptive with your captions and telling the story behind the picture, you will generate more interest in your posts and be able to grow your following.

Also, storytelling is a great way for your customers to get to know you, so if you’re a one man or woman show, don’t be afraid to get a little personal on there too.

Someone who has the Instagram caption game down is Kayla Itsines, a personal trainer turned fitness entrepreneur who gained most of her business through Instagram. While Kayla keeps some posts short and sweet with workout demos, other posts are much longer and go into great detail about what she does to stay so fit.

She also shares with her audience stories about her family, friends, and travels.

Also make note of the URL being used in her Instagram profile page, as it leads right to her sales page — which likely adds a decent amount of new paying customers to her business and weight loss training programs daily.

4. Tap Into Influencer Marketing

If you’re looking to gain more followers so you can build your brand and grow your business, then you need to tap into influencer marketing.

But, you need to be smart about how you play the influencer game. First of all, you need to find people who not only have a strong following, but who also align with your brand values.

For example, let’s say you’re an organic food brand. It’s probably not a good idea to partner with an influencer who is constantly out partying and eating junk food. Instead, you should find influencers who focus on their health and fitness.

Once you’ve found a good number of influencers you’re interested in working with, start following them. And, be sure to turn on post notifications so you’ll get an alert every time they post something new. Whenever they post something new, be sure to interact with their profile. You can do this by liking their photos or by leaving comments.

Once you’ve started to develop a relationship with an influencer, you can finally reach out to see if they’d like to work with your brand.

But, the key is to not sound desperate. In other words, don’t say something like, “would you please post something about our product? We’ll pay you big money!” This is both unprofessional and spammy.

Instead, you should say something like, “Hey we really like your profile. Would you be interested in trying out some of our products?”

At the same time, if you are just starting out on Instagram and don’t want to try and build a brand and following from ZERO, the option is also there to use a solution like Famoid. They have plenty of services and solutions in place to help with Instagram growth, follower counts, and social sharing for your account.

5. Take Advantage of VPN Solutions

As bloggers and internet marketers, we often hear about the benefits of using a VPN to protect your information and browsing data all of the time. The concept is nothing new, but thousands of people are adding such privacy tools and solutions into their daily browsing habits daily.

However, VPNs can prove useful when doing any type of social media marketing and research online. Three of the most commons reasons for using one with Instagram are:

1. Country-Based Restrictions
2. Workplace and Academic Restrictions
3. For General Security and Privacy

As noted by SurfShark’s VPN Affiliate Program, “Virtual private networks allow users throughout the world to bypass censorship. Everywhere. The internet should be an open hub of knowledge and sharing. Using the right VPN allows users to access Instagram content, from anywhere.”

Besides protecting your information and online browsing information, VPNs can also help with accessing different Instagram marketing and scheduling tools you might be using. Depending on where you run your business or if you are trying to access wifi at different locations, this may limit your ability to access some sites and social platforms.

When it comes to VPN and running a business or brand online, it’s always better to be safe than sorry.

 

6. Get Local and Target New Audiences

When trying to build your following on Instagram, the smartest thing to do is to start local and to build your way up from there.

You should make frequent mention of where your business is headquartered. And, you should give shoutouts to your local community and point out local attractions.

As pointed out in this Search Engine Journal localized Instagram branding article, they focus a lot of attention on the importance “To optimize the local reach of your Instagram page, you need to focus on localized hashtags.“.

For example, let’s say you’re a yoga apparel brand based in New York City. You could create a post about bringing your yoga mat to Central Park for the weekend and then ask your followers about their place in New York to do yoga.

Once you’ve tapped into the city market, that’s when you can start thinking about expanding to the whole state, then the whole country, and then the rest of the world.

7. Post Quality Photos and Videos

If you’re doing all the above and still not getting followers, then perhaps you need to look at the quality of your Instagram photos.

If you’re posting a bunch of dark and grainy photos that look like they were taken on an original iPhone, then it’s time to make a change.

Even if your business has nothing to do with photography, your photos should still look professional. Otherwise, people won’t take your brand seriously.

If you’re just starting out and you can’t afford a fancy camera or a  professional photographer, don’t be afraid to use stock photos. Many of these are high quality, and you’d be surprised at the number of photos you can find that fit into your brand’s message.

Also, make sure you follow the 60/40 rule when posting photos. That is, 60 percent of your photos should be directly related to your product or service. The other 40 percent should be lifestyle shots. in other words, shots of your community, travel adventures, employees, or family. Or, they can also be quotes.

How to Get Real Followers on Instagram: Are You Ready?

Now that you know how to get real followers on Instagram, it’s time to put these steps into motion.

And just remember, a million followers won’t come overnight, so be patient with the game and take your time with each step. Pretty soon, those numbers will keep growing and growing.

If you have any questions about gaining real Instagram followers, please let us know in the comments below. And, don’t forget that Instagram is only one piece of the puzzle when it comes to building your brand.

Another major piece is your blog. Don’t know how to start a blog? Click here to learn in detail what you need to do.

Whether you’re running a brick-and-mortar business or looking to make your ecommerce a huge success, you need to work on your social media presence. These days, so many people are looking online first before making a decision about where to buy products and services. Even for something as simple as getting an iPhone fixed, potential customers are going to thoroughly study online reviews and check out your Facebook and Instagram pages to learn about what sales you might have going on. If you’re just starting a new business, then you definitely need to up your online presence: that’s where new customers are going to find you.

One of the most important ways to improve your online presence is by mastering Instagram. By using these following tips, you’ll get lots of followers, which means that you’ll eventually get sales by engaging with them.

1 – Post Great Content Consistently

Let’s say you have a great idea for what your Instagram’s going to look like. You’ve done your research; you know what your competitors are doing and what kind of content your ideal customers will enjoy and engage with. But that isn’t enough. Posting consistently is hugely important because that allows your followers to expect posts from you at certain times during the week. If you’re only posting when you’ve got a huge sale or just after you’ve started your business, you’re going to lose followers, which means losing potential sales.

According to research by Sprout Social, the best times to post on Instagram are Wednesday at 11 am and Friday at 10-11am, with the safest times to post being Tuesday through Friday, 10am-3pm. If it seems challenging to do this (especially the early mornings!) use a scheduling app to make your life a little easier.

2 – Use Geo-Targeting and Location-Based Ads

One of the easiest ways to boost engagement on Instagram is by geotagging anytime you post. If you’re someone who travels a lot–you’re a digital nomad or in a touring band–then geotag whenever you can. That will get local followers from wherever you’re currently posting, which helps cut through a lot of the work it takes to get their attention otherwise.

So how can a local business take advantage of Instagram targeting options? Think of something like this.

Most local services have something to offer, and are commonly purchased when a home owner or person is in need of something urgent. This can be anything from home services, home care, pest control, etc…

Take Moxie Services, for example, who wants to increase visibility for pest services in Chantilly. Since they already have an active following on Instagram, they can start targeting their followers (and non-followers) through the use of the Facebook Ads (Instagram) platform. Organic reach and followings are always great, but once you start putting some paid advertising dollars behind your campaigns, then you will start to see some real results.

Just like all options with Facebook Ads, the same can be done for Instagram as well. Moxie can then start targeting audiences within their designated town, city, zip code or other local radiuses. It would also prove useful to them to create a wide range of ad copies and split test what works best.

Considering that more than 40 billion photos have been shared on Instagram, this is a great way for yours to stand out among the crowd, while also making sure your ads are only being seen by potential customers in your area.

3 – Increase Your Follower Account Daily

Getting organic Instagram followers is all well and good, especially if you’ve already got some traction on Instagram. But if you’ve just started a new business or just don’t have many followers, using a service to buy Instagram followers can be very helpful. After all, once you’ve got enough of a following, other users will be interested in you because you’re already popular. 

However, the one thing to remember when buying followers on any social platform, is that they usually aren’t as active as ‘real and organic’ followers. That is why we often recommend using a tool like this one, which automates the engagement process and allows for a more natural flow of new subscribers and followers to your Instagram account.

With more than a billion users on Instagram, it’s not that hard to built a following once you have the right content and tools in place. Over 60 percent of users log into Instagram daily, so use that opportunity to use the right tools to get their attention!

4 – Mix Up Your Content with Images and Video

Instagram’s all about posting cool pictures, right? Wrong!

This is especially true with the rising popularity of features such as Instagram Stories, you should use video as much as you can. In addition to this feature, you should post simple videos or even GIFs to engage with your audience. Using live videos is also exciting because it gives your brand a kind of authenticity that’s necessary in today’s curated online world.

There’s a reason why there were 400 million daily active users of Instagram Stories as of September 17, 2018, and that’s because it’s a great way to engage with users.

5 – Make Sure Your Bio Looks Awesome

According to Verma Farms, “Your logo, including the colors and fonts you choose, all have an impact on how your brand is viewed and how recognizable it is. It only takes 10 seconds for a customer to form a first impression of a brand’s logo, so it’s important to do all you can to make your brand visually memorable.”

In the same way, your bio needs to stand out. So spruce up your profile photo (which, by the way, can be your logo, if that works for you), and create content in your bio that’s relatable and told in your voice. There are opportunities to play around with emojis and fonts, though check before doing this that it’s something your audience will be receptive to!

Take a look at any of the top accounts and influencers on Instagram and you will quickly find that many of them share the same basic traits — which are commonly a great looking bio photo, a short bio that delivers a message, content that is high-quality and looks great, and a nice mixture of video and image content. You will also find a custom url to their main website or a landing page, depending on the objections of the Instagram account user.

These are some of the best strategies you can use to have success on Instagram.

Whether you’re an aspiring Instagram influencer or working to make your business stand out online, these tips will get you the followers you need!

With mobile usage on the rise and Instagram continuing to reach more audiences and users daily, it’s no longer a question of if or when you should start using the social platform as a branding and marketing tool — but how.

Start implementing these tips and winning methods into your business today, and start seeing the ROI almost immediately.

As the growth and reach of Instagram continues to grow, so does the need to have a suitable marketing plan in place for your website, brand, or online business. What was just once a simple mobile application that made it easy for friends to share photos and improve their online following, has now turned into one of the largest social platforms and marketing opportunities on the internet today.

With Facebook being the owners of Instagram, we all knew this was only a matter of time. As new marketing opportunities continue to come into fruition on Instagram, it’s now more important than ever before to make sure you have a massive following in place, while also focusing on content creation, paid ads, and remarketing as well — all of which, Instagram makes quite simple.

However, waiting around for organic growth and random followers to find your content is something none of us to have time for. A better solution is to rely on the powerful set of tools and features that are being offered through Kicksta.

Let’s take a look at this powerful social media marketing tool and how it can help grow your reach and business through Instagram in 2019.

What is Kicksta and How Does it Work?

Social media platforms make it easy to create content, connect with other people, and measure your progress and growth over time. More often than not, this can be done through simply looking at your follower and likes/shares numbers, or digging deeper into your paid advertising on a specific platform.

However, where many of these platforms lack, is in the ability to grow your reach over time, while also having more control over who you target demographic is and how to grow your follower count at scale. This is where a solution like Kicksta comes into play.

As we all know, follower numbers alone don’t count for much. They look nice on the outside, but if the engagement factor isn’t there, then you are just left with a big fancy numbers that makes your account look big — but only you, as the owner of the account, knows it’s real value.

Through the use of Kicksta, Instagram accounts can zero in on their target audience or a specific demographic by ‘liking’ content from these users, which then increase the reach and engagement, while not having to pull in a huge number of ‘fake’ follower accounts in the process. The benefit here is that when another user sees such engagement, they are a lot more likely to check out your profile and organically and genuinely follow your account back.

By using Kicksta’s automation tools, this method can be replicated and automated at scale to generated hundreds of new engagements and followers daily.

Don’t Buy Followers. Attract New Ones.

There are many platforms and solutions out there that will sell the service of providing thousands of Instagram and social media profiles to instantly follower your own profile. As mentioned earlier, this sounds like a great idea, but if the engagement isn’t there — then it’s just a number, and that’s all.

With more than 2,000 active Instagram marketers now using Kicksta, they want you to clearly understand how this process works. It’s not about buying followers or advertisements, but instead making real interactions with other Instagram users, and then gaining their interest and follow backs.

Through the use of Kicksta, there are no tricks or spammy methods in place that are making engagements on other accounts and removing them if the end user doesn’t follow back. This would be unethical and definitely against the terms of service laid out on Instagram.

Just like the concept of growing a mailing list or setting up a new ad campaign, you really only want targeted traffic and legitimate users clicking on your ads and joining your list. The same concept with Instagram and using Kicksta apply.

The objective is to appear as natural and organic as possible. Not just to comply with Instagram rules, but to also attract and engage with new audiences as well.

Once you create an account with Kicksta, you will be able to login with your Instagram account credentials. This will then provide you with all of the necessary information and account features in order to target the exact audience you are trying to reach. The “Creative” plan allows accounts to target up to 10 accounts who have a similar target audiences to what you are looking for.

A good example of this would be if you had a clothing line or a make up business, and you wanted to target fashion Instagram influencers and their followers. Since it’s quite likely the followers of these accounts would have an interest in fashion, they they would likely have an interest in what your brand has to offer as well.

Should you want to reach a much larger audience, the option is there to target up to 40 accounts, through the “Professional” plan. This allows for audience targeting based on gender, location, and hashtag.

As mentioned earlier, all “likes” and engagement will appear organic, thus leading to more authentic followers and engagement to your own account — which also freeing up endless hours of manual outreach and promotion in the process.

Making Your Way Through the Kicksta Dashboard

The concept of Kicksta is easy enough, and so is making your way through their login and dashboard area. Once inside, you can add and manage multiple Instagram accounts, but each will need to have it’s own associated membership plan.

The first step in this process is to connect and select your Instagram account. You are then given a quick overview where you can review all engagements from your most recent activity and accounts. This will show engagements made, best performing posts, worst posts, and more.

This can all be easily accessed and viewed within the main navigation area. You can also click to see all of your post activity, how many likes and comments they received, and the type of content and targeting Kicksta is looking for to best target your demographic audience.

The “Targets” feature shows all of your current targets and allows for the addition of new ones as well. This can be as straightforward as adding in new Instagram accounts to follow, or diving deeper into demographic and targeting features.

Overall performance, daily growth and conversion rate tracking is available as well. With such stats and features in place, it’s easy to split test results across different audiences and influencers on Instagram

Kicksta is an Ideal Instagram Automation Tool

As always, nothing is as simple as ‘set and forget’, but Kicksta does do a good job at coming close to it.

Kicksta doesn’t guarantee any type of performance results or how many followers you will receive, but they do provide the tools and features to make growth on Instagram possible — especially if you are willing to put in the time and effort to split test and target different audiences.

To learn more about what’s working best for other Kicksta users, be sure to check out the various case studies on their website.

With most marketing on the internet being a numbers game, it’s all about putting in the time and effort to master a process, and then scaling it over time.

Whether it’s influencer growth, retail sales, or a branding play, the Kicksta platform has the tool and features in place to deliver results and increase ROI in the process.

How Much Does Kicksta Cost?

Kicksta currently has two monthly pricing plans. Depending on the level of growth you desire and your budget, you may find that one fits your brand and marketing goals better.

You can see a side by side comparison of the two plans below.

The big difference between the two plans is that the Creative plan is at a lower price point of $49 per month and is limited to just 10 targets, while the Professional plan is just double the price, but offers four times the targeting limit.

Both plans come with a 14 day money-back guarantee — which are no questions asked, and you can cancel at any time.

If you are doing any type of branding or marketing on Instagram, give Kicksta a try and see how it works for you.

Instagram is all of the buzz lately. It’s where kids and audiences want to be, and where content creators and brand advertisers NEED to be.

However, Instagram is unlike any other website, search engine, or social media platform out there.

Having quickly approached well over a billion active users, the platform replies on images, videos, comments and hashtags to create content for their audiences. There is also little-to-no URLs and clickable links on the platform — except for in the author bio and through advertisements on the site.

With all of this in mind, a lot of time, work and effort needs to go into an effectively Instagram marketing strategy.

To help with this process, today we are highlighting a few of the best tools, working methods, and tricks to properly use Instagram hashtags, while reaching new audiences around the world.

9 Useful Instagram Hashtag Tools, Tips and Tricks

• Use Relevant Hashtags Only

It might seem appealing for you to include a countless amount of hashtags, merely because they are slightly related to your niche. This might also make you think that you are reaching onto a larger audience, however this is often the complete opposite and just makes your content look like a spammy mess. Be careful to select on the necessary and high volume hashtags that are relevant to your audience.

• Pinpoint the Hashtags Trends for Your Hashtags

If you want to find the best Instagram hashtags, then you need to dive down into smaller niche markets. You can do this by sorting through content manually on the platform, or by using a Instagram hashtags resource site that highlights the top hashtags trending for the day, or around specific topics. 

• Consider The Strategy Used by the Leaders in the Industry

Now it may be difficult to come up with the perfect strategy to increasing your engagement overnight. In fact, the possibility of this happening is slim! This is why you should watch what the successful leaders in your industry do and try to implement the same strategies, see if they work.

• Be as Specific as Possible

The reason why you should be utterly specific when it comes to choosing your hashtags is because this notably narrows down the pool of customers. This will make it easier for you to create a highly engaged audience. For example, if you had an axe throwing business and were looking for new customers, take a look at what other competitors in your area are sharing, and also see what hashtags they are using as well. This is a method that has worked extremely well for Kicksta and the many accounts they help manage through their social sharing platform.

• Use Hashtags in Captions and in Comments

Another highly used strategy is incorporating hashtags in captions and in comments. While they are not clickable, the use of a visual hashtag within your videos and images is always a good idea. This will further increase the visibility of your account, granted that you choose your hashtags most sensibly.

• Consider Your Target Audience

Just as you always consider your target audience before creating an eye-catching Instagram bio, the same goes for hashtags. Hashtags ought to be customized depending on your target audience; otherwise, you won’t manage to achieve your targets.

In addition to creating customized content for your targeted audience, it’s also a good idea to start implementing video into your Instagram marketing strategy as well. When doing so, make sure each video is short, has some type of branding and call to action, and is also something that your audience will enjoy. If not, creating and launching such videos could backfire and just hurt your overall brand and social media presence.

• Place Hashtags in Your Instagram Stories

Moving on to another tested strategy – namely incorporating hashtags in your Instagram stories. This increases the possibility of your account showing up to a new user, thus, potentially growing your engagement and your base of followers.

• Incorporate Geographical Tags

Research points out the high efficacy rate of implementing geographical tags, as they do what you expect them to do: increasing your rate of engagement. You can include a location to any video or photo you post.

• Create Your Own Hashtag

And finally, another approach that will most likely help you reach your goal is to come up with a hashtag of your own, something that is characteristic and representative of your account. Not only will this make for something unique and exciting of your own, it will also make the process of following relevant comments and Instagram updates from other people using your unique hashtag as well.

There you have it: Nine efficient ways in which you can increase the rate of engagement on Instagram by using hashtags sensibly. Remember, hashtags, if used correctly, are the key to growing your account!

If you would like to learn more about growing your Instagram following and improving your branding and marketing efforts, be sure to check out each of the articles below:

• Quick Tips to Find eCommerce Marketing Success with Instagram
• Struggling to Get Instagram Followers? Use These 6 Proven Strategies
• Best Strategies to Get More Likes on Your Instagram Photos

Social media is one of the most powerful platforms on the internet today. However, just ‘being on’ any of the top social networks is never enough. You need to build a brand, have a following, and also create content that your audience engages with, and also shares.

This is especially true with Instagram, as everyone is trying to build up their following and reach millions around the world.

There are many tools on the market place to help with these aspects, but many of only focus in one area. This means you would likely need to find one solution for scheduling, advertising, increasing reach, or even paid advertising.

Social Shark is a solution that takes all of these components together and offers them in one valuable platform — focused solely on Instagram growth and social media efforts.

Today we are going to take a look at Social Shark, while also breaking down it’s many features and tools to help you master the art of Instagram marketing.

Instagram… It’s All About the Visuals Baby!

When looking at any of the top social platforms on the internet today, Instagram is quickly finding themselves at the top of most lists. The reasons for this are many, but also quite clear at the same time.

People aren’t interested in reading text content, and visual images and videos are in demand. At the same time, everyone is using their mobile devices for social media, and this is where Instagram has always focused their efforts.

With all of this in mind, Social Shark has made the process of getting live on Instagram and growing an audience fast, quite easy. Through the use of their Instagram tracking tool, anyone can connect to their Instagram account and start targeting new audiences and potential followers around the world.

Let’s now take a look at what this powerful social media marketing platform has to offer.

One of the most important powerful tools built into the platform, is the ability to track progress and results over time. Anyone can order a bunch of followers online, or even pay for various social media marketing methods… but if there isn’t a way to measure these results, how are you supposed to know what you are actually getting?

That isn’t the case with Social Shark, as they have built all of the necessary follower, engagement, branding, and reach reports necessary to track your growth on Instagram.

Best of all, all of these reports are easy to read and understand. Forget about excel data reports, everything associated with Social Shark is set up with a nice visual data chart that’s easy to track and follow over time.

Instagram Automation is Key for Growth and Engagement

With so many different tools and solutions on the internet for pretty much anything, you are going to want to use a tool that easy to understand and doesn’t have much of a learning curve. Take a look at any of the top bloggers on Instagram, and all of them will tell you that they are tracking progress and engagement on Instagram with a fine tooth comb. They each have their own preferred tools and methods for creating and scheduling content, while also making sure it reaches the right target audience.

That’s exactly what you will find within Social Shark.

To get started, all you need to do is log into your account, then connect to your Instagram account.

Inside this same members area, you will find all of the tools, features, and services on the left side menu of the page. In the main area of your dashboard area, you will also come across some of the latest articles and resources on how to grow your brand using Instagram.

It doesn’t matter if you are a single person brand or a company with 100+ employees… creating new content and going live with social media updates is time consuming!

Knowing how to connect with users on Instagram, that have no idea about your brand, is another added benefit to using Social Shark for all of your Instagram growth and marketing efforts. This can be done through any of the organic reach tools on the platform, or through the process of acquiring new Instagram followers.

No matter how you plan on getting new followers, it’s important to make sure you are targeting the right audience.

This is easily done with Social Shark, as they have all of the necessary targeting options built right into their platform. Through the screenshot below you can see the targeting options available, such as; media age, media type, follower counts, filters, and more.

As you can imagine, the more you know about your typical fan or customer, the better you can set these options to acquire new customers and followers that will deliver the best ROI.

The next step in this process is to play around with your hashtag settings and making sure you are using them within your posts and engagement as well. A great benefit here is to look at your competitors and see what they are using to attract new audiences. Brands like Starbucks might use #coffee, while Nike might use #justdoit.

Play around with your hashtag and targeting options and measure which results works best.

Using the Power of Instagram Hashtags

Hashtags are the most powerful asset that everyone needs to be using on Instagram.

While platforms like Twitter and Facebook both have hashtags, they are no one near used as much as they are on Instagram. Without hashtags in your content, it simply won’t be found by others or appear within their platform search results.

However, how are you supposed to know which hastags are best to use?

Look no further than the powerful Instagram hashtag generator, found right within Social Shark.

The concept of a social platform hashtag generator is nothing new, but where Social Shark goes above and beyond the competition, is how they have several variations of each hashtag, popularity scores, and also the ability to upload images for each or by using a webpage URL.

An example of how this might work, can be seen below.

Instead of just going through the list and grabbing hashtags, you can actually upload an image and see what new hashtag ideas might get triggered by the generator tool. A good example of this would be if you uploaded a vacation photo while you were at the beach. You might then see hashtags like #bluesky, #beachlife, #saltlife, and so on…

Lots of options here for reaching new audiences with different Instagram hashtags, so be sure to try them all out.

The Options of Buying Nike Likes and Views

Starting from scratch on any social platform is never easy. It’s even worse when you start releasing content, only to find that it’s getting new views or social shares.

One of the best ways to get around this, is to give your account a boost — whether that be through buying new social followers, likes, or even social shares.

Again, this is another service offered by Social Shark.

Depending on the type of growth you want to see, options here will vary in terms of pricing.

If you just want to give it a quick test run, a $4.99 starter package is a great way to get started. This will deliver 500 likes to your latest social content.

Looking for even more? Go for a Diamond package at $75.99 and look forward to 20,000 likes headed your way.

Social Shark Plan Pricing

As mentioned throughout this post, there are many tools, features, and advantages to using Social Shark to power your Instagram marketing efforts.

If this is something you are interested, you can get started with Social Shark for just $30 or $60 per month. You can see both of their price plans below, and what’s included in each.

The option is also there there upgrade at any time, along with saving up to 25%, but going with a yearly plan.

As you can see, both plans offer access to all of the tools on Social Shark. The main difference is that the “Popular” plan offers a path to “Faster Growth and Double Engagement”. If you are on the fence, simply go with the Starter plan, then upgrade when you see fit.

Instagram marketing is super hot right now and it’s simply the best way to reach new audiences around the world. Social Shark makes the process even more affordable and effective than ever below.

To get started, simple take advantage of their 7-day free trial and see what Social Shark has to offer.

Presenting consumers with a consistent brand presence across multiple platforms can increase business revenue by nearly 23 percent. For most business owners, finding a way to connect to a larger audience is a priority.

While most business owners have the desire to further their reach, many of them don’t know where to start. One of the best ways to attract quality sales leads is by investing time and money into social media marketing.

Social media sites like Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter get millions of visitors a day. Tapping into a fraction of this audience can take you from startup to a success story.

Are you on the fence about whether or not social media marketing is right for your business? If so, read below to find out why embracing this form of marketing is so important for small businesses.

1. Social Media Marketing Helps You Get the Word Out

One of the main benefits that come with using social media marketing is the ability it provides you to inform consumers. Modern consumers are hungry for information, which is why you need to do all you can to deliver it to them.

With a strong social media presence, you can consistently inform a large audience about the products and services you offer. You can take this one step further by investing in the making of a video.

Having the right mix of text and video content is essential when trying to make an impact on social media. Working with marketing professionals, like the ones at The Digital Agency is essential when trying to create engaging and informative content for your social media followers.

2. The Popularity Factor

Unless you have been living under a rock for the past decade, you know just how popular social media is. People from all corners of the world engage with social media forums on a daily basis.

Instead of letting your competition reap the benefits of an adequate social media marketing strategy, now is the time to embrace this form of marketing. Failing to follow marketing trends can affect the public’s perception of your business.

If you do not have a presence on social media, consumers may start to view your company as outdated. Not only can this affect your ability to attract a wider audience, it can also lead to your existing customers seeking out the help of a competitor. The time and energy invested in social media marketing will pay off in the long run.

3. A Cost-Effective Way to Market Your Business

If you are like most business owners, finding a way to save money is something you are passionate about. In the past, companies would spend thousands of dollars a month on print advertising.

Since the invention of social media, print advertising has started to wain in popularity. Not only is social media provide business owners with quality sales leads, but it is also cost-effective.

While using a social media service is free, you can spend money on targeted ads. Platforms like Facebook allow you to run customized ads. These ads allow you to target users based on factors like location, age, and interests. When done correctly, these ads will help you generate sales leads that actually convert.

4. A Great Way to Reach a Variety of Age Groups and Demographics

Some business owners have the misconception that social media is just for Millennials and Xennials. The truth is that social media attracts users from all age groups and demographics.

While it is important to develop content for your core audience, you will also need to find a way to give your products and services a universal appeal. The more people you can appeal to on social media, the easier you will find it to grow your company.

Things like interactive content provide a nearly universal appeal. People from all walks of life love filling out quizzes or looking at a video. By providing your audience with this type of content, you should have no problem growing your audience.

5. Receive Feedback from the People Who Matter the Most

Having a successful small business hinges on providing your customers with what they want. Interacting with your audience on social media is a great way to receive honest feedback about your products or services.

Becoming detached from the needs of your audience is a recipe for disaster. If consumers feel like you aren’t providing them with what they want, it will generally lead to them seeking out one of your competitors.

Conducting polls on social media regarding a new product or service can provide you with useful information. Take the feedback you receive and use it to optimize the products or services you provide can help you achieve the success you are after.

6. Address Customer Problems Quickly

Providing excellent customer service is essential when trying to keep your audience happy and loyal. Allowing consumers to instant message you on social media with problems they may have is a good idea.

Once you receive complaints on these platforms, you need to work on resolving them in a hurry. Showing your audience you are concerned about the experience they have with your company is essential.

Ignoring these messages may lead to your business receiving bad online reviews. Most tech-savvy consumers take the information in online reviews very seriously. Having a number of bad reviews can affect your ability to grow your customer base.

Working with Professionals Is a Must

Instead of trying to develop and execute social media marketing campaigns on your own, you should reach out for some professional help. A digital marketing professional can help you come up with a winning social media strategy and track the results of these campaigns with ease.

Looking for more information about social media marketing? If so, check out our article on how to an effective social media strategy can help grow your brand.

Instagram is one of the hottest social media platforms on the internet. With a focus on visuals and video, there is really no surprise that everyone is flocking to the social app that is owned by Facebook, and continues to put up brilliant numbers every month.

Not only is the platform fun and exciting for their users, but also for advertisers and brands on Instagram as well. With their advantaged targeting options, and billions of users from around the world — it’s a win-win-win situation for users, advertisers, and of course, Facebook.

Even with all of these benefits in place, there are still going to be some obstacles and lessons to be learned along the way. If you’re struggling to increase your Instagram followers and likes, that doesn’t mean you should completely give up on including Instagram as part of your social media strategy. It just means you need to adjust your approach so you can tap into the network of more than one billion monthly active users who are ready and willing to consume your content.

Use Automation

Instagram automation platforms, also known as Instagram bots, are designed to handle getting followers for you. Simply pick some usernames that seem like they are part of your target audience, along with hashtags you’d like to follow, and let the bot take over for you. You can also use the bot to handle unfollowing the people who don’t follow you back within a few days, so you can strike a good balance or ratio between followers and those you are following.

You can use automation to like posts, too, which should help automatically increase your following. And certain platforms make it possible to automatically post your Instagram photos to your account so you can keep a steady flow of new content coming in for your audience. Though it’s possible to automate comments and direct messages for engagement, there are many who caution against it because you want your engagement to be as authentic as possible.

Steal from the Competition

Take a look at the accounts you’re competing with. They’ve definitely got the same type of followers you’re looking for – so why not take advantage of that and look through the people who are following them. Use your automation tools to start following people from the competition’s accounts, and you’ll see that many of them will follow you back – as long as you’ve got the kind of content that will keep them interested.

By piggybacking off the work your competitors have done building their following, you can put yourself in a better position to compete with them much quicker than if you completely ignore this option.

Pay Attention to Your Posting Times

When you don’t have much of a following, you’ll just have to pick a random posting time, then pay attention to your Instagram Analytics to see how much of an audience you reached. That is, unless, you make use of generalized data available from other sources. This article from ShareThis highlights data from various sources to indicate the best days and times to post your content for maximum engagement.

Mondays and Thursdays are the best days to post any time of the day, other than between 3 and 4 pm. Some brands do well during the Monday morning commute, between the hours of 8 am and 9 am. Video content, however, should be posted between the hours of 9 pm and 8 am, because it seems people would rather watch those from home than the office.

But, depending on which study or data you use, you may find inconsistencies. For instance, another study found that Wednesdays between 2 am and 5 pm EST is the best time to post, while another found that you’ll get the most engagement on Wednesdays at 3:00 p.m.
Thursdays at 5:00 a.m., 11:00 a.m., 3:00 p.m., and 4:00 p.m., and Fridays at 5:00 a.m.

That’s why it’s important to experiment on your own, because your audience and niche may account for variations from this average or standard timing. As time goes on, you’ll be able to notice specific patterns as you vary the time of day you post.

Ideally, you should be posting at a time when most of your audience is online and there to interact with your post as soon as it goes live on your profile. The more interaction you get within the short amount of time after it posts live, the better the chance you have at landing on the Instagram Explore tab, which can help you explode your following, too.

Research and Use Hashtags

Hashtags are used to categorize content across Instagram and make it easier for people to find content based on topics. You’re allowed to use up to 30 hashtags per photo/video and encouraged to use them to make your content reach a wider audience. Research hashtags to see what kind of content is there – you don’t want to accidentally make a hashtag mistake or use a banned hashtag – and make sure there’s not so much activity your content will get lost quickly.

Use a variety of hashtags and see which ones appear to be bringing you the most traffic. Use a mix of general, brand specific (you create those!) and niche specific hashtags for good measure.

Geotag Photos for Improved Local Discovery

You can attach a location to each one of your photos and videos, which can help boost local discovery. This is particularly helpful for businesses that want to do local marketing. People search for content based on their location when they are looking for something to do where they are, or planning a vacation to an area. You can explore interest in local areas by hiding your own IP address and using a proxy or VPN to spoof local IP addresses.

Run a Contest

One surefire way to increase your likes and follows is to run a contest. Not only will this increase your following, but it will also help increase your brand awareness, which is key for gaining customers. Choose the type of contest you want to run, create a hashtag, choose a prize, set the duration and the rules, then promote the heck out of it, give away the prize, announce the winner, and repeat.

Using any one of these methods will definitely help you see an uptick in your follower count. Using more than one, or all of these methods – which you can do all at the same time, will speed up your results, allowing you to cover more ground in a shorter period of time.

Social media is everywhere. Whether it’s Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, or any of the smaller platforms in between, it’s become one of the most effective ways to build a following, reach new audiences and also putting marketing dollars to good use.

That is… if you know what methods to use, and which others to stay away from.

While the concept of social media marketing is nothing new, don’t forget that millions of new people are going online for the first time, and thousands of entrepreneurs are launching businesses online for the first time — both of which are going to want to get active with social media.

If you want to reach new audiences and generate leads, paid social is the channel you need to be using. But without the right training, paid social can be a tough medium to crack. If you’re new to paid advertising, there are some important things you are going to need to know.

One such example is the clear difference between Facebook Ads and Google Adsense, which might not be so clear to newbie marketers or anyone going live with their first online ad campaign. Neil Patel does an excellent job in explaining the differences between the two in the video below.

Facebook Ads vs. Google Ads is just one example of something that should be obvious to marketers and site owners before spending money online and playing around with social media. Here are a few other tips, tricks, and marketing methods to consider as well.

Boost Posts

If you already have a Facebook page set up for your business, then the easiest place to get started with paid advertising is by posting your top performing posts. This tactic requires minimal effort and training, and will help expand your reach beyond your existing fan base on Facebook.

There has been some debate for many years now on which advertising method is best; Boosts vs. Promoted Posts. However, for most brands and site owners that spent money on ‘boost’ campaigns, they usually didn’t see the ROI they were looking for.

To implement this strategy, take a look at your Facebook post timeline and identify organic top-performing posts – posts that got a lot of engagement (likes and clicks) naturally. Select the “Boost Post” option in the lower right hand corner. From there, you can select a goal for your boosting, like Engagement or Website Visits, and also do some audience targeting to reach new people. You can choose Location, Age and Gender to help Facebook find the right people to show your post to.  

“Boosting” a post is extremely easy and you can make it fit any budget. However, just because it’s easy, it doesn’t mean you should do it. A better example would be to still use Facebook, but to focus more on custom audiences, remarketing, and targeting your ads towards existing mailing list subscribers and site visitors — which are all possible through the Facebook Ads platform.

Try a Link Ad

Link Ads are one of the easiest Facebook ads to set up for beginners. These types of ads look like a regular Facebook post that you posted to your Facebook page’s timeline, and will help you reach people who aren’t your fans. This type of ad works best for driving traffic to a blog post or a landing page.

The benefit here isn’t just that they are easy to set up, it’s also that they blend in with the regular content on Facebook Ads, which allows marketers to see much better results and engagement if they are willing to put in the time and effort. You can see an example of one of these ads below, and also explore the many other types of ads on Facebook here.

To set up this ad you will need to create: ad copy (post copy, link title, link description), image, call to action and a link.

Experiment with Video

Facebook is becoming more and more of a video platform, so, especially if video is already a part of your marketing strategy, you should experiment with Video Ads on Facebook. Videos are a unique and memorable way to reach new audiences. Videos also autoplay in the Newsfeed, which increases the likelihood of users seeing and absorbing your content.

Video is so attractive right now because everyone is consuming it. For brands with a lot of money to spend, Facebook Video Ads are perfect for not just increased branding, but also real views, engagement, and ROI as well. Take a look at some of the most active brands using online video through Facebook Ads.

When you set up a Video Ad, make sure you set up a call to action (like Learn More, Buy Now, etc) at the end of your video through the Power Editor. In addition, make sure you include subtitles, as many Facebook videos are watched without sound.

Set up Retargeting

Once you start running Facebook ads, your site will start receiving more traffic. You want to make sure you’re taking advantage of this traffic and these new visits, and a great way to do this is by implementing retargeting. Retargeting captures the digital information of your site visitors, and then follows their “digital footprint” around the web so you can continue to serve them ads and stay top of mind. So if they don’t convert on their first visit to your site, you drastically increase their chances of converting down the road.

Retargeting is now being used by more businesses and brands today than ever below. This Facebook Advertising Agency in London had the following to say about Facebook Ads and the continued support for retargeting campaigns:

“If you’re looking for exposure, Facebook is hard to beat. On a daily basis, you’ve got access to over 1 billion users – with a lavish spread of demographics within. What’s more, the average Facebook user checks the service five times or more during their day – so it’s the perfect platform for building brand awareness. Facebook allows advertisers to create custom audiences for their paid campaigns. Often, this will mean people retarget users who have expressed a prior interest – or have signed up to email marketing. Your advertising can now follow your customer’s online footsteps. Traffic leaving your page or site no longer represents a missed opportunity either – with Facebook retargeting, it could be the first part of a person’s journey toward becoming a customer – and can be exceptionally powerful when tied to your broader SEO, PPC and social campaigns.”

While this might not make perfect sense to a new marketer or brand setting up their first ad campaign, it will after a few quick examples. You can also take a look at the retargeting graph below to see a visual on how this multi-step process works.

Retargeting can be a bit trickier to set up, so be sure to research a few resources online and walk through the steps to make sure your Facebook Ads account, pixel placements, and ad copies are all in place for optimal testing and ROI.

How to Grow Your Business and Brand through Paid Social Media Efforts

With more than a billion active sites on the internet today, and more than three billion users spread across social media, it’s important to know what you are doing before getting started. This is true with all online advertising and anything that requires a decent amount of investment.

Be sure to run through each of the Facebook Ads methods above, and also consider these expert social media tips.