[unable to retrieve full-text content]http://tracking.feedpress.it/link/13962/13585310

The advice that makes your feed personable and engaging.

https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/350552

May 27, 2020 7 min read

Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

One of the most significant milestones an online business can achieve is reaching one million followers. It comes with myriad benefits: The most obvious is the more people that pay attention to you, the more potential you have to influence your field. Having a large online following is an important measure of success for businesses — not just influencers. 

Instagram is now one of the key platforms for engaging with your audience, whether you’re marketing a product, a business or your own online persona. Platforms like YouTube and Facebook still dominate, while Twitter, LinkedIn and TikTok cater to more niche audiences.

It took me just under three years to reach one million followers across YouTube, Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn and TikTok. Having worked with many well known influencers, public figures and major brands, I realized early on the seven-figure count will put you on the virtual map and give you a well-sized platform on which to continue growing your presence and authority.

Related: The Ultimate Guide to Instagram Analytics: Metrics, Insights, Tools and Tips

But how do you reach that first, magical million? Luckily enough, with the right strategy, mindset and consistent work ethic, a million followers is achievable for just about anyone.

1. Use the right hashtags

This is by far the most important element to get right if you want to start building a serious online following. Be it on Instagram, Twitter, or another platform, hashtags are the primary way in which potential new followers can find your content. But what’s meant by the right hashtags?

The hashtags need to meet two requirements: First, be relevant to your content and second, belong in the “trending,” or popular category. Creating regular topical posts is one way to get this right – commenting on current hot topics or posting images in line with current trends. By looking at up-to-date online analytics, you can find out what the trending hashtags are at the moment and try to get your content to match those topics.

However, one behavior to avoid is using irrelevant hashtags just because they’re trending. Hashtags need to match your content. Otherwise, you’ll end up disappointing and confusing your audience and missing out on potential follows.

2. Follow and engage with other users in your niche

Even as you’re working on building your own follower base, you should also follow other people with similar interests, content and target audiences. This makes you a part of a community and makes it easier for your target audience to find you. 

If you’re serious about getting a large following on social media, you’re bound to have done your research on your direct competitors – or at least profiles and pages most similar to yours, if competition is not a factor. Engage with the community as much as possible to get your name out there and generate interest around your account. Commenting on your direct competitors’ posts and images is one of the best ways to drive traffic to your own profile. Eventually, new visitors will come to you, and if your content is engaging enough, at least some of them will turn into followers.

Related: 5 Interactions to Help Improve Your Follower Loyalty on Social Media

3. Post regular, high-quality content

As long as you’re not spamming your own timeline or others’ comment sections, you should be as active as possible. To show your potential followers that you have a lot of original, high-quality content to share, your posts should be regular and consistently engaging.

Sure, there’s an element of hit-and-miss in the early stages of experimenting with what works for you and your target audience, but once you have this worked out, try to keep a consistent style and format.

4. Post your content at the right time

There’s general information available online on the overall “best” times for posting, and these guides can certainly be helpful when starting out. However, once you start generating followers and engagement, it’s better to look at the data from your own posts and profiles. Your target audience might have slightly different habits and preferences than a typical account.

Analytics tools such as Instagram Analytics for Business, which you can find on Instagram under the Followers section, can give you insights into engagement with your posts. One of the most helpful is a timeline that tells you when your followers engage most on Instagram. From there, you can work out when is the best time to post your content, both in terms of time of day and day of the week.

Related: 5 Ways to Get More Followers and Brand Exposure With Instagram Live Videos

5. Follow your competitors’ followers

Let’s say you’re in the Instagram niche of artsy, black and white urban photography. If you haven’t done so already, find profiles most similar to yours with lots of followers – their followers are clearly interested in black and white urban photography, or they wouldn’t be following a profile in that niche. Now, follow those followers.

By doing so, you’re directly reaching out to your prospective target audience and indirectly inviting them to check out your profile. Chances are at least some of these accounts will follow you back. 

6. Drive traffic from other platforms

This isn’t an innovative technique, but people often forget to take advantage of it. Even if you’re primarily active on one platform, there’s no reason why you shouldn’t use other outlets to drive traffic to your main profile.

Let’s say your primary platform is Instagram. Links to your Instagram page need to be everywhere possible. This includes your other social media – like Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest and even LinkedIn if that’s how you roll – as well as your website, if you have one (and you should have one).

Then, although you’re spending most of your time and effort on marketing yourself on Instagram, you should still carve out some time for some other social media promotion. Pinterest, which is visually driven like Instagram, is particularly useful for marketing images and videos.

Related: 5 Reasons Your Followers Don’t Engage With Your Tweets

7. Market your hashtag

Hopefully, you’ve done the hard work of creating a unique, relevant, and interesting personal hashtag. Now, make it into a brand! Of course, you should be sharing it on your other social media (see above), but remember you can also take your hashtag marketing offline. This is particularly useful if you’re running a small business. Include your hashtag on all promotional materials – from posters to business cards.

If you’re an aspiring influencer without an existing business, you can still make this work, though, with a bit of creativity. For example, get some well-designed, intriguing business cards or leaflets printed – featuring your hashtag, of course – and make sure they’re accessible to people who might take an interest in your content. For instance, if your niche is exercise and healthy living, ask whether you can leave your materials at a few local gyms and sports stores.

8. Use pro insights and analytics tools to your advantage

One of the key elements of a successful social media strategy is taking the guesswork out of the process. Luckily, there are useful tools and resources that can help you get reliable insights on your target audience, competition and the performance of your posts and engagements. Most of these platforms require a paid subscription for pro users, but getting the right data analysis can do wonders for boosting your follower count. Take advantage of free trials to experiment with different platforms before committing to a subscription.

Related: 10 Free Tools to Help You Understand Your Social Media Audience

https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/350709

The Coronavirus pandemic has created some unusual times and as we know unusual times call for extraordinary measures. As search and social giants are providing special measures, this article takes a look at what Twitter has done to support people around the globe during these testing times.

The role of social media during the pandemic

Social media platforms account to entertain almost 4.6 billion people from all around the world. The leading platforms Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and YouTube are among the top contributor to creating a well-connected platform for active users. News and updates spread within second on these platforms reaching to millions, fastest than the one broadcasted through television channels. So, when it’s about spreading information, social media platforms are the biggest medium.  

At present, every single platform is making their efforts to creating the safest channel to spread information and to soothe the people down while guiding them about the havocs of the pandemic and ways through which they can save themselves. In this struggle, let’s discuss the role of Twitter, one of the most crowded social media platforms. 

How Twitter is taking care of its users

Twitter is a free platform to socialize. With the use of hashtags and a seamless interface, users are connected with each other despite the region they belong to. During the first three months of 2020, active users on Twitter maximized which reflects its authenticity and positioning among the active social media users. In fact, Twitter ad engagement is up 23%.

With the onset of the pandemic, social media platforms have to face a number of accusations. One of the most important accusations was the spread of false information. 

Banned misinformation from the platform

Twitter condemned any spread of misleading information on its platform. As the platform entertains millions of users, the spread of misinformation was creating panic among the users and misleading them regarding the seriousness of the Pandemic. At last, the microblogging platform got updated and any information that was verified as false or manipulative gets instantly deleted. Much like Facebook, the platform began to promote information by verifying it from credible sources. Whether it’s about the global healthcare spending statistic or the count of infected patients around the world, the accurate numbers began to spread. 

Source: Twitter Safety Status

Among the prominent aspects been observed to banning the content involved untrue information about the affected ones, reasons that triggered the virus claims about specific religious groups or communities getting prone to the disease, racism, and discrimination. Anything related to these aspects gets deleted and banned in an instant. 

Apart from this, Twitter authorities also informed about efforts being taken to automate the removal of abusive and manipulated posts. With the help of machine learning, the platform gets scrutinize and any content that can cause harm to an individual gets restricted to share or post. In the following words, the authorities made their claim about the updates, “As we’ve said on many occasions, our approach to protecting the public conversation is never static. That’s particularly relevant in these unprecedented times. We intend to review our thinking daily and will ensure we’re sharing updates here on any new clarifications to our rules or major changes to how we’re enforcing them,” 

Twitter Donates a million dollars to support journalism during the pandemic

Just when the news about banning misleading information on Twitter was making the headlines, Twitter released a new update about its contribution. The platform is donating a million dollars to two organizations The International Women’s Media Foundation and the Committee to Protect Journalists to report authentic news about the COVID-19 pandemic. It proves to be a great step in keeping the world safe from the pandemic any guiding more and more people about ways to prevent getting affected. The journalist will shed light on all the stories that can prove to be helpful in fighting the outbreak. 

As journalists are playing a major role in getting into the government and healthcare sectors and scooping out authentic and rich information about the Coronavirus, it’s imperative to appreciate and help them. Journalists all around the world are among the front line warriors to defeat the pandemic and making it easier for people like us to get the updates. Considering their efforts, Twitter stepped forward to support them and help them in gathering news more efficiently.  

Best Twitter accounts to follow during the pandemic

Twitter can help you out in many ways to overcome the stress of the isolation or to pas days of being quarantined. To those who are looking for authentic accounts to grab information and updated about the pandemic, they must follow the below-listed accounts.  

The accounts of Dr. Sylvie Briandand of Dr. Kate Lovett who share the most authentic updates about the pandemic and steps to prevent it. 

If you want to seek professional advice about the common health issues you are experiencing you can get the updates from the account of David Juurlink. He explains and talks about the symptoms and ways to prevent them. 

Apart from all of these accounts, the organizations are also contributing to connecting with the people. You can also opt for the U.S. FDA Twitter handle.

If you want to kill your time, you can find some great entertaining accounts as well. Like the one of Tret Andrew who is literally sharing his day’s updates with the followers connecting with them after every few hours. Or you can tune in to the house party session of Z THE DOM and stir more fun to your day.  

Wrap up  

Whether it’s about Twitter or any other platform, efforts are being made to prevent the Coronavirus outbreak and guide people to stay calm and prepared to handle any healthcare urgency. With such unparalleled efforts of every platform and organization, the world will soon be free from the havocs of this COVID-19 pandemic.  

How Twitter is contributing to support masses during the Coronavirus outbreak

How do you generate brand awareness and product exposure without traditional advertising? Influencers. 

These days trust in advertising is the lowest it has ever been, and for this reason, you need to look beyond regular promotional methods.

Source

Influencer marketing can foster goodwill towards your product. But more than that, high-powered influencers can boost traffic, engagement, and awareness. 

Because of how tough it is to get product exposure, you’d want the satisfaction of achieving the feat all by yourself, right? Not just to prove people who had doubts about your ability wrong, but for that feeling of accomplishment that you succeeded alone. It’s truly an enticing thought most entrepreneurs can’t resist. 

Dictating the game and calling the shots is great and all. But at certain stages of your business, you need a helping hand. Your reach has limits. 

By connecting forces with people who have identical goals to yours, you gain their reach and create a symbiotic relationship for mutual growth and potential audience maximization. Your brand and product’s exposure is paramount, and by engaging, interacting and intriguing your target audience alongside individuals with similar ambitions, the possibilities are endless. 

With that said, let’s proceed. 

What are high powered influencers? 

An influencer is someone who turns the heads of your target audience. A person with a social presence so powerful that they can put your product in front of thousands to millions of consumers. 

A great example is Subaru’s #MeetAnOwner campaign that used influencers videos to promote its new Impreza with the objective to pull in millennial buyers. One of such videos was Dan Graham, a new YouTube influencer with over five million subscribers using a slip and slide to leap off a 500-foot cliff.

While there were no mentions of the facts and figures that make the car great. It simply focused on the emotional aspect of consumers, which was the thrill of adventure consumers would associate with the car as a result of the influencer promoting it.

Influencers majorly achieve such goals as Dan did via social media platforms, which is where they showcase their influence.

But you need to ensure that your chosen influencer is the right fit for your product or brand. 

You may come across a person with millions of followers, but if their goals aren’t identical to yours – for example, using a hip hop artist to recommend your new software – a boost in engagement isn’t a possibility. Defining context is the most crucial aspect you can focus on when choosing an influencer, so ensure that’s the pillar of your decisions. 

Why use an influencer? 

1. Increase in credibility

Influencers increase your brand’s credibility, which naturally extends to your product. By collaborating with people who already have credibility in the industry, you boost your own. 

Sun Peaks, a ski resort, experienced this. In order to raise awareness about their various winter attractions, they involved Instagram influencer and Canada’s leading adventure photographer Callum Snape. 

With amazing Instagram stories, images and short Facebook videos he drove over 200,000 people to Sun Peaks landing pages. Which sparked a huge interest for Sun Peaks from their target audience. 

The consumer’s conclusion was simple – “If Callum Snape loves it, then it’s got to be great. ” 

2. Influencers add a new perspective 

Do you know that feeling? The one where you write or talk about the same topic repeatedly, and at some point, you feel redundant. 

Repeating the same thing you’ve always said, to relay the same information from a fresh perspective, and a different sound. 

That’s tough, but if you bring in someone else to speak on the same subject, they’ll have something new to offer. People vary. Each person’s life choices and experiences give them a worldview different from yours, even if they’re in the same industry. 

FIJI water knew this, so they teamed up with influencer Danielle Bernstein and her trainer Eric Johnson.  

The idea was to expose their product to their target audience in a subtle way and from a fresh perspective. 

Now, in the post-Bernstein promoted her own brand Bernstein but she reminded her followers about the importance of staying hydrated and included FIJI water bottles. 

This took the attention of forced placements off FIJI water since the post was about promoting her brand. The result was that it appeared to the audience as a reflective recommendation to stay hydrated rather than a promotion of FIJI water.

With high powered influencers, you can present your product from a fresh perspective to your target audience consistently.

3. Influencers offer massive exposure 

In the business world, it’s all about giving and receiving. You scratch my back I scratch yours.  It’s a system that you can’t override because it’s powerful. 

Think about it. Why would a guest blogger pen down a post on your page?  It isn’t because they love your brand so much, they just want to help. All actions in business are for personal intentions. They do it to get access to a bigger audience. Yours.

And in exchange, they pull their audience to your doorstep, and it’s a win-win situation for everyone. With influencers, that’s what you achieve.

Tom’s of Maine, for instance, is a brand that makes toiletries using natural ingredients only. To build exposure for their products, they decided to have influencers compel their followers to make posts about Tom’s of Maine products for a chance to win a gift package. 

The strategy initiated a snowball effect that got across to 4.4 million people in three months of the campaign.

Some high-powered influencers have followings in millions, and a single recommendation of your product can drive an unbelievable number of leads and conversions to your offer. 

They have traffic, exposure, and influence, and you have the cash. So you make a trade, everyone’s happy.

How to find relevant, high powered influencers?

1. Google search for Instagram influencers

A simple Google search can reveal individuals influential in your niche on Instagram. Input a related keyword and pick the top posts. Find out who’s behind them, learn about them, and then reach out. 

You can use the search keyword code: site: platform.com “k followers” niche.

2. Buzzsumo

This is such a great tool for locating influencers. All you need to do is enter your keyword or niche related phrase in the search. 

For instance, if your product is a content marketing tool. Type in the keyword “content marketing”, and you’ll see a bunch of buzzing posts will pop up. 

Look up the persons behind the posts. Check out their social media profiles and followership. If they match up with the influencer type you’re gunning for, reach out to them. 

Best ways to partner with high powered influencers 

1. Run a referral program

Remember when we mentioned that the business world is all about mutual benefits? Well, referral programs are a perfect demonstration of that principle. 

During Airbnb’s expansion to Asia for example, a single influencer’s referrals resulted in 5000 signups and hundreds of bookings in the campaign’s first month.  

Offer influencers a nice payout, discount or relevant product for them throwing you a few hundred thousand customers isn’t a bad idea. Influencers invested an immense amount of time and effort into gaining those followers and desire to receive rewards for it. 

There are a bunch of tools for automating your referral program, you just need to set and forget. You can even find quality influencers via these tools as they reveal people that are part of your program and are driving the highest traffic to your brand. 

A referral program offers influencers a solid incentive to link people to your brand. The importance of this is even though a top influencer had an excellent experience with your product, without an active nudge they’d most likely not reference your product. And you may never know that someone with such an influence loves your brand. 

2. Gift them

Seen an influencer you like? Perhaps you’ve found that they have a similar passion and you’re convinced they’ll be all in with your brand or product. 

By sending them a product gift, they can test out your product and create exposure by sharing it with their followers. It’d be a good approach to drop them a message before sending over your product to them, as they may not be willing to tell the world about your generosity as you think without a nudge. 

Here’s a great example of what the influencer’s product exposure post would look like: 

3. Freebies giveaways contest

The idea behind this is like giving gifts, but instead of giving your product to the blogger themselves with the aim of them promoting it, the blogger runs a contest with your product targeted at the audience. 

It’s a lot more direct in terms of the market of approach. As the influencer’s audience fights for an opportunity to win your product, it spurs a desire to have your offer before they’ve even gotten it. That’s a priceless effect to have on potential customers. 

Check this example out:

Keep in mind that this method works great with influencers who own a blog, as the stats show that 90% of bloggers love to engage their audience in contests. So it might be easier getting a blogger to agree to this method. 

4. Run influencer events

There’s no greater way to empower and educate your Influencer about your product than to host an event that allows you to interact with them in-person.  

Sure you can send the influencer a box of your products and request that they feature it in their subsequent post. But imagine the depth of insight and content they could come up with if you invited them to where you make the magic happen.  

For example, if you run a makeup brand, you can invite beauty/makeup influencers to an event where you show them how everything comes together. You allow them to get their hands involved in the making procedures and walk them through the entire process. 

This is what ecommerce mattress brand Casper did. They got in touch with various Canine influencers that had a combined following of 3.5 million dog lovers to promote their new product for dogs. 

Source 

The influencers were invited to a lunch party in New York, with “pupperazzi”, a green carpet and lots of food. The results were phenomenal. Different positive perspectives of their product at a go and 3.5 million people reached with ease.

You may have to include travel expenses into your budget, depending on your brand’s location. But the result is giving the influencer the ability to produce brilliant imagery that represents everything good about your product.  

It allows the influencer to communicate your product to the audience in the most elaborate way possible. 

5. Social media posts

Instagram sits high on this approach and is an excellent place to locate influencers to partner with. But ensure that you find users that not only have large followings but engagements proportionate to their follower size. The danger signs should go off if you come across an account with 300,000 followers, but only 12 likes per post. 

When you identify the best influencer for you, create a campaign that delivers multiple posts that appeal to various aspects of your target audience. With that approach, one post is bound to stick. You can ask them to try out your product and take a video or snapshot showing the features of your product. 

6. Blogger review

If done right, your influencer’s blog posts can rank on the top search results. Blog posts are an excellent way to boost product exposure. 

Partner with powerful influential bloggers known for their credibility and trustworthiness. You could send them a free product or pay them in exchange for crafting a blog post with an honest review of your offer.  

For example, if a web user is searching for “golf gloves” on Google, your influencers post could show up on the search results and as they visit the page, you’ve got a limitless flow of potential leads. 

Conclusion 

Influencer marketing is powerful in driving product exposure. You just need to find the right influencers and build a solid relationship with them. Try out various methods, track your performance, and determine the right approach for your brand. 

Raul Galera is the Partner Manager at ReferralCandy, an app that helps ecommerce stores run customer referral programs, boosting their word-of-mouth sales.

Five ways to get more product exposure with high powered influencers

[unable to retrieve full-text content]http://tracking.feedpress.it/link/13962/13526638

May 6, 2020 5 min read

Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

Whether you’re an avid content creator, a marketing-minded entrepreneur, or just desperately want your child to stop doing crazy dances they found on the internet, I have news for you: TikTok isn’t going to disappear anytime soon.

Social media apps come and go, but video content consumption continues to grow. Hours spent consuming content on a smartphone are on track to eventually surpass hours spent watching television, and the current stay at home orders have likely accelerated these consumption trends.

Related: How to Use TikTok to Promote Your Business

Consider TikTok’s impressive growth statistics:

• At the time of this writing, TikTok is the most-downloaded free social media app, and second among all app downloads only to Zoom

• American users account for 20 percent of all TikTok revenue

• According to an online research project from Influencer Marketing Hub, engagement rate is higher on TikTok than other social media platforms (higher than Instagram, and five to 10 times higher than Twitter, depending on account size).

TikTok is a triple threat because it combines seamless video creation, an entertainment-driven social network and one-touch syndication options.

Why TikTok is the new Instagram

Instagram’s secret sauce at the time of its debut in 2010 was that it empowered users with no prior photography experience to instantly create pleasing photos and share them with a social network. Consumers could apply filters and express their lives visually from the palm of their hand. 

Just 18 months after launch, Facebook acquired Instagram — which had zero dollars in revenue at the time — for $1 billion, a risky bet many analysts now see as the acquisition deal of the decade. Instagram’s time on platform continued to rise for years to come and has only recently leveled off.

Related: Snap CEO Evan Spiegel Says TikTok Could Be Bigger Than Instagram

TikTok delivers a similar “skill acquisition” experience, except this time its users can become savvy videographers. Everything you need to craft a multimedia experience — from trimming clips, to adding soundtracks and filters — can be done entirely within the app and easily shared with friends, which is key for time on platform (And future potential ad revenue for TikTok’s parent company ByteDance).

Here are three key components of TikTok’s interface that will ensure its popularity for months and years to come.

1. TikTok’s content editor is native

The app’s features to shoot footage, rapidly trim and stitch together clips, and incorporate music and voice effects at the touch of a button make it an amateur creator’s dream. In case you’re new to TikTok:

• Videos are 15 seconds in length, but users can create a string of up to four 15-second segments at once

• Videos can be shared publicly, sent to select accounts or can remain completely private

• Tagging other accounts, hashtags and saving videos to your own albums are all part of the ecosystem

The trim feature is particularly enticing because it allows creators to storyboard a video and then rapidly produce and publish a finished product.

2. TikTok’s feed is wired for viral videos

TikTok’s home page is far more like Twitter than Facebook or Instagram; viral videos with huge engagement move to the front of the line and comprise the feed, and you’re served one video at a time (though a “Discover” tab lets you browse specific topics or hashtags).

This is part of TikTok’s competitive advantage: An endless number of prompts and challenges make it easy to participate because you don’t have to have anything interesting to talk about in order to get started. Performance-oriented videos are embedded into TikTok’s DNA, especially after ByteDance acquired lip-syncing app Musical.ly in November 2017 and absorbed its features into the TikTok experience.

Related: Senators Want to Ban TikTok From Government Phones

Funny dances and hashtag-driven challenges spread at dizzying speed, and on TikTok, entertainment value reigns supreme. The result is a rabbit hole users enjoy going down, and that’s good news for prospective advertising revenue.

3. TikTok assets are easy to cross-post

Everett Rogers, a communications professor and author of the popular 1962 book Diffusion Of Innovations, divided adopters of new ideas and technology into five categories: Innovators, early adopters, the early majority, the late majority and laggards. 

Rogers’ research names both effective communication channels and a social network as factors in the proliferation of ideas, and TikTok has both of these going for it at warp speed. Although innovators and early adopters together comprise only 16 percent of the population, the app’s options to syndicate both content you create and content you discover to other valuable real estate — such as the Instagram story feed — means the app’s content is being exposed to other, larger audiences. TikTok content is already created as vertical video, so one-touch syndication to Instagram Stories is a breeze and will likely contribute substantially to the platform’s organic user growth.

Whether you’re a content creator or more of a social media lurker, you’ll likely be hearing about TikTok for months and years to come. Consider jumping on the bandwagon, even if it’s just to get inspired and see the latest 15-second films savvy users around the world are creating now.

Related: TikTok Isn’t Going Anywhere

https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/349905

No one planned for a global pandemic. How could you?

However, the performance marketers who were able to adjust quickly and provide support to their audience (in various ways) are reaping the benefits.

As you know, social media is a tool for people to connect and can be used to empower your brand. Now, it’s one of the few ways to stay connected virtually and build genuine relationships with your audience.

So, what are the winners doing? Here’s a look at the content types that are winning in “quarantimes”:

1. Educating

Think virtual marketing conferences, free online training courses, TikTok dances, business leaders live on LinkedIn, etc.

For those who are interested, continued education has become a way to keep productive and sane during this extra time at home.

According to Statista, in-home media consumption during the quarantine of March 2020, worldwide, shows that 35% are reading more books/listening to more audiobooks, and 44% are spending more time on social media.

Wait, social media….learning? It’s true. Gone are the days of social media just to mindlessly scroll.

For example, LinkedIn professionals are going “live” to share data-driven and real insight with their audiences. This gives them a platform to address what’s happening, share how they’re adjusting, and be vulnerable with their followers.

For example, Chief Content Officer of MarketingProfs, Ann Handley, puts together “a pop-up twice-weekly video show about coping with COVID-19, business, and life” on her LinkedIn profile.

Source: Screenshot from Ann Handley on LinkedIn

Additionally, sharing helpful content is important. However, people may not be as open to read a long whitepaper right now.

How can you provide support and empathy, without being too focused on quarantine that it bums out your reader?

Give them a game plan to succeed during this time.

Source: Screenshot from @thefuturishere on Instagram

The Instagram post above shares 10 quality design slides, actionable tips with real tools the audience can use to add to their WFH set-up, and a strong call-to-action for the reader to leave their favourite tools, so others continue to learn.

A different route

For others, they might not be looking to learn new business skills during this time. Instead, people are looking to stay entertained and keep their minds in a good place during this time of change.

According to Vox, people are turning to Instagram and TikTok to learn how to make Dalgona coffee (whipped coffee) and baking bread. The word “bread” even hit an “all-time high” on Google searches, according to Eater.

Additionally, TikTok videos are now a way that families can learn dances and bond together, according to CNN.

According to the article, TikTok offers various COVID-19 resources for families to engage in positive ways. A nightly series called #HappyAtHome features top creators who share advice, motivation, and more. Educational live streams are also available throughout the popular app.

So, as marketers, why do we care?

Key point

As you’re crafting content for social media, what can you share that is educational in some way?

How can you share easily digestible content that leaves the audience taking something new away from it?

Remember:

• The whipped coffee recipe has three ingredients, and it went viral.
• You don’t need professional equipment to create TikTok videos.
• To go live on LinkedIn, Instagram, or Facebook, you don’t need any equipment. Simply hit “Go Live”.
• You can create free infographics with impressive data using Canva.

Overall, listen to your audience. Find what they need during this time.

Give them something they can learn.

2. Motivating

Think mental health advocates going live, empathetic stories shared by brands, support for hospitals, charity work.

While your audience may be open to learning, many people are feeling low right now.

Job security may be lost, kids may be home from school, the weather may be depressing, a family member may be sick – this may not be the time your audience wants to pick up a new business book or create something new.

So, how can your brand support them? How can you test different methods to motivate and encourage, showing that we’re all in this together?

It might sound crazy, but you don’t need to spend thousands of dollars and make a brand new campaign to reach your people.

Check out this Instagram post from Hubspot that received incredible engagement (their highest of the week) by sharing motivational words that resonate with their audience of marketers and sales specialists looking to grow their businesses.

Screenshot from Hubspot’s Instagram

Additionally, companies are doing big things to support mental health.

According to an article on CNN, the Disaster Distress Helpline, a federal crisis hotline operated by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, calls in March have gone up by more than 300%, compared to February. Compared to March of last year, the hotline has seen 891% more calls, according to the article.

At Directive, we wanted to support our team and clients during this time by providing “motivation through movement”. As an E-RYT certified yoga instructor, through YouTube Live, I was able to teach a class for our people to get moving, focus on their breath, and keep their wellness a priority through these challenging times.

It was incredibly encouraging to hear feedback that both parties enjoyed the class and felt better, and I was thankful to share my love of the yoga practice with them all.

We highlighted this on social media to encourage other companies to try something similar, as well.

Screenshot from Directive on Instagram

Additionally, companies like Salesforce are utilizing social media to build a schedule around guided meditation, conversations with health and wellness experts, and being present.

Screenshot from Salesforce on LinkedIn

Additionally, companies like Headspace provide motivational (and educational) content on Instagram on how followers can make “no-sew masks from home”. This can help motivate people to stay healthy, even if they don’t have new income coming in.

Source: @headspace on Instagram

Key point

While bringing in new income is essential to your business, right now, it’s imperative to put your brand and culture first. People will remember how you made them feel.

Show sentiment to your audience, and make sure it’s authentic. Your actions should be more powerful than your words.

After you find a rhythm that works for your social content, make sure that what you’re sharing is resonating with your audience. We are marketers, and our audience shows us what they like and don’t like through the data.

According to Janet Balis’s article on Harvard Business Review:

“Frequent tracking of human behavioural trends will help marketers gain better insights in real-time. Marketers will want to measure sentiment and consumption trends on a regular basis to better adapt messaging, closely observing the conversation across social media platforms, community sites, and e-commerce product pages to look for opportunities and identify looming crises more quickly.”

Be there for your audience. Mean it. Track it.

3. Building a virtual community

Think Zoom happy hours, live Instagram workouts, Instagram challenges, community support, real images from working from home.

Without your community, life can seem a little duller. Luckily, technology has your back and helps you see your colleagues and loved ones as much as you’d like to.

For some, this has been the key to working remotely and showing up every day.

From experience, the Directive team has all Zoom meetings with the cameras on, to see teammates’ faces, and to have “real” conversations and connections.

Source: Image from Directive

Sharing a real image (like the one above) on social media shows your team coming together and the power of your community.

Additionally, Directive was excited to participate in a #ShowUsYourWorkspace social media challenge. It was encouraging to see the team share their spaces, show their furry friends, and how they’re adapting into their everyday work lives.

They also tagged other companies to “share their spaces” to carry on the challenge as well.

Here is one of the examples

Source: Image from @directiveconsulting on Instagram

Key point

Building community with your audience, adjusting to working from home, and showing how you’re sticking together behind the scenes is impactful.

Show your followers how you are doing it and continue to do it. Also, find creative ways to keep your followers engaged.

We’re all in this together

While the world continues to feel a little different, you can educate, motivate, and build your community to encourage your audience to push through and stay on their feet.

You have the tools you need, it’s your time to create winning content for your audience.

Ashton Newell is the lead digital PR strategist at Directive, a performance marketing agency specialized in the software space. When Ashton is away from her day job, she spends her time teaching yoga, cheering on the ASU Sun Devils, and drinking numerous cups of coffee. She can be found on Twitter @ashtonmeisner.

Why these three content types are winning quarantine season

[unable to retrieve full-text content]http://tracking.feedpress.it/link/13962/13497333

[unable to retrieve full-text content]http://tracking.feedpress.it/link/13962/13493942