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6 Ways to Use Facebook 360 Photos for Business

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6 Ways to Use Facebook 360 Photos for Business

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Have you heard of Facebook 360 photos?

Wondering how your business can use them?

Facebook 360 photos let you create an immersive 360-degree experience for fans on your Facebook page.

In this article, you'll discover six ways to use Facebook 360 photos for business.

What Are Facebook 360 Photos?

Unlike normal photos, Facebook 360 photos let you create a 3D view of your environment. Take a look at a comparison of a normal photo that you might upload to Facebook and a 360 photo of the same scene. First, here's the normal photo.

Now here's the same scene, except this time we took a Facebook 360 photo instead.

One thing you'll notice about a 360 photo is that instead of being flat, it's much more inviting. It draws you into the scene and makes you feel like you're a part of the experience instead of just reliving someone else's.

So now that you know what Facebook 360 photos are, here are some ways they can work for your business.

#1: Show Customers Your Store or Specialized Product Selections to Drive Foot Traffic

Does your business have limited hours? Maybe you just opened your store and customers haven't yet had the opportunity to experience it? To drum up interest and engagement, share a 360 photo of your business from the customer's perspective.

For example, this Thomann International 360 photo lets potential buyers tour the music store's premium guitar selection.

Before taking a photo inside your store, be sure that the shelves are neatly organized and you have plenty of products in stock. First impressions make a difference.

If your store is normally very busy during the day, it might be best to take the photo in your store before you've opened or after you've closed. Too many customers moving around in the scene can result in a poor-quality Facebook 360 photo.

#2: Post Real-Time Experiences to Support Live Events

Do you put on events for your business? Incorporate Facebook 360 photos to share from inside the event or behind the scenes.

The Chicago Open Air Festival used Facebook 360 photos to give fans a 360-degree view of concerts at the three-day music event.

By sharing a Facebook 360 photo, you give fans an opportunity to experience pieces of your event. If viewers are interested in attending the event, they now have a better perspective on what to expect.

If you're interested in getting more elaborate with the event content that you share, consider creating a Facebook 360 video as well to deepen the overall 360 experience.

#3: Share Landmarks to Guide Customers to Your Location

Do customers frequently call your business to find out where you're located? Most of the time, businesses tell callers about other landmarks that are nearby, such as the nearest Starbucks.

To assist your customers, take a Facebook 360 photo from outside your storefront and show people what's around your business. Then share the photo on your Facebook page, like Bonnie Burrito did.

This way, the next time people ask where you're located, you can share a link to the Facebook 360 photo so people can pan the area around your store and know exactly what to look for when they're nearby.

#4: Show the View to Inform Ticket Purchases

If you're a concert promoter or work for a sports team, you might use this type of Facebook 360 photo to show the view from specific seating areas. This will give fans a perspective of what their seats might be like before they purchase tickets.

#5: Use Teaser Images to Build Pre-release Excitement

Are you launching a new product? Have you thought about how you can share a sneak peek with customers to keep the energy levels high pre-launch?

Ben-Hur producers used Facebook 360 photos to promote the modern-day remake of the movie classic. In this post, they shared a still from the chariot race to get fans excited in advance of the movie's release.

#6: Prompt Fans to Share 360 Photos to Build a Unique Image Library

If you're having trouble coming up with your own Facebook 360 photo ideas, consider inviting your fans to take and share 360 photos of your business or specific locations.

Create a specific campaign hashtag, such as #MYBUSINESSNAME360, and ask fans to use it when posting their photos to Facebook.

As fans start sharing their Facebook 360 photos, you can easily find fan posts by searching for your campaign hashtag. Then share those posts on your Facebook page.
Conclusion
Hopefully, these tips have given you some ideas on how you might use Facebook 360 photos for your business.

For example, if you're in tourism, you might consider taking Facebook 360 photos of some of the exciting opportunities available for visiting tourists. Think beyond the photos typically used in your marketing and show off local hot spots, historic spaces, or public art installations.

Think about what your audience is accustomed to seeing, and find something new to show to them.

What do you think? Do you use Facebook 360 photos for your business? Can you think of other creative ways to use them? Please let us know in the comments below!

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6 Ways to Use Facebook 360 Photos for Business

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Have you heard of Facebook 360 photos? Wondering how your business can use them? Facebook 360 photos let you create an immersive 360-degree experience for fans on your Facebook page. In this article, you'll discover six ways to use Facebook 360 photos for business. What Are Facebook 360 Photos?

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4 Pinterest Tips to Reach a Local Audience

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4 Pinterest Tips to Reach a Local Audience

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Ana Gotter / /

Are you a local business on Pinterest?

Looking for ways to connect with customers in your area?

There are some simple tactics you can use to reach locals via Pinterest without using promoted pins.

In this article, you'll discover four ways to connect with local customers using Pinterest.

#1: Target a Locale With ShortStack's Pinterest Visibility Widget

There aren't as many third-party Pinterest tools as there are for platforms like Facebook or Twitter, at least not yet. I've been waiting for someone to come out with some sort of targeting criteria for regular Pinterest posts (kind of like Facebook's dark posts). There's something available that's pretty close: ShortStack's Pinterest Visibility tool.

ShortStack is a social media contest tool that lets you create and promote Pinterest contests. Their Pinterest Visibility widget (which can be used on Pinterest campaigns) lets you control visibility and adjust what your audience sees based on what country they're in.

While you can't target specific zip codes, the tool lets you choose when you want your content to be visible (and not visible) for certain dates and times, based on time zone. This helps ensure your content will be visible when your local audience is most active and likely to see it, helping increase traffic and engagement.

If you run local contests on Pinterest (or promote them there), it's helpful to be able to turn off the visibility once the contest is over so you don't have old contest pins circulating indefinitely.

#2: Map Your Locations With Place Pins

Place pins allow you to add location information to your pins. This information can include your address, phone number, and store hours.

Some pinners use place pins to save dream vacations, but increasing numbers of people are saving place pins of brands and locations they love. This information can be a huge asset to local businesses that are trying to increase foot traffic or connect with local audiences.

When users click on your place pin, they'll be able to see your location on a map. By having a place pin of your store saved in Pinterest's database, it will also show up when Pinterest shows users pins of the local area they're searching in.

To create a place pin (as shown on mobile), click to add a new pin and select the Place option.

You can search for the city, store, or area (or enter it in manually). Once the results pop up, click on the black camera icon in the top-left slot.

Now enter the name of your business and any additional information. Choose an image and upload the pin to a relevant board.

Once your place pin is live, you'll be able to click on it and see all of your business's contact and location information. You can also view your store's address on a map and other place pins from the same area. Pinterest users will see where they are in relation to your address.

You can create a designated "place board" and open it to all of your followers, allowing them to pin their place images with location information. This is a great way to get more engagement and boost user-generated content in the process.

#3: Collaborate With Other Local Businesses on a Group Board

Pinterest allows you to create guest boards with other users. Brands often invite industry influencers to contribute to guest boards, adding authority to their content and bringing in new followers. To connect with local audiences, however, it's best to team up with other local businesses.

Suppose you have a local boutique fitness class (like yoga, barre, cycling, etc.). You could create a guest board with a local athletic wear store, sharing your favorite exercises while wearing the other brand's athletic clothes. This information is relevant to both brands' audiences and is positioned to perform well on Pinterest (women's fashion and fitness are big categories).

Plus, sharing audience members could help you both and fosters a feeling of community, which can increase customer loyalty and trust.

To start a guest board, simply add the other local business's profile as a collaborator when creating a new board.

Try to keep guest boards focused and create a new one for each local business you work with (for example, promote workout-friendly recipes from a local vegan restaurant on another guest board).

#4: Use Your Location as a Keyword

Your pins can show up to users all over the world and your content might even be relevant to a global audience. That's awesome! But it doesn't help you much if local users can't find you. That's why including location information in your profile and content is so important.

You get a small snippet of text to describe your brand and business on your profile page. Local businesses should always add their location there.

For example, rather than just saying "Gourmet Grocer" to promote your business, you might go with "Orlando Gourmet Grocer." That way if local users stumble upon your profile, they'll realize you're local and you'll show up in relevant searches.

When you include your location in text on your profile, it becomes a keyword. Then if someone is looking for an Orlando gourmet grocer, they'll find you right away. For this reason, it's also important to add your location to appropriate pin descriptions whenever possible.

Suppose you're promoting a South Carolina souvenir shop. Instead of just saying "fun things to do on your beach vacation," add "in Hilton Head" at the end. You'll get a lot more relevant users who are actively looking for you (even if they don't know it yet).
Final Thoughts
Pinterest is more idea-based and product-based than most other social media platforms. Because many users browse categories of pins rather than look for a particular business, Pinterest can be a bit like a black hole for local businesses trying to connect with a local audience. With these four simple tactics (and aided by promoted pin campaigns if necessary), you'll be able to get your content in front of the audience that matters most.

What do you think? How do you connect with your local audience on social media? Have you used any of these methods to connect with a local audience on Pinterest? Share your thoughts, experience, and knowledge in the comments below!

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4 Pinterest Tips to Reach a Local Audience

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Are you a local business on Pinterest? Looking for ways to connect with customers in your area? There are some simple tactics you can use to reach locals via Pinterest without using promoted pins. In this article, you'll discover four ways to connect with local customers using Pinterest.

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Looking to improve your Twitter marketing?

Are you seeking tools to help you manage Twitter?

In this article, you'll discover four tools to help you build and maintain a successful Twitter presence.

#1: Streamline Account Management With ManageFlitter

ManageFlitter lets you manage multiple Twitter profiles more intelligently. You can sort your followers/following lists by a range of criteria, discover new people to follow based on advanced search functions, and find out when your followers are online and schedule tweets appropriately.

The tool also will track who unfollows you and let you search for relevant accounts and tweets.

The web app is free with limited features. Upgrading to a paid plan will give you access to the more advanced features.
Unfollow
To keep your following/follower ratio in check, it's necessary to unfollow people from time to time. Two easy ways to identify people to unfollow are to look at the Not Following Back and Inactive lists.

Sort the Not Following Back list by the date you followed people. That way, you can see who hasn't followed you back after a long period of time.

Also, if any accounts are inactive and haven't tweeted in a while, you might want to unfollow them to make room for more active accounts. Unfollowing people in ManageFlitter works pretty much the same as following them. You can even use the Batch Select feature to speed up the process.
Tweet Search
ManageFlitter lets you search tweets by topic (or keyword) and/or location. You can search through the most recent 1,500 results per keyword or phrase, or the last seven days' worth (whichever is smaller).

You can follow accounts associated with your tweet search just as you would follow any other account. This is a great way to connect with people who are talking about topics that are most relevant to you.

Bonus tip: After you've conducted a tweet search, try ordering the results by Influence to find high-value Twitter users to connect with right away.
PowerPost
PowerPost is another useful feature. It lets you schedule your Twitter content at optimal times based on when your followers are most active online.
Follow
ManageFlitter helps you follow the right profiles based on your marketing goals. After all, one of the best ways to gain traction on Twitter is to follow certain accounts. If your interests align, hopefully many of those users will follow you back.

Power Mode lets you set up a number of search parameters and filters. Once you're in Power Mode (which is like an advanced search), click on Create Filter in the upper-left corner to begin setting up a new search.
Analytics
What good is Twitter marketing if you can't track what you're doing? Get analytics about specific words, hashtags, usernames, or websites. Note that some analytics features are available only to business or pro accounts.

#2: Build Your Community With Audiense

Audiense, formerly SocialBro, is a popular enterprise-level Twitter management tool that's available for both beginners and pro users.

It helps you find influencers to connect with, determine the right times to tweet, and run automated direct message campaigns. You can also easily bulk follow and unfollow, and find like-minded Twitter users.

With Audiense, you can create your own custom social media dashboard so you can quickly see the stats that matter most to you. Here are some features that can help improve your Twitter marketing campaigns.
Discover New Twitter Users
If you want to find new people to follow, click Target and select Discover New Twitter Users. In the Search fields, you can enter keywords, the name of a person, or a location to filter the people you want to find.
My Community
If you go to My Community, you'll see a number of options to filter your current community.

For example, you can filter your community by influence. Audiense has access to the Kred score of each Twitter user. Kred scores are a ranking system where people are ranked based on an algorithm that calculates their influence. If people have a high score, it's more likely that they have an engaged community.

If you want to filter results by number of followers, select a maximum/minimum for the number of people users follow or are followed by. If someone has 10,000 followers, but they only follow 10 people, they're unlikely to follow you. So you may want to search for people who have similar follower/following numbers.

If you're looking for really active people on Twitter, specify a high number of tweets per day. You can select Time Since Last Tweet to filter out people who haven't tweeted in 6 months, for example.

There are also demographic-based filters for specifying time zones, languages, etc.
Analytics
Audiense provides analytics for your account and/or your competitor's account.

The analytics reports provide a variety of insights:

With Community Insights, you can view a breakdown of your followers, with information including languages, nationalities, genders, if they have avatars, etc.

Look at Best Time to Tweet to see when you should post your content to maximize exposure and engagement.

Tweet Analytics will let you view detailed analytics on the tweets you send, such as the number of favorites, mentions, retweets, etc.

With Real-time Analytics, find out which Twitter users are tweeting right now so you can engage them in conversation or target content. You can also get real-time insights on your followers' languages, Twitter apps and clients, and potential reach.

Select Account Comparison to compare up to three Twitter accounts. Find common followers, influencers, locations, languages, and other useful insights to help you get an edge.

Benchmark will let you compare your account stats with similar accounts.

Follower Retention will show youhow well your Twitter account engages your audience. With visual representations, you can view the churn rate of your account, engagement stats, and audience retention data. If you want to increase your followers, make sure there isn't too much churn.

#3: Find Out When to Tweet With Tweriod

Tweriod is a great tool to keep track of the times when your followers are most active. Use the data from this tool to schedule your tweets during the most interactive period of the day for better engagement and results.

Tweriod analyzes the performance of your past 200 tweets, which is pretty standard for most timing optimization apps. It also looks at the performance of your followers' past tweets. It shows when they most often tweet and are online. This information can help you determine your optimal tweeting times.

The tool excludes any tweets generated via automation apps. The reason is simple: users aren't truly online if an app tweets for them.

Tweriod will generate a free basic analysis of your account, but you'll need to upgrade to a paid account to get a premium analysis.

#4: Discover New Content With DrumUp

Rather than waste hours trying to come up with the right content to tweet, use DrumUp to get fresh, intelligent content to share. The dashboard shows your social accounts on the left and recommended content and custom feeds on the right.

Under Settings, add keywords for topics you want to talk about on that specific account and choose how many posts you want to send out per day. In the Negative Keywords field, add any keywords you don't want your suggested content to include. You can also get a top stories summary delivered to your inbox.

After you enter your keywords and complete your settings, DrumUp starts pulling in stories based on those settings. For the most part, the content should be relevant, but occasionally you may see content that's only loosely related to your keywords. Even then, the randomly suggested content sometimes can come in handy.

Bonus tip: The tool's employee advocacy feature lets you invite employees to share brand content that you manage. This feature not only increases brand visibility, but also helps your business maintain a consistent Twitter campaign.
Conclusion
These four Twitter tools can help you manage your account and engage with your audience. Regardless of your goals, a sound Twitter campaign, with the help of these tools, can pay dividends for your business.

What do you think? Do you use any of these tools to manage your Twitter account? What are some of your favorite tools? Please let us know in the comments below!

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Looking to improve your Twitter marketing? Are you seeking tools to help you manage Twitter? In this article, you'll discover four tools to help you build and maintain a successful Twitter presence. #1: Streamline Account Management With ManageFlitter ManageFlitter lets you manage multiple Twitter profiles more intelligently.

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Getting your Business Started on Social Media

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Getting your Business Started on Social Media

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Are you just getting started with social media marketing?

Wondering how to create a plan for success?

Establishing a social media presence doesn't have to be a daunting task.

In this article, you'll discover four tips to get your small business started with social media marketing.

#1: Identify Your Goals, Persona, and Audience

A well-planned approach to social media always works better than random social media activities. Your plan should inform all of the activities that you'll run for your business on social networks.

Start by writing down your business goals and branding objectives. Your social media plan should also address the following areas.
Align Social Media to Your Business Goals
Every business has a specific set of goals, and your social media plan should tie directly into those goals.

For example, if you run a coffee shop, an objective might be to increase the number of walk-in customers. Your social media goals would then be to create more awareness of your coffee shop and drive more people to your location.
Create a Persona for Your Business
Identify how you want people to perceive your business. Think of this as an online persona for your business. People will form a perception about your business when they interact with you online.

Your social media presence should work in concert with your other business channels to tell a story about your brand. Everything from the words you use on social media, the kinds of campaigns you run, and the types of images you post will leave an impression about your business in your audience's mind.

Start by defining how you want people to perceive your business. Write down a list of adjectives and terms that you want people to associate with you. Use a tool like Wordle to create a word cloud of these terms so you can pin them up and keep them handy as you create a voice for your brand on social media.
Define Your Target Audience
Describe your target audience with a list of typical demographic segments. It's helpful to specify a broad age range, occupational segment, key interests, and geographic areas for your audience. Understanding these segments will help you design campaigns and create content.

#2: Identify the Best Social Networks to Engage On

Many business owners spread themselves too thin by signing up for multiple social networks all at once. Take the time to understand some of the popular social networks before deciding which ones are right for you.

Start by listening. Before setting up accounts for your business, create personal profiles on popular social networks and use them first as an individual.

Search for popular keywords related to your business or its products and get a sense of how each social network operates. Pay attention to the search results for these keywords to discover how people interact with these topics. Does your business figure into these discussions? Do you think there's value in engaging with these people and conversations?

You'll also want to understand the nature of each social network. Each network is different in terms of what types of content work and the ways people interact with other users and businesses on it.

For example, Twitter is popular for real-time updates and shorter, micro-blog content. Pinterest and Instagram are popular for visual content, and both are more popular on mobile phones.

On Facebook, businesses can't be "friends" with people, but people can "like" brand pages and follow updates. LinkedIn is used for professional networking, but a lot of people join interest-specific communities and follow company pages where they interact with businesses.

You also want to find out where your customers are. Search for your products on popular social networks to figure out if your existing customers are using these platforms and if they're talking about your business there.

If a majority of your brand mentions happen on a specific social network, consider building your presence on that network to engage that audience. Similarly, you could identify prospects by looking for conversations about your competitors and their products.

#3: Pick the Perfect Social Media Management Tool

Once you've developed a social media plan for specific networks, it's time to select a social media management tool. Choosing the right tool can save you a lot of time and help you get the most out of your social media marketing efforts.

Based on your social network plan, draw up a list of basic features that you expect to need from a tool. As a small business, these might include publishing content across key social networks, monitoring brand mentions and keywords, understanding your audience, creating content, and generating reports on performance.

If you have a social media team representing your brand on social media, you'll want a tool that offers some collaboration features. Building a truly social brand involves getting other team members on board and creating a unified brand voice that represents your business and the people behind it.

Because social media is in real time, you need to be able to work anywhere. Your social media management tool should work on your mobile devices (as well as your team members' mobile devices), and keep you tuned into everything that's happening on your brand's channels.

You'll also want to find a tool that integrates with other business applications, such as your CRM. Though it may not be something you'll do right away, eventually you'll want to generate leads from social media, measure the impact of your social media marketing activity, and be able to view customer transactions with your business in the same window as their tweets and posts about your brand.

Finally, as your business expands, the tool should scale well with your growth.

Pro tip: The most popular social media management tools might not necessarily be the best ones for your business. Do an independent evaluation before deciding which tool is perfect for your needs.

#4: Monitor and Measure What Matters

Monitoring and measuring are both critical to improving your social media performance and keeping in line with your goals and plan. But what specifically should you monitor and measure?
Measure Engagement, Not Follower Count
Although you'll want to keep an eye on your follower count for each social network, it's not a number you should worry about too much at first. Instead, pay more attention to how people engage with your business.

Do people respond to your content? What kinds of reactions do you see to your campaigns? What kinds of posts get the most engagement and how can you maximize these?

It's okay to experiment with content on social media, as long as you can measure how much engagement you're generating and use the results to inform your content plan.
Monitor Mentions
Listen to what people are saying about your business across social networks. Every interaction is an opportunity to engage. Create multiple listening columns in your social media management tool so you can instantly engage with people who talk about your business and other relevant topics.

Acknowledge all of the appreciation and positive mentions that you receive. Encourage happy customers to talk about their experiences with your business on social media. If you find unhappy posts about your business on social media, use them as an opportunity to reach out.

Over time, you should be able to improve your brand perception, delight your customers, and get more word of mouth on social media.
Track Industry and Social Media Trends
Apart from monitoring the conversation around your business, also use social media to keep track of current trends. Staying in tune with trending topics can help you generate content ideas quickly.

In addition, use tools that let you research popular hashtags and discover trends and sentiment about any topic. This can be pretty handy when you want to create content around a specific theme.
Conclusion
Although social media is free, it does take time and effort to build a presence for your business. The good news is that once you get started, you'll get a lot of immediate feedback due to the real-time nature of most social networks.

What do you think? Can you use these ideas to get started marketing your business on social media? Please share your thoughts in the comments below!

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4 Tips to Get Your Business Started on Social Media

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Are you just getting started with social media marketing? Wondering how to create a plan for success? Establishing a social media presence doesn't have to be a daunting task. In this article, you'll discover four tips to get your small business started with social media marketing.

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Leveraging Social Media During Live Events

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Leveraging Social Media During Live Events

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Do you want to activate more people during live events?

Looking for ways to generate excitement and social exposure during a big event?

In this article, you'll discover six ways businesses have leveraged social media to create connections with people during events.

#1: Broadcast Live From the Event

Leverage the power of live events by bringing fans into the action with live broadcasts. Live video grants viewers from near and far access to an experience that they may have otherwise missed out on.

Cadillac turned the grand opening of Cadillac House in New York into a national event with Periscope, drawing over 100,000 viewers and nearly 600 Twitter engagements.

Not sure you want to commit to a full broadcast? Use Snapchat to give viewers a peek at what's happening. Hilton Hotels started on Snapchat by sharing behind-the-scenes content from a Jason Derulo concert at their Bayfront San Diego location, targeting younger travelers to join their HHonors program.

Pilates trainer Cassey Ho of Blogilates shares meetups and live appearances with Snapchat followers who can't make it to the events.

In addition to bringing in viewers from afar, live broadcasts also enhance the experience of those in attendance. Use live video to announce activities, giveaways, or special guests during the event, ensuring that attendees don't miss out on exciting activities.

You can either plan your broadcasts ahead of time or be spontaneous, as long as you deliver value to the viewer. To give your viewers a reason to stay engaged, you can offer exciting content, Q&A sessions, or the chance to win a prize or experience.

If you know you'll be broadcasting live, be sure to promote your broadcast ahead of time. Reach your audience across multiple platforms with dynamic messaging to build excitement and interest.

#2: Create Shared Experiences With Snapchat Geofilters

If you're looking to reach consumers at an event, Snapchat geofilters are an excellent option, giving you the opportunity to become part of the attendee's event story. This tactic is also valuable if your business is not able to physically activate at an event but you still want to reach attendees.

While purchasing a branded filter distributed across Snapchat can cost businesses upwards of $700,000, the platform's custom geofilters allow you to target a specific location and time for a much smaller budget. Setting up a geofilter is a quick process with easy-to-follow steps.

If you choose to deploy a custom filter on Snapchat, ask fans to send you snaps featuring the filter for a chance to be reshared. This encourages attendees not only to use the filter, but also to actively engage with your business, making you a part of their story.

#3: Geotarget Attendees to Offer Special Access

Geofencing and location targeting are two powerful tactics for driving engagement among a concentrated group on-site. You can deliver premiums such as exclusive content, special event access, or prizes.

Sonic leveraged geotargeting to promote their special-edition shakes at Coachella. They used Instagram targeted ads to reach concertgoers at the event.

Sonic served ads to Instagram users within a certain proximity to the festival with a call to action to order one of the special-edition shakes. Sonic then delivered the shakes to users on-site. The payment for the shake? An Instagram post!

Not only did this innovative tactic provide exposure for the brand and its campaign, but it was also well matched with the audience attending the event, an important consideration when deploying any tool.

#4: Turn Tweets Into Currency

How about using social to activate a branded on-site experience? Businesses such as Old Navy and the PGA use Twitter-powered vending machines to turn tweets into currency. Ask participants to either tweet from the machine itself or activate the machine using a hashtag to receive their prize.

Old Navy's U.S. campaign generated 3,500 tweets and over 12 million impressions leading up to their summer sale. Westin Hotels' National Running Day-themed machine drove 183,000 impressions and 15,000 engagements with content mentioning the brand or campaign hashtags.

#5: Plan a Scavenger Hunt for Fans

Reward your fans for attending an event with the chance to win while engaging in a little brand fun. "Instahunts" leverage social media to distribute clues on where to find prizes or the next clue.

IndyCar driver James Hinchcliffe engages fans at each race location with "Hinchtown Hand Me Downs," hiding coins around the event campus that can be redeemed at the IndyCar merchandise tent.

You can execute instahunts across social networks for the greatest reach or require engagement on a particular channel. Also consider using live video to announce the clue, give hints, or drive traffic to another platform.

To drive the most engagement, be sure to promote the hunt leading up to the event. If you choose to promote across channels, specify if the clues will be limited to one platform so your audience doesn't miss out.

#6: Display a Living Storyboard of Social Posts

In addition to face-to-face contact, live events provide a sense of community and shared interest. To join in the community, curate great content from the event and share it. Whether you're offering a photo opportunity or creating an experience worthy of a Kodak moment, encourage attendees to share photos on a specific platform or with a hashtag to become a part of the story.

Once you start the story, showcase it with a digital display. You can use apps like Tweetwall or TweetBeam to monitor hashtags and mentions to create a living storyboard from events.

Music festival Bottlerock used social aggregator TINT on their website leading up to their event as well as on-site to broadcast social posts on the jumbotrons. Fans at the venue who shared posts using the hashhag #BOTTLEROCK could see their photos and tweets broadcast across the venue.

This tactic allows fans to connect to the event and your business while enhancing their event experience.
Conclusion
Live events offer brands and marketers a dynamic platform to reach consumers and form meaningful connections. Face-to-face interactions and unique experiences create opportunities to deliver a lasting impact. But how do you extend those moments past the initial connection? Can you translate those experiences to consumers away from the event? The answer is yes.

Making meaningful connections with your audience is paramount in today's noisy, competitive marketplace. Choosing to activate at live events brings your brand into the story, offering an optimal chance for connection. Integrating social strategy into your activation extends the experience and impact for your audience.

What do you think? Have you tried some of these tactics to make connections at events? What tips can you share? Please share your thoughts in the comments below.

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6 Ways Businesses Leverage Social Media During Live Events

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Do you want to activate more people during live events? Looking for ways to generate excitement and social exposure during a big event? In this article, you'll discover six ways businesses have leveraged social media to create connections with people during events.

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Michael Stelzner / /

Do you use Pinterest promoted pins?

Want to discover how they work?

To explore everything you need to know about promoted pins on Pinterest, I interview Vincent Ng.

More About This Show

The Social Media Marketing podcast is an on-demand talk radio show from Social Media Examiner. It's designed to help busy marketers and business owners discover what works with social media marketing.

In this episode, I interview Vincent Ng, president of MCNG Marketing and author of Pinterest to Profits with Pintalysis. Vincent helps businesses succeed with Pinterest marketing and visual social media.

Vincent explores Pinterest promoted pins.

You'll discover what's new with promoted pins.

Share your feedback, read the show notes, and get the links mentioned in this episode below.

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Here are some of the things you'll discover in this show:

Promoted Pins

At a basic level, Vincent says, promoted pins are Pinterest advertising. As you scroll through your Pinterest feed and see "Promoted by" on a pin, that means it's advertising. He notes that any pin you want to promote must be a public pin, and says you can even promote something you've repinned!
What's New With Promoted Pins?
Pinterest recently announced promoted video pins, which, at the moment, are specifically for users on mobile. These pins show an animated GIF and lead you to a full video when you click on them.

What's really cool, Vincent shares, is that you can put up to six additional pins below the video on your promoted pin for no extra cost. The six additional pins display like a carousel under the video, and you can use them to promote the product in the video or share additional information about it.

While video pins currently send users to third-party players like YouTube to view the video promoted in the pin, Pinterest is working on its own native video player, which will be rolled out to everybody soon. Once available, people will be able to upload videos directly to Pinterest.
Listen to the show to hear what video lengths Vincent has seen on Pinterest. What Can You Do With Promoted Pins?
Vincent says you can reach a large audience with promoted pins, and that Pinterest allows you to create ad campaigns based on three main business goals: awareness, engagement, and traffic.

Brand awareness campaigns let you promote your pin to an audience and you pay based on a thousand impressions. With engagement campaigns, you're charged every time someone taps and enlarges your pin, repins your pin, saves your pin, or clicks your pin. During traffic campaigns, you pay for every click-through on your pin.

Vincent says the great thing about promoted pins is that you pay only for the direct promotion, meaning that if a user clicks on someone's share of your promoted pin, that click is free for you. In fact, Pinterest says users get an average of 30% free engagement when they conduct promoted pin campaigns.

Which type of campaign is the most cost-effective? Vincent says that he agrees with Pinterest peers Alisa Meredith and Jeff Sieh, who both find the cost-per-click campaigns offer the best bang for your buck versus engagement campaigns.

Why? About 80% of Pinterest users access the app on mobile, so they'll enlarge your pin to get a better look at your product. If it's not what they want, they don't necessarily click through.

Vincent says it's also possible to run split tests with promoted pins because each campaign type provides the same level of metrics. After you run your test, go to your advertising dashboard and export the data to see which campaign type is a more cost-effective option for your business

Pinterest also offers promoted pin users robust targeting capabilities, Vincent says, including by keywords and interests.

Pinterest users are asked to follow five interests when they sign up, and there are also sub-branches of interests for them to follow. For example, someone may follow Travel, as well as the subtopics of Culture Travel and Romance Travel.

It's also possible to target by audience, which Vincent says is relatively new and really exciting. For example, you can upload an email list and Pinterest will find a similar audience, or use a conversion pixel to target people who have visited your website, people who have engaged with pins related to your domain, and more.
Listen to the show to hear more about where promoted pins are available, and Pinterest's approach to act-alike audiences. What Does a Promoted Pin Campaign Cost?
Vincent says when you do a cost-per-click campaign or engagement campaign, Pinterest will give you a cost estimate based on the keywords and interests you target. You should expect to pay a minimum of $1 per click.

If you go with a brand awareness campaign, the minimum spend is $5. Based on the campaigns he's worked on, Vincent says you're looking at spending anywhere between just under $1 to $3 per click.

From a user's perspective, how frequently do promoted pins show up in his or her feed? Vincent says on average, once every 20 pins in the home feed.

He explains that organic pins are usually blended with promoted pins but he notes that if an advertiser pays a pretty high bid for a term like "socks," their pin will likely show in the number 2 pin position.

Vincent believes Pinterest wants to make sure everything looks as natural as possible, so they don't want ads to stand out. In fact, you may not even notice something's an ad until you read that it's a "Promoted" pin.

Vincent also notes that while buyable pins, which allow people to buy a product within the Pinterest system without having to go to the merchant's website, were once excluded from being promoted, Alisa Meredith says that's no longer the case.
Listen to the show to hear how Vincent suggests marketers approach targeting by keywords. Pinterest Campaign Tips
Vincent says the first thing to do is test every pin organically. Then you can promote the pins that have rock-solid engagement, because you already have positive feedback on them.

Vincent says his best piece of advice (which is not necessarily related to promoted pins) is to type in the URL of something like www.pinterest.com/topics/ and then a keyword you're trying to research. This will let you see how many people are following a specific interest or topic.

For example, Travel has 40 million people following it, so you know it's a hot topic. Social Media has a lot fewer followers, so you might think it's a niche market. You just need to decide whether the audience is big enough to advertise to.

When it comes to Pinterest Analytics, Vincent says there are a lot of options to monitor. You can find out how many people are clicking on your pins, how many people are doing closeups, and how many repins or saves your pins generate. You can also see whether more males or females are clicking on a pin, or which geographic locations give you a better conversion rate.
Listen to the show to learn more about split tests, and which types of campaigns appear to do better than others.
Discovery of the Week

This week's Discovery comes from Madalyn Sklar. It's called Senders, and it's like having caller ID for email. Senders pulls information based on a sender's email account, and lets you know all about him or her.

Senders will give you the person's name, title, and bio, along with links to his or her Twitter, LinkedIn, and Facebook accounts. It shares last tweets, their Twitter follower count, and links to the Google search for that person.

You can even go into Senders with your own account and edit your information.

Senders works for most email accounts. All you need to do is give Senders permission to see your account, and they don't store, share, or read any of the content of the emails. Senders simply scans and searches the web for people's contact info.

For now, Senders is in beta and is free.
Listen to the show to learn more and let us know how Senders works for you.
Listen to the show!
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Key takeaways mentioned in this episode:
Ways to subscribe to the Social Media Marketing podcast:
What do you think? What are your thoughts on Pinterest advertising? Please leave your comments below.

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Promoted Pins: How to Advertise on Pinterest

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Do you use Pinterest promoted pins? Want to discover how they work? To explore everything you need to know about promoted pins on Pinterest, I interview Vincent Ng. More About This Show The Social Media Marketing podcast is an on-demand talk radio show from Social Media Examiner.

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5 Ways to Promote your Products on Facebook

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5 Ways to Promote your Products on Facebook

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Zsuzsa Kecsmar / /

Do you use Facebook for business?

Looking for new ways to show off your products?

You can do more than posting photos to your page to get more customers and prospects to see your products.

In this article, you'll discover five ways to increase the visibility of your products on Facebook.

#1: Ask Fans to Show Their Love for Your Products

A user-generated content (UGC) campaign is all about asking for and sharing your customers' content. People love taking photos and videos of the stuff they love, so treat each sharer like a brand ambassador.

Whether customers are wearing, using, or just chatting about your products, their photos and videos can showcase your products in an authentic way and help you reach a wider audience. UGC also gives current customers new ideas for using your products and helps inspire prospects to make a purchase.

The best way to get UGC is to come right out and ask for it. For example, you might offer fans an incentive to post photos, such as a giveaway contest where people need to take a photo with your product to enter. You could also offer a special discount for fans who share their photos on Facebook using your campaign hashtag. It's all about letting fans know you want to share their content.

In addition to Facebook, you can solicit and share UGC on other social channels, such as Instagram, Twitter, or even YouTube. If you need some assistance, a platform like Yotpo can help you request photos, videos, Q&As, and reviews.

#2: Demonstrate Creative Ways to Use Your Products

Sixty-two percent of customers say they want content from brands that shows how to use their products. You can satisfy that need and share some creative ideas for your products with video.

Lion Brand Yarn uses Facebook Live video to promote sales, highlight specific yarn, answer customer questions, and share great patterns. The best part is that they do it without using any fancy effects or production. The videos feature one employee in a simple showroom setup, speaking frankly and humorously about what she makes and how Lion Brand Yarn's products can be used.

In your own videos, you can simply show your products and explain how to use them. You might also demonstrate how other people have used them (incorporating UGC) and give valuable and inspirational lifestyle tips that fit with your product line.

#3: Incentivize Word-of-mouth Referrals

Customer referrals are one of the best ways to reach people who share common interests with your current customers.

If you want to start a loyalty program for your business, look for a program that allows you to reward a variety of customer actions. Among those actions, you should be able to reward customers for referring friends to your business by sharing your page with their Facebook friends. Now that's a great reason to share!

With a loyalty program, you can reward those who make a referral, and give a discount to their friends who take action through the shared link and make a purchase.

If you don't have the budget or time to build your own program, there are third-party developers, that make it easy to create one.

#4: Build Trust With Ratings and Reviews

If you've already built a great following on your Facebook page, don't be afraid to ask your fans for a rating or review on your page. Just be sure to do it in a non-intrusive way and without offering incentives, to follow Facebook's Community Guidelines.

Even just a few 5-star ratings can do a lot for your Facebook page and improve your search engine results. Reviews can show up in search results when people are searching for more information about your business. That's especially important when most shoppers are doing their research and say that reviews have an impact on purchase decisions.

If you don't see a Reviews tab for your page, go to your page and click the Settings link. On the General Settings tab, click the Reviews link and select the Allow Visitors to Review This Page option. Be sure to click Save Changes when you're done.

Once you've done this, a Reviews tab will appear for your page, allowing your page visitors to leave reviews of your business.

If you've already built a great following on your Facebook page (or have a few special clients who are your brand advocates), take time to thank your fans for their business. Be sure that you respond promptly to inquiries on Facebook and try to provide little surprises to customers from time to time.

#5: Target Prospects With Facebook Ads

Retargeting ads and lookalike audiences are great news for ecommerce, especially when it comes to posts about new products or promoting existing product pages with the Website Clicks ad format.

You can use your own company data to target audiences similar to your current buyers. If you've collected email addresses from your customers, import your list of email addresses into Facebook to create lookalike audiences. It's a great way to target similar demographic profiles. Keep in mind, however, that some of the email addresses you have on file may not match the email addresses in people's profiles.

If you have the Facebook pixel installed on your website, you can create an audience from the customers who have made purchases or completed other actions on your site.

For example, maybe you want to promote products that customers added to their cart but didn't actually purchase. You can use retargeting to show those products to people who are already interested.
Conclusion
These five tips will help you build trust, grow your audience, and increase overall brand engagement. So start planning a new video, collecting UGC, and creating Facebook ads that highlight what you're selling and why it's useful to your customers.

What do you think? How are you using Facebook to shine the spotlight on your products? Please share your thoughts in the comments below.

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5 Ways to Promote Your Products on Facebook

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Do you use Facebook for business? Looking for new ways to show off your products? You can do more than posting photos to your page to get more customers and prospects to see your products. In this article, you'll discover five ways to increase the visibility of your products on Facebook.

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No-one starts out in video marketing wanting to create a video that gets an average amount of views...

We all want to achieve the fame of "Charlie bit my finger" or "Leave Britney alone", but when it comes to marketing a product, it's not that simple.

As marketers, we're already starting on the back foot because there's a certain amount of stigma that comes along with an advert.

People won't choose to watch a commercial, unless of course it's a big event like the Christmas ads, or the Superbowl. That's probably the only time that people will get excited, and actually choose to sit down to watch an ad.

So why do some marketing videos get loads of views, while others struggle to get anywhere close?

What is it that really makes a video go viral?

Let's look at some examples to see what they have in common...

1. They aren't overly promotional

First things first, if you want to create a viral video then you need to leave your ego at the door. And by ego, I mean your product or service.

Viral videos don't talk features, benefits, or pricing; they tell a story. If you're trying to create a video that's going to go viral then the focus should be on raising brand awareness, rather than trying to jump right to the sale.

This video from Reebok is a great example of an advert that isn't promotional. It calculates the average number of days that humans typically live to, and encourages the viewer to do more with the days that they are alive. It doesn't really promote Reebok as such, but rather inspires people to become more motivated within their lives.

2. They tell a story

Have you ever noticed that the most popular ads are more like mini movies, rather than commercials? That's because (according to this blog from Buffer) our sensory cortex lights up when a story is being told.

Storytelling is one of the best ways to engage people with your brand, because it helps them relate to your message and will keep them coming back for more.

Check out this commercial below from Google titled: Homeward Bound. It tells the story of an orphan who used Google Maps to go back to his routes and find his birth mother. It's a great advert that combines Google's platform, and a powerful story together.

3. They connect with emotions

This follows on from the last point - your 'story' has to evoke some sort of emotion from your viewers.

Whether its happy, sad, inspirational, or motivating, emotions hold the key to getting people to sit and watch your 'story' all the way through. That's because people like to become emotionally invested in a story, if they can relate to it, it'll leave a lasting imprint on their memories.

Take this viral video "Like a girl" from Always. It focuses on the belief that to do something "like a girl" is a bad thing. This video sets out to change that stereotype, and inspire young girls to feel empowered.

So think about what emotions you want your brand to portray. How do you want people to feel when they think of your brand? Take your viewers on an emotional journey, and they'll be more inclined to hit that share button.

4. They do the unexpected

Some videos use shock tactics, others try for the light hearted approach, but that's what makes them so great - the fact that they do something a little different from the norm.

Often brands are a little hesitant to color outside the lines, but If you want to create a viral video, then you're going to have to jump down off the fence and rock the boat a little.

A viral video is inevitability going to be talked about, and you're not always going to receive positive reviews - but that's okay. The whole point to a viral video is to get people talking - the more people talk about you, the more your brand becomes noticeable.

For example, this "Girls don't poop" video certainly steps outside the box a little bit. It's one of those taboo subjects that most women would feel uncomfortable talking about, yet it brings light to the situation, in an unusual way.

5. They have a killer promotion strategy

Now here comes the tricky part, if you want your video to take off, then you're going to have to work extremely hard on your promotion strategy.

So where do you start?

First, make sure it's fully optimized so that it works for SEO. Upload your video to your landing/blog page, and make sure that you use the keywords of the video within your URL, meta description, and throughout the post.

Once you have a landing page, you can start to share it across your social pages and gain traction that way. Use hashtags, post at the most advantageous time, pay for pre-roll ads on YouTube, and get people excited about your video launch.

Next, I'd recommend seeking the help of influencers who can really push your video forward to a larger audience. Contact media/publishing sites, social media influencers/bloggers, and post it in forums so that you can get a large audience on board.

So how can you guarantee that your video will go viral?

You can't.

If there was a formula for creating a viral video, then we'd all be doing it. Unfortunately, viral videos tend to be the exception, rather than the rule.

But does that mean you should give up on video marketing? Absolutely not.

As marketers, we shouldn't be putting all of our efforts into trying to go viral. Sure, it looks great on paper, it gets loads of shares, comments, likes, publicity... but is it really attracting your audience?

Because that's where your focus should be.

Your audience may not be in the millions, but when it comes to your business, they are the only people who you need to get on board. That's not to say that you can't create a video that covers all of the above points, nor does it mean you can't create a video that focuses on raising brand awareness:

But it's important to remember that the people you need to win over are the people who will actually buy your product or service.

Forget about what everyone is trying to do to go viral, and make a mark on your audience.

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No-one starts out in video marketing wanting to create a video that gets an average amount of views... We all want to achieve the fame of "Charlie bit my finger" or "Leave Britney alone", but when it comes to marketing a product, it's not that simple.

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Impact of Social Media on Children, Adolescents and Families

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Impact of Social Media on Children, Adolescents and Families

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While the importance of social media marketing is generally accepted, the fact that people don't question its value is all the more reason to think about exactly what its value is. The goals of social media marketing can't be just to gain likes, fans, and retweets. These things are not ends, but means to an end. Social media marketing is far more than an online popularity contest, and the better business owners understand that, the better they can use it for their companies. Here are five benefits to social media that business owners need to understand.

1. Increase brand awareness
One of the main benefits of social media marketing is the easiest to recognize: Social media is an excellent way to introduce people to a brand. Despite the Field of Dreams notion some business owners have that "if you build it, they will come," if people are unaware of a business or a website's existence, they can't shop there (Kevin Costner was dealing with ghosts, who have a lot of free time to meander around cornfields). Because social networks are used by more than two-thirds of the country, and given the way content spreads virally to others, social media is the perfect channel to promote a brand to potential customers. Relevanza reported that 78 percent of small businesses attract new customers through social media.

Research shows just how valuable this brand awareness can be. According to Adroit Digital, 75 percent of online Americans said product information found on social media influences their shopping behavior and enhances brand loyalty. They also report that social media is the second most likely way U.S. Millennials will learn about a new product (26 percent of respondents), just 3 percentage points behind TV advertising (29 percent). In the future, social media may be even more important than TV ads for introducing new products to consumers. Similarly, research from eMarketer has shown that 33 percent of consumers cite social networks as the way they discover new brands, products, and services.

2. Legitimize a brand
Another way social media marketing helps with customer acquisition is by establishing a brand as legitimate. When Internet consumers discover a business or retailer they want to use but know little about, they often check their social media page to learn more about it. Many small businesses have static websites that change little, if at all, after being initially set up by the designer. Social media pages, on the other hand, should be constantly updated with new posts, comments, etc. A website establishes that a brand exists, but a social media page establishes that the brand is active. Similarly, the number of fans shows how popular a brand is and Facebook reviews can reassure buyers by showing them that other consumers like a business. Research from Ballihoo found that 63 percent of consumers who search for local businesses online are more likely to use businesses with information on social media sites.

It's worth noting that poor social media marketing can also delegitimize a brand. If a new customer goes to a business's social media page and finds that a post hasn't been made in a few months, that customer may assume the business is defunct. If customers are asking for help in the comments and they're being ignored, they may assume the company has poor customer service.

3. Increase sales
In the end, social media marketing needs to help increase sales and revenue. That's why it's called social media marketing and not simply social media public relations. To be fair, improving brand awareness and legitimizing a brand should, by themselves, help increase sales. But there are ways to use social media to directly steer consumers toward the sales funnel. For fans of the business, business owners can write posts that link to products, sales, etc. Marketers can also use promoted content and advertisements to sell products to target audiences who haven't become fans of a brand yet. The ability to target particular audiences is one of the greatest benefits of social media marketing. Social networks know a lot about consumer interests and demographics, so even though there are hundreds of millions of fans, marketers can accurately target the right people with the right message.

4. Improve customer service
Another benefit of social media that's easy to overlook is customer service. Even if a business has a dedicated customer service department, telephone number, or email, it's important to handle issues via the method of communication the consumer prefers. The fact that people use social media to ask customer service questions is reason enough for businesses to ensure their ability to help customers through social media. This also goes back to establishing a brand. One of the key concerns of consumers when they shop online is the responsiveness of customer service. People want to be assured that if they have a problem, they can easily find help. By being receptive to customer needs, business owners can increase customer loyalty to a brand.

5. Distribute content
Social media should be a part of any content marketing distribution system. Social media accounts for a huge portion of referral traffic on the web. People are looking for content that interests them and they want to share it online. A joint study by AOL and Nielsen found that people spend more than 50 percent of their time online with content and an additional 30 percent of their time on social channels where content can be shared. Business owners who want to gain customers through content marketing need to use social media and promoted content to make that happen.

All of these points and data show that social media marketing is a huge benefit for business owners, and exactly what the benefits are. Besides increasing brand awareness and establishing the legitimacy of the brand, social media marketing can affect the bottom line of a business by increasing sales. Learning about the importance of social media for marketing should also underscore why these efforts need to be continuous and the harm it does when social media marketing isn't up to consumer expectations. Long story short, social media marketing is something that every business needs to do and needs to do well. For more statistics that show the benefits of social media, read this article that shows 11 stats to make you re-appreciate social media marketing.

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5 Benefits of Social Media Business Owners Need to Understand

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While the importance of social media marketing is generally accepted, the fact that people don't question its value is all the more reason to think about exactly what its value is. The goals of social media marketing can't be just to gain likes, fans, and retweets.

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The Challenges and Opportunities of Social Media in Business

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The Challenges and Opportunities of Social Media in Business

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Scholarly article discussing the use of social media in business.

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Credit: RawPixel/Shutterstock

The more interactive your company is on Facebook and Twitter, the more likely customers are to shop with you, new research finds.

Businesses that regularly engage in conversations with consumers on social media are seen as more informative and influential, according to a study in the Journal of Promotion Management.

That perception leads customers to view the company's brand in a more favorable light, as well as increase their intentions to buy their products and services, said Holly Ott, one of the study's authors and a doctoral candidate at The Pennsylvania State University.

"The quality of the interactivity - its perceived informativeness - makes people develop stronger attitudes toward the brand of the company and, perhaps most importantly, enhances their purchase intention," Ott said in a statement.

For the study, researchers asked 131 participants to review a fictitious press release about a product launch that was distributed on Facebook. The participants were divided into three interactivity conditions representing high, medium and low numbers of communication between a company representative and customers.

After reviewing the posts, the participants answered questions that measured authority, product likeability, perceived informativeness, brand likeability, company responsiveness, purchase intentions and perceived contingency.

The study's authors discovered that the participants who were shown evidence of more interactions between the company and consumers were significantly more likely to consider the content as more informative. [See Related Story: Customers Want Answers on Social Media - Don't Leave Them Hanging ]

"More interactivity is generally seen to be advantageous for companies, but when customers find the material more informative, it makes a company's communications more effective and more influential," Ott said.

The researchers also tested participants' reactions when the person doing the online interacting was the company's chief executive officer or a trainee.

"We wondered if something as simple as a title would persuade the participants to think differently, in terms of how credible they thought the representative was, or how it would impact their overall perception of the product," Ott said. "Surprisingly, the participants didn't seem to be affected by the heuristics of authority."

Overall, the researchers found that evidence of interactivity is more important to consumers than the belief that a company is reputable and credible.

Based on the results, the study's authors suggest that even businesses that are already considered reputable within their industry should do more than just disseminate information through a one-way medium.

"If you want to increase a person's purchase intention, or make them feel more favorable to your company and product, interact with them," Ott said. "You want to make sure your releases are relevant and you want to make sure that your interactivity is accompanied by substantive, rich content."

The study was co-authored by Michael Vafeiadis, Sushma Kumble and T. Franklin Waddell, all doctoral candidates in mass communications at Penn State.

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The Secret to Social Media Campaign Success: Get Engaged

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The more interactive your company is on Facebook and Twitter, the more likely customers are to shop with you, new research finds. Businesses that regularly engage in conversations with consumers on social media are seen as more informative and influential, according to a study in the Journal of Promotion Management.

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Credit: Natee Meepian/Shutterstock

Like Snapchat Stories or Facebook Stories, Instagram Stories allows you to post photos and videos in chronological succession to tell a "story" over the course of a day. These images do not appear in your regular collection of Instagram posts; instead, after a 24-hour period, anything you've posted to your story will disappear.

"Instagram's new update is a direct duplication of Snapchat's functionality, with a few key parts missing, for now," said Jenny Marder, director of social media at Red Tettemer O'Connell + Partners. "Similarities include the ability to add captions or colored filters, but lack 'lenses' which add in more of a fun factor for current Snapchat users."

According to an Instagram release, with Instagram Stories, users won't have to worry about over-posting. They can share as much as they want throughout the day, without clogging their followers' feeds.

Instagram is a useful tool for small business owners. The free app is an excellent source to showcase products and make feel customers feel included in "behind the scenes" aspects of your business. And now you can shop through the Stories, thanks to a partnership with Shopify. Merchants simply tag products in a post that will allow users to click to buy without leaving the app.

"Small businesses have an advantage when it comes to new tools like Instagram Stories. My advice is to use them and tweak your strategy along the way," Marder said. "Bigger companies have far more hoops to jump through when it comes to creating platform strategy and overall content, so use the size of your business as a way to experiment with new tools."

Business owners should take into consideration that does not mean the end of Instagram's staple "feed" which showcases permanent photos. Ultimately, this means deciding which content deserves the urgency of the Stories and permanency of the traditional feed.

"Small businesses often tend to have fewer resources and on the ground efforts for social, so finding the balance between [stories and more permanent] posts will be critical," said Andrew Caravella, vice president of marketing at Sprout Social. "The main focus should continue to be on cultivating community through engagement and ongoing dialogue."

The dialogue in particular can reach different demographics based on the app, so social media managers should take into account that though the update is a lot like Snapchat, the reach isn't the same depending on the platform.

With the development of Stories, Instagram has tapped into the viewing behaviors of the younger audience, Marder suggests the company understands the teen demographic using the app deletes posts that don't get enough likes or engagements.

"The most noteworthy aspect of this entire release is the amount of users currently on Instagram versus Snapchat, as well as the demographic differences," Marder said. "Instagram and Snapchat skew younger on average than Facebook, and its advertising offerings are much more enticing for brands hoping to reach millennials and Generation Z."

As for the older audience, Marder adds, Instagram Stories allows them to stay on the platform they've started to migrate to, rather than learning an entirely new platform. Snapchat's design has already proven to be a struggle for the older demographic to understand, based on its somewhat complicated user interface. On Instagram, this demographic will learn how to create the same type of fleeting content without natural challenge that comes along with learning a new technology.

"For small businesses and new brands trying to find their voice on social, Instagram Stories will be a great way to test content, find out what works and adapt very quickly," Caravella said.
Additional reporting by Shannon Gausepohl.

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How to Use Instagram Stories for Your Business

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Like Snapchat Stories or Facebook Stories, Instagram Stories allows you to post photos and videos in chronological succession to tell a "story" over the course of a day. These images do not appear in your regular collection of Instagram posts; instead, after a 24-hour period, anything you've posted to your story will disappear.

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Credit: ArthurStock/Shutterstock

Twitter is a social media and online news platform where people communicate in short messages - up to 240 characters long - called tweets. Founded in 2006, Twitter is now one of the top websites in the world. It's currently ranked No. 8 domestically and No. 13 internationally according to internet analytics company Alexa.

If used correctly, Twitter can be a great marketing tool for your business. Before using Twitter to help your business, here's everything you need to know.

There are five parts to a Twitter profile - your Twitter handle, profile picture, bio, header image and pinned tweet. All these elements should work cohesively to create an accurate representation of your business.

Your username, or Twitter handle, is your @name and is your identifier on Twitter. It can have up to 15 characters. It should help people find your business easily. Your profile photo should visually represent your business and brand. Your profile photo is displayed on your profile and is the icon displayed in every tweet you post.

For your bio, you have 160 characters to describe your business and include information about your business. You can include information such as your location, business hours or a link to your website. Your header image is behind your profile picture and can be used to highlight promotions, events or news about your business.

Lastly, your pinned tweet is the first tweet people see when they visit your profile. You can change your pinned tweet whenever you want.

Editor's Note: Looking for information on social media marketing services for your business? Use the questionnaire below, and get quickly connected to our vendor partners to learn more about a customized strategy and pricing for your business:

# (Hashtag): A hashtag (#) is used to index words or phrases on Twitter. This helps people easily follow topics and events.

Bookmarks: In February 2018, Twitter introduced Bookmarks. This button allows you to save tweets you want to look at later. This is particularly helpful if you want to read an article or watch a video but don't have time at the current moment. (Previously, you had to like the tweet to save it for later, and your followers could see what tweets you liked.)

@: Like other social media websites, the at symbol is used to tag or mention other users.

Block: You can block other accounts on Twitter. If you block an account, they can't follow you, add you to Twitter lists or see your tweets. You also won't see their tweets.

Direct messages (DM): You'll often hear people refer to direct messages as DMs. This option allows you to privately chat with someone individually. If a customer has a question, they can ask you via a DM. There is no character limit on DMs, so you can respond using as many characters as you need.

Follow: When you follow an account, you're subscribing to them. Once you follow someone, you'll see their tweets in your timeline.

Followers: Twitter users who follow you and see your tweets in their timeline.

Trending topics: You can see current trending topics on your Twitter home page in the trends box on the left-hand side.

Home timeline: Your timeline displays the tweets and retweets of the people you follow as well as promoted tweets.

Like: You can like a tweet by clicking the heart symbol under the tweet. All of your likes can be found on your profile.

Lists: You can make lists of other users you find interesting. With lists, you don't have to follow the users you include. Lists can help you organize your following list. For example, you may make a list of local news outlets or NYC writers.

Retweet: Retweeting is similar to sharing someone's post on Facebook. If you like a tweet and want your follows to see it, you retweet it. Then, the tweet shows up on your followers' timelines and your profile.

Trends: Trends are a topic or hashtag that is popular on Twitter. You can tailor trends to reflect what's popular in your location or who you follow.

Keeping your account(s) organized needs to be a priority. There are many native and third-party clients you can use to manage your tweets.

TweetDeck: TweetDeck is free to use and has a sleek user interface with customizable columns where you can organize lists, notifications and your own feed. You can also track hashtags in their own separate columns, schedule tweets in advance (something you can't do on the Twitter website or mobile apps) and add multiple Twitter accounts to manage several users at once. TweetDeck is browser-based and is accessed via the web; it is owned by Twitter.

Hootsuite: Hootsuite, which lets you manage other social media accounts besides just Twitter, operates similarly to TweetDeck. It is arguably not as sleek or simple as TweetDeck's layout, as Hootsuite uses tabs for each profile you connect to it. Hootsuite offers a free version; after that, the pro version costs $9.99 per month. Users can schedule tweets in Hootsuite in a similar manner to TweetDeck.

Twitter and Hootsuite have mobile apps for use on a smartphone or tablet, plus you can add multiple user accounts. [ See Related Story: 6 Social Media Tools for Small Business]

Social media holds value for businesses of any size. It spans multiple demographics and spreads your company's message. As a business owner, you should carefully consider how Twitter will fit into your overall marketing plan.

Here are some ideas on how to use Twitter for your business. [ See Related Story: Social Media for Business: A Marketer's Guide]

Consider hashtags. These words or phrases gives users the chance to tag an identifying word that groups hundreds (or thousands) of tweets together. Hashtags are searchable and offer the perfect companion for live events.

Hashtags are a great way to increase the visibility of your content beyond your own followers. There are many popular hashtags that, generally, all active Twitter users are familiar with, like #FollowFriday and #ThrowbackThursday.

You can also create your own hashtags to draw attention to your brand or to events you are holding, though it's possible it may not catch on. Many brands latch onto trending topics to contribute to the conversation or sell their product.

Use relevant hashtags; for example, if you tweet about starting a business and it happened to be a Friday, you might use the hashtag #entrepreneurship, but using the #FF hashtag would be inappropriate. Next, limit how many hashtags you use. The more you use, the less likely people are to interact with your content, because they'll find your posts spam-like.

Also, look at the trending box everyday - it's located on the left-hand side of your timeline if you're on a desktop or on the search tab on the Twitter app. The trending box provides a lot of inspiration on what to share with your followers. Just be sure it's relevant and you use the trending phase or hashtag.

Direct messages have evolved over the years, which is especially true for brands. The way you interact with clients is important for troubleshooting issues and handling problems.

It's smart to handle customers through DMs for a couple reasons. First, you don't want other users to see the problem and therefore think less of your company. Also, there is no character limit on DMs, which gives you the freedom to properly help customers without being limited to a certain number of characters.

By default, only users you follow can send you DMs. You can set up your Twitter account to receive messages from anyone, making it easier for all customers to contact you. Simply go to Privacy Settings and enable Receive Direct Messages from Anyone.

Twitter allows users to add up to four photos to their posts. You can also create graphics to add to your tweets. Not a Photoshop whiz? It's okay, there are numerous tools online that help you create the image you need.

Using photos and gifs with your tweets is a great way to connect with followers. Twitter has a built-in gif keyboard. Search a keyword and choose a clip that best suits your tweet.

Engaging with followers is imperative on Twitter to keep consumers interested in your brand. One fun way to involve your followers is to create a poll. Craft your question and select the responses. Then click the Compose box at the top of your Home timeline. Next, click the Add Poll icon that looks like a horizontal graph. Insert your question into the main compose box. Then enter your first poll option into Choice 1 and your second option into Choice 2. You can list up to four options in your poll, and each option should be 25 characters or less. The poll stays live for 24 hours by default, but you can shorten that timeframe if you prefer.

Live tweeting is another way to get a topic trending on Twitter. Essentially, live tweeting is when a user tweets his or her reactions to a live event as it is happening, whether that is breaking news or entertainment-related. When brands throw events and want their attendees to live tweet while they're there, the brand often creates its own individual hashtag to use and share with the invite list so that others can follow.

Live tweeting most commonly occurs with TV shows and televised events. It's not uncommon during events such as these to see the trends box filled with related topics - for example, in the case of the Oscars, you might see the official awards show hashtag listed along with the names of celebrities and films that win major awards.

Another way to engage followers or get a topic trending is by hosting a Twitter chat. Twitter chats are straightforward, but they require a relatively large and active follower base to be successful.

A Twitter chat happens when several Twitter users discuss a specific topic simultaneously using a shared hashtag.

Usually, one Twitter user hosts a chat at a specific time and prepares specific questions and discussion points. The host will tweet out the questions, often with "Q1" or "Q2" (numbers vary depending on how many questions you're asking) preceding the questions, and other participants will respond with "A1" or A2" and their thoughts.

Twitter chats usually last about an hour. They are a great way to show how active you are on social media and to get your followers (and theirs) engaged.

It's important to interact with the right people on Twitter. It's always smart to engage with your customers to keep them happy and potential customers to help them learn about your business. Perhaps there are others, such as journalists or influencers, you want to focus on, too. An easy way to do that is with Twitter lists.

"By taking advantage of the Twitter list function to create groups of journalists who are friendly to your cause or potential customers, influencers, industry-specific trade show attendees ... you can then filter out the noise of random follower tweets and target your engagement to those folks who are more likely to help you reach your social media marketing objectives," said Jason Myers, senior account executive at The Content Factory LLC.

Using Twitter is free, but if you'd like to pay to promote your account on the platform, there are plenty of advertising options at your disposal.

Promoted Tweets: These ads are just like regular tweets, and they appear in a user's Twitter feed along with posts from people the user follows. Promoted Tweets are a way for advertisers to increase engagement and expand their reach to a wider group of users beyond their follower base. These tweets are labeled "promoted" across the bottom of the ad, above the reply, retweet and like buttons. You can learn more about Promoted Tweets on Twitter.

Promoted Accounts: Promoted Accounts are designed to help brands become more discoverable and grow their number of followers. These ads are displayed in multiple locations on Twitter, including the Who to Follow box on the home page, your home page's Twitter feed and search results. Promoted Accounts ads target Twitter users who have interests relevant to the advertiser's brand so that brands can gain followers who are more likely to interact with their content. All of the ads are labeled as "Promoted" just like Promoted Tweets so users can distinguish them from other content on their feeds. To learn more about Promoted Accounts, go here.

Promoted Trends: Promoted Trends appear at the top of the trending topics list in the trends box on Twitter. They, too, are clearly labeled as "Promoted." These ads look exactly like other trending topics, and users can interact with them in the same ways. While Promoted Tweets and Promoted Accounts target specific users, Promoted Trends are visible to all users when the trends are being promoted. They're also visible on Twitter's mobile apps. If you want to get people talking about your business using a specific hashtag, Promoted Trends are a good way to go. For more-detailed information on Promoted Trends, head to Twitter.

In addition to these options, Twitter has a host of other marketing tools designed to help advertisers improve their campaigns.

Twitter Amplify: Amplify allows advertisers to share real-time television content (for example, videos of sports highlights) that they can integrate with their brand or sponsors. Twitter Amplify helps brands reach users beyond their current followers by delivering content to targeted audiences. For more information on Twitter Amplify, go here.

Promoted Video: While Amplify gives brands the ability to share videos from TV programs and other broadcasts, Promoted Video opens up the possibilities, allowing advertisers to use any kind of video, thus allowing them to be more creative with their campaigns. Promoted Video is different from sharing a YouTube video in your tweets. While let you play a video in a tweet, Promoted Video content is hosted directly by Twitter and is only available as a paid marketing tool. Learn more about Promoted Video here.

Mobile app promotion: Mobile app companies, this is the tool for you. This option lets advertisers target and reach their desired audiences via mobile devices to drive app downloads. Advertisers can create a custom image and app description for use in the ad, and target users by their location, gender, language, and mobile platform (so, if your app is available only on iOS devices, you can target users who access Twitter from only those devices). The tool also features a unique measurement system so advertisers can see how their campaigns impact app installs, purchases and registrations. Read more about mobile app promotion here.

To read more in-depth about how advertising works on Twitter, go here.

Blue checkmarks, usually administered by Twitter, indicates the account is verified. This means that the social network considers the user to be a key brand or individual, or it confirms the user is who they say they are.

According to the site, an account may be verified if it is determined to be an account of public interest. Typically, this includes accounts maintained by users in music, acting, fashion, government, politics, religion, journalism, media, sports, business and other key interest areas.

Note: Verified Twitter users can lose their verified status if they change their handle or protect their tweets. In these instances, Twitter will automatically review the user's account again to ensure it's still eligible for verification. This should be taken into consideration should you rebrand.

In November 2017, Twitter suspended its verification process. Many users viewed it as an endorsement by Twitter and criticized the social media platform for verifying accounts of controversial people.

"Verification was meant to authenticate identity & voice but it is interpreted as an endorsement or an indicator of importance," tweeted Twitter support. "We recognize that we have created this confusion and need to resolve it. We have paused all general verifications while we work and will report back soon."

Don't buy followers. You can purchase followers from certain services to beef up your follower count. While it may be tempting to make it look like you have more followers than you actually do, it's not worth it. The followers you get aren't real, and therefore won't interact with your brand.

Go mobile. The Twitter mobile apps are incredibly well integrated with the web platform, so the transition from tweeting on your computer to tweeting from your smartphone or tablet is almost seamless.

Add a Twitter widget to your website. Show everyone who visits your website that you're active on social media by embedding a Twitter widget on your page. To create a Twitter widget, go to http://twitter.com/settings/widgets and click Create New. You'll be directed to a page where you can customize what you want visible in your widget. You can make a widget out of your own timeline of tweets, the tweets you favorited or lists you've created. You can even do a search for a specific hashtag. You can then adjust the size, link color and theme of your widget. Once you're happy with your new Twitter widget, simply click the Create Widget button and you'll be redirected to a new page that contains the HTML code necessary for embedding the widget on your website.

Embed tweets on your blog. If your brand's website has an active blog, embedding tweets can showcase any fun tweets you shared or tweets from your loyal followers. This is a great way to incorporate your social media accounts on your website. To embed a tweet, go to the tweet you want to share and click on the More tab in the upper right corner. A dropdown menu will appear; choose Embed Tweet option, and it will take you to a new page with the appropriate HTML code. From there, just copy and paste the code where you want it to appear.
Additional reporting by Brittney Morgan.

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Twitter for Business: Everything You Need to Know

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Twitter is a social media and online news platform where people communicate in short messages - up to 240 characters long - called tweets. Founded in 2006, Twitter is now one of the top websites in the world. It's currently ranked No. 8 domestically and No. 13 internationally according to internet analytics company Alexa.

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Credit: Gonzalo Aragon/Shutterstock

Your small business needs to be on social media. If you aren't, you're missing out on cheap and effective marketing tools. With almost 70 percent of Americans on social media, your social media campaigns can reach a lot of people.

"Social media provides targeting capability, as well as reach and scale, at a lower cost than almost all other marketing channels," said Abdul Muhammad, chief digital officer and partner at rbb Communications, said in a previous Business News Daily interview. "People are on social media all day, every day - brands must go where the people are."

However, not every social media platform is a good fit for every business. You should invest your time and skills in the platforms where you're most likely to reach and engage with your target audience.

To pick the best social media network for your business, learn about the top channels and how to use them for business. Here are the basics you should know about the most popular social media platforms.

Editor's note: Looking for information on social media marketing services for your business? Use the questionnaire below, and get quickly connected to our vendor partners to learn more about a customized strategy and pricing for your business:

Even with recent leaks and negative press, Facebook is still the most popular social media network, and every business should have a Facebook page. When used correctly, a Facebook page can be invaluable to small businesses.

You can use Facebook to share everything from photos to important company updates. With a business account, you have access to powerful advertising tools and in-depth analytics. Business pages also have a lot of customization options, and you can highlight information such as your contact information, hours of operation, the products and services you offer, and much more. [Read this guide to learn more about Facebook for business.]

Instagram is becoming increasingly popular. From Instagram Live to Instagram Stories, there is no shortage of tools businesses can use to promote their services and products. Instagram is a visual platform that's based entirely on photo and video posts.

It's important to note that this platform is almost entirely mobile: You can't take photos or create new posts on the desktop version (although some social media management tools like Hootsuite and Buffer do allow for direct Instagram scheduling on their desktop platforms). More artistic niches tend to excel on Instagram, and it may not be the best fit for your business, depending on your industry. Regardless, it's important that the person running your account have a good eye for detail and at least basic photography skills, so the photos and videos posted to your account are high-quality. [Read this guide to learn more about Instagram for business.]

While Twitter is great for short updates and sharing links to blog posts, it isn't for every business. On Twitter, you can share short tweets (240 characters or fewer), videos, images, links, polls and more. It's also easy to interact with users on this platform by mentioning users in your posts along with liking and retweeting tweets.

If you're a highly visual business or don't have a blog, you may want to skip this social media network. However, many companies excel on Twitter, such as Wendy's, because they have a unique, on-brand voice on the platform. Other companies use this platform to handle customer services because customers who are also active on the platform will seek out companies to express concerns or share praise.

If you have interesting content, Twitter is a great tool for quickly spreading the word. Hashtags help boost posts, and if a user with a lot of followers retweets you, your content could go viral. But with Twitter, it's important to find balance. Don't just share your own links or media; make sure you are also sharing a lot of interesting, relevant content from other Twitter users. [Read this guide to learn more about Twitter for business.]

This visually oriented platform allows users to save and display content by "pinning" digital bulletin boards, which can be organized by category. For example, a personal user might have a food board dedicated to pinning recipes, another board dedicated to photography, and so on. The platform also has a series of special types of pins called Rich Pins, which brands can use to add specific information to their pins, like product details and even location maps. Every pin includes an image or video.

Pinterest is great for niche businesses but may not be for every company. Popular categories on the site are DIY projects, fashion, exercise, beauty, photography and food. That's not to say that businesses outside of these categories can't succeed on the platform, but it does make Pinterest an especially good marketing tool for businesses in those areas. [Read this guide to learn more about Pinterest for business.]

Snapchat is another mobile-only visual social media network that's known for its disappearing content. Its users can send videos and photos to each other, or post content to their public Stories, which disappears after 24 hours. The app has expanded to include chat, messaging, image storage, events and media content. Now, content can easily be saved and uploaded elsewhere.

Because posts are temporary, there is less pressure to create super-polished content. You can also see how many and which specific users viewed your story. A small business will most likely utilize the platform's Stories feature, but keep in mind that only users who have added you can view your Stories content. However, once you have an audience, Stories allows you to easily create story-driven and interactive content. [Learn more about using Snapchat for business.]

YouTube is a video-sharing platform where people can view, upload, rate, share and comment on content. Now owned by Google, the site is a huge hub for news and entertainment.

Many businesses on YouTube have a creative, visual or educational component. The platform is heavily driven by creativity in nature, so it's important to have a tailored video editor producing content. However, your business doesn't need a channel to market on the platform. There's a subculture of YouTube influencers who publish frequent videos and often maintain large audiences. Often, businesses partner with YouTubers for product placement, because these users already have engaged audiences. [Learn more about using YouTube for business.]

While LinkedIn might not be the most popular social media platform, it still has 260 million monthly users and is the best platform for professional networking. LinkedIn is a great platform for finding top talent, painting yourself as an industry leader and promoting your business.

LinkedIn is designed to be more professional than other social media platforms. Users create profiles that are similar to resumes, and companies can create pages that showcase their business. Because LinkedIn is a professional platform, it's the best place to post job openings and information about company culture. You can join industry-specific LinkedIn Groups to ask and answer questions. This helps your brand, paints you as an industry expert, and brings people to your company's page and website. [Learn more about using LinkedIn for business.]
Additional reporting by Jill Bowers, Danielle Corcione and Brittney Morgan.

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Social Media for Business: A Marketer's Guide

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Your small business needs to be on social media. If you aren't, you're missing out on cheap and effective marketing tools. With almost 70 percent of Americans on social media, your social media campaigns can reach a lot of people.

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Use social media to attract and engage customers

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Use social media to attract and engage customers

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Join 7,000 fellow marketers and influencers at the mega-conference designed to empower you with business-building ideas-brought to you by Social Media Examiner.

"This was honestly the best conference I've attended in my professional life," said attendee Laura Kaslow.

The best speakers in the industry!

A small sampling of our expert speakers for 2019 include Mari Smith (leading Facebook expert), Jay Baer (social customer service authority), Michael Stelzner (Social Media Examiner's founder), Ann Handley (MarketingProfs' chief content officer), Amy Porterfield (online marketing pro), Mark Schaefer (social futurist), Tim Schmoyer (leading YouTube expert), Sue B. Zimmerman (Instagram expert), Peg Fitzpatrick (leading Pinterest pro), Viveka von Rosen (top LinkedIn expert), Derral Eves (YouTube authority), Madalyn Sklar (leading Twitter pro), Marcus Sheridan (leading content marketing ninja), and Christopher Penn (analytics guru).

Here's who this event was designed for:

#1: The social media marketing professional: If your job is to manage social media marketing, but you're struggling to keep up with the ever-changing nature of social marketing, this event is for you. You'll be amazed how many people you connect with who are are just like you.

What makes Social Media Marketing World so unique are the attendees. Most either own or work for businesses with fewer than 100 employees. These are people just like you who are success driven, looking to connect with others, and enjoy having fun.

We also attract plenty of marketers from big businesses. For example, in 2018 marketers attended from BASF, Best Buy, Bose, CBS, Caterpillar, Cisco, Colgate Palmolive, Dell, Deloitte, Experian, Facebook, GE, HarperCollins, Hershey Company, Honeywell, Lands' End, LinkedIn, Lockheed Martin, Microsoft, Nissan, Northrop Grumman, SAP, Snap-on, Southwest Airlines, Sprint, U.S. Bank, and VMware.

This is a great opportunity to connect, share ideas, brainstorm, and amplify your social marketing with your peers, marketing professionals, and experts.

#2: Are you new to social marketing? If you're relatively new to social media marketing, just know that the industry is in constant flux. This means even the most experienced marketer is often restarting the adventure, over and over. You have an opportunity to embrace the latest techniques at this event. So while this event is ideal for the experienced social marketer, even a beginner will find value.

Here's why you should attend this conference:

#1: Discover advanced marketing ideas to accelerate your growth: Social Media Marketing World is the place where you'll find the best insider secrets, the latest developments, tools that will help you grow your business, and where you'll become a social marketing master.

Take in 100+ powerful and practical, action-oriented social media marketing training sessions from the world's leading experts -all in beautiful San Diego, California.

Want to learn from the social pros you've looked up to for years? Our social media marketing conference is the planet's largest gathering of social media thought leaders. We encourage all of our speakers to make themselves accessible to you.

#2: Meet future partners, customers, and influencers: Imagine connecting face-to-face with thousands of people on a similar mission-to share what works, gather ideas, and build relationships that last for years. We uniquely bring together marketers, influencers, and businesses. We make connecting easy for you by building in extensive networking opportunities.

#3: Develop lasting relationships with your peers: Have a blast at our opening night networking party held aboard the USS Midway aircraft carrier (All-Access attendees). Plus, enjoy networking while taking in magnificent views of San Diego Bay from our waterfront conference venue.

What makes this event different?

Beyond meeting friendly social media pros and influencers who are at the top of their game, here's what makes Social Media Marketing World unique:

#1: Highly valuable, pitch-free content -our trademark at Social Media Examiner. We don't allow our speakers to sell from the stage.

#2: Professional development for marketers -this conference goes way beyond social media by including dozens of sessions on video creation, live video, and business strategy.

#3: Extensive networking opportunities-you'll make priceless professional connections because we built this event to include networking with our dedicated Networking Plaza, Networking Embassy, and Networking Ambassadors. All-Access attendees can also tour the USS Midway while attending our opening-night party on the aircraft carrier!

#4: San Diego waterfront in March -while much of the country is thawing out, you'll enjoy sunny San Diego at the bayside San Diego Convention Center.

#5: Full access to the recordings of EVERY session-if you miss a session, no worries! With your All-Access ticket, you can watch playbacks from your computer, tablet, or smartphone at your leisure!

#6: First-class conference experience -from the moment you arrive, your needs will be provided for at every turn. You'll never be left wondering what to do or where to go.

#7: Vacation opportunity-if you've never visited San Diego, this is a great opportunity to find out why it's called America's Finest City. Why not come early to San Diego and make a vacation out of it? Enjoy amazing beaches, surfing, the world-famous San Diego Zoo, SeaWorld, LEGOLAND, San Diego Safari Park, and tons more...

Watch the below video or keep reading to hear what others who attended our last Social Media Marketing World had to say.

Disclaimer: Your results may vary. Participating in this event doesn't guarantee success with your social media marketing.

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Social Media Marketing World: Social Media's Mega Conference!

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Join 7,000 fellow marketers and influencers at the mega-conference designed to empower you with business-building ideas-brought to you by Social Media Examiner. "This was honestly the best conference I've attended in my professional life," said attendee Laura Kaslow.

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Kristi Hines / /

Wondering how Twitter's conversational ads and instant unlock cards work?

Want examples of brands using them well?

Twitter's conversational ads and instant unlock cards encourage your audience not only to engage with your ads, but also to share them with their own followers.

In this article, you'll discover how to use Twitter conversational ads and instant unlock cards for business.

About Twitter Conversational Ads and Instant Unlock Cards

The main benefit of using Twitter instant unlock cards as part of your Twitter marketing is the viral nature of how the cards work. The tweets are shared with each user's audience. Thus, your conversational ads and instant unlock cards will be shared as regular tweets to the user's followers.

Take a look at this tweet from @Wendy's to promote the Frosty. Every time users choose Chocolate or Vanilla, they spread the tweet and opportunity for engagement with their followers. Within 15 minutes, there were at least 200 tweets cheering for a particular team, and thus simultaneously sharing the advertisement.
How Twitter Conversational Ads and Instant Unlock Cards Work
Twitter conversational ads and instant unlock cards allow you to get your audience to engage with your ad in two ways.

First, you have tweets that encourage your audience to choose a team or a side, like this one from @Marvel to promote the movie Captain America: Civil War.

When Marvel's audience clicked the buttons below the video to choose their side, a pre-populated tweet with #TeamCap or #TeamIronMan opened for them to share with their followers, encouraging even more engagement with the advertiser.

After users tweeted it, they received a custom message from the advertiser.

Second, you have tweets that allow your audience to unlock hidden content by tweeting a specific hashtag, like this one from @TheWalkingDead_AMC to promote an exclusive video for the upcoming season.

Again, the users who tweet the hashtag share it with their audience, which encourages even more engagement with the advertiser.

This is similar to the Marvel example above, with the exception that when users tweet, the hidden content is revealed, along with a custom message from the advertiser.

Find Out if You're Eligible for Conversational Ads and Instant Unlock Cards

Twitter has noted that these features are currently being rolled out to select medium- to large-sized businesses. You can review the instructions on how to set up a conversational ad unit to see if the feature is available to you using the directions in the Help Center.

The fastest way to see if you have the ability to create conversational ads and instant unlock cards is to create a new Tweet Engagement campaign in your Twitter Ad account. Scroll down to Step 4 where you set up your creative. When you click in the box to compose a new tweet, you should see the following.

If you don't see the option needed, the bottom of this post mentions that you can contact your Twitter Ads account management team to learn more about your account's eligibility to receive these features. Alternatively, you can use the Help link at the top of your Twitter Ads dashboard and contact Twitter Ads support to discuss your eligibility for these features.

If you do have the option, click on the Use a Conversational Card link. You can create cards that will allow your audience to share your message or unlock exclusive content by clicking a button to send a tweet with a specific hashtag.

At the top, choose Image or Video from the Type drop-down, based on your preference. From there, you can add exclusive content for users to unlock with their tweet, enter up to four hashtags for them to select, and configure the rest of your ad as specified in each of the fields.

When you're finished, your setup should look something like this.

To the right of your setup, you can preview your ad as your audience would see it on desktop, iOS, and Android browsers.

From here, set up your Twitter ad as usual by configuring your campaign name, scheduled runtime, and target audience if you haven't already.

Examples of Conversational Ads and Instant Unlock Cards

Now, let's look at how some businesses are using conversational ads and unlock cards. The reasons to review these are two-fold.

First, if Twitter does roll out these cards to all advertisers, you'll already have some great ideas in mind for ways to use them for your own business.

Second, if Twitter doesn't roll out these cards to all advertisers, you may be able to find creative ways to use images and video to get people to express their support of something and share it with their followers using a special hashtag. Or you could ask a question using a Twitter poll and encourage your followers to retweet it, and then promote that tweet for more visibility.
Share a Coke With a Friend
Not everyone's going to share a Coke with Selena Gomez as @CocaCola suggests in their tweet.

However, because users can edit the tweet, they can change the username of the person they'd share a Coke with to one or more friends and then send it out.

This is smart on Coca-Cola's part. Not only will the user's followers see it, but the other people tagged in the tweet are more likely to engage with it and share it with their audience too.
Pick Your Team
@UFC created a tweet to engage their audience to choose between #TeamDiaz and #TeamMcGregor. This example is particularly good because instead of just tweeting it directly, they retweeted it from @MonsterEnergy.

This demonstrates the virality of conversational ads. Here, two major brands are sharing the tweet, combining the total audience reach of the UFC's 4+ million followers with Monster Energy's 3+ million followers.
Get Your Presale Code
Winter may not be coming yet, but the live concert experience of Game of Thrones is. Hence, their official Twitter account retweeted @LiveNation's share of their unlock tweet that allowed fans to get a presale code for tickets to the live event. This is a great way to use an engaging tweet to boost the visibility of your business, as well as sales.
Encourage Followers to Make a Pledge
Dove India did a couple of great things with their conversational ad. For starters, they simply asked their followers to take a pledge and spread the message. In addition, they pinned the tweet to the top of their profile, making sure as many people as possible would see it.

At the end of the video, they showed a link to dove.com, which seems simple at first. However, when visitors went to the homepage (from India or any country), they discovered that Dove's homepage focuses on the same campaign of real beauty. The matching message on Dove's homepage will keep the people who came from their tweet engaged to learn more about the brand.
Say Hello From Home
This campaign from @Hersheys has several great things going for it. For starters, it's sending a positive message for @TeamUSA at the Olympics in Rio, capitalizing on a trending event. When users click the button, the resulting tweet includes the brand's @username.

Note that after users tweet, they get an automated reply from the business with a thank-you message, as shown below. While some people may not agree with the idea of automation, in the case of a large business, it would be difficult to reply to everyone individually. So even though the reply is automated, it still captures the audience's attention, and that's the point!

Tip: If you're creating a campaign using conversational ads and instant unlock cards, include your @username in the tweet that users will post when they click on the buttons for your campaign. While you can't control whether they will edit it out in the end, at least you know that most will likely end up tweeting it. That way, even if the user's followers don't participate in your campaign, they'll know where it came from and possibly click through to learn more about your brand.
In Conclusion
As you can see, there are a variety of ways to use conversational ads and instant unlock cards to get engagement from your audience, grow visibility for your business, and even make sales on Twitter. If you can get access to these features, take advantage of it! And if you can't, find some alternative ways to encourage the same kind of engagement from your audience.

What do you think? What conversational ads and instant unlock cards from brands have you seen? Let us know in the comments below.

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How to Use Twitter Conversational Ads and Instant Unlock Cards

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Wondering how Twitter's conversational ads and instant unlock cards work? Want examples of brands using them well? Twitter's conversational ads and instant unlock cards encourage your audience not only to engage with your ads, but also to share them with their own followers.

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Are you using Instagram for your business?

Do you have a plan to consistently deliver value to your followers?

To maximize engagement, you need a smart posting schedule.

In this article, you'll discover how to improve your visibility in the Instagram news feed.

#1: Find Out When Your Followers Are Online

If you have the new Instagram business profile, you can use analytics to find out when the majority of your Instagram followers are online. Tap the Insights icon at the top right of your profile.

Then tap on the link to see more about your followers, and scroll down to the bottom past the demographics. There, you'll be able to switch between views to see the most popular day of the week and the most popular hours of each day that your Instagram followers are active.

For example, if you know you only have the capacity to publish one main post per day, and you notice that weekdays at 7 AM is the time your followers are most active, that might be the best time to publish your main photo or video to your Instagram profile. Then let your followers know about it in your Instagram story for a little extra boost.

If you don't have an Instagram business profile, you have a couple of options. Simply Measured has a free report for Instagram profiles with fewer than 25,000 followers. It includes a graph that shows you your best time for engagement, assuming you've been posting regularly.

If you have a larger account, you'll have to use premium tools from Simply Measured or other services. Rival IQ, for example, will show you your optimal publishing times, along with your competitors'. In the example below, you can see Instagram activity and engagement by hour and day for the main company versus the landscape (competitors in the same industry).

Seeing your own activity and engagement rates alongside your competitors' should give you an idea if increasing your posting will lead to higher engagement or if competitors are getting more engagement with fewer posts simply by posting at better times.

#2: Get Notified About Your Competitor's Publishing Schedule

If you don't have data from your own Instagram account to test, and you don't want to rely on third-party tools, you can get notifications each time your competitor posts to Instagram. Simply follow your competitor's Instagram account, tap on the three dots at the top right of their profile, and select Turn on Post Notifications from the menu below.

If your competitor has been on Instagram for a while, chances are they know what times work best for their audience. Assuming you're trying to attract a similar audience, these times should work for your account too.

#3: Send Reminders to Your Smartphone to Post to Instagram

Having trouble keeping up with your Instagram publishing schedule because it has to be done on mobile? Send yourself some reminders. If you're a Hootsuite user, you can schedule posts to Instagram via Hootsuite and it will remind you when to post to Instagram on your mobile.

If you're not a Hootsuite user and your social media management tool doesn't have a similar feature, you have other options. For example, if you're creating your Instagram photos and videos on your desktop, you can use Boomerang for Gmail to schedule an email to yourself with a file attachment of your photos so you remember to post it on time.

Or set a regular alarm or reminder on your phone to snap a photo or record a video at scheduled times each day that you want to post to Instagram. This works particularly well if you're more of a spontaneous content creator or use mobile apps to create your visual content for Instagram.

You may even want to create an album in your smartphone's camera roll or (if your space is limited) a Dropbox file of images that you can access on the go. Then when your reminders go off, you have some Instagram content ready to download and post.
In Conclusion
As you can see, it's possible to come up with a good Instagram publishing schedule so that you consistently deliver valuable content. Just remember not to sacrifice quality for quantity so your followers will want to like and comment on your Instagram posts! And always do some analysis of your own to make sure what you're doing is right for your audience.

Note: All screenshots and directions are based on an iPhone 6 using the latest version of iOS, Instagram, and an Instagram business profile.

What do you think? What Instagram publishing schedule have you set up for your business? Let us know in the comments!

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How to Optimize Your Instagram Posting Schedule

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Are you using Instagram for your business? Do you have a plan to consistently deliver value to your followers? To maximize engagement, you need a smart posting schedule. In this article, you'll discover how to improve your visibility in the Instagram news feed.

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Instagram & Facebook Advertising Strategies

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Instagram & Facebook Advertising Strategies

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Protecting Business Reputation with Social Media

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Protecting Business Reputation with Social Media

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Do you want to increase trust with your fans and followers?

Want to avoid making mistakes on social media?

There are easy ways to avoid potential problems that could negatively affect your business and reputation online.

In this article, you'll discover six ways to present your business in the best light possible on social media.

#1: Use Humor Appropriately

You might think something is funny, but will it be funny to your followers? Or is it outdated? Is there a chance it might offend someone? Incorporating humor in your posts can help engage your followers, but you need to know your audience and keep jokes relevant to your topic. If you're not 100% sure, ask someone you trust for an honest opinion.

In this tweet, the Atlanta Hawks cleverly used emojis to represent the teams on their 2016 NBA schedule, knowing their fans would get the joke. When you incorporate humor in your own posts, try to be clever but not too esoteric, or you run the risk of your humor falling flat with your audience.

#2: Fact-check and Spell-check Your Content

Hiring full-time proofreaders isn't feasible for most businesses. If you're proofreading your own social posts, take the time to check your math, verify spelling, look up definitions, and do a little online sleuthing to confirm the validity of your claims. Don't just rely on your gut feeling.

A quick proofread by White Castle would have kept a brilliant brand interaction with a celebrity from falling flat and giving Taco Bell a chance to bring the conversation back to them.

#3: Respond to All Comments and Complaints

The holy grail of social media is engagement. Responding and participating in conversations with your customers and advocates help you build brand loyalty.

If you don't have time to respond on your social sites, you're likely better off just closing down your accounts. A lack of response is worse than having no social profile at all. You need to know what your customers are saying and sharing so you can address potential issues before they grow into bigger ones. You might also potentially turn a negative experience into a positive one.

If you see a social post about a potential problem with your business, send that person a message offering to continue the discussion offline to help rectify it. Trying to resolve matters in an online discussion might turn off other customers and lead to factual inaccuracies being broadcast to the public.

Offering to take the matter offline not only gives the customer a chance to discuss the issue in more detail, but also shows other users that your business cares about making things right.

When customers take the time to share their thoughts on social media, it's important that you acknowledge them. As quickly as possible, apologize for their experience without admitting being in the wrong. Even if getting a complaint doesn't feel that great, you failed to meet your customer's expectation. Embrace and learn from it.

#4: Make Sure Your Customer Service Apps Are Working

If you're providing customer service through customized apps connected to your social media accounts, check the links frequently to make sure they're working correctly. If they're broken, turn them off and fix them quickly.

Customers often go to Facebook to share frustrations, so having an app that makes it easy for them to call, chat, or email you will help you serve them while keeping negative comments off of your public page. If the app isn't working, customers might start questioning your professionalism and the accuracy of the information you provide them.

This error message from a Cloud application platform leaves a Mercedes-Benz fan disappointed.

#5: Search for Rogue or Duplicate Pages

There can be many reasons why your company's social accounts might be duplicated, from deliberate hijackers to employees oblivious to the implications. Duplicate pages not only potentially damage your reputation, but also confuse search engines, which are forced to choose which version they feel is the best fit for the query.

Regularly search each of your social media platforms for your company name. If you see a duplicate account, open it and make a note of whom you're connected with. If you don't know who created the account, use the online help centers to find remedies, which differ for each social platform.

To avoid internal issues within your company, make sure your social media policy includes a stipulation that employees can't create their own sites with your business name.

The solution to these duplicate Twitter accounts might involve merging the two accounts and then doing some cleanup.

#6: Respond to Both Positive and Negative Reviews

Many businesses routinely respond to negative reviews, but don't think about acknowledging positive ones. Show your appreciation to customers who take the time to share positive experiences with your product or service. It's more than good manners; it's good business.

Do take care in how you respond. Some of your customers may have unpredictable sensitivities. Acknowledge reviews as quickly as possible and be polite and professional.

Using SEO keywords in your responses also may push your social site higher in search engine rankings. For example, you can turn your response into a billboard showing how much you love your customers and mention all of the great things you're glad the customer liked.
Conclusion
Before you send a tweet or post a status that you wish you could take back, be cognizant of how you're communicating with customers and prospects.

What do you think? Do you use some of these tactics to avoid potential social media mishaps? How do you ward off problems on your social channels? Please share your thoughts in the comments below.

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6 Ways to Protect Your Business Reputation With Social Media

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Do you want to increase trust with your fans and followers? Want to avoid making mistakes on social media? There are easy ways to avoid potential problems that could negatively affect your business and reputation online. In this article, you'll discover six ways to present your business in the best light possible on social media.