Make It With Michael

By Kim Phillips Patience. It is a virtue I don’t have. So when I wanted to grow my audience quickly before my current book launch, I started researching growth hacks . I had a few requirements for what I was looking for: It couldn’t take a lot of time to execute. I run three companies, am a published author, have two kids and occasionally like to see my husband, so time is limited. This hack had to be quick. It had to be easy. I am not a techie and my tech team is busy working on client accounts, so this had to be simple. And yes, I could have hired someone, but I wanted to make sure I could personally do this hack so I could share it with our students as a strategy they could use when I found what worked. There had to be ROI. Audience growth is great, but you can’t use audience to pay for your next vacation or hire your next employee. The growth strategies had to be ROI positive. It had to work quickly. I started this project in June and our launch started just a few months...

http://ift.tt/2ydhiU0 By Kim Phillips Patience. It is a virtue I don’t have. So when I wanted to grow my audience quickly before my current book launch, I started researching growth hacks . I had a few requirements for what I was looking for: It couldn’t take a lot of time to execute. I run three companies, am a published author, have two kids and occasionally like to see my husband, so time is limited. This hack had to be quick. It had to be easy. I am not a techie and my tech team is busy working on client accounts, so this had to be simple. And yes, I could have hired someone, but I wanted to make sure I could personally do this hack so I could share it with our students as a strategy they could use when I found what worked. There had to be ROI. Audience growth is great, but you can’t use audience to pay for your next vacation or hire your next employee. The growth strategies had to be ROI positive. It had to work quickly. I started this project in June and our launch sta...

By Kaylynn Chong If the perfect social video were a cake, what would go into making it? We talked to Hootsuite’s in-house video expert, Derek Saddler, to find out the four key ingredients you need to bake a delicious piece of content. 1. It’s short and sweet According to a survey conducted by Animoto , nearly two-thirds of consumers prefer video under 60 seconds. That’s why Saddler recommends keeping your social video between 30 and 90 seconds long. Attention spans are short and you want to keep viewers engaged. Here’s a few ways to ensure your video holds the audience’s attention: If your video includes text, keep the word count to a minimum . You don’t want your viewer to be reading the entire time instead of watching the actual video. Your audience’s time is precious, so try to get your message across with as few of words as possible. At Hootsuite, when we repurpose a blog post into a social video we’ll often cut it down from eight tips to three, like we did in this video. ...

http://ift.tt/2sQNhGr By Kaylynn Chong If the perfect social video were a cake, what would go into making it? We talked to Hootsuite’s in-house video expert, Derek Saddler, to find out the four key ingredients you need to bake a delicious piece of content. 1. It’s short and sweet According to a survey conducted by Animoto , nearly two-thirds of consumers prefer video under 60 seconds. That’s why Saddler recommends keeping your social video between 30 and 90 seconds long. Attention spans are short and you want to keep viewers engaged. Here’s a few ways to ensure your video holds the audience’s attention: If your video includes text, keep the word count to a minimum . You don’t want your viewer to be reading the entire time instead of watching the actual video. Your audience’s time is precious, so try to get your message across with as few of words as possible. At Hootsuite, when we repurpose a blog post into a social video we’ll often cut it down from eight tips to three, like w...

By Dara Fontein We all make mistakes, but when it comes to your social media advertising efforts these seemingly innocent blunders can end up costing you—a lot. I spoke with Hootsuite’s social ads expert Gabrielle Maheux to find out what the biggest social ad mistakes are. Continuing reading to learn how you can avoid these mistakes—and save your budget. Stop Making These 6 Social Media Ad Mistakes 1. Not setting the right goals “Before you even think about creating a single social ad,” says Maheux, “you need to know why you’re doing it.” Are you trying to build brand awareness or are you solely focused on getting leads? Consider what exactly you are hoping to achieve with your social ad campaign. We recommend setting S.M.A.R.T. goals —goals that are specific, measurable, attainable, relevant, and time-bound. Instead of a goal to “boost sales,” think about an actual percentage you (or your business) wants to increase sales by and what your timeline is. Once you have set these bu...

http://ift.tt/eA8V8J By Dara Fontein We all make mistakes, but when it comes to your social media advertising efforts these seemingly innocent blunders can end up costing you—a lot. I spoke with Hootsuite’s social ads expert Gabrielle Maheux to find out what the biggest social ad mistakes are. Continuing reading to learn how you can avoid these mistakes—and save your budget. Stop Making These 6 Social Media Ad Mistakes 1. Not setting the right goals “Before you even think about creating a single social ad,” says Maheux, “you need to know why you’re doing it.” Are you trying to build brand awareness or are you solely focused on getting leads? Consider what exactly you are hoping to achieve with your social ad campaign. We recommend setting S.M.A.R.T. goals —goals that are specific, measurable, attainable, relevant, and time-bound. Instead of a goal to “boost sales,” think about an actual percentage you (or your business) wants to increase sales by and what your timeline is. Once ...

http://ift.tt/2w4yevj By Ana Gotter When Instagram ads was added to Facebook’s ad offering, many people assumed that the two placements would be nearly identical in terms of best practices, cost, and engagement rates. Not true. Though Facebook and Instagram ads have coalesced well in one ad system, it’s still crucial to consider them as two very unique platforms. They are similar, but they’re far from identical, and for brands who are used to Facebook ads —this is what you need to know before you run an Instagram ad campaign. 1. There are two types of Instagram ads There are two types of Instagram ads: ads that will appear in the mobile feed, and story ads. Mobile feed ads will appear in users’ Instagram feeds, much like Facebook’s regular News Feed ads. Like Facebook’s News Feed posts, they can consist of several different types of ad formats—including a single image, a video, or carousel ads that use both— and they can be saved like normal posts. Unlike the organic posts surro...

By Ana Gotter When Instagram ads was added to Facebook’s ad offering, many people assumed that the two placements would be nearly identical in terms of best practices, cost, and engagement rates. Not true. Though Facebook and Instagram ads have coalesced well in one ad system, it’s still crucial to consider them as two very unique platforms. They are similar, but they’re far from identical, and for brands who are used to Facebook ads —this is what you need to know before you run an Instagram ad campaign. 1. There are two types of Instagram ads There are two types of Instagram ads: ads that will appear in the mobile feed, and story ads. Mobile feed ads will appear in users’ Instagram feeds, much like Facebook’s regular News Feed ads. Like Facebook’s News Feed posts, they can consist of several different types of ad formats—including a single image, a video, or carousel ads that use both— and they can be saved like normal posts. Unlike the organic posts surrounding them, these ads...

By Dara Fontein When it comes to your social media strategy, bigger isn’t always better. You already know that influencer marketing can get you real results (it’s been shown to influence 20 to 50 percent of all purchasing decisions ) but it might be time to consider what micro-influencers can do for your business. In contrast to more well-known or celebrity influencers, micro-influencers are everyday social media users with smaller audiences. Continue reading to find out: Why micro-influencers could be the key to success for your next campaign The easiest way to find relevant micro-influencers The do’s and don’ts of working with micro-influencers How top brands are using micro-influencers in their marketing efforts Why work with micro-influencers? According to a study by Dr. Jonah Berger (author of the book Contagious: Why Things Catch On), 82 percent of consumers were “highly likely” to follow a recommendation made by a micro-influencer. In the study, an unpaid network of...

http://ift.tt/2wApqw4 By Dara Fontein When it comes to your social media strategy, bigger isn’t always better. You already know that influencer marketing can get you real results (it’s been shown to influence 20 to 50 percent of all purchasing decisions ) but it might be time to consider what micro-influencers can do for your business. In contrast to more well-known or celebrity influencers, micro-influencers are everyday social media users with smaller audiences. Continue reading to find out: Why micro-influencers could be the key to success for your next campaign The easiest way to find relevant micro-influencers The do’s and don’ts of working with micro-influencers How top brands are using micro-influencers in their marketing efforts Why work with micro-influencers? According to a study by Dr. Jonah Berger (author of the book Contagious: Why Things Catch On), 82 percent of consumers were “highly likely” to follow a recommendation made by a micro-influencer. In the study...

http://ift.tt/eA8V8J By Kaylynn Chong Social media moves fast—so keeping up with all the latest trends and tools can be hard. What better way to stay informed than Snapchat? The ephemeral nature of the platform lends itself to easily digestible and focused tips. Here are a few social media experts—influencers, entrepreneurs, CEOs, and best-selling authors—that you can learn from on the platform. 7 social media experts you should be following on Snapchat 1. Dave Morin , entrepreneur Dave Morin is the founder of Path, an app that Google tried to purchase for $100 million . Morin declined Google’s offer and went on to found another startup, Slow Ventures , before becoming the CEO of Sunrise Bio , a medical and health organization. Prior to that Morin was Facebook’s product lead—so he knows a thing or two about social platforms and what businesses need to do in order to grow. And he shares all of that and more on Snapchat. 2. Gary Vaynerchuk , entrepreneur and author Gary Vaynerchu...