Last updated on February 8th, 2023
Social media is an integral part of marketing strategies that brands come up with to engage their target audience. Since the reach of social platforms is awesome, marketers want to reach as many people through this medium as they possibly can. So, they wish to optimize their social media campaign to drive potential customers to their business. Designhill conducted a panel discussion and discussed how to elevate your social media campaign results to the next level.
Most brands are today on different social media platforms. That is because social channels have millions of people active on a daily basis. If your brand is also active on these platforms, you can reach those people. With regular interactions and engagement of people, your brand can surely drive their attention.
However, not all business owners achieve their business goals based on their social media marketing. They do launch a campaign on YouTube, Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, etc, but fail to elevate the campaign to get the desired results. Small businesses that are starting new especially are unable to explore social media to their advantage.
Considering that, the leading creative marketplace, Designhill thought of inviting experts of the field to guide business owners on this issue. So, the marketplace organized an online session on 22nd April on the topic: How To Elevate Your Social Media Campaign Results To The Next Level. The guest speakers from the top industry online community elaborated on how best to manipulate social platforms to achieve business goals.
The experts gave tips on how to boost engagement during social campaigns and how to use cost-effective tools to manage interaction with the target audience. They showed how social media activities are effective and what metrics to use to calculate success.
Other tips offered by the expert to the attendees included how to use effective and efficient hashtags to take your social media marketing to the next level, how to hitch Generation Z, processes, and technology together, and case studies that have already found success on social media platforms.
Know Your Panelists:
AJ Wilcox
AJ Wilcox is an expert in digital marketing with a rich experience of over 13 years in this field. He has been serving as an expert on LinkedIn Ads for about 9 years ago. He started B2Linked.com back in 2014 to specialize in LinkedIn Ads at high performance.
Matt Johnston
Matt Johnston is a well-known strategist for social video. He runs video teams at NowThis, NY Magazine, & Business Insider. Now he has his own company – Matt, which is responsible for 10 billion+ video views during his career. He is also the author of Producing Empathy.
Mia Fileman
Mia Fileman is a marketing strategist. She boasts of more than two decades of experience running marketing campaigns on behalf of businesses and the government. She spent 10 years in Brand Management roles for global companies L’Oreal, BIC, and Kraft, among others, before moving to the world of creative agencies as a Director. Before Idiello, Mia also ran her marketing agency for seven years, through which she led several government campaigns on things like family services, drugs and alcohol, and tourism.
Samantha E. McKenna
Samantha E. McKenna is a brand ambassador for LinkedIn, and she is a highly sought-after speaker. Since 2008, Sam has worked for some of the most notable names in the Bay Area, including ON24 and LinkedIn. She has also double-majored in law firm sales and has worked with 86 of the AmLaw 100 firms. She is the creator of #samsales, which has a significant following on LinkedIn for her tangible sales tips and actionable advice for sales executives and teams.
Tony Christensen
Tony Christensen is a creator, speaker, and self-proclaimed, and is the Founder, Tony Does Ads. He also works for NOW Marketing Group as the Advertising Manager for all accounts. Tony is invited as a keynote speaker to conferences around the world. He creates weekly advertising videos on his YouTube channel and travels.
In this post, we have shared the video of the panel discussion and transcript in the form Q and As where you can learn everything about social media marketing and how to elevate your social media campaigns.
Transcript (Q/A): Follow These Useful Tips From The Experts While Launching Your Social Media Campaign
Designhill: What should be the starting point, which platform to choose, and how to go about making the right choice?
Choose your right social channel
Mia Fileman: You don’t need to be on all the social media platforms that are going to drive you straight into the ground. It comes down to where your audience is. You need to do a detailed target audience segmentation to figure out exactly which platforms your audience is consuming.
But then I just want to add another layer to that, which is, you should also play to your strengths. For example, you may be in a design lead business that creates great visuals. Then maybe you should be looking at platforms like Instagram and Pinterest. There, you are playing to your strength.
If you are a great verbal communicator, then Clubhouse is worth exploring. Because you can jump on the platform, and have a discussion off the cuff with someone from across the world. You can discuss while folding your laundry, then maybe that’s going to work well for you.
So, there are a lot of things to take into consideration. My best advice for small business owners is to pick one primary channel. Then, maybe one or two secondary channels. But my favorite saying in the whole world is that social media strategy is about choices.
Designhill: How to find out if your users are on LinkedIn, or Instagram, or Pinterest?
Samantha E. McKenna: I think we have to get on. I think everybody’s going to agree with that, too. We want to make sure that you are spending your time where your audiences are. We have a lot of lawyers that ask us should I be on Facebook? And we’re like, probably not.
But think about where your audiences are. While you do that, think if you are selling to consumers or the back-end was business or b2b. What is it that you are selling? Then it doesn’t have to be the most expensive thing on the planet either. There are so many ways to build a brand and build content without spending a dime.
Show your expertise
LinkedIn is a great platform to do that. I am a little bit biased there. But the incredible way to start to build your thought leadership is to show your subject matter expertise. That will help you get the following. You will also build awareness for your business just by sharing what you do.
You need to figure out where your audience is. And perhaps the second one, if your audience exists there to final think, just think about your demographic. Again, if you are an attorney, or if you are in professional services. You are targeting people that are perhaps in their 60s, maybe Instagram releases the place you want to be.
Designhill: How video content is helping businesses grow in today’s time and what kind of video content works?
Matt Johnston: Many entrepreneurs do not think enough about how to make money. You should ask yourself what social media platforms to be on. Where is the revenue going to come from? So, very often, people flock to the latest thing. And they get obsessed with that. And they’re like, oh, I should be here. And then all the Gurus pop up, and they’re like, I gotta post four times on TikTok today. And then everybody piggybacks off of it, but nobody’s making any money. And it drives me crazy.
Achieve your business goal
I have been through this a lot myself, I went through a period where I was teaching tic tac to everybody, like crazy. But I wasn’t making any money off of it. I guess going viral didn’t matter. So, at the end of the day, you have to start with the business goal. And I think that is going to be a really big takeaway for you all. I deleted Clubhouse because I don’t have time to be in Clubhouse eight hours a day.
As far as video content goes, though, like, let’s start there. Where is your business going to generate revenue? So, you have to look down your sales funnel. First, create your potential sales funnel. Then at the end of the day, the only reason to be on social media is to get good traffic.
Build your community
But not all traffic is equal to building a community. And ideally, this community is people that will potentially buy from you. I made this mistake a lot that probably a lot of you are potentially making. You say is Clubhouse an American thing? Yeah, I think it’s also an iOS thing. Status runs through the Clubhouse. Don’t get me started.
You can turn potential people who fall in love with you and have the funds to afford you into customers for your business. If you are an entrepreneur, like, if you are in a b2c situation, the same thing. Not all traffic is created equal. And then where can you build that community with a valuable enough audience and that will speak to your strengths.
Generate revenue
You should be able to generate revenue for your business over time by posting on Instagram and having followers. An ROI breakdown at the end of the year will show that you are not making much money from Instagram. That might not always be true, though. I mean, you have a funnel, a strategy.
So, before you even start talking about tactics, ask yourself some questions. You should ask how to make good videos. How does it make you money? Those are the questions that you have to ask yourself first because the video is just a tactic.
Posting on LinkedIn is a tactic just like starting a Clubhouse room is just the tactic. But what’s your strategy behind it? I used to be like, hey, I want to be everywhere. And then I was like, screw that garbage. I don’t do that anymore. Now, I am only on YouTube, like I am building my organic YouTube very hardcore right now. That is because I feel like those are valuable followers, they have to opt-in.
So, it’s like Seth Godin permission marketing, and just generating it through there, because they’re building video, having that video, FaceTime that I can have with people on YouTube. It builds a lot of affinity for me, and trust with me. And those are the things that do half the work in the sales process to make money for my business. That’s the wonderful thing about video.
You do your business, figure out your business goal, business strategy, and build your funnel. The question is where do I want to take these people for video? If it is eCommerce, this might be a store. But a store is not a strategy, you still need to have a strategy. Then you ask yourself, where are these people? How can I build the things to ensure that the traffic from this video is working, which is half the sales process?
Build trust
You know, sales are about trust. It is about building people towards certainty about how good your product is. Also, it is about how good your services and you as a person are. Overall, how much do they trust your company? Your video can do a lot of that work for you.
With YouTube, people come to watch. Instagram is all about interruption marketing, so you are interrupting people. So you have to sort of choose wisely. Before I just ramble on, is it like six feet of the five people in this thing? I am going to shut up. But that’s what I have to offer on video.
Designhill: What kind of content works on LinkedIn?
AJ Wilcox: A lot of attention on LinkedIn is very personal and human. That is because regardless of what we do for our work, we are human, and we love to make those connections. So, all you see in your newsfeed is a whole bunch of suits and ties. Then, you come across a post having bright colors, it’s engaging since it is in contrast.
I think that’s a great opportunity for people to take a mental break from work. They’re eager to do so on LinkedIn. Organically, it’s the easiest network in the world to go viral on.
Designhill: Does storytelling work on LinkedIn?
AJ Wilcox: I believe that storytelling is ingrained in our bones. It doesn’t matter where the story is. We as humans are programmed to listen to it. So, I think one of the biggest things that we can do is tap into storytelling. Don’t just drop a statement and hope that that British business, you do you have to tell someone a story and get it on hold?
Designhill: What are some common mistakes people make while running Facebook ads, and how should they avoid them?
Know your business goals
Tony Christensen: A lot of people want to run ads, but like Matt was saying, they just don’t even have a strategy after they get the traffic. They do not know where they should send the traffic. So, you have to look at what your business goals are.
For example, I had a guy that I met while doing a consulting session. He said he was working with attorneys. And he was trying to get these attorneys’ phone calls. So, I am going to send him to this landing page. I said I wanted to look at that landing page. There was no phone number on the landing page. I told him that his structure is in shambles.
Consider the goal of your ads
So, when it comes to ads, you want to focus on what’s the goal that you are trying to achieve. And then optimize that back end of where you are sending the traffic to, your landing page or whatever. Make sure that the page is optimized for the people that you are targeting.
Build your business organically
Many people try to build their business on just the ad side of things before it is actually running and working properly. I tell people the opposite. I say, don’t even reach out to me until you are starting to get sales already organically. Then, I know that your sales page, your landing page, and those back-end processes are usually in order and working. There are usually still areas to improve there too. But I would say focus on building your business organically.
It is like learning what your customer’s pain points are. Why do people love you and your business and what is leveraging that? Similarly, with building your business organically, you save a lot of money by trying a lot of different posts. You can then see what starts to resonate with your target audience. And you can leverage those posts that are already working at a paid strategy. So, I would say, first, really get those back-end things in order and then leverage those with your paid strategy.
Designhill: What should be on the landing page, which can help in higher conversions?
Mia Fileman: On landing and sales pages, I had a go on Instagram about the celebrity CEOs and their copy-paste formula for sales pages and why it’s so ridiculous. I did hear of a landing page that was 70,000 words. And would take 85 minutes to read or maybe it was 17,000 words. Nonetheless, these are my top tips for a landing page.
Remove distractions
First of all, there should be no distractions. You want people to get to your sales page. And then you are sending them left, right, and center to go and explore all this other content. So every single call to action on that page needs to lead to the same place. They should be taking that desired action that you want them to take. That might be opting in to your lead magnet, which might be booking a discovery call or it might be a conversion. So limit those distractions.
Have a two-minute video
I think a less than two-minute explainer video on your landing page is important for those people to grab them. Then they may want to read about each module. They can then start to build that human connection with someone right on that page. Make sure that your landing page has a way to capture and share those leads. Then, if they don’t go on to convert, make sure you are at least capturing their email address.
There are a few different ways to do this. But I have embedded a form behind my call to action. That allows people to submit a form. I get their email address, and I can start to nurture them. Then I can send them an abandoned cart email after that. And then while I am all about ethical marketing, that doesn’t mean that you can’t use emotive language. And I think that’s what’s missing a lot of landing pages.
Designhill: How to tailor your posts for each social network?
Start posting plain and simple
Samantha E. McKenna: One of the biggest mistakes people make with content is they announce it. So, they’ll get on and they’ll say today, I am going to post once a week, every Monday at 8 AM. Then probably three or four weeks later, they miss a week, and then another week, and then we see that they are not reliable. So, just start doing it plain and simple. There are plenty of algorithm hacks, which everybody on this Zoom controller can probably test.
Start with a hook
But while looking to get maximum exposure from your content especially on LinkedIn, start with a hook. Your hook at the beginning of your post will entice somebody to click that ….See More. That is one of the primary things that will drive exposure to your posts.
This is because people find those first few lines interesting and they want to know what else is in the post. So clicking that ‘See More’ link tells the LinkedIn algorithm like, oh, something was interesting here for one person, two people, three people, and so forth.
You’ll also notice without a picture, so if you don’t add a picture to your posts, you’ve got five lines two years before that seems to pop up. If you follow me on LinkedIn, you will see that I always post a little hook, and then I have got an entry. And then the next thing I am like, here’s what I did, to entice you to click to see more. That’s a simple idea.
Build your network
Also, make sure that you build your network. If you have 100 connections, it’s not going to get you anywhere. But build it organically. Think about your process of if this then that. If I speak to a prospect, if I have a colleague appear, if I have people that I have worked with before, connect with all those people. Engage also in other people’s content.
So it’s not just about yourself and self-promotion and your thought leadership. It is about you bringing that thought leadership to other people, which will help build your network.
Avoid using too many hashtags
Another mistake people make is about content and hashtags. So, are you one of those people who add 9800 hashtags to the bottom of their posts? That is something awful you should avoid. I would choose about three hashtags. Two years on LinkedIn, mix between ones I have a wide following and ones I have a more narrow, more bottom of the funnel, following in terms of numbers.
Anything over five hashtags to LinkedIn, signals spam. So if you are one of these people that put 15 hashtags in your post, you are doing yourself a disservice. In that case, LinkedIn thinks that you have no idea who your audience is. So, LinkedIn kind of says I can’t help you and we are going to kind of throttle this post.
Share only new and valuable posts
Another thing to note is the share button on LinkedIn. So, you have got comments and shares using that share button on LinkedIn. They use it for content or re-sharing somebody’s post. It is the worst thing that you can do for yourself in terms of highlighting somebody’s post and getting exposure for it.
What LinkedIn values the most is net new and original content. And as soon as you hit that share button, LinkedIn is like, well, that’s cute, but we’ve seen that before. So, they’ll throttle your posts as well. About 10 to 15% of the views you would normally get will happen if you share a post. You can up that by tagging the person that wrote the post. Then, hope that they comment on it or at least engage with it within the first 24 hours.
But if you’d like someone’s content, just share it as a new post. Put the link in your post for them, and just say this was great, here’s my subject matter expertise, and move on.
Designhill: What are some of the common parameters to indulge in when evaluating the success or failure of a campaign?
Focus on leads
AJ Wilcox: One of the first things I am going to do is look at those initial vanity metrics to just judge if I am on the right track. But when I have enough clicks to start generating leads, I focus more on the leads or the conversions. Then, when I have enough conversions coming through, my focus shifts on the quality of those leads. I want to know how they are converting to a sale, qualified to lead a proposal, or a closed deal.
I think our actual objective is going to dictate where our attention goes. But our attention is going to move with the actual action of the campaign. It is focusing on the metric that’s the closest to the money that you have enough data on.
Look at Facebook Ad metrics
Mia Fileman: Well, it depends on the business goal. I mean, as far as the agency is concerned, the agency side of what I do is all e-commerce. We are looking at Facebook advertising metrics, largely like we are looking at again, the ultimate conversion roll goal. So, are people buying this content? Because if they are watching the videos, that’s all great.
I have a client who has a 20% click-through rate on their Facebook ads. It is not garbage, it is real. But the conversion rate is below one. What does that tell you? That shows that not all traffic is created equal. So, I am looking at purchases. I mean, get super tactical, for example, on YouTube. Tactical here means that you just want people to watch as much of the explainer video as possible.
Explore YouTube watch time
That is because the more content they consume, the more they will build an affinity towards you. Ultimately, you move people through the process to beat the algorithm as YouTube is all about watch time. So you want people to watch as much of your videos as possible. But you also want them to ideally binge-watch your channel.
The ultimate goal with YouTube is to get people to watch a video of yours. Then, make them watch four or five more videos of yours in that same session. It sends a signal to the algorithm that people are finding your content valuable, and they enjoy you. And so they should show it to more people. That is ultimately how you start to slowly build your YouTube channel.
Make teasing TikTok videos
On TikTok, you want people to just loop your videos and just watch them over and over again. That’s the thing that they look at more than their algorithm. So, with an eight-second video on TikTok, the average engagement time on that video should be like 12 seconds. That tells you that watching 12 seconds of an eight-second video, people are looping that video over and over again.
And there are certain tactics that we use on TikTok to get people to do that as we tease. We don’t give everything away at the beginning. Instead, we tease to a sort of payoff. That is why you see so many plot twist videos on TikTok. Or, you set up the pins to knock them down at the end. That we can create that sort of situation where people feel like they are getting a payoff.
With Facebook and Instagram, I sort of preach giving up on engagement rates on Facebook and Instagram. That is because it is interruption marketing. I was at New York Magazine, and now we were all organic. I mean, we had millions of views on our videos.
Explore short engagement time
But the average engagement rate on any video is typically five to six seconds. Those are not valuable views. But it means you need to front-load all of your best stuff on Facebook and Instagram. Tik Tok and YouTube tease so that you can get people to watch as much of it as possible. Facebook and Instagram front-load your best stuff. That is because you have a much smaller window to get people’s attention and take them towards your business goal.
People will often click over what you want. They will click over before they finish the video on Facebook and Instagram. So you will just get them over. Ideally, when they’re on Facebook and Instagram, I am looking for much less video engagement because the metrics are so skewed by YouTube and Tiktok. I do look at that hardcore.
But I have seen this on you on LinkedIn as well. That is certainly more personal to humans. But that is what my whole book is about producing empathy. People just want to see human stories out there. So just put them out there. But I am sure that there are bigger tactical things there as well.
LinkedIn is more like Facebook and Instagram like it is also sort of interruption like it’s news feed-based. People don’t go to LinkedIn to watch videos. I would be interested to see they’re to hear their takes on that. So, I look at the metrics that differ depending on the platform.
Designhill: Can you suggest some cost-effective tools that can help businesses and manage and optimize their campaign effectively?
Tony Christensen: I might not be the best person to answer this question because I don’t do a lot of organic posts, per se. I am more on the advertising side of things. I know our team loves using agora pulse, though, for scheduling and for metrics and all that stuff.
Facebook Ads
When it comes to designing different graphics and things like organic, local businesses, and whatnot. Designhill Studio and Canva are really good tools. They have a lot of really good free features and whatnot. And then for me, on the advertising side of things, I am using the Facebook Ads Library and other such things. You can get inspiration from other people’s ads and see what kind of ads other people are running.
But yeah, as far as social posts and whatnot, we typically use agora pulse. But that is not my realm of things. So, someone else might be better to answer those different tools that people like.
Mia Fileman: I use Planoly for planning my Instagram posts, I love Canva, especially considering it’s an Australian unicorns startup. So, I love Adobe Lightroom filters, just to give my images a cohesive and branded look. And I generally don’t use any sort of stock imagery.
I will take all my photos, but just to give them that kind of Schmick and I will use an Adobe Lightroom filter for that. I love Adobe Rush for editing videos for small businesses. I work exclusively now with small businesses. So, I am all about those kinds of really cost-effective tools that businesses can access on a budget.
Have you heard of Collabosaurus? It is an Australian startup that works as a collaboration matchmaking platform. It is like Tinder for business. You can find brands to collaborate with and the algorithm matches you out. That’s great for social media collaborations, but also be on social media.
Designhill: Who is the Clubhouse for and what kind of businesses should focus on your house?
Nothing recorded
Samantha E. McKenna: To me, Clubhouse is another platform for tonnes of noise. But here is what I don’t like about it as a business owner and a marketer. At Clubhouse, nothing is recorded. You have no idea who is going to come and see it. You can promote an advanced chore but once it is done, it is done.
Mostly self-promotional
What I found in my experience of doing Clubhouse is it’s extremely self-promotional. We do get a lot of people to come and join and watch. But they go on stage and ask their questions as a business owner of a product that does XYZ. And then seven minutes later, they stop talking. They can just peddle their product to whoever they have drawn with their status and influence to it.
Lack of reporting
I think that lack of reporting bugs me as I would love to repurpose that content. Also, I would love to be able to post on our website to drive SEO to drive clicks, repurpose, etc. And again, so much time in the day. To find the platform where your audience is building a brand, build your influence there and go for it. But I am not optimistic about the future of the Clubhouse. I’ll go on record as I am sure there’ll be a $10 billion valuation tomorrow. They are pretty close to that, but that’s my opinion.
Explore early opportunities
AJ Wilcox: There’s a lot of early opportunities that you get that you won’t be able to have in the future. I think the Clubhouse was certainly like that. I don’t know if it still is. I think it may have lost a little bit of its luster recently, but it’s just I don’t like Apple. I am a crowd nonowner of any Apple product. But I have so many friends telling me you’ve got to come to join us at Clubhouse.
So I went and bought a used iPad just so I could join on. And you are just waiting for something of value to hear or to add to the conversation. So I’ll stick around, but it’s not something I log on to every day.
I’d love to jump in and just say that I agree with Samantha on this. My whole approach to content marketing is to create hero content that I can then repurpose. So, I get published in leading publications, and then I use those podcast interviews as social media should reflect what I call.
Designhill: Could you help us chart the difference between targeting and retargeting, and how to approach these two aspects separately?
Tony Christensen: I do a lot of e-commerce as well. And basically for targeting what you are doing when it comes to Facebook ads. I am sure most of the other platforms you are targeting based on things like people’s interests that you might think that they align with things like demographic information, location, type stuff, as well as like, look alike. audiences are similar audiences.
If you have a list of purchasers or an email list, you can create a list that looks like that audience based on the United States or whatever country you are targeting, you can get like the top 1%, 5%, or whatever, and test that. For the most part, I am targeting you as are superpower targeting people that have never heard of your business. You have to talk to them a lot differently.
Be a lot more punchy
You have to be kind of a lot more punchy. Especially if you are doing Facebook, Instagram ads, you have to hook them right away at the beginning. You might lead with something like a pain point or something that someone might have. Then present your solution and a video as quickly as you can to grab that attention. And then when it comes to retargeting, that is more of handling objections that people might have.
Build data-based audience
So, like with e-commerce, it might be trusting and the quality of your product. With retargeting, a lot of times I’ll be creating audiences based on website visitors. Or, it is based on people that have recently engaged with us on different social platforms. It can also be based on Facebook and Instagram engagement of the last 30 days. Then, you can see what resonates the best there. I also target the bottom of the funnel a lot more with e-commerce, it’s showing people dynamic product ads.
So, it is showing people the exact items they just looked at on your site but didn’t buy. Maybe they added them to the cart, or they viewed a specific item. Then you are just remarketing to those people. Maybe, it might be a shorter window, depending on again. You have to kind of look at your metrics and try to figure that out.
Top, middle, and bottom of the funnel
But it might be a seven-day window or a 14-day window of showing those people that item they looked at. Then just retarget them there. So, the middle of the funnel. Again, though, you have testimonials and reviews and that sort of thing that can be well-performing there. Even at the top of the funnel that works well.
But at the middle of the funnel, if you have reviews then that is worth double the price or something like that. So people might already be thinking that this is too expensive. But have someone who can handle that objection with a review. If that happens then that’s a superpower to run in the middle of the funnel.
Then, at the bottom of the funnel, people can even try coupon codes, etc things. Such a measure helps get people to kind of get free shipping or something to push them over the line to purchase there too. But that is typically how I do it.
So at the top of the funnel, there is a cold audience. At the middle of the funnel are the people who have been to the website, briefly. They have engaged with you on social media. And then at the bottom of the funnel might be the people that have viewed specific items. They looked at very specific products or added them to the cart that you remarketing to
Designhill: What we need to learn from a failed marketing campaign, and what is the checklist?
Provide value
AJ Wilcox: The biggest mistake people make on LinkedIn and other social networks is asking for something before providing any value. On LinkedIn, someone sees your ad that says, click here to buy now or click here to talk to my sales rep. No one has any sort of reason to click on that. You need to earn their know, like, and trust first.
And, with LinkedIn ads campaigns, the best way is to offer free downloadable content. Such content can be like join our webinar, or download this free checklist or cheat sheet or guide. And that is a way where you can still generate leads. But you are also providing a lot of value in exchange and you are starting to earn that know like and trust factor.
Designhill: What are the ways to approach the right influencer?
Influencer should be from your industry
Mia Fileman: The first thing I want to say with influencer marketing is that think about who is an influencer in your industry. The girl on Instagram doing yoga in her G string isn’t necessarily an influencer in a b2b space. So for me, an influencer in my industry is a thought leader. An influencer could be a fellow business owner. So really redefine the word influencer for your industry.
Contact them personally
I have tried quite a few different influencer platforms, and they haven’t sparked joy. I much prefer to reach out to my influences. I reach out to the media outlets that publish me and my collaboration partners, which is one-to-one direct outrage. Also, build a relationship and I do it the old-fashioned way. And then do not embark on an influencer marketing campaign without an agreement.
Designhill: As a content creator, what are your thoughts on clickbait, and does it work?
Be authentic
Matt Johnston: Clickbait does not mean a good headline that teases you to click. That is just called good marketing. Clickbait means if I have a headline that is about pineapples, and then I get into the article, and it’s about bananas, that’s clickbait. And that’s always crap. Because you are going to get a bunch of people that want to read stories about pineapples, and you are giving them a story about bananas. And they will say well, I came from pineapples, you are full of garbage, I am not going to buy anything from you.
Make sure you guys are authentic with your marketing and clickbait. So, the people who are like it were the worst Stay up my life, and then they may hit enter twice. And then they’re like, I didn’t know what to do. You are going to use a different word. But just be authentic and make it a good book. That is dramatic or something.
Designhill: What are some ways you can connect more with your audience on social media?
Respond back to your audience
AJ Wilcox: Well, on LinkedIn, specifically, the best thing you can do to have conversations. When people comment on your post, make sure that you are responding and carrying on the conversation.
I was talking to the head of LinkedIn company pages. And I asked about the algorithm, specifically. That is because company pages have a hard time getting a lot of engagement. And she said the main factor that we care about in the algorithm is comment density.
Have a real conversation
That does not mean that a whole bunch of people commenting saying, good job, way to go, bro. Instead, it’s an actual conversation going on, like, yeah, I thought about that. What do you think about this, oh, hey, and you tagged someone else in. You want to have a real conversation. And you can go and do the same thing on other people’s posts, and you get rewarded for it. So just take the time to connect.
Designhill: How do you get your story to stand out and stand a chance to be viral?
Go for a multi-channel approach
Mia Fileman: I don’t think that one channel or tactic is ever going to be enough. I am a professional marketer. I have been doing it for 20 years. Professional marketers do not say that it is great to focus on one channel and that should be enough.
It is about using an integrated multi-channel approach, pulled together into a cohesive campaign around a strategic point in your calendar. And it’s usually, the best marketing campaigns use a clever mix of urgency.
And it’s that combination that allows you to have the desired multiplier effect on customers. Because we have run campaigns before about what am I delivering. Also because Facebook always noticed activity on your account?
I was still able to go on and have a successful campaign because I didn’t put all my eggs in one basket. And I could talk about integrated marketing campaigns until the cows come home. But what differentiates integrated campaigns from this sort of scattergun approach? Disconnected series of actions are seamless. And loud, sort of stop and take notice, and it gives you a lasting impression.
So, these are the major aspects you must cover while starting your social media campaign. But you will have to carefully continue with the campaign for months with patience. This is because the desired results will take time to achieve. But revisit your strategies regularly to make timely improvements.
Meanwhile, recheck your brand identities such as logo, business cards, brochures, websites, etc. These are the visuals that represent your brand among your target audience. So, make them impressive. This is where Designhill is useful for your new business.
You can launch a design contest for talented designers from across the world using the Designhill platform. Many designers will send their design ideas to you as per your design brief.
As a result, you will get a winning business logo, etc. designs that suit your brand personality. So, get started with this marketplace right now to have impressive visuals for your brand.
Wrapping Up
You should start your social media campaign only at a few specific channels considering the type of business you run. Then, find some useful and proven tools that help optimize your campaign. Make sure that you target and retarget your audience. Your focus should be on telling an outstanding brand story to engage people.
