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rrosseh-blog · 5 years

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Como ganhar uma sequência maciça no Instagram: 10 táticas comprovadas para aumentar o envolvimento e seguidores

Instagram agora tem mais de um bilhão de usuários e altos níveis de engajamento do usuário .

E com 80% das contas que acompanham uma empresa no Instagram, parece que os profissionais de marketing podem estar mais interessados do que nunca em conhecer o Instagram em seus negócios 1 .

Ultimamente, temos compartilhado, gostando e tentando novas maneiras de desenvolver a conta do no Instagram , e tem sido muito divertido. Como o Instagram é uma plataforma em que estamos dispostos a nos concentrar, achamos que seria divertido pesquisar algumas maneiras de desenvolver seguidores.

Não importa se você está desenvolvendo sua própria conta pessoal ou trabalhando em nome de uma empresa, continue lendo para descobrir as 10 melhores táticas (com ferramentas e exemplos!) Que descobrimos para ajudar você a desenvolver um público maior e mais relevante no Instagram.

Instagram agora vem com agendamento direto! Programe postagens de uma única imagem ou vídeo nos seus melhores momentos para aumentar seu Instagram. Aprenda mais hoje .

Você pode conferir essas e ainda mais estratégias de social media direto no treinamento do alex vargas, veja como o formula negocio online funciona.

Top 10 Táticas de Crescimento do Instagram

10 maneiras de aumentar o crescimento do seu seguidor no Instagram:

1. Post consistentemente (pelo menos uma vez por dia) 2. Experimente vídeos, vídeos ao vivo e histórias 3. Estudar e usar hashtags de qualidade 4. Compartilhar conteúdo gerado pelo usuário 5. Colabore com os outros 6. Publique em seus melhores momentos 7. Use sua análise 8. Envolva seus fãs 9. concursos de host 10. Cross-post

1. Post consistentemente (pelo menos uma vez por dia)

Ferramenta de marketing visual A Tailwind estudou mais de 100.000 perfis do Instagram em 2017 para entender como a frequência de postagens afeta o crescimento de seguidores e a taxa de engajamento 2 .

Eles descobriram que quanto mais você publica, mais curtidas e seguidores você ganha .

De acordo com o estudo, os perfis que postaram sete ou mais vezes por semana (ou pelo menos uma vez por dia) conseguem mais curtidas e ganham mais seguidores mais rapidamente do que aqueles que postam com menos frequência.

Aqui está o impacto de postar mais:

Você pode quase dobrar sua taxa de crescimento de seguidores passando de menos de um post por semana para 1 a 6 postagens por semana. Você pode mais do que dobrar sua taxa de crescimento de seguidores novamente passando de 1 a 6 vezes por semana para uma vez ou mais por dia.

O principal argumento: publique consistentemente no Instagram. Marcas que entram em um fluxo regular com posts no Instagram tendem a ver os melhores resultados.

Com a linha do tempo algorítmica do Instagram , a consistência parece um elemento-chave para que suas postagens sejam vistas e exibidas no topo da linha do tempo. Se suas postagens forem compartilhadas regularmente e receberem um bom engajamento, nosso palpite é o algoritmo do Instagram que pode colocar suas postagens perto do topo dos feeds do seu seguidor.

2. Experimente vídeos, vídeos ao vivo e histórias

Enquanto o Instagram começou como uma rede de compartilhamento de fotos, ele cresceu além de apenas fotos. Com recursos como vídeos, vídeos ao vivo e histórias , as marcas agora podem criar diversos tipos de conteúdo para engajar seus fãs e aumentar o número de seguidores deles .

Aqui estão alguns motivos convincentes para tentar postar esses novos tipos de conteúdo:

O engajamento médio por vídeos está crescendo mais rápido que o engajamento médio por imagens 3

Quando você vai viver no Instagram, você vai aparecer na frente do feed Stories 4

Mais de 400 milhões de pessoas usam o Instagram Stories todos os dias 5

Cinquenta e sete por cento das marcas acreditam que as histórias foram “um pouco eficazes” ou “muito eficazes” como parte de sua estratégia de mídia social.

3. Estudar e usar hashtags de qualidade

Nós exploramos muitas hashtags no blog , mas parece que em nenhum lugar nas redes sociais elas são tão importantes quanto no Instagram. As hashtags corretas (e a tag de localização) podem expor sua imagem a um público grande e segmentado, e os usuários do Instagram não parecem ter a fadiga de hashtag da mesma forma que em outras redes.

Devido à sua popularidade, é possível seguir uma hashtag agora!

O Simply Measured fez dois estudos e descobriu que as postagens do Instagram com hashtags e uma tag de localização recebem o maior engajamento médio 6 . Em outras palavras, as hashtags podem ser sua melhor aposta para aumentar o número de seguidores no Instagram .

Por exemplo, confira uma das nossas principais postagens recentes do Instagram , em que usamos dez hashtags e uma tag de localização:

Enquanto o Instagram permite um máximo de 30 hashtags por post, a TrackMaven descobriu que nove hashtags parecem ser o número ideal para obter o máximo engajamento do 7 .

Com ferramentas gratuitas do Instagram, como Display Purpose , Focalmark e AutoHash , você pode facilmente obter hashtags relevantes e de qualidade para seus posts no Instagram. Por exemplo, com o Display Purpose, basta digitar algumas palavras sobre sua imagem e ela recomendará as principais hashtags a serem usadas.

4. Compartilhar conteúdo gerado pelo usuário

Em um ano, nós crescemos nosso Instagram seguindo quase 400% - de 4.250 a 21.000 seguidores. E uma grande porcentagem desse crescimento foi resultado da adoção e do compartilhamento de conteúdo gerado pelo usuário.

A maneira mais fácil de pensar em conteúdo gerado pelo usuário é: marcas usando o melhor do melhor conteúdo de usuário da web e apresentando-o em suas próprias mídias sociais ou outras plataformas, dando crédito ao criador original (usuário) .

Na Buffer, iniciamos as hashtags #BufferStories e #BufferCommunity para mostrar as histórias exclusivas de nossos usuários. Essas hashtags abriram uma enorme variedade de opções de conteúdo, desde histórias curadas de nômades digitais até dicas de mídias sociais de profissionais de marketing.Aqui está um exemplo:

Além de aumentar o número de seguidores, a empresa de inteligência digital L2 Inc descobriu que o conteúdo gerado pelo usuário também aumenta a probabilidade de um seguidor do Instagram se tornar um cliente 8 .

5. Colabore com os outros

Outra ótima maneira de ampliar seu alcance no Instagram e aumentar seus seguidores é colaborar com outras pessoas, seja por meio de parcerias ou patrocínios.

Por exemplo, uma vez colaboramos com Brian Fanzo , fundador e CEO da iSocialFanz, assumindo o Instagram Stories um do outro . Através da parceria, fomos capazes de fornecer valor ao nosso próprio público e alcançar um novo público .

Se você tiver o orçamento para patrocínios de mídia social, o marketing de influenciadores poderá ser adequado para você. O relojoeiro sueco Daniel Wellington é um exemplo clássico. Eles cresceram com o Instagram acompanhando de 850.000 a 2.1 milhões de seguidores em um ano patrocinando influenciadores do Instagram 9 .

Veja um exemplo de uma postagem de patrocínio recente :

Os influenciadores do Instagram marcam a conta do Instagram de Daniel Wellington em seu post patrocinado, o que leva as pessoas a conferir o perfil de Daniel Wellington. Através desta estratégia, Daniel Wellington acumulou mais de quatro milhões de seguidores até agora.

Se você deseja explorar o marketing de influenciadores, aqui está um guia de marketing rápido sobre influências em cinco etapas para você começar.

6. Publique em seus melhores momentos

Depois de analisar mais de cinco estudos sobre os melhores tempos para postar , aprendi que não há um melhor momento universal para postar no Instagram .

Em vez disso, cada marca tem seus melhores tempos para postar. Você também tem o seu!

A pontualidade de um post é um dos principais fatores no algoritmo do Instagram . Então, um possível melhor momento para você postar no Instagram é quando seus seguidores são mais ativos. Veja como você pode encontrar essa informação:

No aplicativo Instagram, toque na sua foto de perfil

Toque no ícone Instagram Insights (gráfico de barras)

Desça até a seção "Seguidores" e toque em "Ver mais"

Na parte inferior da página, você verá em qual dia da semana e em quais horas do dia seus seguidores estão mais ativos. Por exemplo, nossos seguidores parecem estar mais ativos às quintas-feiras, das 9h às 15h ET. Você também pode ver onde seus seguidores estão baseados e experimentar os momentos em que você acha que eles estarão ativos.

Alternativamente, você pode usar ferramentas de análise do Instagram, como Iconosquare ou Buffer for Business, para encontrar seu melhor momento para postar usando seus dados do Instagram. Isso é especialmente útil se você não tiver um perfil de negócios no Instagram e, portanto, não tiver acesso aoInstagram Insights . Veja como o recurso Iconosquare se parece:

7. Use sua análise

Uma das principais maneiras de aumentar seu número de seguidores no Instagram é postar conteúdo de alta qualidade com o qual seus seguidores gostam e com quem se envolver.

Como você sabe o que seus seguidores gostam? Mais uma vez, o Instagram Insights fornece os dados para você entender quais postagens seus seguidores mais gostam.

No aplicativo Instagram, toque na sua foto de perfil

Toque no ícone Instagram Insights (gráfico de barras)

Desça até a seção "Postagens" e toque em "Ver mais"

Aqui, você verá suas principais postagens classificadas por impressões. Você pode tocar na frase no topo da página e alterar os filtros de acordo. Por exemplo, você pode ver seus principais vídeos nos últimos três meses classificados por comentários .

Você percebe alguma tendência?

Um determinado tipo de imagem recebe mais impressões ou engajamento? Poste mais dessas imagens e veja se seus seguidores continuam gostando e interagindo com elas.

Você pode mergulhar ainda mais fundo nos dados selecionando uma postagem e tocando em "Visualizar insights". Por exemplo, descobri que, com um dos nossos posts recentes , chegamos a mais de 1.700 pessoas que não estavam nos seguindo. Se eles gostam desse post, há uma grande chance de que eles possam acabar nos seguindo para posts mais parecidos.

8. Envolva seus fãs

No algoritmo do Instagram , o engajamento é uma das principais considerações (talvez a principal consideração) ao determinar quantas pessoas exibir uma postagem.

Quanto mais engajamento um post tiver, mais as pessoas verão em seu feed.

Com muitos compromissos, suas postagens podem até ser exibidas nas principais postagens de hashtags ou na guia "Explorar" , atingindo ainda mais pessoas. E, possivelmente, ganhando mais seguidores.

Uma ótima prática é, então, engajar seus seguidores, gostando ou respondendo aos comentários deles em suas postagens. Como eles se esforçaram para verificar suas postagens e comentar sobre elas, é ótimo retribuir continuando a conversa. Aqui no Buffer, usamos o Buffer Reply para responder com facilidade e rapidez aos nossos fãs no Instagram (Facebook e Twitter).

9. concursos de host

Nossas postagens no Instagram mais comentadas são todas as postagens do concurso, onde distribuímos os ganhos do Buffer como prêmio. Aqui está um deles:

Esses posts são ótimos para aumentar seu alcance no Instagram e conquistar novos seguidores. Por exemplo, você pode convidar seus seguidores para comentarem com seus emoticons favoritos ou marcar um amigo para participar do concurso.

Com a ajuda do algoritmo ou de seus seguidores, você pode alcançar muitas pessoas que talvez nunca tenham ouvido falar de sua marca antes. E se eles gostarem das postagens no seu perfil, eles poderão optar por segui-lo.

Para ajudar você a começar, o Social Media Examiner tem uma cartilha incrível em todos os tipos de concursos do Instagram .

10. Cross-post

Por fim, certifique-se de que seus fãs existentes saibam que você está no Instagram por meio de postagens cruzadas. O Instagram simplifica o compartilhamento de suas postagens no Facebook, Twitter e Tumblr, o que pode ser uma ótima tática para obter uma exposição extra.

E há uma grande vantagem em cross-post! Um estudo da Buzzsumo com mais de um bilhão de posts no Facebook de três milhões de páginas de marca descobriu que as imagens postadas no Facebook via Instagram recebem mais engajamento do que as imagens publicadas nativamente 10 :

Você também pode tentar incorporar fotos do Instagram em suas postagens do blog (veja este post para um exemplo) ou adicionar um feed do Instagram à sua página do Facebook para alguma descoberta adicional. Aqui está uma olhada na página do Facebook do Buffer com um feed adicional do Instagram:

Uma última tática: como direcionar o tráfego do Instagram?

Um dos desafios do marketing no Instagram (e possivelmente uma parte de sua alegria para os usuários) é que você não consegue adicionar links para os espectadores clicarem.

Se você quiser enviar seus seguidores para um link específico, está se tornando uma prática comum alterar o link em seu perfil do Instagram e adicionar o comentário "link in bio" a uma foto ou vídeo correspondente.

Você também pode usar uma ferramenta como o Campsite para criar uma página otimizada para celular, na qual é possível listar vários links e associar os links ao respectivo post do Instagram (que você pode vincular a partir de sua biografia).

Embrulhando: Anatomia de um post perfeito

Nós passamos por várias táticas para lembrar e tentar! O pessoal gentil da Made Freshly combinou muitas dessas dicas para criar um novo e divertido infográfico:

Bônus! Buffer for Instagram: Agora com agendamento direto

Estamos tão animados em compartilhar que o Buffer for Instagram agora vem com agendamento direto!

Programe postagens em uma única imagem ou em vídeo ou defina lembretes para postar postagens com várias imagens nos melhores momentos para aumentar o número de seguidores do Instagram. Aprenda mais hoje .

Quais são as suas experiências no Instagram?

Em nossa busca para aumentar nossos seguidores, é sempre útil lembrar o que realmente importa em tudo isso: os amigos com os quais conversaremos, os relacionamentos que criaremos e a diversão que teremos .

Uma maneira fácil de manter esse princípio central é passar um pouco de tempo a cada dia apenas curtindo o Instagram. Você pode responder a comentários, como fotos, seguir novos amigos e comentar em postagens incríveis. É o tempo gasto mostrando e compartilhando o amor que pode render novos seguidores. Também cria uma melhor experiência de mídia social para todos.

Adoraríamos continuar a conversa no Instagram, claro! Muitos amigos incríveis compartilharam suas principais dicas de marketing na rede social, e adoraríamos ouvir os seus também!

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margaretbeagle · 3 years

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4-Day Work Weeks: Results From 2020 and Our Plan for 2021

In March and April of 2020, work and life as we knew it was changing. I surveyed our team members (all 84 of whom are spread out across the globe) to understand the best way to help them cope with so many things shifting at once. I especially wanted to hear from parents about what could help them as many schools were shutting down and partners or spouses were also required to work from home. The results? Most people wanted more time to get through the new challenges they faced. As a remote organization, we already offer a lot of flexibility to our employees, and it’s one of the many benefits of remote work. The ideal solution for us at the time was to both lean into flexibility and offer more time at once, which is when we started considering a four-day work week.

The concept of a 4-day work week gained a lot of traction in early 2020 as many companies saw better flexibility and thus happier employees when moving from five eight-hour days to four. Microsoft trialed this in Japan and saw a 40% increase in productivity, and Unilever New Zealand also rolled out 32-hour work weeks. Given the stress, shutdowns, and uncertainty of the COVID-19 pandemic, this was also touted as a helpful way to address childcare, quarantines, and other things. The combined survey of our teammates and increasing global proof that the four-day work week could be a good solution is what spawned our one-month trial. After that trial, we saw that not only had happiness and stress improved, but productivity hadn’t dipped. We opted for a 6-month trial to validate if this was a sustainable practice, and it was. Now, we’re continuing four-day work weeks for the foreseeable future. Here’s a look at some of what we’ve learned from surveying our team about the four-day work week over the course of our two trials.

What our internal surveys have told us about a four-day work week

The four-day work week resulted in sustained productivity levels and a better sense of work-life balance. These were the exact results we’d hoped to see, and they helped us challenge the notion that we need to work the typical ‘nine-to-five,’ five days a week. It’s worth noting that though we’ve seen sustained productivity levels, we’ve been gauging that based on teammate feedback and not company-wide goals, that is changing in 2021. As we looked back on the impact of working a company-wide four-day work week in most of 2020, we decided to push forward with this model into 2021, with a few clarifications and exceptions. Here’s how we evaluated our six-month pilot program and why we decided to continue operating on a four-day work week. Starting in May of 2020, I measured the following:

output based on area deadlines and goals

teammate’s individual autonomy

stress levels

general work happiness

Here’s a bit more about how each of those measurements has gone.

Our output during a four-day work week

In our May trial, we saw that teammates felt overwhelmingly as productive or more productive on a four-day work week as they did on a five-day work week. That was only the one-month trial, so it could be easy to ignore, but we saw the pattern emerge in our six-month trial. Nearly 34 percent felt more productive than when we had a five-day work week, nearly 60 percent felt equally as productive, and less than seven percent felt less productive.

While teammates reported feeling more productive, I also spoke with managers. I rounded up the data from our managers around team output to help establish if the data matched the teammate’s feelings and what my recommendation would be for going into 2021. For our Engineering teams, the number of total coding days went down. However, we saw significant increases in output. Our Engineering Manager, Ivana, shared: "Weekly coding days went from 3.4 to 2.7 for product teams, and from 3.2 to 2.9 for Mobile and Infrastructure, while the productive impact increased significantly for product teams and doubled for Infrastructure and Mobile!" Many of the managers I spoke with echoed Ivana’s feelings of seeing an increase in output. The exception to these results in productivity was our customer advocacy team. We had a harder time maintaining productivity levels, which was to be expected because this role is unique in its unpredictability of volume. Anecdotally, our advocates still cited feeling they were about 85 to 90 percent as productive as they had been during five-day weeks outside of the customer inbox, i.e., on other projects. However, customers did wait a bit longer to receive an initial reply to their emails. As was mentioned earlier, we were asking teammates and managers to gauge overall productivity and not measuring it for ourselves based on company-wide goals. That is changing in 2021 as we’ve set down more specific company goals, so we will be able to see how well we achieve our goals each quarter, and it will be another key measure of the success of the four-day work week.

Individual autonomy

Reported autonomy and flexibility in May of 2020 was at 4.3 out of 5, with 5 being “total autonomy.” This increased to 4.7 by the end of our six-month pilot:

Reiterating that our teammates have control over their schedule has been a key goal of the four-day workweek.

Stress levels

Our stress levels in May 2020 (when we first launched the experiment) was 3.3 out of 5, with 5 being high stress. Reported stress dipped down to 2.7 at our June survey, and then only slightly up to 2.9 at our October survey.

General work happiness

Our overall happiness trend for the entire company stayed consistent, and given the volatility of the events of 2020, I felt this was a good trend.

Our exact quarterly numbers were:

Jan: 4.1/5

April: 3.8/5

July: 3.8/5

Sept: 3.7/5

How we’re continuing the 4-day work week into 2021

Given that the data was primarily positive for a four-day work week, we’ve decided to continue this practice into 2021. Throughout the year, I’ll continue to keep an eye on productivity and team engagement through our quarterly surveys to ensure that the four-day work week is ultimately helping Buffer’s business needs. Our guidelines for our four-day work week in 2021: We adjusted a few things based on our experience in 2020. Here’s what I sent to our team about our guidelines for the four-day work week:

We’ll continue with:

No meetings or expectation of communicating on Slack on Fridays.

Fridays as a default day off for most areas.

Customer Advocates’ workweeks will look different due to the nature of the role. More communication will follow on schedules and expectations.

Further defining weekly output expectations at the area and department level.

Clarifying performance standings. Teammates who are not meeting their objectives may choose or be asked to work 5 days.

Evaluating this schedule at least quarterly on the basis of overall team productivity, hitting OKRs, teammate stress levels and feeling ownership of your work schedule.

We will continue to reiterate that while this is a special benefit, we as a company must meet our collective deadlines. Some work weeks might need that Friday as an overflow work day to finish up what we’ve committed to do. Everyone is still expected to get their work done. While as a company we originally adjusted deadlines to factor in the four-day work week and the unique situation of the pandemic, we’ve since moved forward with establishing ambitious goals for the coming year and recognize that this will likely push the limits of the way we’ve been operating in a four-day work week and force us to keep adapting to this new way of work. Personally, I know every teammate at Buffer is capable and up to the challenge. Because our Customer Advocates don’t have as much project-based work as other roles, we have specific targets to meet:

Customer Advocacy 4DWW Strategy 2021

Goal: Successfully work four-day workweeks as a team whilst delivering an above the bar customer service experience customers rave about.

Measurement: Team members are expected to achieve their ticket targets each week (number of tickets replied to based on level + personal commitment/goal agreed upon with lead) as well as average 2.8 ACE score on tickets and/or team members working outside of the inbox will be expected to complete projects, hit deadlines, and achieve key results.

We’ll continue to craft and iterate on ways to both serve our customers well and provide flexible work weeks to our teammates.

Looking ahead

I will continue with periodic surveys around team productivity, personal stress levels, autonomy, and happiness. Buffer is also diving back into using OKRs as a tool to track our productivity and progression, which will give us another measuring stick to use in the overall evaluation of our four-day work weeks. We aren’t sure that we’ll continue with the four-day work weeks forever, but for now, we’re going to stick with it as long as we are still able to hit our ambitious goals. Want to keep talking about the four-day work week? Reach out on Twitter and use the hashtag #BufferCommunity. 😊

4-Day Work Weeks: Results From 2020 and Our Plan for 2021 published first on https://improfitninja.weebly.com/

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lucyariablog · 7 years

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User-Generated Content: Where Does It Fit in Your Content Marketing Strategy?

User-generated content is powerful because it taps into people’s inherent desire to be recognized and appreciated.

When your brand shares something a customer or fan created, that external recognition not only strengthens the customer or fan’s affinity with the brand, it encourages that person to share the content further with his or her friends (and your brand benefits vicariously).

I bet this customer of Badass Beard Care is now a brand advocate for life.

However, in a world where many marketers are obsessed with short-term tactics to acquire as many customers as they can as cheaply as possible, UGC is a long-term relationship tactic that won’t run out of style any time soon. Ninety-three percent of consumers find UGC helpful when making purchasing decisions and 86% of millennials consider UGC to be a key indicator in the quality of a brand.

User-generated #content is a long-term relationship tactic that won’t run out of style, says @IamAaronAgius. Click To Tweet

It’s more effective to have your customers promote your brand than just to have the brand do it to bring new customers in the door. With UGC, you can turn your best customers into your best advocates. After all, customer relationships are what help businesses transition from money-making enterprises to sustainable brands.

UGC doesn’t have to replace other forms of marketing, but it can become a powerful weapon in your arsenal.

Here are some of the ways you can improve your content marketing using UGC.

HANDPICKED RELATED CONTENT: Turn User-Generated Content Into Undeniable, Glorious Connections

Video reviews

Every e-commerce marketer knows that the conversion rate can fluctuate dramatically depending on the elements featured on the landing page.

Social proof is a key element of a good landing page, especially for visitors who are unfamiliar with your brand. They need reassurance your product is what the brand claims it to be before making a purchase.

Video reviews are treated as a credible type of social proof because the visitor can hear the reviewer’s voice and assess how that person truly feels about a product. (Text reviews are easier to fake and often less organic than a video review.)

Video reviews are credible social proof because visitors can hear and see reviewer, says @IamAaronAgius. Click To Tweet

In psychology, the theory of implicit egotism suggests that people are hardwired to give greater weight to opinions given by those resembling themselves. By featuring an abundance of video reviews on a product page – each represented by a distinct aspect of your buyer persona – you can help prospective buyers feel a greater level of trust when deciding to purchase.

Boom by Cindy Joseph, a skin-care brand that markets to women over 40, features numerous video reviews on every product page that prospective buyers will relate to.

Video reviews don’t need to be professionally produced. iPhone footage is perfectly acceptable and makes the reviews more believable.

TIP: When soliciting video reviews, I recommend consulting your list of repeat buyers. Given their multiple purchases, they have a proven positive opinion of your brand so they’re often happy to help.

HANDPICKED RELATED CONTENT: How Content Influences the Purchasing Process: Tips for Content Marketers [Research]

Regramming

Given people’s inherent preference for stimulating images, coupled with the rise of mobile access, it’s no surprise image-oriented social media channels are surging.

Instagram is an excellent tool brands can use to boost awareness and establish niche authority. Posting high-quality UGC can skyrocket your Instagram following and help build a community around your brand.

.@Instagram is a tool brands can use to skyrocket following & help build community. @IamAaronAgius Click To Tweet

Buffer, a social media scheduling tool, makes excellent use of UGC on its Instagram page. By promoting the #buffercommunity, Buffer encourages its users around the world to frequently post (and Buffer reposts) amazing photographs of exotic locations.

#MondayMotivation water brewing Reposting @buffer:⠀ …⠀ “A weekend storm is brewin’ ⛈ That means a good time!⠀ .⠀ .⠀ Storm chasin’ with #BufferCommunity member @jasonweingart

”

A post shared by Carlos Kan – 簡卡路 (@carloskan) on Aug 28, 2017 at 3:37pm PDT

A social media scheduling tool that uses its Instagram page for travel content may seem strange, but it makes perfect sense.

Buffer is a remote company with its employees scattered across the globe. As the company’s Instagram bio describes it: “A team of #digitalnomads around the world shaping the future of work.”

Buffer fits with my perspective. I got into internet marketing because I wanted to travel more and I was sick of the location constraints of my office job. Automation tools like Buffer give me more free time to enjoy the locations I visit, and, judging by the #buffercommunity activity, I’m not the only one.

By re-gramming beautiful visuals that emphasize the ethos of the company, you can create a powerful sense of belonging around your brand. People aren’t just scheduling social media posts when they use Buffer, they’re celebrating the freedom to explore the world and forging an evolved workplace culture for future generations.

Photo and video contests

Brands have been hosting contests to promote their businesses for centuries. Contests are effective because they leverage numerous psychological factors.

First, people love receiving something for free. Contests also leverage the age-old power of scarcity. People jump at the chance to enter a contest particularly if the prize is unattainable in normal circumstances. They can envisage the emotional benefits of winning (think about the lotteries in the United States).

You can improve your brand awareness by hosting contests that require entrants to submit UGC. In addition to the lure of the prize, people enjoy the community aspect of such contests and relish sharing their entries with their friends.

Host contests that require entrants to submit user-generated content to boost awareness, says @IamAaronAgius. Click To Tweet

Several years ago, National Geographic hosted a popular Instagram contest where photographers could submit inspirational travel photos using #WanderlustContest for a chance to win an incredible trip to Yosemite National Park.

The contest was a success for everyone. The travel photographers got their names associated with a premier brand, while National Geographic curated an incredible selection of photographs of the natural world to please its viewers.

If you can feature humor in your UGC contest, that’s even better.

Shoeboxed, a paper-to-digital data service company, offered a free iPad mini for the best photo of a messy desk – and there was no shortage of entries. The winner was decided by whichever photo received the most re-pins on Pinterest.

The company didn’t hope entrants would share, they made it almost a requirement – that was the way to win the contest – hustling to get re-pins from friends (and whomever else they knew). Every re-pin exposed the Shoeboxed brand to a potential customer – all through the work of the entrants’ UGC.

Events

While user-recorded phone footage can work well for e-commerce stores, it’s not appropriate for every scenario. If you’re selling high-ticket items and have a premium brand website, the low-tech version with its poor lighting and other inadequacies won’t match your brand’s voice.

But you still can leverage user-generated content through video. To get high-quality footage where you can control the scenery and substance, invite your audience to a live event.

Hire a professional video crew, says John Jantsch, founder of Duct Tape Marketing. Then let your attendees talk. They’ll give a relatable, third-party opinion and the footage will be an excellent quality so you can show it to your high-end prospects.

Additionally, promote a hashtag and encourage your audience to use it during the event. Give a goodie bag full of visually appealing gifts to encourage them to take and post photos on social media. (I base this idea on the law of reciprocity. A person given something of value will feel a subconscious urge to repay the favor.)

HANDPICKED RELATED CONTENT: Every Event Should Be Time for Social Media

Warning

Before running any UGC campaign, carefully consider what would happen if things turned sour, and only begin if you’re equipped to deal with the consequences.

Before running any #UGC campaign, consider what would happen if things turned sour, says @IamAaronAgius. Click To Tweet

Several years ago, McDonald’s ran a campaign where users were encouraged to post their experiences with the brand using the hashtag #McDstories.

Instead of galvanizing people around the McDonald’s brand, the opposite occurred. People gathered together to discuss the inhumane treatment of farmed animals, health problems associated with fast food, and other terrible personal tales. Years later, the hashtag is still going strong.

Seriously @McDonalds !?!?

#mcfail #mcdstories pic.twitter.com/UBWLJTCjLL

— NICK (@itsnickdamas) September 21, 2017

Even for brands infinitely less polarizing than McDonald’s, the land of social media can be a ferocious place. Before you encourage UGC, think about the potential responses and develop a plan to address them.

HANDPICKED RELATED CONTENT:

3 Content Marketing Tactics to Defuse User-Generated Attacks

When Content Backfires: How to Handle Negative Feedback Online

Summary

As with all marketing tactics, you’re most likely to succeed with UGC when your aim is to provide as much value as possible to your audience.

People need a reason to submit their awesome UGC to you – an incentive for posting a video review host, an amazing prize through an Instagram competition, or a sense of community to be part of something larger than themselves.

HANDPICKED RELATED CONTENT: How to Use User-Generated Content to Drive Sales

Can you think of any other ways to leverage user-generated content? Please let me know in the comments.

CMI publishes new content every day – some of which comes from our great users. Make sure you get the latest news, tips, and more. Subscribe today.

Cover image by Joseph Kalinowski/Content Marketing Institute

The post User-Generated Content: Where Does It Fit in Your Content Marketing Strategy? appeared first on Content Marketing Institute.

from http://contentmarketinginstitute.com/2017/10/ugc-content-marketing-strategy/

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seotouhida01 · 1 year

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Automated tools like Buffer give me more free time to enjoy the places I visit. Judging by the #buffercommunity activity, I'm not alone.

#BulkSMSQatar

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mariemary1 · 6 years

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What a Real-Life Social Media Style Guide Looks Like (and How to Make Your Own)

What do all of your favorite social media accounts have in common?

Most likely they are consistent, and you can immediately recognize their style when they pop up in your feed.

To ensure this consistency, they’re probably following a social media style guide.

A social media style guide is your map to guide how your brand appears on social media. Your style guide will relate to and be part of your overall marketing brand guidelines. It should be a living document that can evolve over time.

But why do you need a style guide?

The importance of having a style guide

No matter your team size, a social media style guide is a must — even if you’re the only person posting on your brand’s social media accounts, you need a style guide.

Social media managers are often juggling many things, so having one source of truth for yourself to reference is important. Also, if you’re on vacation or someone has to step in and fill in, they’ll be prepared to keep your social media going without a hitch. Finally, in the case that you hire more folks, the onboarding process will be so much easier with a style guide in place.

So when should you create a style guide?

The answer: Before you think you need one!

Trying to remember all the components to keep your social media presence consistent is almost impossible. A guide that’s got everything in one place sure beats a bunch of post-its on your computer screen.

Let’s take a look at what goes into a style guide. I’ll also be sharing Buffer’s social media style guide. Feel free to use it as a reference but remember to keep yours unique to your brand!

The components of a social media style guide

Here are the eight key components of our social media style guide:

The style guide tl;dr

Voice and tone

Spelling, grammar, and punctuation

Formatting

Emoji usage

Hashtag usage

Multimedia usage

Breaking news

There isn’t one fixed format for a style guide. You can have as few or as many components as you like. Ours is just one example out of the many. In fact, what you’ll see below are sections taken out from our overall brand content style guide.

If you like the following style guide and would like to follow it (we’ll be honored!), here’s a free template for you. →

1. The style guide tl;dr

The first section of our style guide is a tl;dr (too long; didn’t read). We include this section so that if someone doesn’t want to read everything in the full style guide, they can at least come to this section and get the gist.

Here’s our tl;dr:

Buffer’s voice is relatable, approachable, genuine, and inclusive. Buffer’s tone varies, based on the situation. We let empathy inform our tone.

Write succinctly, for the most part. Experiment often.

Be thoughtful and intentional with the use of emojis, hashtags, and multimedia

Don’t alter the spelling or punctuation of words in order to reduce the number of characters. Don’t abbreviate beyond standard abbreviations (like “info” for “information”).

Never use first-person singular pronouns, unless you’re replying to someone (and your first name is included in your reply).

2. Voice and tone

Voice is the overall defining sound for your brand personality and that tone refers to the specific implementations of voice. Simply put: You have the same voice all the time, but your tone changes. There is lots of nuance to the distinction between the two, but we choose to see it in broad strokes. Voice and tone matter: they humanize your brand and let you take part in conversations naturally. When establishing your voice and tone, there are a few exercises you can try.

Buffer’s voice is relatable, approachable, genuine, and inclusive.

We speak with clarity. We strive for expertise. Our goal is to fully understand the needs of the other person (customer, user, reader, listener) and to deliver delight, assurance, direction, or love as appropriate.

Buffer’s tone varies, based on the situation. We let empathy inform our tone.

By default — and whenever appropriate — Buffer’s tone is friendly and positive. The way we speak encourages people to tell us more, and it invites people to get to know us. Because of this, we take a conversational tone with our writing: no big, dictionary words, just everyday talk that is easy to understand. We seek to inform rather than entertain. We don’t want to be the center of attention; we feel like our customers deserve the spotlight.

Here are some examples of the voice and tone of well-known brands:

Target – upbeat, playful, and celebratory

When you walk into Target and realize all #Halloween costumes are 40% off…

Online and in-store w/Cartwheel, today only: https://t.co/t7PzodYg3P pic.twitter.com/3mSjcXN8zi

— Target (@Target) September 18, 2018

Wendy’s – witty, satirical, and humorous

Boss: We need more app downloads

Us: Give them free food

Boss: Fine. Free Dave’s Single with purchase, every single day, for the rest of September.

Us: *tweets this tweet telling you to go get that free food*

— Wendy’s (@Wendys) September 10, 2018

Dollar Shave Club – humorous, laid-back, and straightforward

Press your nose to the screen and breathe in the amazing scents of Wanderer. pic.twitter.com/o8tuuR0uKU

— Dollar Shave Club (@DollarShaveClub) September 5, 2018

3. Spelling, grammar, and punctuation

Nothing is more cringe-worthy than a spelling fail on social media. You’ll want to carry over many of your spelling and grammar guidelines from your overall content guide, but keep in mind you may want to modify for social media constraints.

Our north star: Write succinctly, for the most part. Experiment often.

In general, we choose to keep our social media updates crisp and to the point, which is partially a response to the character limits on social media and also a reaction to the way our audience chooses to communicate in these communities. We tend to approach social media updates from a conversational place by asking questions, using familiar words, etc. We want to clearly communicate our point while being engaging.

Here are our main grammar takeaways:

Always use an Oxford comma.

Use emoji on social and with emoji-loving customers.

Don’t use emoji as punctuation or as a stand-in for vocabulary.

Be aware when you’re writing about people. Labels are for boxes. Avoid gendered terms.

Resources:

Purdue Online Writing Lab (OWL)

Associated Press Stylebook

Mailchimp’s Content Style Guide

4. Formatting

With so many different platforms, formatting on social media is especially important. Having a dedicated section for formatting will ensure you are consistent and make your brand recognizable.

Here are our formatting guidelines:

No title case in the updates

One or two short sentences. Then bullet emoji.

Conversational sentence case with a Twitter card. Place emoji before any hard return (not in the middle of a sentence)

Curious how to generate sales from Instagram Stories?

Learn from the Kettlebell Kings https://t.co/nL0jlAON3Y

— Buffer (@buffer) October 10, 2018

Resource:

Buffer’s Guide to Social Media Formatting

5. Emoji usage

You’d be hard pressed to find anything that can inject as much fun and personality into your social media as emoji! With Buffer’s tone being friendly and positive, we naturally love emojis!

It’s also another area we want to be thoughtful and intentional.

When and how we use emoji:

Overall: Place emoji at the end of a line (just before a hard return). Not in the middle or at the beginning.

Twitter: Use often and liberally in tweets and replies. Emoji can be especially great when used in place of bullets within lists.

Facebook: Use as needed in updates and replies. We are a bit more reserved with emoji on Facebook versus Twitter. Emoji will typically come at the end of the update text to add some visual interest and pop.

Instagram: Use at the end of your update text as needed. Use often in replies.

LinkedIn: No emoji.

Pinterest: No emoji.

Neuromarketing = principles of psychology applied to marketing research and strategy.

Part I: What is neuromarketing? Part II: Neuromarketing in practice. Part III: Running your own neuromarketing experiments. #BufferPodcast https://t.co/Mp3FwpT0jJ

— Buffer (@buffer) October 8, 2018

Resources:

Deeper Meaning of Emoji

The Little-Known Keyboard Shortcut for Emojis on Mac and Windows

6. Hashtags usage

You can’t talk about social media without talking about hashtags, they’re important for everything from campaigns to joining in conversations. These will be particular to your brand and personas and you can include a list of branded and campaign specific hashtags.

When and how we use hashtags:

Twitter: No more than one hashtag per tweet.

Facebook: No hashtags.

Instagram: No more than two hashtags in the body of the post. Up to 15 hashtags in the first comment on the post.

LinkedIn: No more than one hashtag per update.

Pinterest: Up to five hashtags.

View this post on Instagram

What’s on the books for you this week? ⠀ ⠀⠀⠀ ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ : @anniepwanderlust #buffercommunity

A post shared by Buffer (@buffer) on Sep 24, 2018 at 2:17pm PDT

Resources:

How to Use Hashtags

Everything You Need to Know About Hashtags

7. Multimedia usage

From photos to videos, graphics, and other visuals, it’s key to decide what feel is right for your brand and have all of your visual asset guides in one place. This can include the content, context, and style (informational, whimsical, etc.).

Here are our multimedia guidelines:

Overall:

Use available templates.

Try to make images of people as diverse as possible.

Follow brand guidelines for colors and fonts.

Twitter: Use Twitter cards when possible.

Instagram: User-generated content is appropriate.

Steps to a 5 Whys process:

1. Invite all affected 2. Select a meeting leader 3. Ask “Why?” five times 4. Assign responsibilities for solutions 5. Email your team the results

Learn more here: https://t.co/0w1ps1S0F3

— Buffer (@buffer) October 9, 2018

Resources:

How to Create Engaging Images for Social Media

Design Tips to Enhance Your Social Media Images

How to Create Short Videos for Social Media

8. Breaking news

In today’s increasingly connected world, it’s imperative that your brand be mindful of how you’re perceived on social media, particularly in relation to breaking news stories. Having a strategy in place can keep your brand from looking tone-deaf or insensitive.

What we do with breaking news:

Be aware of what’s going on in the news when you’re publishing social media content.

Pause the queue for major breaking news events. If you’re unsure if the news is big/breaking enough, seek advice in Slack. When in doubt, default to pausing.

Resources:

How to Build an Empathetic Social Media Strategy for Times of Tragedy

How Should Brands Respond to Tragedy on Social Media

Over to you

We hope this will give you a starting off point for your own social media style guide!

Did we leave anything out? What would you add? Feel free to let us know in the comments!

P.S. If you did want to use our social media style guide template, you can grab a free copy here. →

Thank What a Real-Life Social Media Style Guide Looks Like (and How to Make Your Own) for first publishing this post.

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samuelpboswell · 6 years

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Why Content Marketers Everywhere Need to Get Down with User-Generated Content

Authenticity: it’s treasured, but in short supply. TopRank Marketing CEO Lee Odden had it right when he wrote recently that trust in marketing is at risk. The statistics speak for themselves: Edelman’s 2018 Trust Barometer reflects a general lack of credibility for businesses, and one poll from HubSpot found “marketer” to be among the least trustworthy professions. The commonality among occupations ranking at the bottom of that HubSpot list (marketer, car salesman, politician, lobbyist) is that they all have perceived agendas and motives. This is where the unique value in adding user-generated content (UGC) to your content marketing strategy lies. Not convinced? Let’s explore.

UGC: An Avenue to Authentic Awareness and Trust

Even the most well crafted and relatable content is inevitably viewed through a certain lens when it comes from a brand. Developing a genuine rapport with your audience takes time, and even then, there’s an inherent recognition that any public-facing message from a company is strategic and carefully positioned. User-generated content offers a method to overcome this disconnect, by amplifying the voices of real people and actual customers. If your content marketing goal is authenticity, there’s no better bet. [bctt tweet="#UGC offers a method to overcome disconnect, by amplifying the voices of real people and actual customers. - @NickNelsonMN #ContentMarketing" username="toprank"] One interesting section of the aforementioned Edelman report features data around the content people trust most: As we see, folks are far more likely to trust content from a company they already patronize (60%) than one they don’t (31%) — not surprising, but also not great for businesses looking to attract new customers. Ranking well ahead of both those sources, though, is “People like me” (66%), an option that’s second only to “My friends and family” (71%). It only makes sense that a person would put more stock into the opinions and viewpoints of someone similar to them, especially where buying considerations are concerned. Global research from Nielsen famously showed that 92% of consumers trust peer recommendations over ads and branded content. This is why customer testimonials and case studies are so powerful, but such material sits toward the bottom of the funnel. Prospects are unlikely to encounter it unless already along the purchase path, or actively taking an interest in your brand. The beauty of user-generated content is its function as a top-of-funnel asset for building brand awareness in an authentic and real way.

Benefits of User-Generated Content

#1: Making the Customer Your Story

Storytelling is one of the most essential tactics in content marketing, and customer-centricity is among the discipline’s central tenets. UGC presents a way to merge these two by actually making turning your customer into the storyteller. Not only is this an extremely engaging role for the individual whose content is featured, but it makes that content vastly more relatable for those consuming it. When TINT polled marketing professionals for its 2018 User-Generated Content Marketing Report, the most-cited advantage of UGC was its ability to “humanize marketing,” with 73% agreeing this form of content “makes marketing more authentic.”

#2: Building a Community and Boosting Engagement

Once others start noticing the presence of user-generated content on your website, blog or social media feeds, it can cause a contagious effect. In general, people like to participate in trendy or connective ventures, especially if there is a compelling and creative hook (Ice Bucket Challenge, anyone?). For example, social media management platform Buffer introduced the #BufferCommunity hashtag on Instagram and receives regular submissions from all around the world. The content – which is frequently regrammed on the company’s official account, with credit – isn’t promotional, but it’s not supposed to be. It brings the product’s users together and raises general awareness for the brand. Organic content in action is a beautiful thing (literally, in this case):

#3: Implementing Visuals

As we often preach here at TopRank Marketing, visuals are essential to content marketing but often difficult to produce with limited resources. UGC is primarily visual in nature so it represents an easy way to strengthen this dimension of your content mix. Plus, when regular people see other regular people in photos or videos, rather than models or actors, it adds to that relatable authenticity factor. Via Travis Wright at Marketing Land:

Currently, photos and videos are the most popular forms of UGC. Fifty-four percent of adult internet users regularly create and share photos and videos, according to Pew. Photos are also the most common form of UGC created by Millennials, according to Statista.

#4: Conserving Your Budget

The costs of UGC can vary. Oftentimes brands will compensate contributors in exchange for the rights to feature their content. In other cases, there’s enough intrinsic motivational benefit for the user so as to make that unnecessary. (For instance, in the #BufferCommunity example cited above, there’s a major draw for Instragrammers in getting their work exposed to Buffer’s 40,000 followers.) In either case, licensing user-generated content tends be less expensive than producing it professionally in-house.

How To Make UGC Part of Your Content Marketing Strategy

There are a number of ways that brands encourage and leverage user-generated content. Here are a few for interested marketers to consider: 1. Invite social media users to post about your brand, and curate those posts on your own feed or embed them in relevant content. One of my favorite examples of UGC is the @SlackLoveTweets Twitter account, which chronicles posts about Slack* from raving fans. Not only does this allow the brand to broadcast genuinely glowing remarks about its product, but the tweets can also be used elsewhere. For instance, in this blog post a brief embedded user comment helps credibly substantiate the usefulness of a particular feature: 2. Run a contest that incorporates your product or service in a creative way. Everyone loves a contest, especially if there’s a fun twist. Say your company sells apparel; you could prompt customers to share pictures of their cats wearing (or sleeping on, or hopelessly entangled in) your t-shirts, with the winner earning a freebie. If the promotion catches on, not only you will end up with a bounty of great content to share on your social accounts or elsewhere, but you might even sell some extra t-shirts to people who are adamant about sharing pictures of their cats online (which, by my calculation, is roughly 95% of internet users). 3. Crowdsource opinions and perspectives for your blog posts. In the past, I’ve talked about the power of social media polls, which can allow your audience to become active participants in directing your content. The same concept can be applied with UGC. If you have an engaged social following, and you’re writing about a topic important to them, you could ask for their opinions and then round up the responses in a blog post, alongside stats and analysis. By no means should UGC be viewed as a replacement for the high-quality content produced by marketing professionals, but it can absolutely be a helpful supplement. [bctt tweet="#UGC isn't a replacement for the high-quality content produced by #marketing professionals, but it can absolutely be a helpful supplement. - @NickNelsonMN #ContentMarketing" username="toprank"] 4. Turn customer reviews into testimonials on your website. There’s nothing wrong with enlisting a happy customer to cooperatively produce a testimonial advocating for your product or service. But organic reviews — appearing on neutral websites or social media channels — tend to come off as more earnest and unbiased. You could find a few positive ones and turn them into testimonials on your website or post on your blog (with the author’s permission, of course). In fact, if you’re really feeling bold, you could take a negative review from one of these sources and honestly address it.

Ready to Get Down with UGC?

The advantages of UGC are tough to argue: it is relatively inexpensive, community-driven, and highly customer-centric. But at the end of the day, it all comes back to that crucial imperative: authenticity. Letting actual people become the voice for your brand is as real as it gets. But it’s not a simple matter of snapping your finger and making it happen. In order for UGC to work, you need to build it into your overall content marketing strategy, develop clear objectives around it, incentivize submissions, and – above all – foster an enthusiastic following that is excited to talk about, participate with, and advocate for your brand. For inspiration to get you started, check out these examples of B2B user-generated content in action. *Disclosure: Slack is a TopRank Marketing client.

The post Why Content Marketers Everywhere Need to Get Down with User-Generated Content appeared first on Online Marketing Blog - TopRank®.

from The SEO Advantages https://www.toprankblog.com/2018/09/user-generated-content-marketing/

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krisiku · 7 years

Photo

What view 👏🏾 @Regrann from @buffer - The weekend looks good on you! 😍🏔 . . Exploring the incredible Moraine Lake, Banff National Park with #BufferCommunity member @cbezerraphotos 📸 - #regrann

#regrann #buffercommunity

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teophielworld · 6 years

Video

I needed water and it looked good do not judge me! #teosparksoflife #tnchustler #creativepreneur #bufferstories #buffercommunity #tweegram #bestoftheday #pittsburgh #videography #photography #myvideo#color Pittsburgh #pittsburghcreative #pittsburgh #pittsburg #pittsburghphotographer #steelcity #pittsburghsmostdope #pittsburghpa #pittsburghbeautiful (at Schenley Park)

#buffercommunity #bestoftheday #pittsburghphotographer #pittsburghsmostdope #pittsburghpa #pittsburgh #bufferstories #tweegram #color #steelcity #photography #videography #teosparksoflife #pittsburg #myvideo #creativepreneur #pittsburghbeautiful #pittsburghcreative #tnchustler

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befoundonlinemarketing · 6 years

Text

Why Content Marketers Everywhere Need to Get Down with User-Generated Content

UGC: An Avenue to Authentic Awareness and Trust

Benefits of User-Generated Content

#1: Making the Customer Your Story

#2: Building a Community and Boosting Engagement

#3: Implementing Visuals

#4: Conserving Your Budget

How To Make UGC Part of Your Content Marketing Strategy

Ready to Get Down with UGC?

The post Why Content Marketers Everywhere Need to Get Down with User-Generated Content appeared first on Online Marketing Blog - TopRank®.

Why Content Marketers Everywhere Need to Get Down with User-Generated Content posted first on http://www.toprankblog.com/

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christopheruearle · 6 years

Text

Why Content Marketers Everywhere Need to Get Down with User-Generated Content

UGC: An Avenue to Authentic Awareness and Trust

Benefits of User-Generated Content

#1: Making the Customer Your Story

#2: Building a Community and Boosting Engagement

#3: Implementing Visuals

#4: Conserving Your Budget

How To Make UGC Part of Your Content Marketing Strategy

Ready to Get Down with UGC?

The post Why Content Marketers Everywhere Need to Get Down with User-Generated Content appeared first on Online Marketing Blog - TopRank®.

0 notes