Author: Rallio

Social

12 Days of Christmas Captions to Brighten Up Your Social Media

Post author By Rallio
Post date December 15, 2020

This is it, folks. We’re in the holiday home stretch. Now is the time to post local content and reach your followers with the 12 days of Christmas captions below.

We’ve taken the guesswork out of caption writing to help you get this content done quickly. For many businesses, that’s half the battle — creating a caption that makes sense and engages your audience.

The other half is snapping photos or videos, but don’t worry. We’ve got that covered, too.

In a future post, we’ll break down how to write captions in more detail. For now, grab your camera, customize the Christmas captions below to your business, and start posting.

Christmas Captions, Day 1: Post a Favorite Holiday Meal

Somewhere in your phone, there’s got to be a picture of an Insta-worthy holiday meal you made or someone else did. Pull it up. Or order takeout from your favorite local business and snap a photo of your dinner tonight. In your caption, you can give the business credit and tag them, and invite engagement from your followers:

“One of my favorite dishes from [insert name of restaurant]. Post a photo of your best delicious dishes in the comments! One random winner will be selected to receive a 20% discount voucher on a future purchase!”

Fill in the blanks above with the tagged restaurant name and your discount or offer of choice.

Christmas Captions, Day 2: Post a Gift Guide

What products do you sell that you can suggest as gifts? Snap some photos! If you have a service-based business, take photos of the results of your work, or you heading out on a job, or a before-and-after shot.

If you offer gift cards, create a fun display showing a gift card surrounded by holiday decorations. Here’s a sample caption for a product-based business:

“Still looking for that special gift for your mom, brother or bestie? A gift card is the perfect way to let your loved ones choose their own surprise. Grab yours online at [web address], or order through our app for quick curbside pickup.”

Customize the above according to your usual ordering options. If you don’t offer curbside pickup currently, consider offering it.

Christmas Captions, Day 3: Share a Christmas Memory

Dig up a photo of holidays past. Go back as far as your childhood if you like. Describe what’s going on in the photo. Here’s an option:

“Here I am at age 5 in 1987 paying Santa a visit. What do you think I asked for that year?”

Simple as that. If you like, you can pick a winner if anyone guesses correctly.

Christmas Captions, Day 4: Share a Tradition

What’s one of your holiday traditions? Making homemade cocoa and watching Christmas movies? Baking cookies? Looking at Christmas lights? Tell your followers about it!

“One of my favorite holiday traditions is baking Christmas cookies with my family. Here’s this year’s creations! Post your own photos of your favorite traditions in the comments.”

Christmas Captions, Day 5: Give to Charity

At this time of year, there are many local organizations collecting food, toys or essential goods for those in need. Pool your resources and see if you can make a big impact on one of these groups. Take a photo of something you plan to donate, and add a caption such as the following:

“We are currently collecting new, unused toys for [name of charity]. These toys will go directly to local families in need.”

Be sure to post any other details such as the specifications for types of toys and deadlines for donating. Take some photos on the day of your donation as well!

Christmas Captions, Day 6: Take a Team Photo

Gather together with your team and take a photo in front of your location, or inside by your holiday decorations. If gathering is not possible, post a throwback photo instead. Here’s a caption:

“We’re so grateful for our dedicated team members, who work tirelessly every day to serve our valued customers. Wishing you and yours a happy holiday season from all of us at [your company name].”

Christmas Captions, Day 7: Post a Challenge

Pick a favorite Christmas movie of yours and a quote from the movie. Turn it into a fun graphic design using a free tool like Canva.com or your graphic design program of choice. Don’t include the movie title — instead, have your followers guess the movie!

“Name that movie! The first person to guess correctly wins [your choice of freebie or discount].”

If you prefer, you can pick a riddle and have your followers try to guess the answer. Check out a few ideas here.

Christmas Captions, Day 8: Post Your New Year’s Resolutions

Are you hoping to run a marathon in 2021? Or learn to cook? Or volunteer more? Snap a selfie and tell your followers all about your resolutions!

“In 2021, I’d like to run my first marathon — even if it means running it on my own in my hometown! What are your New Year’s resolutions? Post them in the comments!”

Christmas Captions, Day 9: Post a Travel Memory

Have a favorite travel photo from holidays past? Tell your followers about a travel destination you can’t wait to visit again.

“Paris, circa 1998. Looking forward to traveling again soon! What’s on your travel bucket list?”

Christmas Captions, Day 10: Film a Video

Record a Christmas greeting for your followers! Send them some goodwill and cheer for the holidays. Pair it with a caption that will encourage them to click and watch, such as:

“My Christmas wish for all of you — plus a surprise coming in 2021!”

For that “surprise,” it could be a hint at a new product launch, or any kind of fun announcement you’re willing to share.

Christmas Captions, Day 11: Post a Last-Minute Offer

Snap a photo of a few more gift ideas for last-minute shoppers! Tell them your hours and how to purchase — again, consider contactless options such as curbside pickup or local doorstep delivery.

“Still have a few more gifts to buy? We’ve got something for everyone on your list, and we’ll be open today until 8 p.m. Order online for curbside pickup, or pick up an e-gift card in the link. Local delivery available for an additional fee.”

Christmas Captions, Day 12: Relax and Enjoy the Holidays

When the time comes to close your doors and enjoy your holiday, be sure to take a photo or two as you’re relaxing at home. Try a fireside selfie, a glass of wine to say cheers, or a simple picture of your decorations or gifts.

“From my home to yours, Merry Christmas to you and your loved ones!”

Customize Your Captions

The above captions and ideas are a starting point to help you fill your page with engaging content this holiday season. Feel free to tweak them as needed to suit your business and preferences.

And from all of us at Rallio, we wish you the happiest of holidays.

Tags social media marketing

Social

19 Jaw-Dropping Social Media Stats + Action Items for Marketers

Post author By Rallio
Post date December 11, 2020

Social media stats are useful to review as you’re preparing to fine-tune your social media for the new year. If you look at the jaw-dropping social media stats below, however, we’d bet you’ll be inspired to do something about them.

The past year has shown us, more than ever, how important social media is as a marketing medium. In our work with clients at Rallio, we’ve also helped them gain a competitive advantage by optimizing their use of social platforms.

As you read these social media stats, be sure to put the action items into practice. Knowledge is power, but only if you use the knowledge to advance your goals.

General Social Media Stats

Browse the most noteworthy social media stats, and you’ll see that nearly half the world’s population is on social media. That’s over 3.6 billion people worldwide, notes Statista — a number that will grow to over 4.4 billion by 2025. (Some estimates put that figure even higher.)

Those are numbers you simply can’t afford to ignore. Your audience is already on social media, and it’s up to you to capitalize on the opportunity.

Action item: If you lack a social media presence entirely or haven’t put much effort into it, make social media a priority in 2021. Start by posting local content such as real photos and videos, engage with your audience by responding to comments and messages, and make sure you’re responding to online reviews.

Social Media and the Pandemic

Some 93% of U.S. adults say that a major interruption to their internet or cell phone service amid the pandemic would be problematic in their daily lives, according to the Pew Research Center. Although the majority do not see technology as a replacement for in-person contact, they see digital options as an aid during these times.

We’ve seen these statistics play out on social media as people turn to their feeds for the latest updates, inspiration and information from their favorite brands. We’ve encouraged companies to keep marketing themselves with the help of social media.

Action item: When times get tough, that’s not the time to throw in the towel on your marketing. Ramp it up instead to make sure you’re still getting your message out to your followers.

Employee Advocacy

The use of employees and influencers to promote brands continues to be on the rise. Weber Shandwick reports these jaw-dropping social media stats: 98% of employees use at least one social media network for personal use, and of those, half of them are already posting about their company.

These third-party endorsements, so to speak, impact buying behavior. Convince & Convert notes that 83% of Americans are more likely to purchase a product or service that’s recommended by a friend or family member.

Forbes further reports that brand messages shared by employees on social media reach 561 more people than those shared on a brand’s social media channels. They also earn eight times more engagement.

Need some dollar figures to wrap your head around? One November 2020 study in Public Relations Review found a correlation between employee advocacy and sales. “When people are talking about your organization, it helps elevate brand recognition, especially for companies that are in the sales realm and have growing goals,” states one study participant.

Gartner adds that a lead generated through employee advocacy or social selling is seven times more likely to close than those originating from other lead-gen tactics.

Bottom line: The evidence speaks volumes, and the stats above are just a fraction of the research showing the effectiveness of employee advocacy.

Action item: Formalize an employee advocacy program that encourages employees to post brand-approved assets about your business. Gamify the process with leaderboards and rewards. Rallio has technology and tools to help you get it done.

Social Media Advertising

Marketers have tuned in to the effectiveness of social media advertising, something we coach our clients through regularly. Status Brew reports that the total percentage of marketing budgets devoted to social media ads is expected to nearly double by 2023. Moreover, 26% of people who click on Facebook ads end up making a purchase.

Read that again. Twenty. Six. Percent.

That figure doesn’t even account for the percentage of people who end up making a purchase after the fact. That is, ads are just one part of the overall marketing ecosystem that contributes to your lead gen and sales. They might become aware of your company through an ad, see it mentioned by a friend on social media, or come across one of your boosted local posts.

Action item: Define your audience — their demographics, geographic location, interests and other characteristics. Boost high-performing content and local posts, targeted at that audience, to ensure more of your content gets seen than it would with organic reach alone.

Social Media as a Customer Service Channel

In a case of social media hubris, some 80% of companies online believe they deliver exceptional social media service, according to Smart Insights. Only 8% of their customers agree with them.

Smart Insights adds that 21% of consumers prefer to message a brand on social media rather than pick up the phone. And 49% of consumers are likely to unfollow a brand if they experience poor customer service, says Influencer Marketing Hub.

Action item: Use the above social media stats to fuel your customer service on social media. When customers leave online reviews, send direct messages or interact with your content, make sure you respond quickly — ideally, within the hour, but no more than 24. To streamline the process, use technology like Rallio to pull all your engagements into one inbox.

Handle any negative reviews with professionalism — a rude reply will get you unfollowed, too, and could have lasting repercussions. Your remarks could wind up living on indefinitely if your customer shares your response with their network, or if future customers see the interaction.

Social Media Stats on Stats on Stats

There are too many social media stats to mention in this article. If you want to go down a rabbit hole, by all means, don’t let us stop you.

This post needs to stop somewhere, though, so we’ll leave you with a handful of extra social media stats mentioned by Influencer Marketing Hub:

Of the internet users aged 16 to 64, 98% of them had visited or used a social network or messaging app in the past month.
In fact, those same 16- to 64-year-olds are on social media for roughly 2.5 hours a day.
Facebook remains the most popular social network, with 2.7 billion monthly active users.
The top four mobile apps are Facebook, WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger and Instagram.

When all is said and done, the social media stats above show that opportunities abound for social media marketers. When you partner with Rallio for your social media technology and marketing needs, you can create some jaw-dropping social media stats of your own.

Tags social media marketing

Social

The Year in Review: Our Most Popular Blog Posts of 2020

Post author By Rallio
Post date December 8, 2020

With all the uncertainty and challenges of 2020, we’ve all managed to find moments of motivation, inspiration and hope for a better future. Data on our most popular blog posts of 2020 reveal that our readers want practical social media marketing tips. And they’re learning to navigate the path that’s been laid down in front of them.

Looking back at the past year, we can see a pattern on the types of information that marketers and small-business owners want the most. In case you missed any of the following articles, we’ve included some highlights on our most popular blog posts of 2020. They’re broken down by month (with December excluded, as we’re obviously still in the process of creating content for the remainder of the year).

Give our most popular blog posts a read to review key social media marketing solutions — and get ready to apply them going forward in 2021. Each snippet below gives you a quick glimpse at the topic, but be sure to click over to the full article to be fully informed.

January

What Makes for a Happy Franchisee? Marketing Support Is a Top Factor

Of all our most popular blog posts, this one wins the prize for being the most predictive. We spoke with Michelle Rowan, President and COO of Franchise Business Review, to learn more about the marketing- and technology-related factors that contribute to franchisee happiness. We asked, among other things, “How can franchisees gain a competitive advantage in the marketplace?”

Being that this article was published before the pandemic, Rowan’s response seemed to foretell future events. As we indicated in the post, during uncertain times when there’s potential for an economic downturn, businesses tend to slash marketing budgets first.

“That’s the biggest mistake they can make,” warned Rowan. In actuality, businesses that keep allocating money toward marketing will be better positioned to set themselves apart in any type of economy.

“Spending those marketing dollars and creating that community online and in local markets — that’s your competitive advantage,” added Rowan. “You’re getting a lot of exposure, and it puts your business in a position of strength. It says, ‘Hey, we’re still here and here’s the reason to come to our store rather than theirs.’ ”

For some franchisees, being involved with marketing isn’t something they have the time or desire to do. In that case, outsourcing their marketing can be an ideal way to promote their business while devoting time and effort to the things they enjoy. “If [marketing] is not your skill set, look for an outside partner that does these things well so you can focus on what you’re good at,” advised Rowan.

If a franchisor’s marketing plan is well-planned and well-executed — perhaps with the support of an outside partner like Rallio that has marketing expertise — then it can provide exactly the kind of stability and predictable success that franchisees sign up for when they join a franchise organization.

Some franchisees may think they can do better and go rogue right off the bat, said Rowan, trying to execute a different marketing plan than what the franchisor has provided. That’s a recipe for failure that Rowan recommends avoiding.

Instead, simply follow the proven plan the franchisor provides and the dollars they have allocated toward marketing. “Don’t assume you know better,” said Rowan. “It should be a proven model if you bought into the right brand.”

February

How to Spring-Clean Your Social Media Marketing Strategy

When you don’t pay attention to your social media pages, they tend to accumulate digital “dust” in the same way your windows accumulate dirt. You may notice from time to time that the glass looks a little dirty, but you figure you’ll get to it tomorrow — and then tomorrow turns into next month … turns into next year.

Eventually, you have to either close the blinds and hope no one notices, or tackle the project and get those windows sparkling again.

Make it a priority to give your accounts a thorough vetting, not only in the spring, but on a regular basis. Our checklist will help you prioritize your “spring cleaning” duties across the platforms, polish up your social media marketing strategy and delegate anything you want to get off your plate:

Update your profile and cover photos
Complete your profile
Post local content regularly
Complete your bio
Evaluate your social media spend

March

Social Media Marketing, the Quarantine Edition: How to Pivot When Times Get Tough

Now more than ever, it’s critical that you pay attention to what customers are saying, asking about and commenting on via social media and online review platforms.

There’s been a huge surge in the use of social media and online usage ever since COVID-19 caused the need for social distancing, quarantining and lockdowns for people and communities around the world. eMarketer rightly predicted a boost in digital media consumption across social platforms as people turned to social media to connect with loved ones or access coronavirus news.

With many local businesses having to limit their hours, shift their product or service offerings, or even shut down operations altogether, their customers are now at home, scrolling their feeds throughout the day. That means you not only have an opportunity to get in front of them with local content and remind them you’re still actively engaged with your community, but also generate and respond to your reviews online.

What can you do about it?

Ask your customers for reviews on Facebook, Yelp and other review platforms.
Edit your business listing. You may be able to add a “temporarily closed” or “takeout/delivery available” descriptor to your business name in GMB.
Publish your reviews as posts.
Ask your customers to share their reviews.
Generate your own buzz. Go live on Instagram and Facebook to tell your customers about any changes, limited hours or just to spread some positivity, humor and love!
Pivot. Are you facing unprecedented changes in your business? So now is the time to do unprecedented, miraculous things.
Keep calm and post on. Now is not the time to stop marketing yourself.

April

The Pandemic and Pet Businesses: How Social Media Can Help

You’ve probably heard it said by now that the real winners in the COVID-19 crisis are the dogs. As you’re sheltering at home and spending more time with them than perhaps ever before, they’re blissfully unaware of the pandemic wreaking havoc around the globe.

That goes for cats, too — though they won’t admit it. Really, any kind of animal companion you have at home is probably extremely happy you’re at their side 24/7.

For retailers and pet clinics or shelters providing products and services to our fur babies, there’s an incredible opportunity to connect with pet owners on social media throughout this time of need. Just as we humans need to get to the grocery store for food or to the doctor for certain medical needs, we have to be able to supply the basic necessities and healthcare — and all the treats and toys — for our precious pets.

Many retailers and providers are remaining open during the COVID-19 crisis, ensuring that all our pets’ needs are met. However, at the same time, they are operating under restrictions to ensure social distancing and to prevent the spread of the coronavirus. If you have a pet-related business, this article will specifically help you to pivot your business model, connect with a captive digital audience and even grow your business despite COVID-19.

May

Franchise Social Media Best Practices You Need to Know

Being in business “for yourself, but not by yourself” is the classic allure of franchise ownership. Buying a franchise means buying into proven systems and processes, with a team that’s there for you every step of the way. From your marketing to your operations, you have a plan for starting and growing your business right from the get-go.

What’s not always immediately evident within those systems and processes are the franchise social media best practices. When we start working with clients, one of the first things we’ll take a look at is whether they have any kind of guidelines in place. Then we either add to them or help develop guidelines that work within the framework of our Rallio technology and services.

What we find time and time again is that those organizations that have a system in place from the start are successful at growing their online presence. Those that don’t … aren’t.

With guidelines, it’s clear what franchisees can and cannot do on social media. If you need to develop guidelines of your own for your franchise, we recommend implementing the following franchise social media best practices:

Be grammatically correct
Take videos in good lighting
Make sure we can hear you
Don’t use music you don’t own
Keep it friendly in the face of criticism

June

The Ultimate Guide to Social Media Recruiting

It’s understanding why this one would make the list of our most popular blog posts. With many businesses reopening around the country, there may be an increased need for new hires. Social media recruiting is one of the best ways to find the talent you need and streamline the hiring process.

If you’re looking to fill any vacant spots on your team, there are many ways to use social media recruiting to your advantage. It’s not as simple as creating a job posting and hoping the best candidates start flooding in; actually, a lot of the “recruiting” process will happen before you even make contact with a job applicant.

The Muse reports that 92 percent of companies use social media in recruiting — and 29 percent of job seekers turn to social media as their primary job-seeking tool. In a nutshell, employers and would-be employees alike are checking each other out on social media.

As such, getting your recruiting ducks in a row is extra important in order to source the best talent on social media. Our Ultimate Guide to Social Media Recruiting will help you skip common missteps and put your best virtual face forward for your brand. You’ll save a ton of money over traditional job sites — while also furthering your overall marketing goals. Here’s what you need to do:

Know your platforms
Make it local
Leverage employee advocacy
Manage your online reputation and directory listings
Boost your posts

July

Top 5 Social Media Growth Hacks for 2020

So you took the time to set up your social media pages for your business. Great work! What happens next is critical to your social media success, and you’ll need the right growth hacks to make an impact.

Keep in mind, the single most important factors for your social media success are still:

Posting local content
Boosting content

You’ll need to keep doing both of those things even as you implement the growth hacks we suggest below. Essentially, all of these hacks should circle back to local content and boosted posts.

Try out the growth hacks below to take your social media presence from “meh” to great:

Activate employees and micro-influencers
Go live
Mention other accounts
Get involved in conversations
Check up on your competitors
Think bigger

August

31 Days of Social Media Content Ideas

When it comes to posting regularly on social media, sometimes that’s easier said than done for busy small-business owners. Oftentimes when we talk to franchisees or independent operators, they tell us they’re stumped on content ideas. And getting stumped can mean not posting anything at all.

To help you avoid the dreaded writer’s block and a page with outdated content, we’ve put together an entire month’s worth of content ideas below. You’ll still need to put in a little effort to bring these content ideas to life. However, keeping this list of content ideas handy will take away at least some of the struggle associated with posting to social media.

Keep in mind, your work is not done once you post something to your social profiles. All the content ideas and social media posts in the world won’t mean much if you don’t engage with your followers. By engaging, we mean:

Replying back to their social media comments, direct messages and reviews
Boosting your content to make it more visible to followers and their friends
Handling any customer service inquiries in a timely fashion (yes, social media is a customer service medium)
Responding to job applications if you have an active recruiting campaign
Basically staying on top of your social media 24/7

If all of the above sounds exhausting, and if even these content ideas seem overwhelming, feel free to schedule some time with us. We’d be happy to throw some ideas around of how Rallio can assist with your social media management.

September

October

3 Critical Questions to Ask Before Slashing Your Marketing Budget

If you’re thinking of slashing your marketing budget right now, you’re not alone. Faced with the pandemic and economic uncertainties, many business owners are looking for ways to trim their expenses.

While there may be certain cost-cutting measures you can take, however, your marketing budget should not be one of them. With internet and social media usage at an all-time high, you have an opportunity to reach customers who otherwise would never find you.

“During a March 2020 survey of social media users in the United States, 43.1 percent of respondents stated that if confined to their homes during the coronavirus, they would use Instagram more during that period. YouTube and Facebook were also popular social platforms that users were estimating to increase their usage during physical distancing at home.” — Statista

Although the pandemic has brought about challenging times for businesses and consumers alike, now is not the time to reduce marketing spending. In fact, ramping up your marketing budget could be the thing that pushes you ahead of your competition.

According to Harvard Business Review (HBR): “Companies that have bounced back most strongly from previous recessions usually did not cut their marketing spend, and in many cases actually increased it. But they did change what they were spending their marketing budget on and when to reflect the new context in which they operated.”

So rather than cut your marketing budget, ask yourself these three critical questions. You might find that it’s simply a matter of reallocating your marketing dollars in new and better ways:

Have you pivoted?
Are you satisfied with your share of voice?
Can you better allocate your marketing budget?

November

How to Handle Negative Online Reviews

When you’ve worked hard to build a business, negative online reviews can be a real disappointment. You might do everything right, and some customer, somewhere, will manage to find something wrong. Unfortunately, this is simply a fact of doing business in the 21st century.

At the same time, negative online reviews are a chance to diffuse customer complaints and demonstrate empathy, patience and understanding. You can smooth over the situation while showing the general public that you can handle criticism.

When negative online reviews come your way — and they probably will at some point — there are a few things you can do to make things right. Start by taking a deep breath, and then walk yourself through these tips:

Don’t react
Be professional
Respond quickly
Customize your responses
Be systematic

The Most Popular Blog Posts Are a Great Starting Point

Heading into 2021, you can prepare yourself for the year ahead with a deep-dive into our most blog posts of 2020. Don’t stop there, however. Reading is just the first step; making progress requires action.

As you’re preparing your budget and social media marketing plans for 2021, you have much to consider. The promise of a vaccine and clearer skies ahead means you can be hopeful, but not lackadaisical.

Approach the new year with the same enthusiasm and determination with which you began 2020. Plan for unforeseen circumstances, as well as the changing face of business as we know it.

If our most popular blog posts give you ideas of how to tackle the road ahead, please share the information with your network. And reach out to Rallio if you’re looking for that unicorn sherpa to lead you through what will certainly be more uncertain times ahead.

Tags franchise social media, social media marketing

Social

4 Social Media Marketing Lessons Learned in 2020

Post author By Rallio
Post date November 30, 2020

As you look back at your social analytics from 2020, you’ll likely see a few social media marketing lessons emerge. You’ll see the types of content that performed the best — and the types that should head back to the drawing board.

With the pandemic thrown into the equation this year, the social media marketing lessons may have revolved around pivoting quickly. In the face of adversity, your social media content needed to shine — and it still does. We’re still in this thing.

Look to the Social Media Marketing Lessons Learned in 2020

Lesson 1: You Need a Balance Between Promotional and Non-Promotional Content

As lockdowns began and people increasingly turned to social media at all hours of the day, your social media pages became lifelines to your brand. You’ve likely been communicating logistical information such as store hours, in-person shopping policies and any shipping delays. You’ve also hopefully been sharing inspirational content like pictures of your staff and customers.

At the same time, you may have learned the importance of communicating special sales and offers. Without the ability or desire to go into stores as frequently, social media has become a resource for new product and service announcements.

Just introduced a cool new gadget? Your social feed is the perfect place to let your followers know about it. In the days leading up to the announcement, you can build excitement. With ad funding to boost your content, your announcements go even farther.

When the majority of your page contains local content, and when you take the time to build relationships with your followers, then your promos will be well-received. Ad funding helps you boost both non-promotional and promotional content to extend your reach.

Social media marketing lessons learned: Keep using your social pages to communicate with, inspire, entertain and inform your audience. Continue dedicating part of your overall marketing budget to social ads.

Lesson 2: Good Customer Service Is Essential

This is one of the most impactful social media marketing lessons you could learn from 2020. As people started turning to social media more frequently amid the pandemic, they also increasingly took to social to air concerns. Online reviews, comments on your page and direct messages with customer service inquiries have become commonplace.

The cost of ignoring these customer service issues can be huge. Nothing will tarnish your online reputation faster than reviews without responses from the brand, comments and messages that get ignored, and poorly crafted responses to customer questions or complaints.

Your response time matters, too. Consumers expect rapid answers — just as rapid as if they picked up the phone and called. Within minutes is ideal if you have the bandwidth, but you should at least be responding within 24 hours.

With a system for responding to customer inquiries, you can handle their requests quickly and build customer loyalty. You’ll also make it known that you’re a trustworthy brand when you post public responses to reviews, questions or complaints.

Social media marketing lessons learned: With more and more customer service matters brought to social media nowadays, you need a clear process for handling these issues. Otherwise, you risk having things fall through the cracks.

The Rallio Dashboard gives you one central inbox pulling in your social comments, questions and reviews. We also have an entire Rallio Local division dedicated to responding to brands’ online reviews, comments and messages.

With both the technology and the team to help you manage your online reputation, Rallio helps you take control of your brand. Contact us to get more information.

Lesson 3: Activating Employees and Influencers Expands Your Reach

Among the social media marketing lessons learned: We’re all in this together, and that includes your employees and influencers working on your behalf.

The past year has seen the exponential growth of employee and influencer content. With employees and influencers posting brand-approved assets, there’s an element of confidence established. People are more likely to trust the recommendation of a third party over the brand itself. Social Media Today reports that content shared by employees receives eight times more engagement than content shared by brands.

When you activate and incentivize employees and influencers, you can build an entire army of content creators. They’ll be able to introduce your brand to new followers — their own friends and an endless list of friends of friends — who otherwise might not ever come across your brand.

Social media marketing lessons learned: Again, you need a system and process for activating employees and influencers, as well as rewarding them for posting. The Rallio Activate platform gives you just that. Schedule a no-obligation demo with us to find out how it works, and be sure to mention this blog post for a special promotional offer for your 2021 marketing budget.

Lesson 4: Social Media Tools Are There for a Reason

Throughout the past year, many brands have moved beyond simple image-based posts to incorporate video, Stories, Reels and other animated content. The reason is simple: As more people have turned to social media, the challenge has become even greater to capture their attention.

In a sea of other content creators, social media platforms like Instagram and Facebook provide a variety of tools to help you get creative and differentiate yourself. What might otherwise be a ho-hum post with little to no engagement can become instantly more interesting if you put a little effort into making it come to life.

Social media marketing lessons learned: Video content allows you to put a voice to your message and really show off your brand’s personality. Make an effort to liven up your page with a wide variety of content that includes both images and videos.

Take These Social Media Marketing Lessons Into 2021

The social media marketing lessons of the past year will help you prepare a 2021 strategy that gets results. There’s no need to guess what works and what doesn’t, because you have the analytics and insights needed to make informed decisions.

With newly established relationships with your customers and followers, aim to continue building loyalty among your customer base. The people who have followed your page, purchased from your business, and given you their support in this tumultuous year deserve your recognition and thanks.

They’ll gladly give you theirs in return if you keep the focus on them and not you.

Tags social media marketing

Social

15 Holiday Content Ideas Every Marketer Needs in 2020

Post author By Rallio
Post date November 25, 2020

With Thanksgiving leftovers in the fridge, marketers are now turning their attention to the holidays and opportunities to optimize sales before year-end. Although some of your marketing ideas from years past may still apply, it’s important to approach 2020 holiday marketing with a fresh perspective.

In such an unprecedented (for lack of a better word, albeit overused) year, your holiday content ideas need a refresh in order to be relevant.

The holiday content ideas below will help you tackle your remaining 2020 marketing goals. Setting aside the challenges of the past year, know that it’s fully in your power to begin 2021 stronger than ever.

1. Look to the Hashtags

There are countless possibilities for holiday hashtags, and oftentimes the hashtags themselves will spark your imagination. Here are just a few options of hashtags you can use, along with related holiday content ideas:

#holidaygiftguide — Create a gift guide featuring your products and services
#stockingstuffers — Feature your most popular small, stocking-size gifts
#holidayhacks — Give your best time-saving, money-saving or sanity-saving holiday tips
#holidaysavingstips — Give the inside scoop on your best deals

Check out some of your favorite brands to see what kinds of hashtags they’re using for more inspiration.

2. Update Your Profile Images

Use the real estate on your Facebook profile and cover photos to feature special holiday promotions. For any posts you want to keep visible — say, a special offer good through year-end — pin it to the top of your profile.

On Instagram, use the link in your bio to link over to a link tree or web page featuring your holiday offers. Make sure your posts are shoppable by making use of the shopping features in the platform.

3. Go Beyond Black Friday

Small Business Saturday, Cyber Monday, Giving Tuesday and more — make use of day-specific opportunities to push out your special offers. Pair them with email campaigns, and boost your content to extend your reach. Oh, and don’t forget your hashtags.

4. Host an Ugly Sweater Contest

Not all of your content should be promotional, even though this is peak shopping season. Look to your own local shop for a wide range of holiday content ideas. For example, try hosting an ugly sweater contest among your team members, snap photos of the contestants, and allow your followers to vote on the winner(s).

You could also invite community participation by asking your followers to post their own ugly-sweater photos. The winner could receive a special prize of your choosing.

5. Post Your Holiday Recipe and Activity Ideas

Share how you’re celebrating the season. Take some photos of the special foods you’re making, family outings and suggestions for local holiday activities.

Ask your followers to share their own recipes, local activities and holiday photos, too. Their comments and shares will help you build engagement on your page.

6. Offer a Sneak Peek

Focus some of your holiday content ideas on the road ahead. Do you have special products or services launching in the new year? Are you remodeling or upgrading your location?

Give your followers a hint of what’s to come! Share any progress photos or a glimpse of all the exciting things ahead (without giving away competitive intelligence, of course).

7. Share a Round-Up of Past Content

Take your followers down memory lane. Share some of the most popular photos from 2020, and remind your followers of all the highlights from this past year.

8. Thank Your Followers

Create a simple “thank you” graphic to tell your followers and customers how much you appreciate them. You could also film a video and tell them why you’re grateful.

9. Feature Your Customer Testimonials

Have you received any thoughtful notes or kind words from customers? Try to snap a photo of them (with permission), and include the customer’s testimonial.

10. Work With Influencers and Employees

With employees and influencers posting brand-approved assets on your behalf, you’ll never run out of holiday content ideas. When they promote your brand on their personal pages, it builds confidence and trust among people who aren’t familiar with you.

About half of employees in one Weber Shandwick study said they’re already posting messages, pictures or videos in social media about their employer. The Rallio Activate platform allows you to activate and incentivize employees and influencers to help spread awareness and reach for your brand. Schedule a no-obligation demo to learn more.

11. Run a Giveaway

Create a holiday-themed giveaway, such as a free product, discount or gift with purchase. Ask your followers to like the post and tag three friends. Pick a random winner on a certain date. Don’t forget to boost your giveaway posts for more reach and engagement!

12. Entertain Your Audience

Do you have any musicians, singers or performers in the house? Why not ask them to create a holiday-themed video showing off their talents? Your followers will love to see this creative side of your business — plus, video is soaring in popularity.

13. Make Use of Stories and Reels

Stories and Reels (Instagram’s answer to TikTok) give you many different options to get creative with your posts and reach your audience in different ways. Try playing around with the features, and check out what other Instagrammers are doing on their pages, too.

14. Host a Drive-By Holiday Event

In this time of social distancing, a big holiday party isn’t appropriate, but you could create a drive-by event instead. Invite your followers to come by on a certain date and time for a free holiday ornament or other freebie they can pick up right from their cars.

Alternatively, you could create a charitable event, such as drive-through toy drive or food drive. Partner with other businesses and sponsors to help spread the word. Don’t forget to take photos of your event!

15. Take to the Streets

Go around your favorite neighborhoods to take photos and videos of holiday happenings. Let your followers in on the best spots for light displays and outdoor festivities.

Above All Else, Keep Your Holiday Content Ideas Real

As mentioned above, not all your holiday content ideas should be promotional. In fact, a significant portion of it should feature your everyday happenings, the people in your business, your customers, and the authentic experiences people have with your brand.

Your local content is what builds loyalty and trust, so keep your focus there. If you do that alone, you should be able to end 2020 on a high note and be better positioned for an incredible new year ahead.

Tags content ideas

Inspiration

5 Simple Reasons to Be Thankful in 2020

Post author By Rallio
Post date November 23, 2020

There have been too many challenges to count in 2020, and it’s easy to feel deflated, upset or downright angry if you’ve been personally impacted. Dwelling on the challenges only amplifies those feelings. On the flip side, finding reasons to be thankful gives your brain something positive to think about.

Whichever route you’re inclined to choose, give this article a read first. Although it’s important to address any challenges you’re facing with appropriate actions, it’s equally important to find gratitude.

Look Hard, and You’ll Find Your Own Reasons to Be Thankful

Focusing on reasons to be thankful might inspire you to do more of the things that are working — and less of the things that are not. Sometimes, it takes more effort to find the good when it seems like the bad is bearing down on you at every turn.

One way to ease the task of finding reasons to be thankful is to write them down. Pull out a journal, a blank piece of paper, a white board, a scrap of paper or even the Notes app on your phone.

First thing in the morning, write down three to five reasons to be thankful. Do the same thing right before you go to sleep.

Make it specific to yourself. Don’t worry too much about the complexity of your reasons, either. Maybe today you’re thankful you have a warm cup of coffee next to your keyboard. Maybe tomorrow you’ll feel thankful that you and your kids are healthy.

There’s no right or wrong way to find reasons to be thankful. Just make it a habit, and before long, your brain might just gravitate to gratitude. Here are a few suggestions to get your gratitude on — feel free to modify, delete or add to this list as it suits you.

The Great Pivot of 2020

When the pandemic hit, you likely were blindsided — as all of us were — by the changes that happened rapidly around us. Business doors were closed, people began staying home more, and just leaving the house to find toilet paper became a challenge on its own.

As a business owner, you might have had to shift to delivery services or curbside pickup. Maybe you had to build an ecommerce platform or a new app. You may have also stepped up your social media marketing, as people around the globe turned to technology for entertainment, connection, information and online shopping.

In this article, we discuss which social media strategies to keep even when the pandemic has passed:

As the U.S. Chamber of Commerce states in its reopening guide: “The businesses that will survive and thrive are the ones that can be flexible and adaptable to consumers’ new and evolving needs. You’ll need to plan carefully and understand not only what may need to change about your business, but what new growth opportunities may exist for you in a post-pandemic world.”

If you have successfully implemented new business processes and strategies because of the pandemic, then you’re even more prepared to go into 2021 strong. Among the reasons to be thankful in 2020, you can be glad that any weaknesses were exposed in your business.

Forced to pivot and adapt, you made your business stronger. Now don’t quit while you’re ahead. There’s still work to do, so don’t rest on your laurels.

Appreciation for the Little Things

There may be significant challenges you’ve had to overcome this year. Perhaps you’re still dealing with them. When the challenges are big, turn to the small things to find gratitude.

If you look around, you’ll find meaning in things you may have overlooked before. Maybe it’s your own health or that of your loved ones (those are actually not small things, but easy to take for granted).

Something as simple as cooking food at home can bring you satisfaction. (Banana bread, anyone?)

What are some of the little things you appreciate now more than ever? Your morning walk with your pup? Your neighborhood — did you get to know your neighbors a little more than you might have if you weren’t at home?

Let these little things make their way onto your daily gratitude list. In time, your list will grow longer because you’ll start looking for more and more reasons to be thankful.

Your Community

This year has included moments of unrest mixed in with moments of selflessness and bravery. Front-line workers in your own community have showed up day in and day out to take care of the community you love.

It’s not just first responders, either. Do a quick internet search, and you can find examples of selfless acts and community support around the globe.

Consider the Arkansas school district that “saved so much money from switching to solar power for their buildings, they were able to bump up their teachers’ salaries and eliminate their budget deficits.”

Or the fact that Zoom is lifting its 40-minute time limit on Thanksgiving this year to help families spend more time together, safely and virtually.

As a thank you to our customers, we will be lifting the 40-minute limit for all meetings globally from midnight ET on Nov. 26 through 6 a.m. ET on Nov. 27 so your family gatherings don't get cut short. ❤️🏡 #ZoomTogether pic.twitter.com/aubsH0tfxG

— Zoom (@Zoom) November 10, 2020

You need only look around your own business and customer base to find even more examples of community support.

The employees who put in overtime without complaint, take extra care with their cleaning and sanitizing routine, or go the extra mile to make a customer happy.

The customers who leave a big tip, post a positive online review, or smile under their mask as they see you wiping sweat from your brow after a busy day.

They’re all there, if you look for them. And the more you look for them, the more they’ll show up for you.

You. Yes, You

If you can rise in the morning, look at yourself in the mirror, and find gratitude that you woke up that day, your day will always begin on a positive note.

As we head into the Thanksgiving holiday, we want to take a moment to tell you we’re grateful for you — our readers, our clients, our team members and everyone who makes Rallio possible.

Now go and pay it forward, and find some reasons to be thankful of your own.

Tags coronavirus, entrepreneurship

Content Marketing

Brainstorming 101: 6 Quick Tips to Spur Content Creation

Post author By Rallio
Post date November 19, 2020

If content creation is challenging for you, you have a few different choices. You can turn to one of the many articles we’ve written with content creation ideas for your social media. You can succumb to writer’s block, stare at your screen blankly, and hope that an idea fairy sprinkles some content creation dust on your keyboard.

Or you can step away from the keyboard, pull out your white board and brainstorm some ideas on your own.

It’s not as daunting as it may sound. With our brainstorming tricks below, you’ll be back typing at your keyboard in no time.

Look at the Big Picture

Some of your best content creation will come from examining your existing content. From there, you can identify any gaps in your current content collection.

Take an inventory of your product and service offerings, along with the content you have to support these lines of business. You might discover you heavily cover one area and lack content in other areas.

At the same time, identify the problem that each of your products or services solves. From these problems, content creation becomes easier. You can come up with ideas that address solutions to the problems.

Keep all this information organized in one place — say, an Excel spreadsheet. So, to put it simply, your sheet might include:

Product or service name
Existing content related to these lines of business
Problems that are solved by these products or services
Content ideas addressing pain points

As you go through this process, you might find opportunities to identify additional pain points addressed by your products or services. These pain points can fuel your content creation efforts through blog posts, social media content, email campaigns and more.

For example, let’s say you provide mobile tire changes. Your service solves the problem of getting new tires without having to leave home or wait at the auto shop for your car to be done. You could create a series of social media posts with pictures of happy customers at home, with your mobile service truck parked out front.

Identify Content Creation Themes

There are many different ways to tie together your content ideas into one central theme. Start by scrolling through your feed to see what’s trending. You can also search for keywords related to your product or service.

Here are few examples of theme-related content creation ideas:

Employee spotlights
Scheduled Instagram takeovers
Branded hashtags
National days and holidays
Days of the week with hashtags (#thirstythursday, #teammembertuesday, etc.)

The more frequently you use social media yourself, the easier it is to come up with these theme-related ideas. Your content will also become more relevant to your user base because they’ll already be familiar with the types of themes you’re using.

Create an Editorial Calendar

Once you have themes selected, you can start plugging in your ideas to an editorial calendar. There are many different content calendar tools available, from a simple Gmail calendar to more elaborate software apps.

For example, Rallio has built-in calendar and scheduling capabilities. You can easily store all your content you’ve created, upload images and videos, schedule out content for different days and times, and keep track of everything in one place.

The benefit of having your ideas in a calendar is that you can refer back to it for repeat content ideas. You can use the same “employee spotlight” theme often, highlighting different employees, for instance. As long as the actual content varies, with different images and videos, you can continue repeating your themes throughout the year.

Learn more: Your Guide to 2021 Marketing Based on Current Consumer Trends

Look at What Your Competitors Are Doing

Another way to spur content creation is by looking at the types of content your competitors are posting. Which types of content tend to get good engagement — likes, shares, comments? Which types don’t?

By looking at their content and asking yourself these questions, you can identify ways to do whatever they’re doing, but better.

In some cases, you’ll also learn what to avoid. Their content might be boring, overly promotional or irrelevant. With some types of content you see posted, you can basically do the opposite of what they did. You can be the remedy for any poorly crafted content you see from your competitors.

The remedy for boring content that makes you want to keep scrolling? A silly video of you and your employees taking a spontaneous dance break on your retail sales floor.
The remedy for an overly promotional post? An authentic photo of you, the entrepreneur, sharing the story of why you do what you do.
The remedy for irrelevant content that doesn’t resonate with your local target audience? Hyper-local photos and videos that showcase your business and identify you as part of your local community.

Just Get Snapping

One surefire to spur your content creation is simply by picking up your phone and filming what you see. Did you just finish putting up a holiday display? Take a photo and let your followers know what’s in it. Did you bring your dog to work? Snap some photos and tell us more about him.

This uncomplicated approach to content creation is the simplest place to start when you’re new to posting on social media. Just upload your best images, write up a quick caption, post it and be done with it.

If even this step sounds like too much work, recruit your employees to do some of the snapping for you. Even if you’re not social-media-savvy, you can count on at least one or two people on your team being a regular social media user.

To go even a step further than employee activation, you can brainstorm content creation ideas together. Carve out 10 to 20 minutes in your next team meeting to think of different ideas. Break out that white board, buy a box of donuts (or your vice of choice), and make brainstorming a regular part of your routine.

Take Your Content Creation a Step Further

There is, of course, a lot more you can do with content creation from a strategic perspective. As you get into a rhythm with posting content, you can start looking at your platform analytics to see how your content is performing.

Make whatever tweaks are needed to ensure your content is working hard for you. And be sure to boost your content to broaden its reach to new audiences.

In time, your content will start to tell a story about who you are as a brand. With regular posting and a commitment to keeping your page fresh, your social media pages can become a source of new leads, customers and loyal fans.

Tags social media marketing

Employee Recruiting Social

5 Powerful LinkedIn Tips to Expand Your B2B Network

Post author By Rallio
Post date November 17, 2020

Have you ever felt like you could use a LinkedIn tip or two to make the most of the platform? Let’s be honest: Many of us could use a quick tutorial on how to use LinkedIn as an individual and as a business.

If you have a LinkedIn account, you might already know LinkedIn as a B2B professional networking and recruiting platform. With a personal account, you can connect with other like-minded individuals both in your industry and others.

In addition, brands that set up corporate pages have an opportunity to build B2B relationships and locate candidates for open positions.

Knowing that LinkedIn is primarily a professional platform and treating it as such are two different things, however. All too often, people use LinkedIn to try and “sell” their connections on their products and services.

If you’re approaching your connections like sales opportunities, you may be missing the mark entirely. Actually, this tenet is true on any social media platform. You simply can’t approach people with a “this is about me” attitude and expect them to listen to anything you have to say.

To make your LinkedIn conversations and connections more meaningful, focus on building relationships, not sales. Each LinkedIn tip below will help you collect referrals, not connection counts, and position yourself as an expert in your field.

1. Create Thoughtful Connection Requests

Have you ever received a LinkedIn connection request from someone you don’t know? There was a time when this was unheard of on the platform. Connection requests used to be reserved strictly for people you already know or have a working relationship with.

Times have changed, however, and it’s now more common to get requests from strangers. Whether you find a second- or third-tier connection or someone you stumble upon through search, occasionally you might see someone you’d like to add to your professional network.

LinkedIn tip: The key with these requests is to write a thoughtful introduction and mention something about the profile that sparked your interest. Avoid the generic “I’d like to add you to my professional network.” Replace it with something specific, such as “I saw you work with local charities. I’m looking to step up my charitable giving. Would you be open to connecting?”

If a new request is accepted, resist the urge to sell your products and services. Sometimes people craft a thoughtful introduction, only to have it all fall apart when they immediately send back a salesy message.

Instead, make it about them. Ask them how they get started in their industry, how long they’ve been doing it or any other open-ended question. Build the relationship first. Any sales activity is secondary and is a nice bonus if it happens later on down the line once the relationship is established.

2. Respond to Requests Thoughtfully, Too

Take the same care with your response to connection requests when you receive them. If you get a request from someone who seems like a good fit for your network, accept the request and then send a message back.

LinkedIn tip: Sometimes, these requests won’t include an introduction and you’ll have to take control to get the ball rolling. Not everyone will know just the right thing to say, but there may be potential for a mutually beneficial relationship.

Take a look at the person’s profile to find a common ground. Again, ask open-ended questions to establish a relationship.

By taking a few extra minutes with your new connections, you can actually get to know the person. This is far better than simply accepting or sending a request and then never saying a word to each other.

3. Add Content to the Feed

Once you make a new connection, you’re not going to be sending messages back and forth every day. Unless you’re engaged in an active discussion together, it’s fine to step away from new connections for a bit and focus on building the relationship in other ways.

LinkedIn tip: Post new content a few times a week so you appear in the feed. Here are few ideas of what to post:

Write a short article. LinkedIn has built-in publishing capabilities that let you write a post, add images and video, and publish right within the platform. Focus on topics that relate to current events in your industry and in the world, such as the current pandemic and how you’re responding.
Create a poll. Relate it back to your area of expertise.
Share links touseful articles, such as your own blog posts, industry news and opinion pieces. Tag any relevant companies mentioned in the articles to get their attention.
Celebrate an occasion. Listed as one of the publishing options when you create a post on LinkedIn, this feature suggests occasions you might want to celebrate. Project launches, work anniversaries, new team-member welcome messages, and colleague “kudos” are just a few ways you can throw your own virtual LinkedIn party.
Put out a call for experts. Click on this option when you create a post to publish details on the industry, location and description of the type of experts you’re seeking.
Offer help. Yet another publishing option lets you offer general help, referrals, career coaching and other services.
Create job posts. If you’re hiring, post details on the position and invite job candidates to apply online.

Make use of LinkedIn’s myriad publishing suggestions to start building momentum for your profile or company page.

4. Join Groups

LinkedIn has groups for every kind of industry and interest. Whether it’s franchise industry professionals or human resources executives, there’s something for everyone.

LinkedIn tip: Join a few groups related to your industry. Visit these groups often to make your voice heard. Ask questions, comment on other posts, share content and add reactions to other people’s posts.

The more you engage in groups and join conversations, the more your content will appear in LinkedIn feeds.

These conversations can also become a source of new connections. If you come across people who look like a good fit for your network, you can reach out and let them know how you found them. For example, when sending a new connection request, tell them you saw their article in a group and specify what you liked about it.

5. Make Use of LinkedIn Ads

LinkedIn has expanded its advertising options in recent years, allowing B2B marketers to set achievable goals with realistic ad budgets. With LinkedIn advertising, you can create sponsored content to increase brand awareness, drive website visits and conversions, encourage job applications and more.

LinkedIn tip: Set your goals for LinkedIn ads, and attach a budget to those goals. Choose from among the following ad types:

Sponsored content. Promote an article or a post from your company page.
Text ads. These typically appear in the right-hand column or under the “People You May Know” section.
Sponsored InMail. These ads essentially let you send a message from your personal profile directly to someone’s inbox. As opposed to a connection request, which should be more personal in nature, Sponsored InMail ads may be more directly focused on a sales objective. Be cautious, be hyper-targeted, and customize the message for the recipient to avoid coming across as spam.
Video ads. With the popularity of video taking off of late, now is the perfect time to promote your video content.

Check out this article or the video below to learn more about LinkedIn ads.

Implement Our LinkedIn Tips Alongside Other Goals

If you’ve been focusing primarily on Facebook and Instagram for your social media marketing, keep doing what you’re doing. But don’t forget about LinkedIn as you’re setting marketing goals for 2021.

The professional network you build on LinkedIn can help you build relationships that lead to opportunities. New recruits, partnerships, speaking invitations and client referrals are just a few of the possible benefits you can achieve by following the LinkedIn tips outlined above.

Social

Quick Guide to Holiday Marketing on Social Media

Post author By Rallio
Post date November 11, 2020

The holiday shopping season has already begun, as marketers cater to early-bird shoppers looking for bargains. Holiday marketing efforts are well underway as brands create early Black Friday deals, Cyber Monday specials and other holiday sales blitzes.

Meanwhile, shoppers are ready to pull out their holiday decorations early, string up the outdoor lights, and start putting gifts under the tree. No, we’re not skipping Thanksgiving — but you can expect the next six weeks to be one giant holiday as people seek out joyful experiences amid the pandemic.

The Current Situation

Not only are people shopping early, but COVID-19 has also driven many shoppers online, whether due to store closures or the desire for socially distanced shopping. Even those who shop in-store want the convenience of curbside pickup, touch-free payment and other safe shopping options.

As we discuss in this article: “We’ll continue to see a rise in contact-free options for making reservations, ordering food, checking in, shopping for goods and services, and earning loyalty rewards. By eliminating common touchpoints, businesses are providing a clean, safe, convenient way to carry out tasks that previously required much more hands-on interaction.”

It’s not just your holiday marketing that should address COVID-19 changes, but also the marketing plans you put in place next year. While there may be initial costs associated with making these changes, there’s no real way to avoid it if you want to stay relevant in 2021.

“The cost of implementing these new technologies is an upfront expense that may prove to be a burden for some businesses. However, this is a necessary expenditure if you want to survive and thrive in 2021,” the article continues. “Consumers now expect there to be contact-free and ecommerce options if they’re going to give you their business.

This holiday season, you have an opportunity to shift your holiday marketing to address the current shopping trends. To make sure your holiday marketing is on point, we’ve put together this guide to optimizing your social media pages.

Create Gift Guides

Focus your holiday marketing on helping people find the right gifts for friends and family. Start by creating a downloadable gift guide where you highlight various gift recommendations for your followers.

You can then repurpose different elements of your gift guide on different platforms. Carousel posts, Stories, Reels, Live broadcasts and shoppable posts are just a few of the ways you can optimize your holiday marketing for your gift guide.

Instagram, for one, has rolled out new features that make it easier than ever for consumers to discover new products and buy directly from the platform. The shopping tab includes a Shops Directory, Guides, shoppable posts that let people buy without visiting a website, Editor’s Picks, and Brand Collections.

On Facebook, you could publish photos and videos of different gift-guide offerings. You can also link directly to your website with unique offers for your Facebook fans.

Take advantage of each platform’s unique features to amplify your results. Be sure to advertise to further your reach, and pair your strategy with email marketing to reach customers through multiple channels.

Learn more: Holiday Marketing on Instagram: 6 Tips for Marketers

Create Limited-Time Offers

Fear of missing out is real when it comes to grab-worthy social media deals. Along with your gift guide, create exclusive deals that are only available for a limited time.

You can approach these offers in various ways:

Create a “12 Days of Deals” type of campaign. Roll out something new on each of those 12 days. Each deal is good on that day only.
Offer seasonal products. They’re only available during the holiday season, and after that, they’re gone (until next year).
Word your content to inspire urgency. For example: “Buy yours before we sell out again!” and “Limited quantities available!”
Announce your limited-time offerings in advance on Facebook and Instagram as well as via email campaigns.
Create contests with deadlines that encourage user-generated content and also expose your brand to new users via tagging and sharing.
Include a link in your bio to your website.
Use ads to roll out and publicize your limited-time offers.

The goal with this “scarcity factor” type of holiday marketing is not to generate hysteria — we’re not trying to encourage people to run out and hoard toilet paper and cleaning products. Rather, it’s to generate buzz and positive energy around your brand. It’s also the call to action you need to meet holiday sales goals.

Activate Your Employees and Influencers

Even if it’s a complete stranger, people tend to trust the recommendations of a third party. There’s just something so convincing about a real person describing why they love a product or service — versus the brand itself tooting its own horn.

That’s true whether it’s a micro-influencer or an employee. In recent years, partnering with these types of influencers has proved to be an effective strategy.

For your holiday marketing, it can help you spread your message to a wider audience. Moreover, it can save you valuable time and resources that you won’t have to spend promoting yourself.

Consider the following statistics from the Digital Marketing Institute:

70% of teens trust influencers over celebrities
86% of women turn to social media for purchasing advice
Nearly half of consumers rely on influencers for purchasing recommendations
Influencer marketing is the fastest-growing method of online customer acquisition

Our Rallio Activate product is designed to help brands activate these influencers and employees on social media. Our technology streamlines the process so these influencers can easily spread the word about your brand. You can also share their posts to make the most of influencer content.

Don’t Delay With Your Holiday Marketing

With consumers already breaking out their shopping lists, don’t waste any time getting your holiday marketing plans in order. Rallio is here to help you make the most of your marketing efforts so you can head into 2021 feeling confident, accomplished and ready for a new year.

Tags social media marketing

Social

The 5 Top Players You Need on Your Social Media Team

Post author By Rallio
Post date November 4, 2020

When most businesses are getting started, they might handle their social media themselves. Or they might simply put off using social media as a marketing medium. The idea of having a full-blown social media team might be a distant thought.

At this point, they just want to launch and make a splash. What business owners don’t always realize from the get-go, however, is that making a splash requires dedicated social media marketing efforts.

Social media needs to be included in any kind of marketing strategy. If you put your social media marketing front and center instead of making it an afterthought, you’ll more quickly reach your intended audience. In combination with your other marketing efforts, you can build a customer base.

Rather than put off creating a social media team, make it a priority. At the very least, assume you’ll need one or two people handling your social media posting, review responses, boosting and inbox replies.

Remember, too, that you can always outsource this function, and many business owners do so in an effort in order to dedicate their resources elsewhere. (More on that later.)

As you’re building your own social media team or looking outside your organization to outsource, there are certain functions to make sure you’ve got covered. To help you put together the best social media team for your business, we’ve compiled this guide to the 5 types of players you need on your social media team.

There might be one or two people who manage all these different functions. Or you might have a larger social media team with singular roles. Whatever you decide upon, make sure you have the following functions covered.

Every Social Media Team Needs a Good Strategist

A social media strategist, aka manager, knows your brand inside and out. They’re able to develop goals and strategies that align with your brand.

In many cases, the strategist is tasked with:

Creating engaging, local content
Communicating and building relationships among various departments
Analyzing data to make strategy recommendations
Boosting ads and determining how to allocate an ad budget
Handling customer questions and support requests
Responding to online reviews and mitigating the impact of any negative reviews
Engaging with a page’s followers

If you can only have one person on your social media team, this is the person you need. As you can see, it’s a long list of responsibilities that are not best handled by the owner of a business, who already has plenty to do.

If you decide to distribute the functions above among a social media team, you can break down the roles even further. Read on.

The Content Creator

The content creator is the person who brings your page to life. They’re the ones dreaming up what to post, creating a piece of content and publishing it.

Whether it’s a photo or a video, they make sure a post is engaging, never boring, and always going the extra mile in terms of the number of eyeballs seeing your content.

The content creator knows the latest trends in social media and pop culture. They’re able to skillfully translate these trends into meaningful posts that resonate with your audience.

In a nutshell, the content creator is a major asset to your social media team. You can’t do social media without them. Without great content, your page won’t be able to attract and keep its followers.

The Community Manager

A close cousin of the strategist is the community manager. This is the person monitoring, listening to and responding to social engagements — creating a personal connection between the brand and the audience.

The community manager role is crucial to building the community and establishing the brand’s reputation.

You can’t simply drop content and run, hoping for the best. You’ve got to interact with the community you’re trying to build as they start engaging with your content.

If you’re doing the work to produce local content and boost it, you have to expect there will be a greater need for a community manager. Not only are they replying to comments and questions, but they’re also responsible for any customer support issues and review responses.

Your community manager needs to be friendly, proactive, engaging and patient. They should be comfortable with being a liaison between customers and business owners, or tech support or other functions when needed.

The community manager is responsible for your brand loyalty. And that loyalty is everything as far as retention and lead conversion.

The Data Analyst

Working together with the content creator, the data analyst helps to inform the content strategy.

As the content creator produces content, the data analyst works behind the scenes to gain audience insights. Essentially, they’re examining the who, what, when, where, why and how of the ways in which the audience interacts with content.

The data analyst can then turn this information into actionable insights, for both the social media channel and the content strategy. They can advise on whether a strategy is on track or if some tweaks are needed.

The Paid Media Specialist

A successful page needs both organic and paid strategies in order to boost brand awareness, gain new followers and attract new leads. Working closely with the data analyst, your paid media specialist creates paid media plans to optimize performance.

While your content creator and community manager are focused on content and community engagement, the paid media specialist is optimizing their organic efforts.

For example, let’s say you have a piece of content that performs well in terms of likes, clicks, comments and shares. The paid media specialist can boost that content for greater reach. With a paid strategy, the organic content gets more mileage.

The paid media specialist also understands how each platform works, what types of content do best, and what budget to set for ads in order to reach different goals.

Additional Tips on Building a Social Media Team

As mentioned above, the social media team may consist of just one or two people performing a hybrid of the roles above. This can be a smart way to optimize resources and avoid employee burnout.

In addition, having the proper technologies in place can help to streamline your processes. The Rallio Dashboard is designed to make the social media team’s lives easier, promote efficiency, and allow for greater organization, insights and tracking.

Now for the shameless plug. Rallio not only has the technology, but also the social media team that you need. Rather than build your own social media team from scratch — and assume the responsibility of managing that team — you can outsource all of the responsibilities above to us.

In short, we provide both the social media team and the technology. You’ll have fewer hats to wear as a business owner.

And you’ll finally have the time you need to build your business.

Tags social media marketing