Author: Rallio

Social

Facebook Boosting 101: How to Boost Content for Better Results

Post author By Rallio
Post date July 15, 2020

So you took the time to create a post on Facebook, and now you’re waiting for the engagements to start rolling in — reactions, comments, shares, maybe even clicks over to your website. Unless you used Facebook boosting, you might be waiting awhile.

Why, you ask? Welcome to Facebook Boosting 101, our breakdown of all things boosting-related.

In this article, we’ll cover:

The concept of Facebook boosting (and why you should even care about it)
What types of content to boost
How to boost for the best results

Facebook boosting puts some muscle behind your content — which, while free to publish, won’t get seen by your followers or anyone else without paid advertising. Consider it the protein shake that follows your great workout, allowing your page to grow and capture the attention of existing and new audiences.

Let’s start with a basic understanding of what Facebook boosting entails and why it should even be a part of your social media marketing strategy.

What Is Facebook Boosting?

When you have a business Facebook page, the content you publish doesn’t necessarily get seen by all your followers. Even people who have chosen to follow your page might initially see your content organically, but they won’t continue to see it unless:

You regularly post engaging content that interests them and inspires them to interact with it; and
You pay to get it seen. Yes, Facebook is a “pay to play” platform.

This winning combination of great content and boosting increases the likelihood of making your content visible in newsfeeds. Read that again and again until it sinks in, because it’s an incredibly important concept to grasp as a business Facebook page owner.

The good news is that boosting is a relatively simple tool. Even without having advanced knowledge of the full gamut of Facebook advertising options, you can jump into boosting and start seeing results fairly quickly. While using those more advanced options is also a great way to expand your reach on Facebook, boosting is the easiest way to get started as soon as you launch a business Facebook page.

Once you set up an associated ad account for the page, you can simply choose a post from your timeline and click on the Boost Post button. Facebook will then walk you through your boosting options, such as choosing your audience, budget, placement and duration of the boost.

As your boosted posts reach newsfeeds, ideally your audience will engage with the content. The more they like, comment and share your boosted posts, the more relevant your page becomes — meaning your content will be more visible to your followers as well as their friends and people who aren’t following you yet.

Types of Content to Boost

There are a few different ways to choose the content you want to boost depending on your objectives. Here are a few examples of content you might want to boost:

Posts that are already performing well on your page or that are likely to get good engagement. Oftentimes, your best candidates for boosted posts are real photos or videos from your location, including the owners, employees or customers, as well as snapshots of anything new and exciting at your location.
Job postings, if you’re looking to hire. You can create and boost these posts right from your business page.
Events you’re holding. Again, you can create these posts from your business page and boost them.

Choose your boosted posts carefully, because you cannot edit the text, image or video once you’ve boosted a post. If you end up wanting to change the creative, you would have to create a new post and boost it. You can, however, edit certain components if needed, such as your budget or the duration of the ad.

How to Boost to Amplify Your Results

Choosing the best types of content to boost is the first step in making sure you see good results from your campaign — as in, reactions, comments, shares and clicks. You can further amplify your results by following these guidelines:

Avoid posts with a lot of text in them. Facebook may limit the exposure of your ad or even reject text-heavy posts. (See this article for more about text in ad images.)
Choose your audience carefully. (See this article for potential restrictions, such as age.) While you can choose to target your followers and their friends, you can also create a custom audience that specifies location, gender, age or interests. Being as specific as possible will help you avoid targeting too broad of an audience — that is, people who may not be interested in what you have to offer.
Limit the length of time you boost a post. Around five to seven days is probably your sweet spot to avoid having your post decline in performance.
Monitor the performance of your boosts throughout your campaigns. You don’t have to wait for the ad to finish running! Check to see what’s working and what’s not. As mentioned above, you can adjust certain parameters of an ad to better target the people you want to reach.

If the idea of getting up and running with Facebook boosting is unappealing to you, Rallio can help. Our Rallio Local division works with businesses of all sizes to create and boost content, taking the guesswork out of the process for you. You can be as involved as you like, or not at all, and we’ll partner with you to make sure your Facebook page is successful. Care to learn more? Visit rallio.com and request a demo to view all your options.

Tags social media marketing

Social

5 Common Pitfalls in Social Media Marketing for Small Business

Post author By Rallio
Post date July 9, 2020

Learning how to market your business on social media is a skill that not every small-business owner has time to tackle. Understandably, many small businesses start out doing the bulk of their social media marketing themselves. In time, however, you might find you need the help of a team.

Even then, hiring full-time or even part-time employees isn’t always the answer. When you consider the costs of payroll, insurance, benefits, human resources and other employer responsibilities, sometimes outsourcing your social media marketing ends up being the better choice.

Business owners who aren’t willing to delegate responsibilities — thinking they know their business best and therefore should do everything themselves — are in for a rude awakening. If you’re not outsourcing your social media marketing, there’s a good chance you’re either missing some key opportunities or expending too many internal resources on this part of your business.

Let’s take a look at the potential pitfalls you might encounter when you’re aren’t outsourcing your social media marketing to an agency like Rallio.

Pitfall #1: Time

If you handle your social media marketing yourself, ask yourself if you have time to do all of the following:

Create daily content for Facebook and Instagram, with carefully crafted captions (say that fast 10 times), hashtags and local photos of your people, location and products
Boost that content using precise targeting of your desired customers by geography, interests, demographics and other factors
Address every single comment, reaction, direct message and online review with thoughtful, friendly and sometimes clever responses

And these are just a few of the daily responsibilities of social media marketing. It takes time not only to accomplish these tasks, but also to build a relationship with your local community.

And if you’ve got that kind of time on your hands, it’s highly likely that other areas of your business aren’t getting the kind of attention they deserve.

“But I can do this at night, after hours!” you exclaim. Two thoughts here:

Social media doesn’t just happen at night or in your off hours. In fact, especially now during the pandemic, people are spending more time online at all hours of the day, more than ever before. If your social media is working as it should be, then you will have customers engaging with you and expecting quick responses all throughout the day. So if you’re a dentist in the middle of a procedure, we’re guessing you aren’t going to want to set down that drill to answer your DMs. (Your patient won’t like that much, either.)
Is that how you want to spend your time off? Or would you rather take that time to rest, recharge and prepare yourself for the new day ahead?

https://www.facebook.com/psphuntingtonbeach/photos/a.609267432746891/1224036704603291/

Pitfall #2: Money

Inevitably, succumbing to pitfall #1 means you will fall victim to pitfall #2: money. As we all know, time is money!

So how much is your time worth? As Entrepreneur states, “Time is the one resource all of us have, but it’s also painfully finite in nature. You can’t bank it — all you can do is invest it wisely.”

The article goes on to say that your time appreciates in value as your business does. “So, as your business grows and develops, sooner or later the monetary value of your time is going to surpass the importance of money. It’ll be more important for you to invest your time in moving the business forward because your time is going to be worth more.”

That’s why it’s so important to set up the proper processes and systems right from the start in your business. As for social media marketing, outsourcing might make the most sense because all of the systems will be in place already. Agencies like Rallio are experts at plugging any kind of business into those systems and setting the business up for success.

Read between the lines: The agency doesn’t need to be an expert in your particular business, product or service. They need to be experts in duplicating the success they’ve seen working for their other clients.

At Rallio, we work with businesses in a variety of industry sectors. Would it surprise you to learn we have clients in everything from pet supplies to automotive tires?

That’s because we have the systems and processes figured out already. We simply get you set up and then pair you with a strategist who gets to know your business on a more personal level.

Pitfall #3: Writer’s Block

Constantly coming up with new ideas of what to post on your social media pages can lead to frustration, exhaustion and good ol’ writer’s block. As a result, you might start resorting to low-quality — dare we say boring — content.

It’s easy enough to download a stock photo and post it on social media, or maybe simply post promotional offers over and over again. Your audience isn’t going to respond to this type of content, because you’re not adding any value to their feeds.

People go to social media to socialize and keep up with what’s going on in their community. They’re not there hoping for a sales pitch or to become your “lead.”

They’re more likely to respond to an autobody shop that posts helpful maintenance tips, for example, versus one that only posts promotional offers.

When you outsource your social media marketing, the writer’s block problem is solved for you. You can let someone else ponder over just the right caption for your cool photo of your backyard barbecue or the latest socially distanced team event!

https://www.facebook.com/MassageHeightsNewportBeachBluffs/photos/a.224224787591629/3676754182338655

Pitfall #4: Inconsistency

Pitfall #4 may come into play for a variety of reasons. Lack of time or writer’s block can lead a business owner to post nothing at all.

Additionally, you may find you’re inconsistent in engaging with your community and giving them the attention they want.

When your efforts are inconsistent, you’ll fail to grow on social media. You’ll also miss out on opportunities to build relationships with your audience and practice great customer service.

Outsourcing your social media marketing eliminates the inconsistency problem. There will always be someone who has your back — whether for posting fresh, quality content or following up on customer engagements.

Pitfall #5: Not Keeping Up With the Times

Social media platforms, and the audiences that use them, change frequently. Consider the recent global events we’ve experienced: Many businesses had to change the way they operate and truly rely on social media to either keep their businesses afloat, or to take a strong stance on social justice.

Without social media, it would have been nearly impossible for businesses to continue connecting with their customers.

As experts in social media marketing, we were able to help our clients pivot. Businesses that lacked that kind of partnership may have found it difficult to keep up with the ever-changing times.

There are other types of changes that occur in social media, too. Technology evolves, and so do the recommendations for small-business owners looking to market themselves.

At Rallio, we’ve made it our business to not only keep up with technology and current trends, but to make sure we’ve got our clients’ backs at all times. That’s a relief to any business owner, to know there’s someone else handling such an important part of their business.

Bottom line is, you don’t have to fall victim to the common pitfalls above. Set yourself up for success and growth by outsourcing to Rallio, and you can continue focusing on running your business.

Tags social media marketing

Social

Pandemic Greatest Hits: Top 7 Secrets to Social Media Success

Post author By Rallio
Post date July 7, 2020

Throughout the COVID-19 crisis, virtually every type of business has had to pivot in order to continue reaching customers — who are spending more time online than ever before. Throughout this time, we at Rallio have been helping businesses find ways to change things up and strategize for social media success.

Many of our blog posts have focused on reimagining “business as usual,” because business as we know it has changed. So today, we’ve got a quick roundup of some of the tips and tricks we’ve provided during the pandemic — a “Pandemic Greatest Hits,” if you will. Cue it up, put it on repeat and get to work adjusting your social media strategy if you haven’t already.

Track #1: Boost the Right Content

Boosting content gives you the ability to reach more of your followers and their friends than organic reach alone. While you might be familiar with the concept of boosting — or maybe you’ve not yet added it to your social media strategy — you might not know what to boost.

Here’s the track for you: Social Media Success in a Pandemic: A Conversation With 2 Brand Managers

The quick takeaway:

We’ve all seen the constant stream of ads on social media for the newest fashion, kitchen gadgets and skin-care, but local businesses also have the ability to show off their services and products online to their local area. Boosting during COVID was imperative to social media success, but the question became “What do we boost?”

At a time where businesses are struggling and have taken massive hits to their cash flow, boosting for engagement was not what was going to have the biggest impact. We took the time and care to consider what could actually produce an ROI for these hard-working business owners. Services were emphasized as well as updates for reopening or any pivot they had made during this pandemic.

Business owners were able to generate actual leads at a time where their businesses were forced to close, and even those that stayed open were taking big hits. In some cases, we actually saw an uptick in sales for products, and followers started using the new methods of getting their products (curbside pickup, delivery).

Some followers, of course, would automatically assume that they could not go to their favorite local business during this pandemic, but thanks to boosting updates, our clients did not miss out on valuable customers that would have otherwise opted for something else.

Track #2: Update Your Directory Listings

If your business hours have changed during the pandemic, it’s important to communicate that information to your customers. Updating your online directory listings ensures your hours, location and other basic information about your business stays up-to-date so people can find you.

Here’s the track for you: Why You Need Your Social Media Company to Do Directory Listings, Too

The quick takeaway:

If you adjusted your hours due to COVID-19, for example, maybe now you’re getting back to regular business hours. You would want to not only update your hours across the web, but also tell your followers. With a combined directory listings and social media provider, that’s all handled for you.

With Rallio’s services, you actually can be everywhere at once. You can manage your directory listings and social media from one simple dashboard:

Your hours, physical address, phone number and other details about your business can be easily updated on over 40 directory listings sites, in just a few clicks.
Using that same dashboard, you can create a post for all your social platforms about your changed hours — maybe a photo of you as the business owner holding an “Open” sign, with a caption that reads, “We’re back! We have resumed our regular business hours and made a few adjustments in-house to account for social distancing and proper cleaning and disinfection.”
Another benefit is the ease of maintaining information across platforms. Instead of franchisees having to log in to six or seven different platforms to update their information, they have one simple login and one dashboard to handle it all — streamlining the process and preventing errors.

Boom. You just updated everyone and, at the same time, gave them the confidence they needed to feel safe returning to your establishment.

Track #3: Go Virtual

Having an online component of your business is essential, particularly if you aren’t able to open your doors to crowds at this time. Fitness, education and food are just some of the industries that had to pivot to go online. Whether through virtual classes or online ordering options, having online capabilities is what allowed many businesses to stay afloat.

The track for you: Reopening Your Business? 7 Social Media Strategies to Keep — Plus 1 to Ditch Forever

The quick takeaway:

Many businesses switched to virtual formats to continue offering services amid the pandemic. We’ve seen fitness businesses offering live streaming via Facebook Live and Zoom. Tutors are providing online education in place of in-person tutoring. Everywhere you turn, businesses are figuring out how to reach their audience in a virtual way.

Many customers have discovered the convenience and safety of staying home while still getting the services they need and want. As a business, you may have discovered a whole new line of business by offering virtual services.

How to incorporate virtual formats in your social media strategy:

Use Facebook Live to offer classes, educational services, how-to tutorials and more. You can also use Zoom in cases where you want to be able to see your customers and vice versa.
Continue to get creative with your virtual offerings. How about virtual tours, wine tastings, happy hours, shopping events and guest speakers?
Create Facebook events for your virtual events. Promote them beforehand with your target audience. Your guests will get reminders on the day of the event to join.

https://www.instagram.com/p/CBjqWyFgeH7/

Track #4: Incorporate Employee Advocacy

Employees have become brand advocates and influencers, as they snap photos and videos and mention your company on their personal pages. These personal posts have greater reach than brand-created posts. Employee advocacy, therefore, is now an integral part of social media success.

The track for you: Same track as #3 above

The key takeaway:

Maybe you’ve been highlighting the great work your employees are doing throughout the pandemic. Or perhaps you had to temporarily lay off employees, and now you’re preparing to welcome them back. Whatever the case may be, it’s important to keep showing gratitude for the people helping to keep your business running — from employees to suppliers.

How to incorporate employee advocacy in your social media strategy:

Spotlight your employees in social media posts. Tell your followers why they’re so great!
Empower your employees to share about your business on their personal social media pages. The Rallio platform makes it easy to share brand-approved content through these extended networks.
Invite employees to submit assets like in-store photos and videos. Again, the Rallio platform simplifies this process.

Track #5: Measure Social Media ROI Correctly

ROI is something every marketer wants, but measuring it is not always easy. The social media buying process looks different than the traditional one, but the point is that there is a buying process. Customers do not always buy from you based on one campaign or social media post alone.

The “track” below is worth reading in its entirety, especially if you are in a position where you have to prove that social media marketing is a worthwhile investment. (Hint: It is.)

The track for you: The 6 Most Important Social Media Metrics to Track for ROI

The key takeaway:

To measure your own social ROI, start by considering the different steps in the buying process of a traditional marketing funnel:

Awareness
Interest
Consideration
Intent
Evaluation
Purchase

We’ve tweaked that traditional funnel a bit for purposes of illustrating the social media buying process:

Awareness
Interest
Consideration
Purchase
Loyalty
Advocacy

One caveat to keep in mind at all times: A social media user may find you at any step in their own buying journey. They may become aware of your existence through their friend commenting on your team-member Tuesday post. Or checking out your social content and finding out how well you treat your staff may be the tipping point to get them to buy. We recommend checking out our post, Social ROI and the Marketing Ecosystem, for more details on the non-linear nature of social media purchasing behavior.

Track #6: Post. Local. Content. On. Repeat.

We can’t say it enough. We’re actually sick of the sound of our own voices saying it. So just trust us on this one. Your real, authentic, fun, non-salesy, friendly, personable, relationship-building, community-supporting content will outperform the pants off of boring, salesy, promotional or stock photos. Every. Single. Day.

And when you boost it, as we discuss in track #1, you improve its reach. It’s that simple!

The track for you: Facebook Ads and Hyper-Local Content: Your Recipe for Social Media Success

The key takeaway:

While many marketers might be pulling back on advertising due to cost concerns, that’s the last thing we’d recommend doing. Between the increase in usage and the reduced CPM/CPC, there’s never been a better time to dedicate dollars toward social media ads.
Franchisors have a unique opportunity to help their franchisees increase exposure at the local level. Franchisees who post and boost hyper-local content ensure they’re connecting at the local level with their customers.
Customers want to help their community get back on its feet. When you engage with them and increase your reach with Facebook ads, you increase the likelihood of driving local business.

Track #7: Be a Storyteller, Not a Salesperson

Your social media should paint a picture of your business as a place where people would not only want to spend money, but also get to know the business. The businesses that demonstrate their commitment to their community are the ones that will thrive.

The track for you: 4 Ways to Tweak Your Social Media Marketing for COVID-19

The key takeaway:

No matter what the industry, COVID-19 has affected businesses everywhere, along with the consumers who buy from them. Given the global impact this virus has had, it’s important to adjust your messaging and social media marketing to reflect the current times — whether your business is booming or struggling because of COVID-19.

Instead of a hard sales pitch, it’s about softening your message and looking for ways to be of service. The term “We’re all in this together” has become a rallying cry of people everywhere — from all industries and walks of life.

And actually, this is the perfect time to recognize that the hard sales pitch was never a very effective way to capture your audience’s attention.

Rather than use social media as a blatant promotional tool, think of it as a platform for being authentic, honest and real. Recruit the power of social media to help you tell your story, support your customers and serve your community, and you’ll be met with enthusiasm from your audience.

We know how overwhelming it can be when there are so many different sources of information out there on social media marketing. Hopefully this article gives you some simple, solid starting points. We’re always happy to make the process easier if you want to tap into our expertise.

Tags coronavirus, social media marketing

Social

The Truth About Social Media for Small-Business Owners

Post author By Rallio
Post date July 1, 2020

Becoming a small-business owner is a bit like skydiving. When you jump out of a perfectly good airplane and free-fall with the hope that your parachute deploys, you’re taking a huge risk, obviously.

The same is true when you make the conscious choice to step outside your comfort zone for the chance at being your own boss. Whether you’re choosing to leave a job or simply pursue your passions, taking the big leap into entrepreneurship might be the biggest risk of your life.

Perhaps it’s this huge risk factor that causes many entrepreneurs to cling to ownership — not just of their company, but also of every aspect of running a business. Putting it all on the line has a way of making anyone want to manage it all and avoid delegating responsibility to anyone else.

The truth that many successful owners come to realize, however, is that there are numerous benefits to surrounding themselves with people who are experts in their fields. Rather than be a “Jack of all trades, master of none,” they make the decision to hire people who are the best at what they do — whether it’s accounting, sales, human resources, marketing or any other number of job functions.

So when a new client comes on board at Rallio, we’re always super excited to start working with them. They’ve recognized they can’t — and shouldn’t — do everything themselves. They’ve chosen to hire experts who will handle every aspect of their social media, online reputation, directory listings and even recruiting to an extent.

Known as Rallio Local, this in-house team consists of social media strategists who work one-on-one with business owners. Why is this important?

Having a dedicated strategist puts time back in your day as a business owner. You can focus on growing your business, building a customer base and doing all the things you love about entrepreneurship — the things that made you jump out of the proverbial plane.
You don’t have to lose sleep wondering if you’re doing the right thing on social media. You have trusted advisors who have your back.
You’ll be able to grow your business faster when your social media marketing aligns with your overall marketing strategy. Your strategist will take the time to understand your goals and deliver on them.

“Sounds good,” you’re thinking. “But how does this all work?” We’re glad you asked!

Below, we’ve provided a quick rundown of the different types of services you can utilize with us.

Local Social Media Content for Small-Business Owners

The most important factor to the success of your social media pages is the winning combination of local content and targeted boosting.

Local content = Photos and videos of real people at your business doing real things. It may include employees, customers, owners and any other real humans related to your business. It doesn’t include a bunch of stock photos, overly promotional posts and sales pitches.

Targeted boosting = Paying to get your content seen by your followers and your followers’ friends. It’s the only way to ensure your content is visible.

If all of this sounds like a bunch of mumbo-jumbo, you don’t need to worry about it. Your Social Media Strategist will ask you for specific images every week. You upload them to Rallio, your Strategist adds a fun caption and boosts the post. That’s it!

Offers, Job Postings and Events

But what about my special offers, recruitment posts and events? Can’t I tell my followers about them?

You absolutely can, and your Strategist will work with you to get all the details and schedule them strategically. In general, about 80 percent of your social media content will be non-promotional. The other 20 percent may include your special offers and news about upcoming events or job openings.

Your Strategist will boost these promotional and recruitment posts, too, to get more visibility.

With both your local content and other types of posts, we use artificial intelligence combined with science to help you decide what to boost and when as well as how much to spend. You won’t have to worry about blowing your budget or boosting the wrong content to the wrong audience.

Responses to Online Reviews, Comments and Messages

When you have followers, they’re going to engage with you. They might leave an online review, comment on a post or send you a direct message. Someone needs to be responding to those engagements if you want to keep your followers — and customers.

Rallio Local Strategists take care of all these responses for our small-business owners. If a new review pops up on Google My Business or Facebook, if a comment appears on your page, or if a direct message hits your inbox, your Strategist crafts a response.

Anything that requires owner involvement is sent to you for approval first — say, if a customer leaves a negative review and needs a more detailed answer.

All of these engagements are handled within 24 hours. Can you honestly say you would be able to get back to your followers as quickly — and also try to run your business?

Additionally, we can help you get new, positive reviews with our technology. You can choose to have your customers get a text survey after their purchase that asks for feedback. If it’s a positive review, they’re encouraged to leave a review on the review platform of your choosing. Negative reviews are handled offline instead of published on a public platform.

Updates to Your Directory Listings

When you have changes to your hours, address, phone number or other business information, your Strategist will make sure it gets updated across the web. Our Business Listings service is built right into the Rallio technology. Done and done!

During the pandemic, many of our clients have found this to be an invaluable service. They were able to easily announce any temporary closures or other business changes, and then change the information back once they reopened.

Employee Advocacy

One of the best parts about our technology is the ability for small-business owners to implement employee advocacy. You can get your team involved in creating and posting content, helping to build morale and extend the reach of your content even further.

As employees post content about your company to their own social media pages, it becomes more visible to their own audiences. They’re able to reach new followers who otherwise wouldn’t know about your company.

Technology + Team

The key takeaway here is that Rallio Local gives small-business owners both the technology and the team to be successful on social media. We understand the complexities of social media marketing and are able to navigate them on your behalf.

Whether you want a lot of help or just a little extra push, we can provide the right solution for your small business or franchise brand. Drop us a line at sales@rallio.com and we can set you up with a quick demo to show you how we can help your business.

Tags small business, social media marketing

Employee Recruiting Social

The Ultimate Guide to Social Media Recruiting

Post author By Rallio
Post date June 22, 2020

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.

Know Your Platforms

Although LinkedIn is a valuable social media recruiting tool — and one you should be using to connect with candidates — it’s not the only platform you should pay attention to. Here’s a quick overview of how to use each platform to your advantage when you’re looking to fill open positions:

LinkedIn

Create a company profile that’s separate from your personal profile
Search for, screen and connect with candidates via job postings, sponsored jobs and InMail
Network within industry-related LinkedIn groups
Post updates that include any details about job openings
Target passive candidates who look like a good fit and may be open to new opportunities

Facebook

Create and boost job postings from your business page
Join job and career groups related to your industry
Participate in conversations that happen in those groups
Post local content that shows the personality behind your brand, such as pictures and videos of team members, customers, and product or service spotlights (more on that later)

Instagram

Announce job openings via Stories
Include relevant hashtags
As with Facebook, post local content

Twitter

Tweet about job openings
Use relevant hashtags to make your posts discoverable
Grow your following by participating in conversations and retweeting content

The above methods are just one part of your overall recruiting strategy. That strategy needs to incorporate many of the same techniques you would use to build your consumer audience. We’ll get into that aspect of the process in the next sections. Read on!

Make It Local

As we’ve said many times before, posting local content is the best way to show the personality behind your brand and build relationships with your audience. Photos and videos of your team, your customers, your products or services, and other real-life photos give your followers a glimpse into what it might be like working for you.

Do your posts scream teamwork, collaboration and, most of all, fun? Or do they make you look boring, unapproachable and behind the times? Keep in mind, your local content is working to engage not only your followers, but also potential job candidates.

Examples of the types of local content you should be posting include:

Photos of your best customers when they visit your location
Team member spotlights that highlight the awesome people you have working for you
Photos of the owners and managers
Videos explaining how to do something related to your products or services
Photos or videos that address current events; make it local by describing any of your efforts to address important issues like COVID-19 and Black Lives Matter

Over time, your local photos paint a picture of the leadership, people, customers and culture you’ve created at your company. They make your page inviting — and your business, too.

Leverage Employee Advocacy

It’s not always easy to remember to post local photos or find the time to do it. That’s where you can leverage employee advocacy to improve your social media recruiting efforts.

When you have happy employees (and if you don’t, you might want to find out why), they’re more likely to share about their experiences of working for you on their own social media pages and stories. These types of posts are more likely to improve your reach and engagement than brand-created posts.

While you can and should boost content to improve the reach of your own posts, you should also spend time creating an employee advocacy program.

Employee-generated posts also are more likely to be seen as trustworthy. Social Media Examiner writes, “It’s no secret that employees are some of the most trusted representatives of your brand. According to the Edelman Trust Barometer, potential customers trust employees over CEOs, journalists, and celebrities. Internal stakeholders are sincere and accessible, which humanizes your brand.”

So how do you go about getting employees to post? Here are a few ideas:

Rallio offers mobile technology that makes it easy to share any brand assets — maybe some imagery advertising your job openings — with employees that they can share on their pages. They can also upload assets of their own. When you work with our Rallio Local team, they can create posts for you using employee-uploaded images if you’d rather not DIY this one.
Formalize your program and get everyone on board. Consider incentivizing employees with rewards when they post, along with referral bonuses for any successful new-hires. The Rallio technology has a leaderboard so you can easily see who’s posting the most.

The beauty of an employee advocacy program isn’t just in having employees post for you. It’s an opportunity to showcase your company’s core values and correct any areas of the business that may need improvement.

In other words, if your company truly supports employees and has the type of culture that makes them want to stay, they’ll be happy to post about their experiences. If they’re reluctant to boast about working for you, you can take an honest look at the reasons behind that sentiment.

And with a properly designed employee advocacy program, you can generate a positive online reputation and keep attracting the best talent via social media recruiting.

Manage Your Online Reputation and Directory Listings

Ideally, you should have someone on your team dedicated to responding to social media comments, questions, engagements and customer reviews. If you don’t have the time — and you probably don’t if you’re running a business — you can either hire someone to do it or outsource the work to a third party like Rallio.

Keeping up with all your social media engagements ensures that job candidates see the best sides of you when they check you out on social media. And they will be checking you out if they’re considering working for you.

Think of it this way: If candidates get to a page and see unresponsiveness or rude remarks from a company, they’re going to assume that’s how they treat their employees, too.

You also want to be sure your online listings are up-to-date to aid your social media recruiting efforts. Business information like address, phone number and hours of operation need to be accurate so job candidates know how and when to get in touch. Again, Rallio can help. We offer a directory listings service that lets you easily update this information across the web from one central dashboard.

Boost Your Posts

As you’re creating job postings, as well as hyper-local content, boost these posts to reach a wider audience. More potential new recruits will get exposed to your company if you’re paying to get content in front of them.

You can also set up auto-response messages in Facebook Messenger to help with screening and responding to candidates. Set up a series of answers to frequently asked questions so that as candidates apply to jobs and ask questions on Facebook, you can respond quickly to those common questions.

Social media recruiting may seem daunting, but when you have the right systems in place, the process actually becomes easier. Get in touch with us if you could use a helping hand getting those eager new recruits to apply with your company.

Tags social media recruiting

Social

Social Media Success in a Pandemic: A Conversation With 2 Brand Managers

Post author By Rallio
Post date June 17, 2020

As a social media company, Rallio has worked with businesses in all different industries to help them pivot during the pandemic and find social media success. Whether they were offering virtual classes, curbside pickup or restaurant takeout, we’ve been able to help spread the word about any changes to the usual course of business.

It’s not just our clients pivoting, of course. Around the world, businesses have had to adjust to current times as they navigate the COVID-19 crisis. Those that acted quickly and implemented changes have survived and thrived in many cases.

Yet all of these changes don’t mean much if your customers don’t know about them. Social media has become more important than ever as a means of communicating, staying in touch and building relationships with customers.

To get some insight on the factors that contribute to our clients’ success despite the COVID-19 crisis, we chatted with two of our brand managers here at Rallio, Anton Emmerton and Summer Garschina. The Rallio Local team continues to assist clients in pivoting, keeping their social media pages fresh and managing their online presence.

https://www.facebook.com/rallio/posts/1618832671603232

How were your clients initially impacted by the pandemic?

Anton: Since we work with such a wide variety of brands, each of them was impacted differently. Some businesses were forced to close while others remained open as essential businesses. Even those that were deemed essential businesses were still impacted due to the traditional in-store shopping experience changing so drastically overnight. Foot traffic slowed down, so options like curbside pickup and delivery were emphasized to help sales.

Summer: One fitness brand we work with was unfortunately closed during the pandemic, but they saw the power of social media and continued to post and grow engagement. Our printer clients are considered an essential business and saw a need for home office printers and delivery drivers to drop-ship cartridges. Our laboratory testing client was impacted in the best possible way because they were able to come out with a new test in high demand for COVID-19 antibodies.

What were some of the ways Rallio Local helped them to pivot and find social media success?

Anton: Rallio Local has the responsibility of not only managing online profiles, but also providing business with insight and expertise on how to navigate this space in a time of crisis. We offered content ideas to all our clients as well as contingency plans so they knew exactly what to do if anything were to happen to their business. With some businesses not able to operate how they normally would, we were able to help them pivot their business model so they could maintain their clients and even grow their customer base by offering new services or new methods of delivering those services or products to their dedicated customers.

Summer: Rallio Local continued to post locally for brands to keep them on social media, where most people spent their days scrolling during the quarantine. We hosted webinars to show the significance of social media during these times, the current digital marketing trends, how to respond to a new climate, and how to pivot their local social media marketing strategies.

https://www.facebook.com/rallio/posts/1594061280747038

How did social media help clients maintain or grow their business?

Anton: The value of social media became so clear to clients when their traditional forms of outreach and communication with their community was no longer effective. Through the constant updates and advertising opportunities on social media, our clients were able to make their followers and community aware of services that they may have not known of before. We ran ads to push these services specifically to their local areas so that the business could continue to grow and keep the loyal customers that they had pre-pandemic.

Summer: Social media helped our clients more than ever during the pandemic because they were able to get information out to their customers and clients here. During a time where everything was basically closed down, people began to use social media as their go-to for everything, whether it was closure notices, positive stories, new products, how-tos, and recent reopening information.

What did Rallio Local do to help manage clients’ online reputation and customer service — i.e., via online reviews, direct messages, and social media comments and questions?

Anton: At a time where screentime is at an all-time high, there’s no better reassurance to a client than having someone specifically dedicated to monitoring their pages and managing their reputation. Direct messages came flooding in with questions regarding whether our clients were open, what their new hours were, and what precautions they were taking to ensure the safety of their customers. We were able to align quickly with all the franchisees and corporate teams to make sure that these questions were answered in a timely manner with brand approved messaging.

When it came to reviews, we were able to respond to all reviews within 24 business hours and address any concerns their clients had with the necessary and accurate information. In a time of crisis, it is crucial that all voices are heard and acknowledged and as a customer, there’s no better place to express your concerns than through listings platforms and social media pages.

Summer: Rallio Local helped manage our clients’ customer service tremendously by staying on top of daily direct messages, comments and reviews. There was an overwhelming number of customers going to these platforms with questions regarding what they should do next, how to get in contact, hourly changes and much more. Our Rallio Local team makes these questions and comments one of their daily priorities and won’t end their workday until they’re accounted for and answered.

What about their change of hours and temporary closures — how did we help with that?

Anton: With new regulations and orders coming into play each day, we were able to stay on top of updating store hours and temporary closures to a plethora of online listings platforms like Yelp, Google My Business and Facebook through our directory listings management.

Every day, we wake up to a different world, and business owners already have so much on their plate when it comes to in-store operations and their day-to-day. We know how important it is to keep your customers in the loop on changes, and we are proud to say that we could update store hours easily and efficiently to make sure their presence stayed consistent online.

Summer: At the very beginning of the pandemic, this was our main focus. We had client locations with closures and hours changing by the second. We made sure to post for each location on what exactly was happening for their specific store. A rollercoaster of changes, but Rallio Local held strong and made sure to get the job done for each of our clients.

What impact did boosting have on clients’ social media success overall?

Anton: We’ve all seen the constant stream of ads on social media for the newest fashion, kitchen gadgets and skin-care, but local businesses also have the ability to show off their services and products online to their local area. Boosting during COVID was imperative to social media success, but the question became “What do we boost?”

Summer: Boosting for our Rallio Local clients helped with getting their content out to more than just their followers. We were able to set up specific mile radiuses on posts in order to get the word out to people who may not even follow their page. This was a huge benefit for all of our clients, because it not only expanded the brand, but it also helped maintain high reach and engagement on content.

https://www.facebook.com/rallio/posts/1586573711495795

For those businesses that pivoted, what are some of the permanent changes they’ll be keeping?

Anton: Tutors can now teach online via Zoom video chats; auto and tire shops can now drive out to customers’ homes to perform routine maintenance; stores can offer curbside pickup or delivery services so that their customers still get what they need from the store they love. The possibilities really are endless.

Not only did these changes help them maintain their business, but it also opened up a completely different avenue for generating revenue for a lot of business owners. It also emphasized the dedication these businesses have for their local communities.

Summer: Our laboratory testing client has a new COVID antibodies and viral test that will permanently be in their labs in order to test anyone for the virus. Our printer client now offers to print menus for restaurants due to the new regulations on disposable menus. Our fitness brand started a livestream for home workouts that will continue to be a feature on their social media.

https://www.facebook.com/rallio/photos/a.213849565434890/1554240751395758?type=3&av=207889606030886&eav=AfbBGM-NrxCHWW2QqOCAhwjIH78e36y3EQZA9q8IfecjW55-WIO9HdGwqUqsUdYD91k

What’s one key takeaway you could mention regarding social media as it relates to the pandemic?

Anton: This is a really hard one, because there’s so much to take away. My biggest takeaway is that social media is not just a place to advertise your products/services or share photos and videos with your friends; it is becoming increasingly clear that this is now how we communicate.

Do not stop talking on social media. As soon as you stop communicating with your local community on your social profiles, they forget you exist and they forget that you care. I encourage more businesses that don’t see the value in social media to take a look at how it has affected our culture in the last three months. We have only scratched the surface of what is capable with these platforms, and you need the help of others to navigate this space.

Summer: A key takeaway of mine is, no matter your brand, create memorable and engaging moments for your clients. Everyone is looking for something to relate to online, especially during these times. So us as a Rallio Local team are the ones to help build these relationships and help grow the brands we partner with.

We’re continuing to help many brands pivot and make the most of their social media presence during the pandemic and beyond. Be sure to check out all our service lines over at rallio.com and schedule a demo with us by reaching out to sales@rallio.com.

https://www.facebook.com/rallio/posts/1584530058366827

Tags coronavirus, social media marketing

Directory Listings Social

Why You Need Your Social Media Company to Do Directory Listings, Too

Post author By Rallio
Post date June 8, 2020

Take out a pen and paper, please — or just your laptop. It’s time to do a quick inventory on all the things your social media company does for you. Or, if you’re doing it yourself, write down how you’re managing your social media presence.

But first, an analogy. (It’s food-based, of course, because we care deeply about our snacks at Rallio.) Here goes.

When you pour yourself a bowl of cereal, you put milk on top, right? It might be regular milk, oat milk, almond milk or whatever type of milk you prefer — but you probably don’t serve your milk on the side.

That is, eating your cereal and milk together makes perfect sense. If you were to take a bite of cereal and then take a sip of milk, well, that would just be weird. Someone would have to make a Netflix miniseries about you.

It’s like peanut butter and jelly. Spaghetti with spaghetti sauce. French fries and ketchup (or your dipping sauce of choice).

Is anyone else hungry?

Now Think About Your Social Media Company

How does this analogy apply to your social media company? The thing is, you want your social media company to do more than just social media posting. For purposes of this article, we’re discussing why you need your social media company to handle your directory listings, too.

Why is this important? Let’s break it down!

Directory listings in the palm of your hand. — Rallio’s directory listings service makes it easy to update your business information across the web in seconds, with one simple login.

Why You Need a Directory Listings Service

Now more than ever, people are searching for your business or businesses like yours. Somewhere on your list of social media to-dos, you need to make sure that your business listing is correct so they’re able to find you.

With a directory listings service, you can make sure all your information is correct across the web wherever it appears.

This is especially important right now during the COVID-19 crisis as people search for the most up-to-date information about your business. If you have temporarily modified your hours, for instance, you can update your hours using the directory listings service.

Without this type of service, you would need to manually update your information across the web wherever it appears. And that’s assuming you’re even aware of all the places it appears. Nobody’s got time for that!

Why You Need a Social Media Company

Now let’s consider why you need a social media company. Managing your social media presence requires hours of time, effort and resources.

As we point out in our article How to Manage Your Social Media Expectations Vs. Reality, social media management cannot be accomplished in one or two hours a week. Your pages require constant daily attention, and it’s not generally something most business owners have time to manage.

That’s because for a page to be successful — and by successful, we’re referring to certain social media metrics you should be tracking for ROI — your list of social media to-dos should include the following:

Posting and boosting hyper-local content that’s non-promotional and specific to your business
Creating and boosting events
Running page promotions, offers, like campaigns and other promotions
Building relationships with your followers by engaging with them, asking them questions and getting to know them like you would in real life
Responding to comments, questions and direct messages on your page
Responding to reviews

Does that sound like anything you have time to do? Or would that time be better spent focusing on running your business?

By outsourcing your social media, you can lean on experts who eat, sleep and breathe social media on a daily basis. They’re always up-to-date on the latest technology, the trends in social media and any upcoming changes you might need to know about.

Basically, they’re going to stay on top of all aspects of your social media — one of the most important elements of your overall marketing strategy.

A social media company that does directory listings, too. — Does your social media company do directory listings? Visit rallio.com to learn how you can have one login, with one vendor, for all your social media and directory listings needs.

Learn more: Should I Outsource My Social Media? 6 Questions to Ask Yourself

Why You Need One Vendor for Both Directory Listings and Social Media

Last but not least, we ponder the question, why do you need one vendor for both directory listings and social media? Here’s where we get back to that bowl of cereal.

If your directory listings and social media services are separate, it creates a disconnect. Although your listings service might update your information online, it’s not going to convey that information for you via social media.

Let’s say you change your hours. You update that information through your listings service. However, your social media posts don’t communicate to your audience that you’ve made the change, why you’ve made the change and how long this change will last.

When your listings service and social media company are in the same “cereal bowl,” so to speak, they work together on your behalf to make sure your audience has the most current information.

With Rallio’s services, you actually can be everywhere at once. You can manage your directory listings and social media from one simple dashboard:

Your hours, physical address, phone number and other details about your business can be easily updated on over 40 directory listings sites, in just a few clicks.
Using that same dashboard, you can create a post for all your social platforms about your changed hours — maybe a photo of you as the business owner holding an “Open” sign, with a caption that reads, “We’re back! We have resumed our regular business hours and made a few adjustments in-house to account for social distancing and proper cleaning and disinfection.”
Another benefit is the ease of maintaining information across platforms. Instead of franchisees having to log in to six or seven different platforms to update their information, they have one simple login and one dashboard to handle it all — streamlining the process and preventing errors.

Boom. You just updated everyone and, at the same time, gave them the confidence they needed to feel safe returning to your establishment.

With your directory listings and social media management under one roof, you have all elements of your online presence working together on your behalf. And just like that, your cereal and milk are working together!

Ask yourself, how many logins does it take to run my franchise? The answer should be one. Schedule a demo with us, and we’ll give you a glimpse of what we can do for your business.

Tags directory listings, social media company

Social

How to Lose Your Followers in 10 Days (aka Top 10 Social Media Mistakes)

Post author By Rallio
Post date May 30, 2020

If you’ve successfully gathered a respectable amount of followers on your page, you probably want to do whatever you can to keep them. In an ideal world, you would avoid any social media mistakes, hang on to all those followers and keep getting more of them.

What sometimes happens, though, is that business owners lose sight of the purpose of social media. They forget about socializing and focus too much on selling.

As we’ve discussed before, social media is supposed to be social. It’s not a place to come in with the hard sell and be overly promotional.

Rather, your social media pages are a place to build relationships with followers who become loyal brand advocates. Somewhere along the way, you may get leads and sales — but your social media is not going to be the sole source of them.

In fact, it’s just one piece of the marketing pie. Treating it as the whole enchilada is going to leave you and your followers frustrated.

Now before we get too deep into food metaphors, read on for a humorous look at how to lose your followers in 10 days (aka the top social media mistakes you’ll want to avoid).

Day 1: Sell Like Your Life Depends on It

When you get a new follower, what should you do if you want to lose them? Do you:

a) Affirm their decision to follow you by posting authentic, non-promotional local content (like in the post below); or

b) Post a sales promotion, a stock photo or some other salesy thing?

If you want to lose them, the correct answer is b!

If you want to keep them, by all means, post a photo or a video of your cute pet, your customer with a huge smile after visiting your shop, your driver leaving for a no-contact delivery, or your employee explaining how to use a certain product.

Those are the kinds of engaging things that really keep people coming back for more. And that’s not what you want, right? Post that sales-focused graphic with giant red “SALE!” letters, and kiss your followers goodbye!

https://www.facebook.com/541879122868760/photos/a.597667927289879/1376619786061352/?type=3

Day 2: Be Clueless

To lose your followers, should you:

a) Address what’s happening in the world — currently, that’s a pandemic — by letting customers know about safety precautions, special discounts or financial incentives, hours of operation and key information in real time; or

b) Keep posting the same things you normally would, staying largely tone-deaf to the current events around you?

The correct answer is b!

Tuning in to what customers need right now lets them know you’re listening and care about creating content they want to see. It reassures them they can count on you during a crisis and you put people before profits. It also keeps your page fresh.

When you keep things “business as usual,” you appear as though you either don’t care or you’re just living under a rock. Perfect place to be — no chance of seeing any followers there!

Better yet, you can just post nothing at all. We saw a lot of brands just completely stop posting when the COVID-19 crisis hit. Are they in business? Are they not paying attention to their customers? Will anyone remember them if they bounce back from the crisis? Your guess is as good as ours!

Learn more: 5 Social Media Mistakes (Plus the Number One Mistake to Avoid)

Day 3: Don’t Boost Anything

To lose your followers, you should:

a) Regularly boost your content with a targeted audience, helping to expand your reach and build your following; or

b) Boost nothing. Ever. Not a single cent spent to advertise your business on a platform that is very clearly pay-to-play.

The answer is b. Duh.

Boosting gets you in front of all kinds of new people who never would have heard of you if you didn’t spend a few dollars to advertise to them.

New things are scary! Instead, you can simply boost nothing and then nobody will ever see your content!

Stay out of the limelight, and you’ll never have to deal with all those new followers — who eventually fall in love with your business and start posting about you on their own personal pages, helping improve your reach even more. Sounds exhausting!

Day 4: Don’t Respond to Reviews, Comments and DMs

To lose your followers, you should:

a) Stay vigilant about responding to every comment, direct message and review that appears on your page, in your inbox and on review platforms like Google My Business, Facebook and Yelp; or

b) Ignore them! You’ve got better things to do.

People use social media as both a place to socialize and a customer service platform. When they comment with a question or leave a review and you respond to them quickly, it again lets customers know you’re listening.

If you ignore them, it’s much less work! You can just let people do their thing and not pay any attention whatsoever. Not only will you lose those followers, but you can be sure you’ll lose them as customers (if they ever were customers in the first place)!

https://www.facebook.com/danielle.arriaga.5/posts/10217020355800917

Day 5: Post Only Corporate Content

To lose your followers, you should:

a) Post content that’s specific to your community, helping to increase foot traffic to your location; or

b) Just post the content provided by your franchisor, or in the case of independent businesses, post any kind of general content.

It’s b, of course!

Posting hyper-local content makes the content relevant to people who might actually shop in your business. It prevents the common social media mistake of posting meaningless fluff. Seems like a lot of work to manage all those customers coming into your store and buying stuff!

If you just post corporate-type or generic content, it keeps those customers from finding you and really having a reason to go to your store. Phew, again no extra work required to deal with all those new customers!

Day 6: Don’t Update Your Business Listing

To lose your followers, you should:

a) Make sure your business information is correct across the web so people always know your hours of operation, location and phone number; or

b) Wing it! People will figure it out, right?

Can you guess the answer? That’s right, b!

Using a business listing service like Rallio’s ensures your business information is always up to date, anywhere it’s listed online. So when people search for your business or your type of business, they’ll find the correct details and easily locate your business. Ugh, more customers!

On the other hand, you’ll have a lot less to do if you just leave incorrect information up on the web! Did your hours change due to the pandemic? Did you move or temporarily close, or change your phone number? Not to worry — when you don’t update it, no one will know!

Day 7: Rest Easy

To lose your followers, you should:

a) Stay on top of your social media 24/7; or

b) Set it and forget it!

And on the seventh day, you rested. The answer is b, of course.

Social media marketing is a full-time job, requiring constant attention to every comment, message and review, plus rich content that’s engaging to your audience. We’re tired just thinking about it!

If you post infrequently, ignore your followers and make sure your customer service is non-existent, you’ll have waaaay more time to rest, because your followers will leave! Hurray! Extra sleep is so good for you!

Day 8: Target the Wrong Audience

To lose your followers, you should:

a) Choose a targeted audience based on the right demographics, age range and interests; or

b) Don’t target at all. In fact, don’t boost. Leave it to fate!

We’ll take our chances. B it is!

Social media platforms offer a variety of tools to help select the right audience for your boosted content. You can get highly specific to make sure you’re reaching the right people who will engage with your brand.

Failing to boost or targeting the wrong audience ensures your content means absolutely nothing to the people who see it (if anyone sees it at all). We’re inherently risk takers as entrepreneurs, right? So let’s just haphazardly boost or, heck, save our money!

Day 9: Don’t Use Videos

To lose your followers, you should:

a) Sprinkle in videos with your other content because videos are engaging and help you communicate your message in a different way; or

b) Just post images all the time.

Easy peasy. B!

From live videos to recordings that you post on social media, videos are one of the best ways to connect with your audience and show them your authentic self. Especially right now during the pandemic, live videos are an especially useful tool in your social media marketing toolbox as people crave real-life connection.

Doing the work to post videos — wow, sounds like another big project. Pass! All images, all day!

Learn more: 5 Types of Video to Add to Your Social Media Marketing

https://www.facebook.com/tutordoctoroftheemeraldcoast/posts/2953912648033431

Day 10: Do It All Yourself

To lose your followers, you should:

a) Hire people who can manage your social media marketing for you so you can focus on running your business; or

b) Keep doing it all yourself.

We’ve got this. It’s b!

Working with an agency like Rallio ensures not only that nothing gets missed on your social media, but also that you are impactful. It leaves the work to experts who live and breathe social media and have the right tools to help you keep growing your business. It activates your employees and influencers as brand advocates.

Doing it yourself saves you so much time and ensures your social media and online presence are non-existent!

By now, you’ve probably figured out that the real answer to your social media needs is definitely not any “b” answer above. Rallio is ready to help when you’re ready to read between the lines above, avoid common social media mistakes, ramp up your social media, and finally discover the true value of having a team rallying behind your brand.

To learn more, fill out our contact form.

Tags social media marketing

Inspiration

Extreme Effort, Extreme Results: A Conversation With Rallio CEO Chuck Goetschel

Post author By Rallio
Post date May 27, 2020

Chuck Goetschel has held only one job in his lifetime — as a pizza delivery person, at 14 years young. Forever an innovator, Chuck figured he could do much more than just deliver pizzas.

So one day while on the job, he sold his branded hat to a customer, figuring the upsell would be worth it to his boss.

His boss didn’t agree. And that was the end of Chuck’s pizza delivery days.

However, it was just the beginning of his entrepreneurial pursuits. At age 15, he started his first two businesses, and he’s been a serial entrepreneur ever since — primarily in the personal development, business coaching and networking fields. That same desire to be of service to others has followed him into his current venture as founder and CEO of Rallio, a social media software as a service (SaaS) company.

While the medium of entrepreneurship may have changed, the mission to serve has not. As we all navigate the COVID-19 crisis, we sat down with Chuck — virtually, of course — to get his insights on doing business amid the pandemic, on entrepreneurship, on being of service, on extreme effort in the face of a crisis, and on being willing to do whatever it takes to survive trying times.

When You’re Extreme, You Expand

In one of our recent team meetings over Zoom, Chuck introduced the idea of being “extreme.” That word has special significance not only in the business world, but in Chuck’s own personal life as well.

“Most people live and work and play in their comfort zone. Extreme is anything beyond that,” explains Chuck.

The degree of “extreme” is different for different people, he adds. One person’s definition may vary from someone else’s. The key is kicking things up a gear to a point where you feel like you’re being challenged outside of what you would consider “normal.”

“For me, finding extreme takes putting myself in conditions that force into an internal dialogue,” says Chuck, whose version of extreme includes ultramarathons. In fact, he just recently qualified to participate in the April 2021 Marathon Des Sables, dubbed the “toughest foot race on earth” by the Discovery Channel.

In this type of race, he says, his body and mind will be screaming to stop — and, left with only the sheer will of his spirit, he’ll be forced to push beyond any perceived barriers to reach the finish line. “When it gets to that point, I can raise my gear,” says Chuck. “Only in moments like that can I locate that other gear and make the choice to expand.”

Want to Thrive? Extreme Effort Required

As we all navigate the COVID-19 crisis, we’ve seen businesses locating that “extra gear” and expanding, while others have downshifted and contracted. When asked, “If you could tell small businesses anything right now amid the pandemic, what would it be?” this was Chuck’s reply:

“Stop complaining and start solving. We’re all in it. You can spend all your time and energy saying how you’ve been affected, or you can pivot and be a solution.”

In other words, when the water keeps pouring onto the figurative “boat,” you don’t sit there and wait for the boat to sink, right? You figure out how you can help get water out of the boat — or maybe you abandon that particular boat, pivot and try something completely different.

One realization that’s emerged from the pandemic is that pivoting in the face of a crisis is the only way to survive — not to mention thrive. If a business wasn’t already incorporating an online and social media component to their business, now more than ever they must adapt to the new reality.

Consumers are increasingly turning to social media to stay connected, to access essential services and customer support, and to share information and inspiration in their communities. Ignoring this method of connecting with customers could mean the death of a business.

“There’s been a shift in the world, forcing people to engage online. It’s habit now, and people are used to it,” says Chuck. “If you unplug from that conversation, that’s going to hurt you.”

If you instead accept these “habits” and use the time to connect with a captive audience, you can experience growth instead of declines. Online components and other new lines of business such as live classes, takeout, curbside pickup and other adaptations made by businesses should become permanent changes.

Want Extreme Results? Great Mentorship Makes a Difference

In his lifetime, Chuck has had four mentors, each of whom has contributed uniquely to his outlook on business and life. For him, great mentorship can make a world of difference when you’re facing unprecedented times and challenges.

His dad. “He’s simply taught me to look at the glass as half full, to be grateful and to have faith. That’s been the foundation of who I am with other mentors.”
His grandfather, an artist and a singer who taught Chuck the value of having fun. “Even when something isn’t fun, make it fun.”
His U.S. swimming coach, two-time Olympic Gold Medalist Mike Troy (pictured in this tribute), who helped shape Chuck’s leadership skills and work ethic.
Dan Williams, a business mentor who helped Chuck define his path toward business success.

With mentors like those above, Chuck’s been able to find the lessons amid trying times and use them as fuel for the next best step. If you speak of failure, he’ll remind you there is no failure if a lesson comes out of it — and if you keep going despite the stumbling blocks along the way.

“Every day we have failures — but it’s just another challenge,” says Chuck, whose book Anatomy of a Comeback details the steps required to move forward after a setback. “You can pull a lesson out of everything. You can pivot.”

The very first step, he says, is to do something dramatic to change your state. “It’s really about doing something extreme to jolt yourself into a new state of mind.”

There’s that word again: extreme. Are you catching on to the theme?

So Does a Great Team

Perhaps it’s this extreme thinking that has allowed Rallio to continually evolve, pivot, grow and shift course when needed. We listen to our customers, to the trends, to what our clients truly need, and we respond accordingly. We’re recognized as an Inc.com fastest-growing private company, an Entrepreneur 360 company and an Entrepreneur Top Franchise Supplier for franchise brands. And we’re not resting on our laurels.

“It’d be a whole lot less work if we just sat back on our heels and relaxed,” quips Chuck. But that’s not the Rallio way.

The Rallio way is not simply to stay on the bleeding edge of our industry, but to do it with the best team possible. We have not only the talent, but the culture, too.

It’s a culture of having fun, yes — as you’ll see if you read our social media posts or hop on a Zoom call with one of our team members. “But the culture we create is one that’s about welcoming change, challenging your own status quo, self motivation and monitoring, fast growth and fast movement and no excuses,” says Chuck.

That mindset allows us to continue attracting the most phenomenal people for their roles — people who pour themselves into their work and care about the end results. Without the right people, Rallio wouldn’t be possible, adds Chuck. We can scale infinitely because we onboard talent that thrives in this type of fast-paced environment.

And the Mission Continues

While the pandemic has generated divisiveness in some ways — whether politically or within communities tasked with weighing business closures against the health crisis — it’s also brought about a shift in perspective for many. We’ll never again take for granted the simple joys of getting a cup of coffee, catching up with friends over a nice meal, attending special events and just seeing one another face-to-face, Chuck says.

As businesses start to reopen, Rallio will be here to continue the mission that’s been Chuck’s driving force throughout his life as an entrepreneur. “I’m on a mission to make a difference,” he says. “All COVID did was give me yet another reason to help others.”

We’ve helped to facilitate pivots among our franchise and small-business clients, many of which have had to restructure the way they do business. Get in touch with us to start strategizing how we can help you emerge from the pandemic stronger than ever before.

Learn more: Top Social Media Management Tools From Rallio

Tags entrepreneurship

Social

How to Manage Your Social Media Expectations Vs. Reality

Post author By Rallio
Post date May 22, 2020

If you’ve been in business for any length of time, you might already know you need to have a social media presence. Some owners choose to DIY it, and others opt for outsourcing their social media.

In either case, there is often a learning curve of social media expectations versus reality. However, it’s especially true when you choose to outsource your social media. After all, if you’re trusting someone else with your social media — and paying them, too — you want to make sure you’re getting the proper return on investment.

As we discuss in The 6 Most Important Social Media Metrics to Track for ROI, that return is going to look different than you might expect. Therefore, it’s important to find a middle ground between those social media expectations and the reality of how things actually work on social media. Not only will you be more successful, but you’ll feel better about any decisions you make to outsource your social media to a third party.

Musings on Social Media Expectations Vs. the Reality of What Really Happens

On Customer Acquisition

Expectation: My social media company is going to get me all the leads, sales, customers, employees and new members I want. Somewhere in my closet, there’s a “Show me the money!” T-shirt.

Reality: Social media is just one part of your overall marketing strategy. Your social media company is not an all-powerful genie that can alter the way customers behave and come to buying decisions.

People using social media still have to move through a marketing funnel before they decide to buy from you. They’re not hopping on their Facebook and Instagram pages hoping you’ll sell them something. They’re actually there to socialize — you know, as the term social media implies.

That funnel might look a little different on social media than it does in the “real world,” but it’s a funnel nonetheless. Embrace the funnel to make the most of your social media pages.

On Posting Content

Expectation: All of my followers will see my content when it gets posted.

Reality: Even if you have 1,200 followers, that doesn’t mean all of them will see your content. In fact, very few of them (if any) will see it unless you boost it.

The type of content you post, the way it’s posted and whether or not it’s been boosted will all impact the success of your content on social media. Time and time again, we see that businesses posting hyper-local content and boosting it with a highly targeted audience are the most successful on social media.

Hyper-local content includes the real people and processes behind your business (like the post you see below). It has a local flavor and encourages engagement because it’s authentic — it’s a true representation of your business. It does not — we repeat, does not — include stock photos.

https://www.facebook.com/105294971087397/photos/a.107312650885629/142304320719795/?type=3

On Reputation Management

Expectation: My product/service speaks for itself. I don’t need to worry about my online reputation because I’m an honest business owner with a great product/service and employees.

Reality: While you may have an amazing product or service, loyal customers and hardworking employees, not everyone is going to agree with you. There will be people who are unhappy or are just looking for some kind of compensation. They may take to review platforms and social media to air their concerns.

Responding to reviews, comments and direct messages helps ensure you’re putting out any “little fires” before they become gigantic, uncontrollable blazes. When you take the time to handle any negative reviews professionally and calmly, you let your customers know you’re listening and are willing to resolve problems.

On Customer Loyalty

Expectation: My customers are happy, so I’m sure they’ll be back to buy again.

Reality: Nurturing your existing customer base is critical to your continued success. It takes far more time, money and effort to try and find new customers than to take care of the ones you’ve got.

One way to practice customer relationship management is by asking for new reviews after a sale. These reviews will give you an opportunity to thank your customers for their business as well as handle any issues that may arise.

You can also continue caring for existing customers by sending out special offers and content just for your top fans. It’s like dating: Make them feel special, and you’ll get a second date — and third, and fourth — and in time, maybe you’ll “tie the knot” someday and those customers will become brand advocates.

What do we mean by brand advocates? Those are the people (and, in some cases, influencers) who are championing your brand on their own social media pages. They’re providing the ultimate social proof because they’re spreading the word without you having to be the one saying how great you are.

On Social Media Outsourcing in General

Expectation: It feels scary to hand over control to a third party. This is going to be terrifying and it’s probably better if I just do it myself.

Reality: This is your business, your baby. Like dropping off the kids at daycare for the first time, of course it’s going to feel scary. But when you’re working with the right company, it can help you put time back in your day, grow your business, attract new talent, build a loyal customer base and give you the kind of online credibility you deserve.

If you’ve read this post and arrived at a place where outsourcing feels like a smart move, here’s a quick rundown of what Rallio can do for you. We have a range of different service levels, depending on how involved you want to be and what kind of budget you have.

Post hyper-local social media content and boost it
Create specific social media offers and events and boost them
Use artificial intelligence combined with science to help you decide what to boost and when as well as how much to spend
Respond to all your online reviews, comments and direct messages within 24 hours
Help you get additional new, positive reviews
Update your business listings across the web — this is critical during the pandemic when hours and business details can change on a dime
Help you create an employee advocacy program to get your team involved in creating and posting content
Inspire healthy competition among franchisees and team members with a leaderboard right on your dashboard
Give you both the technology and the people to be successful on social media

And that’s just the tip of the iceberg.

As Search Engine Journal points out, “To say social media management can be done by setting aside 1-2 hours a week is really quite hilarious. The time you invest in managing your brand’s social pages and image can’t be categorized into a lump one or few hour time period. It is something that requires constant attention and generally in small intervals.”

Remember, social media is just one aspect of your marketing — and it has the potential to help you be wildly successful. Keep your social media expectations in check, and let us figure out the real details so you can focus on doing what you do best: running a business.

Tags franchise social media, social media marketing