Tag: social media marketing

Before the new year rolls in, social media marketers are always trying to come up with new and creative ways to advertise their brands on social media. After all, this is the time of the year when everyone’s making New Year’s resolutions, and small businesses are no exception. As we get ready to ring in 2023, consider the following social media content ideas while putting together your content calendar for the new year — and set yourself and your business up for 12 months of social media success.

1. Behind-the-Scenes Content

• Go behind the scenes to show what it’s like to be a small-business owner. People want to know more about your life and how you run your business. Share challenges that you’ve faced, how you overcame them, and what the future holds for you in 2023.
• Show your office or retail space. Do you have an open-concept loft or a home office with pets roaming around? A studio space where people take classes? A retail shop where employees work hard to get everything just right before opening up for the day? Be sure to take a lot of photos and videos that showcase your space.
• Share what it’s like to work at your company through pictures and stories. It’s so important for companies to show their employees’ passion and dedication, especially when they’re all working toward the same goal.

2. Share a Project

• Share a project that your company has completed. A great way to start the new year is by looking back at all the projects you’ve finished in the last 12 months. You can share these on your social media channels to show how far you’ve come, and it may even inspire others who are stuck on something or feel like they aren’t making progress.
• Share a project that’s in progress. If you’re working on something in the new year, share a sneak peek! Whether it’s an upcoming event, a grand opening, or a seasonal product launch — sharing more about what’s happening will get your followers excited for what’s next.
• Share a project that’s special to you. What’s a project that’s near and dear to your heart? Show photos and caption them with your thoughts on what makes this project so special.

3. Feature a Team Member

• Highlight a team member’s accomplishments! Show the team member in action, either by taking photos of them doing what they do best or showcasing their skills through video. This will show your audience that you have great people working for you and that they are capable of producing results.
• If possible, include other members of the company in these posts as well so your fans can see how everyone works together as one unit to achieve success.

4. Introduce Your Community

• It’s all about the people. So why not show them off a little? Introducing your community to your social media audience is an excellent way to get people interested in your business.
• This can mean anything from sharing pictures of your employees, celebrating milestones for customers, or even just sharing information about what it’s like to work at your business.

Related: Holiday Content Ideas to Brighten Your Social Media Pages

5. Create a Special Offer

• One popular way to create a special offer is to make it exclusive only to your followers. Offer something that no one else can get, like a discount or a special deal.
• You can also offer something valuable that isn’t available anywhere else. If you’re selling T-shirts, maybe you can give away some limited-edition shirts if people share your post with friends and tag them in the post.

6. Post a Roundup of Good News

Posting about good news is a great way to show your followers that you’re an organization with heart. It’s also a great opportunity to highlight some of your employees’ work and what they’re doing for their communities.

7. Create an Infographic on a Timely Topic

Visual content is more likely to be shared on social media than text-based posts, so infographics are a great way to get your message across in an easy-to-digest format. Infographics can be especially useful if you’re trying to educate your audience or simply provide them with interesting facts about a relevant industry or topic.

8. Post a Listicle With Tips Based on What People Search on Google

People love lists — they make it easy to digest tips and information quickly and efficiently! Try coming up with tips related to your business, such as “10 ways to save money at home” for a money expert or “5 ways to get your kids to eat vegetables” for a nutrition coach.

9. Generate Guest Posts

If you have an industry expert willing to write a guest post for your blog, ask them! It’s an easy way to keep people coming back to see what they have written about, while also promoting their work.

10. Create How-To Content

People love learning how to do things, especially when it comes to social media. Create a simple how-to guide or video for your audience with step-by-step instructions on how to use your product or service.

These ideas can help you get your company in front of more people.

As we begin a new year, don’t be afraid to experiment with new styles or formats on social media. The more comfortable you become with trying new things, the better positioned you’ll be for success in 2023. The tips above should help you generate a healthy amount of social media content every week. And ultimately, these ideas will help you get more engagement on your social channels, grow your audience, and build your business.

Learn more: 120 Killer Social Media Content Ideas Your Audience Will Love [Infographic]

It’s that time of year when everyone is looking for inspiration for their social media posts. You’ve no doubt seen a lot of them already, with people sharing pictures of their Christmas trees, wishing one another happy holidays, and sharing their best Rudolph jokes. Unfortunately, people may start to grow weary of seeing the same kind os posts in their feeds. The good news is that there are plenty of fresh ideas you can use to brighten up your social media pages this season! Check out some of our favorite holiday content ideas below.

1. Holiday Quotes and Visuals

For a holiday-themed post, you can use quotes to inspire your audience. You can do this by using a quote that is directly related to the holiday or one that is relevant to your brand and/or audience.

If you are posting on Instagram, make sure the quote is visually pleasing and easy for people to read. Share it to your Story to help increase exposure.

2. Giveaways and Contests

Giveaways and contests are a great way to get people to engage with your brand by getting them excited about the chance to win something. They’re also a good way to incentivize people to purchase your products — even if they don’t win a prize. Simply offer a small discount to anyone who enters the giveaway to encourage more sales, while also promoting engagement with your social media pages.

Related: Quick Guide to Holiday Marketing on Social Media

3. Holiday-Themed Posts

Holiday-themed posts are a great way to engage your audience. Think about what type of holiday-themed content you would like to create; this can be something as simple as sharing a photo from your holiday party, or it could be more complex, like a video or a podcast episode focused on the holidays. As long as it’s authentic and locally focused, it’s likely to resonate with your audience.

4. Holiday-Related Articles, Blog Posts & Press Releases

Holiday-related articles, blog posts, and press releases are a great way to build trust with your audience, promote your brand, and boost SEO. Try writing a few how-to, inspirational, or holiday-themed posts (much like this one) to get your audience in the holiday spirit.

5. Holiday Tips and Tricks

What are some of your holiday hacks for avoiding the crowds, scouting out great deals, enjoying local light displays, or hanging Christmas lights? Create a post or a video with some of your favorite tips and tricks. Invite engagement by asking your audience to share theirs in the comments section.

6. Holiday E-Books

Holiday e-books that you give away as a free download can help to grow your email list for use in later marketing campaigns. Include a link to download the e-book in the post, as well as an excerpt from one or two chapters of what’s inside. You can also give away a free chapter of a longer book if it makes sense for your business.

7. Behind-the-Scenes Content

Have you ever wondered what goes on in the offices of your favorite brands? Customers love peeking behind the curtain, so give them a look at what it’s like to work for your company. Showcase employee culture with photos and videos showcasing office events or employee testimonials. Let customers see where everyone works together to get things done. Use this content to show off what makes your company a great place to work.

Make the holidays meaningful for your customers with these holiday content ideas.

Holiday content is a great way to make the holidays meaningful for your customers. Whether you’re a retailer, a service provider or in another industry, holiday content can help you build brand awareness and attract new customers. By adding some seasonal flair to your marketing strategy, you can boost sales and conversions while keeping your social media pages fresh and exciting.

With these holiday content ideas in mind, you’re ready to start brainstorming your own holiday posts! We hope this list has given you some inspiration for what to post on social media throughout the holiday season.

Social media is a great way for businesses to connect with their customers and build relationships, but it can also be a huge time-suck if you don’t know what you are doing.

In this post, we will show you how to run an easy social media audit that will help you identify opportunities for improvement in your social media presence.

How to Run Your Social Media Audit

Social media marketing is one of the most effective ways to reach potential customers and increase brand awareness. However, it can be difficult to determine whether social media efforts are actually paying off. To help businesses better track their performance, we’ve put together a free template that makes it easy to conduct a basic social media audit. Simply fill in the blanks and you’ll know exactly where your money is being spent.

The template includes sections such as:

• Audience demographics
• Content strategy
• Engagement metrics
• Keywords
• Performance tracking

What Exactly Is a Social Media Audit?

A social media audit helps you assess how well you are doing on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube, Pinterest, Snapchat, TikTok, and other channels. It consists of several different steps that you follow to evaluate the effectiveness of each channel. You’ll find out what works best for your audience, where there are gaps in coverage, and whether the channels are being used effectively.

Audit Sheets

The first step is to collect data about your current performance on each channel. This includes information such as impressions, engagements, reach, and demographic data.

Next, you’ll want to review your brand presence across each channel. This involves looking at the type of posts they’re sharing, the types of images they’re posting, and how many people are following them on each channel.

Finally, you’ll analyze the overall health of the channels. In particular, you’ll look at the number of likes, comments, shares, and retweets. You’ll also check to see if the channels are optimized for mobile devices.

You’ll use this information to make recommendations for improvement. For example, you might suggest that your client post more videos, add more images, and increase their follower count.

If you’re interested in learning more about how we conduct audits, please contact us here. We’d love to chat with you about our process.

Related: Spring Clean Your Social Media in 4 Easy Steps

Perform a Social Media Audit in 7 Simple Steps

Social media marketing is a great tool for businesses looking to improve their digital presence. However, it takes some work to make sure you are getting the most out of your efforts. Below, we show you how to perform a basic social media audit in seven simple steps.

Step 1: Set Up Your Spreadsheet

The first step is to set up a spreadsheet that tracks your social media activity. This could include things like follower count, likes/dislikes, comments, and shares.

To do this, launch a spreadsheet using Excel or Google Sheets. Add columns for each type of social network you use, such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and so on. Then, start adding rows where you will detail what happened on each day.

If you want to keep track of your performance over time, you can add another row every month. Once you have added your columns, you can start entering information into the cells.

Step 2: Assess Your Branding

If you’ve been running your social media campaigns without much thought, it’s probably time to sit down and think about how you can improve your overall online image. This includes your personal brand, your professional brand, and your offline brand.

Look over your profiles to identify opportunities for improvement. For example, review your LinkedIn profile and make sure it reflects who you really are. Take a look at your Facebook and Instagram profiles to make sure they still align with your brand. Scroll through previous posts; if there are any that no longer fit into your current marketing strategy, consider deleting or archiving them.

Take a look at your settings, too, and make sure that you’re following the guidelines of each network. Complete your bio and profile in full with your contact information, website, phone number, and other important details.

Finally, make sure that you’re keeping your profiles updated. Be sure to add relevant images and videos to your posts. If you haven’t added any new photos or videos to your profiles in quite some time, now is definitely the time to start adding some new material.

Step 3: Identify Your Top-Performing Social Media Content

Social media marketing is one of the most effective ways to connect with potential customers. But it takes time and effort to build up a following, especially if you are just starting out. One way to keep growing your audience is by finding out what works and what doesn’t work on social media.

With over 2 billion active monthly users, Facebook alone offers a wealth of insight into how people interact online. By looking at your top posts, you can find out what content performs best. In addition, you can look at similar posts and compare them to determine what content performs better. You can even use analytics tools to create custom reports and keep track of your progress over time.

Step 4: Evaluate Each Channel’s Performance

The most important question to ask yourself is “What am I trying to achieve?” If you’re looking to increase brand awareness, then Facebook is probably the best place to start. If you want to generate B2B leads, LinkedIn might be a good fit. You’ll also want to consider how much budget you have to spend on social media marketing.

If you don’t know where to begin, here are some questions to help you figure out where your audience spends their time online and where you can improve your efforts:

1. What platforms do my customers use?
2. How many people follow me?
3. Which networks send the most traffic to my site?
4. Where do my customers prefer to communicate with me?
5. Do my customers like to talk about products or brands?

Step 5: Understand Your Audience on Each Platform

Demographics help you understand where your audience is coming from and what they care about. You can use this information to build better marketing strategies, campaigns, and even advertising. It will also help you make decisions about where to spend your money. Follow these tips:

• Find out which types of audiences you’re attracting and where they come from. This lets you decide whether you want to focus on one platform over another.
• Make sure you know where to post your content on each platform. You don’t want to miss out on potential traffic.
• Keep track of how many people are talking about you online. This gives you insight into how much exposure you’ve received and how successful your efforts have been.

Step 6: Refresh Your Social Media Content on All Platforms

If you’re not posting consistently on the social media platforms where you have a presence, it will be difficult to engage and grow your audience. Keep in mind, you don’t always need to post something every day, but try to post at least a few times per week. Don’t worry too much about posting “perfectly.” Just make sure your content is relevant and engaging.

You should also take advantage of all the different features that each network has to offer. For example, Instagram and Facebook allow you to post Stories and go live in order to engage with your audience in different ways.

The key is consistency. One of the easiest ways to stay consistent is by creating a content calendar and using a platform like Rallio to schedule your content in advance. This way, you can simply focus on engaging with your audience and responding to their comments, questions, and reviews — all from one dashboard that you can access on our mobile app.

Step 7: Update Your Social Media Marketing Strategy Regularly

Social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram are great tools for businesses to connect with customers and prospects. But it takes constant effort to keep things running smoothly.

Also, each platform updates its algorithm from time to time, so what worked yesterday won’t necessarily work today. Staying on top of the trends ensures you never fall off the radar on social media.

While you don’t need to assess your performance every day, take stock of your current performance on each platform at least monthly. Which ones are delivering the most value? Think about how you can capitalize on your success from month to month and continue getting the most from each platform. Annually, look at the trends throughout the year so you can start each new year with the knowledge and tools you need to find continued success.

Ready to Conduct Your Social Media Audit?

Social media audits help you identify areas that need improvement, find out what people like about your brand, and uncover ways to increase engagement. You can use this information to measure success, evaluate campaigns, and make strategic decisions.

For more help getting the most out of your social media marketing strategy and improving your results, contact us at Rallio.

At the end of the day, social media marketing is all about getting more people to engage with your content — and that means it needs to be exciting enough for them to want to react to your posts and share them. The best way to do this is by creating engaging, interactive social media content. In this post, we go over 10 popular types of interactive social media content that get great engagement rates.

What Is Interactive Social Media Content?

Social media content is anything that people can share on social media. It can include text, images, links, video and audio. The content you create and publish on your own social media channels could also be shared on other people’s channels.

We can think of content types as falling into two broad categories: static and interactive. Static content refers to all of the assets in your digital portfolio that rarely change, such as your social media profile photos, bio, ebooks, or a pre-recorded webinar pinned at the top of your page. Interactive content is usually more complex and dynamic than static posts. It requires users to interact with the content — for instance, by playing games, taking a quiz, reacting to the post, entering contests, or signing up for newsletters/mailings/updates/alerts. The more they engage, the more they retain the information you are presenting.

Both types of content have their place in your social media marketing strategy. However, by definition, interactive content tends to win the war when it comes to getting an audience’s attention. In one Demand Gen survey, 91% said they prefer interactive and visual content over static material.

Your best bet is to get your static assets set up, revisit them from time to time to update them, and primarily focus on interactive content. Whether you want to introduce new products, increase your following, boost clicks to your website, generate more leads, or engage with your local community, interactive content can help you get there. Read on for 10 types of interactive content that will help you chip away at your goals.

1. User-Generated Content

User-generated content (UGC) is a great way to get your followers involved. A UGC campaign can be as simple as asking users to submit their favorite photos or videos, which you can then share on social media. You can also add a fun prize element to encourage participation. For example, if you want people to submit photos of their pets, offer the winner a year’s supply of dog food from your favorite brand.

Another option is running a contest where users are tasked with creating the best content for your brand or product. Winners could receive prizes such as gift cards, trips, or other items related to your business, such as branded T-shirts or other swag.

2. GIFs

GIFs are a great way to show emotion or convey a message in a fun and engaging way. They’re also popular on social media, which means that people are more likely to engage with them than other types of content. The best part about GIFs is that they’re easy and quick to create using a service like Giphy, making them an excellent option when you need something simple but effective.

3. Reviews

In the world of social media, reviews are one of the best ways to interact with your audience and let them know that you care about their opinions. However, it’s easy to simply ask for a review without following up after people leave them.

Responding to all of your reviews, both positive and negative, is one of the easiest ways to interact directly with your customers. If someone leaves a positive review, you can use it as an opportunity to thank your customer and share their feedback on social media through a graphically designed image. With negative reviews, you can respond to customer comments professionally and work to resolve problems. In many cases, following up with disgruntled customers helps to diffuse situations and even encourage repeat shopping in the future — even among casual observers who see these reviews online and your thoughtful follow-up.

4. Videos

Videos are an excellent way to engage your audience. You can use them in many ways, including:

• Introducing a new product or service. Shoot a quick video explaining your new offerings and why consumers should be excited about them.
• Explaining a complex concept. How-to videos, tutorials and explainers can help to break down complex concepts in a way that people can easily understand. These videos may start off as interactive content and later become static or evergreen content.
• Sharing a story. Tell the story behind your brand, your products, your family business, or anything else that humanizes your business.
• Promoting an event. Before, during and after an event, you can share the excitement about any events you are attending or a part of.

5. Q&As

Q&As are a great way to get people involved in your content. You can ask questions about anything you want and the answers will vary depending on who responds.

When creating a Q&A, think about what audiences would find useful or interesting. For example, if you’re selling a product or service, you could ask questions about how people use it and what they like most about it. If you’re in an industry where there are competitors providing similar products or services, asking questions that compare and contrast their offerings is another option for generating interest among potential customers.

You can also go live on different platforms to answer FAQ from your customers. Your audience will get notified that you’re going live and may be more likely to tune in than they would be if you just posted a video.

Related: 15 Social Media Content Ideas for Small Businesses

6. Challenges and Contests

Challenges and contests are a great way to get people to engage with your brand. You can use them to get people involved with your business and drive traffic to your website or social media channels.

With challenges, you can ask people to share photos of themselves using one of your products in a creative way. For example, you could create an online cooking contest where participants submit their best recipes on Facebook using one of your products as the main ingredient.

Contests are another great way to increase engagement around specific topics that relate to your business or product line. For example, if you sell shoes online, then consider hosting an Instagram contest where users post pictures or Stories showing different ways they wear a certain style of shoe from your store. You can then pick a random winner to receive a pair of shoes, and all participants could receive a discount code for a future purchase.

7. TikTok Duets

TikTok Duets allow you to post another content creator’s video side-by-side in a split screen as you react to their video. You can adjust your settings on TikTok to allow other creators to Duet your videos, too.

Duets are a fun way to give a nod to another creator’s content. They are also easy to create — someone else has already done the work to create the video, and all you need to do is react to it with your words and facial expressions. In fact, some creators build their entire accounts around Duets! Think of a chef who reacts to someone making a recipe, for example.

As a brand, be mindful of how you react to another creator’s content using Duets. Keep it kind and professional to avoid offending anyone, and you can easily start building your TikTok audience in this way.

8. “Behind the Scenes” Content

Behind-the-scenes content is a fantastic way to show your brand’s personality and can be a great way to differentiate yourself from other brands. You can showcase how you make your products, show your employees having fun, or highlight your team, your customers, and your community. You could even capture video footage of people working in their offices, throwing parties, or just simply enjoying life.

This type of content is also useful for building trust with your audience because it gives them a glimpse into what goes on behind closed doors at your company. This can lead viewers to feel like they’re in on some sort of secret or exclusive club — one that they want to stay a part of!

9. Polls and Twitter Threads

Polls are a great way to get people involved in your content. You can use them for everything from collecting data about how people feel about something, to just getting opinions on topics that are important to you and your brand.

For example, if you’re a restaurant owner with an online presence, asking fans what types of pizza they’d like to see on the menu might provide valuable information while also increasing engagement. On the other hand, if you run a clothing store and want feedback on which styles should be featured more prominently in the store’s window displays, you can ask followers “This or that?” questions. This will get them engaged without overwhelming them with options.

10. Blog Posts and Podcasts

The best content for social media is not always the most eye-catching. In fact, sometimes it’s the more bland stuff that gets the job done. Blog posts and podcasts are a great way to share your expertise and build authority in your niche. It’s also a great way to get people to subscribe to your channel if you have one. You can use these two types of content on virtually any platform: Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and more.

Interactive Social Media Content Wins the Engagement Game

When it comes to social media marketing and content, there are a lot of options out there. In fact, you could spend hours creating and curating different types of content that will help your business grow. But in the end, all these different types of interactive social media content have one thing in common: they get engagement.

The more engagement you get on your posts and other pieces of social media content, the more followers you’re going to gain. As you’ve seen in this blog post, there are many types of interactive social media content that can help drive more engagement from your audience and make them want to keep coming back for more.

When you’re thinking about taking photos or videos for your business, there are a lot of things to consider. Do you want to show people your product? Will you be using it in an ad or on your website? Are there any specific colors or themes you want to highlight? And when it comes to fall photos, you have even more options. The colors are so beautiful and warm — why not use them to promote your business? We’ve rounded up seven tips for better fall photos that will help you take stunning pictures for your social media pages and attract local business.

1. Use Natural Light

Natural light is the best kind of light because it’s free, easy to find, and, depending on the time of day, flattering for the subject of the photo. You don’t need expensive equipment or fancy lighting setups; just be creative with what you have available to you.

If you’re taking photos outside, try shooting in the morning or evening when the sun isn’t directly overhead or below your subject — this can make for shadows on faces. If you’re indoors, make sure that the light is shining in front of you, not behind. For example, film yourself while facing a window, not the other way around.

2. Highlight Your Community

You can take a picture of just about anything with fall in the background, but why not include some of the things that make your city unique? Think about what makes your community special, like the city hall or a landmark building. If possible, try to find an angle from which the building is prominent in the foreground of your photo.

The best part about this is that it doesn’t have to be a big city. There are many towns and small cities that have a lot of character and charm. If you live in a smaller town, use this as an opportunity to showcase what makes it unique.

3. Keep It Simple

Fall is the perfect time to experiment with different types of photography and techniques. It’s also a great time for creating more artistic images that reflect the season. However, if you want to create an image that will attract customers’ attention and make them want to follow you on social media, keep it simple.

Just because the leaves are changing and the weather is cooler doesn’t mean you have to get fancy with your photos. You can take great pictures with just a smartphone or point-and-shoot camera, along with unique angles and subject matter. For example, if you’re taking a photo of an apple tree at harvest time, try lying down on the ground so that you can get a close-up shot of one of its hanging fruits or the foliage above.

4. Feature Your Fall Favorites

The best way to show off your fall offerings is with a simple photo or video that showcases the product or service itself. This is a great opportunity to feature your business’s fall favorites such as unique products or services, along with special fall promotions.

For example, if you own a bakery, show off some of the seasonal treats you’re offering such as pumpkin pie, apple cider donuts, gingerbread cookies and more.

If you’re a florist, feature some beautiful fall flowers like mums, chrysanthemums and sunflowers. Or if you own a clothing boutique or accessory store, bring out all the scarves, hats and gloves that are perfect for this time of year.

Service-oriented businesses can take before-and-after photos featuring their work or how-to videos explaining how to DIY a project. Adding value to your followers’ feeds ensures they will keep coming back to see your content, helping you increase your engagement and reach.

Related: 7 Proven Video Content Ideas Guaranteed to Liven Up Your Social Media

5. Go Behind the Scenes

Show your followers what it’s like to run a business by including images of employees at work or behind-the-scenes shots of how your products are made or delivered to customers. Make sure there’s something interesting going on in the shot; if all you’re showing are a few products on a shelf, it doesn’t make for a compelling image — instead, try including a customer or an employee in the photo.

These photos come across as more authentic and help to build credibility among your followers. When they see that there’s a real human behind the face of the business, they can begin to connect with you on a more personal level. This is great for local business — and for building your brand on social media.

6. Use Props Sparingly

Fall is a great time for using props — think trees, pumpkins, leaves and anything that will bring out the colors in your photos while still staying true to the season’s theme. Just make sure not to overdo it with too many props or things that don’t fit with your brand; it will just look cluttered and messy. A good rule of thumb is to find things that are already in nature and use them as your backdrop. For example:

Leaves

This is an obvious choice for fall photos because it’s such a popular season for getting outside and enjoying nature. Fall leaves are bright and colorful — just like your business’s social media pages should be! Use them as filler or fill up an entire photo with them to create a cohesive theme.

Pumpkins

If you’re looking for something more festive than just leaves, pumpkins are a great option. From carved pumpkins to fresh ones with stems attached, there’s nothing wrong with having too many pumpkins around when you’re shooting.

Local Trails or Vistas

Have any favorite trailheads or lookout points nearby? Head out with a few co-workers, friends or family members to capture scenes of nature and share them with your followers.

7. Plan Ahead

Be sure to plan ahead so you can take advantage of photo opportunities at local community events, fall festivals, and other local happenings. Are there opportunities to set up a table and conduct some local marketing? Many organizations will let you set up for free or for a small vendor fee.

Remember to mark these events down on your calendar, and be sure to get permission to film at the event or photograph attendees if needed. The Rallio mobile app includes a release form that people can digitally sign and give you instant permission to share on social media. Don’t forget to ask for their Instagram handle so you can tag them — and, hopefully, they’ll share your content with their network, too.

Better Fall Photos Mean More Engagement

From real pumpkins and corn stalks to fall music festivals, there are plenty of ways for you to incorporate the sights and sounds of autumn into your social media photos. With the help of a few props and the right location, you can capture the fun of fall and share it with your followers.

Plus, with better photos, you’ll have better engagement, helping you grow your local business. In the end, you don’t need to invest in a lot of new props or equipment to take better fall photos. With just a few unique items here and there, you can boost your engagement on social media without spending a ton of money. And that’s empowering, especially when it comes to boosting your local business.

If you’re like most small businesses, your social media marketing is hit or miss. You probably have more work to do than you think. And social media is a marathon, not a sprint, so results don’t come lightning quick.

Tired of spending hours on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and LinkedIn trying to be a social superstar only to get lost in the clutter? Want to solve your marketing problems that revolve around social media? Then our free 12-Day Social Media Plan is just what you need. 

Day 1: Establish goals

Social media marketing is a great way to build your business and engage with your customers. But if you don’t have a clear strategy, it can be difficult to measure the success of your efforts. That’s why the first step toward transforming your strategy is establishing clear social marketing goals. Here are several examples of goals you can set:

• Raise brand awareness and engagement
• Generate and nurture leads
• Increase product sales
• Boost traffic to your website
• Increase followers on social media
• Increase customer engagement and loyalty
• Establish brand authority and trust
• Enhance the customer experience

Once you’ve defined your goals, you can use them to drive your content production, ensuring that all your posts support the goals you’ve defined. 

Day 2: Define success metrics

How will you measure the success of your social efforts? Decide which metrics you will use to determine whether your strategy is working to support your goals. Consider owned, paid, and earned media as you define these metrics; all three are important elements of your strategy.

For example, you can use audience engagement metrics as an indication of whether you’re making progress on a goal of increasing brand engagement. You could choose to track engagement over a period of time, such as over a month or a quarter, to see your progress.

Day 3: List out your challenges

What challenges are you facing when it comes to social media marketing? Whatever barriers are in your way, write them all down. This could be anything that’s keeping you from making an impact with your social content. Examples of obstacles could be:

• Having time or resources to post consistently
• Lack of engagement on posts
• Drop in organic and/or paid reach
• Trying to align social with other parts of your business
• Inability to get quality leads
• Lack of ROI or understanding of how to measure ROI

Learn more: 5 Social Media Challenges Brands Are Facing in 2022

Day 4: Brainstorm

Take your list of challenges, and start brainstorming solutions to all of them. Get out a big whiteboard, gather your team together, and list every possible solution you can think of to the problems you are facing with your social media marketing. Be sure to consider how each solution will address the challenge and what the end result will be.

For example, one solution to a lack of time to post consistently would be to dedicate an in-house resource to posting, either by hiring a social media manager or adding tasks to someone’s workload. Another option is to use technology like Rallio’s scheduling platform to streamline the work; you can also outsource the work of creating content. Compare costs and potential benefits of any possible solutions to find what works best for you.

Learn more: www.rallio.com 

Day 5: Conduct a competitive analysis

When you’re working to build your brand on social media, it’s important to know what your competitors are up to. A social media competitive analysis will help you see how you stack up against them and identify opportunities to get ahead.

The purpose of a social media competitive analysis is to reveal both your strengths and weaknesses on social platforms, as compared to your top competitors. You can use your social media competitive analysis to: 

• Identify your primary competitors on social media
• See which platforms they’re on and how they’re using them
• Stack-rank yourself against your competitors
• Do more of what’s working well in terms of content, ads and lead generation
• Determine any threats to your business on social media, i.e., any potential ways your competitors might outperform you
• Eliminate underperforming content and ads
• Add in new content and strategies to strengthen your position on social media

See our five-step process to complete your analysis: How to Conduct a Social Media Competitive Analysis in 5 Easy Steps

Day 6: Conduct a SWOT analysis

It’s easy enough to set up your social media pages and put a checkmark next to that box on your to-do list. What’s not so easy for busy entrepreneurs is keeping up with posting, engaging with their audience, boosting their content, and responding to followers’ questions and reviews.

To avoid falling into a “set it and forget it” mindset, we recommend performing a social media SWOT analysis — identifying strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats. Walking yourself through this process will help you stay sharp on social media and amplify your results.

With a social media SWOT analysis, you’re able to analyze your social media marketing strategy based on four quadrants: 

• Strengths: What are you doing right on social media? What are your competitive advantages, and how well are you conveying them?
• Weaknesses: What factors might be holding you back on social media? Do you lack internal resources, budget or time?
• Opportunities: What do you stand to gain on social media? Is it new followers, greater engagement, new leads, brand awareness?
• Threats: What are some of the external forces that could hinder your progress on social media, such as competitors or economic factors? 

Read our guide: How to Do a Social Media SWOT Analysis and Amplify Your Results

Day 7: Do an audit on your content

Don’t get intimidated by the word “audit.” The idea is simply to identify which content performs the best and worst.

Using a spreadsheet — Google Sheets works well — create columns for the following: 

• The platform and URL for each platform you’re auditing
• Follower counts for each account
• Engagement metrics for each account
• URL or screenshot of popular content
• URL or screenshot of anything that’s a dud
• Any other relevant info you want to know

Neil Patel’s social media audit guidelines are an excellent resource for taking a closer look at all aspects of your social media so you can make improvements where needed.

Day 8: Spruce up your social profiles

Although the content you post on your page is important, don’t neglect the real estate available right on your page. Things like your profile picture, bio and contact information are important to include so you make it easy for people to see who you are and what you’re all about as well as locate your business. Check the following to ensure your profiles are optimized:

• Use a consistent profile picture across social accounts, such as your logo. This makes you easy to recognize no matter what platform your audience is on.
• Complete all sections of your profile. Fill out every available field, including your website and address. The more details you offer, the easier it is for people to understand what you do.
• Include keywords and hashtags. Conduct keyword and hashtag research to identify the words and phrases you want to be associated with as people search conversations, products and services related to your brand.

Day 9: Find your target buyer

In order to advertise on social media, which you should if you want to reach more people, you’ll need to identify your ideal buyer persona, including information such as:

• Demographics
• Career
• Lifestyle
• Hobbies and interests
• Purchase behaviors
• Buying power
• Pain points (aka problems you can solve for them)

Day 10: Respond to everyone

As you start posting quality local content featuring real, authentic people from your business, and as you start advertising on social media, you are bound to get more comments, questions, messages and reviews. This is a good thing! But you need to make sure you are responding to everyone. Whether you’re thanking people for supporting you, responding to an online review, or simply having a conversation with customers in the comments, it shows people you’re listening and care about your customers when you engage with them.

The flip side is not engaging or responding, and people don’t care for that. If you don’t engage or respond to customer concerns or praise, it’s like ignoring them when they’re knocking on your door.

Day 11: Select content types

Thinking about the buyer persona you created, you can consider the types of content you think your audience would enjoy. From how-to videos to inspirational quotes, there are many different types of content you can post to start engaging more with your audience. 

To make sure you have a good mix of content types, try alternating content types on different days. For instance, maybe on Mondays you post #mondaymotivation posts, and on Thursdays you post #thirstyThursday posts when your team goes to happy hour. Here are some possible content types to consider:

• Memes and GIFs
• Infographics
• How-to videos and articles
• Polls
• Contests
• User-generated content
• Real-life photos of your team members and customers
• Pet photos

From there, you can create an editorial content calendar that lays out all of your different content types for the month. Rallio has a built-in calendar tool to make it easy to schedule all of your content for the month and keep it organized. Aim to post at least three times a week for the best results.

Day 12: Review your social media plan and results

The only way to improve your social media is to review past performance. Use the metrics you defined above to measure how your campaigns are doing, which posts are the most popular, and how and when your audience is the most engaged. The more informed you are, the more you can refine and improve your social media plan as you go.

By now, you should have the basic tools you need to tackle your social media marketing.  Follow the steps each day to get the results you want from your social media campaigns — specifically, more leads, more sales, and more followers. Once you’ve developed your own strategy, we think you’ll find that you see better performance from your social media efforts than ever before.

With the rise of social media, we have seen an increase in the number of brands building their own voice in a crowded space. One of the most effective methods of establishing your unique identity is through brand storytelling, the practice of sharing your values, background, and reasons for doing what you do. By telling a brand story in a relatable and engaging way, brands can build a loyal following that engages with their content and is more likely to take the next step in the customer journey. This guide will help you understand the basics of brand storytelling and discover the power behind it for your brand.

What Is Brand Storytelling?

We live in a world where we are constantly bombarded by content. For brands to survive in this environment, they need to find ways to stand out from the crowd. Brands are doing this by creating real connections through storytelling that conveys who they are as a company, what they stand for, and what value they add to people’s lives. 

The power of storytelling lies in its ability to inspire us to take action or change our beliefs or behaviors, but it also can be used as a way to express your brand’s core values. The best brands use their stories to build long-lasting relationships with their customers by creating meaningful experiences for them.

It’s not just about telling your story; it’s about how you tell it — and how you use it to connect with people. Companies that use brand storytelling effectively are able to establish emotional connections with people based on the values they share with them, helping to foster a relationship between brand and customer. Here are five ways innovative companies are using brand storytelling to fuel growth.

Related: 4 Huge Reasons to Start Storytelling on Social Media

1. They understand the value of empathy

Consumers want brands to be more empathetic when interacting with them online — even if they’re just shopping for something as simple as coffee mugs or socks. They want to feel like individuals whose voices are heart, not faceless customers. And because many customers use social media as a customer service channel — via comments, reviews, and DMs — it’s imperative that brands respond to them. Having a dashboard like Rallio that pulls all your customer engagements into one inbox makes the process simple, so you never miss an interaction with a customer and a chance to make their day.

2. They use narrative techniques

From the hero’s journey to the three-act structure, there are many different narrative techniques that brands can employ to tell their stories. These are the kinds of narratives that have been around since the beginning of time, and for good reason: They resonate with audiences and help them to remember a story from start to finish. 

Other writing mechanisms can come into play for a well-rounded story, including anecdotes and metaphors, fairy tales, legends, and any other tools that resonate with you personally. Don’t get too caught up in the technique at the expense of sharing your story authentically; just write what you know as though you are sharing a story with a friend, which leads us to #3 below.

3. They’re authentic

The most compelling brand stories come from a place of authenticity. When you’re creating a brand story, you have to be honest about who you are and what you stand for. This allows your customers to connect with you on a deeper level.

The best brands don’t just talk about themselves, too — they share their story. When people see the real behind-the-scenes moments that led up to the creation of a product or service, they can relate to it in a way that’s real and authentic.

Not only do these stories help build trust between your brand and customers, but they also showcase how much time and effort goes into each product or service. This can lead to greater customer loyalty over time as people get to know your brand on a more personal level.

4. They make it a collaborative effort

Effective brand stories facilitate a connection between the audience and the brand — even making followers a part of the narrative. Getting audience input, interacting with followers via comments and DMs, and sharing user-generated content helps to build a bridge between brand and follower.

Ultimately, your audience needs to feel like they are part of your brand story — not just another follower on your page. They should feel like they are part of something bigger than themselves; that their contribution matters; that they have an impact on what happens next; and that their voice matters in shaping the future of your company, product or service.

Before you start crafting your messages, take some time to dig deep into who your audience is — what makes them tick? What are their values? What do they find important? What makes them laugh? What makes them cry? By getting inside their heads first, you can tailor your messaging with more accuracy.

5. They tailor messaging

When telling your brand story on social media, you can’t simply write it once and post it on every platform. For example, when you’re publishing on Facebook, your posts might include links to your blog, but on Instagram, you need to tell more of a visual story. Tailoring your message for each platform ensures you are reaching your followers where they’re at and seeing what’s relevant to them based on their interests and the networks they follow. With the Rallio platform, you can create different versions of your posts and schedule them out from one place instead of having to log in to each platform to do so.

Related: Content Marketing 101: Engage Your Audience With Great Storytelling

Conclusion

Great storytelling isn’t just for sitting around a campfire; it’s what allows your brand to stand out on social media and build relationships with your audience. The more you use storytelling, the better you’ll get at it — so dive in today! Check with the experts at Rallio about how to use our platform to streamline the process, saving you time and money and helping you tell your brand story both now and in the future. 

If we’ve learned anything over the past couple of years, it’s that social media is critical to the success of local businesses, creators, and influencers. Yet at the same time, some brands may struggle to find the right strategies for connecting with and influencing their audiences. If that sounds like you, fear not! We’ve put together this toolkit to help anyone from startups to enterprise-level decision makers ramp up their social media success, both now and in the not-so-distant future.

What’s Inside

• How to: Create Engaging Local Content
• Tips: Provide Outstanding Customer Service on Social Media
• Checklist: Find the Right Content Mix for Your Brand
• Video: Increase Exposure With Both Paid and Organic Posts
• Tool: Get Organized With the Rallio Dashboard 

How to: Create Engaging Local Content

You may already know that people are more likely to make purchases from companies they feel are relatable. That’s why it’s so important that your social media marketing strategy includes local content. If you’re not posting local content on your social media pages, you’re missing out on opportunities to connect with your audience, build trust, increase leads, and ultimately boost your sales.

While it might sound complicated to create local content, it’s quite simple. The steps look something like this:

1. Snap a photo of someone or something in your store, at home, or behind the scenes of your business. You can also film a short video.
2. Upload it to your social media channels of choice. We recommend, at a minimum, posting on Facebook and Instagram for B2C businesses and including LinkedIn and Twitter if you’re looking to develop B2B and professional relationships.
3. Add a caption. Tell your audience what’s going on in the photo or video. Add hashtags when posting on Instagram. Tag other people and/or businesses to increase exposure.
4. Post your photo or video. You’re almost done!
5. Go back later and check your post analytics to see how it performed. Make any tweaks as needed to the content. Boost at least one post per week to increase its reach.

Here are some ideas for engaging local content:

• Create posts based on calendar events, such as holidays and national celebrations
• Share relevant news stories and blog posts on Facebook
• Post pictures and videos of your products in use
• Link to stories about others in your industry
• Show “before and after” photos if your business lends itself to that type of content

Tips: Provide Outstanding Customer Service on Social Media

Social media has become the go-to place for people to share their experiences and get feedback from others. If you’re a business, you must monitor your social media channels for customer service opportunities.

When a customer has an issue with your product or service, they may be more likely to reach out on social media than to call the company directly or submit a complaint through its website. Here are some tips for providing outstanding customer service on social media:

• Be responsive. As soon as you see a question or comment from a customer, respond to them as quickly as possible. The faster you respond, the better the odds they’ll be satisfied with your response and won’t escalate their complaint any further.
• Be helpful and proactive. Your ability to help customers goes beyond just answering their questions; sometimes it means anticipating their needs before they even ask for them! For example, offer to credit their account with $10 for their troubles.
• Respond to positive comments and reviews, too. This shows you’re listening and you’re grateful for your customers.
• Use technology to help you manage the process. Rallio’s dashboard pulls in comments and reviews and allows you to respond to them directly.

Related: Responding to Online Reviews in 3 Easy Steps

Checklist: Create a Balanced Mix of Content for Your Brand

Your social media content mix is the combination of different types of posts you share on your social profiles. It’s important to have a good balance to reach your audience with the right type of content at the right time. To create a balanced mix, make sure you’ve checked off the items on this list so you know what type of customer you’re trying to reach. This list will also help you with creating targeted ads.

  Identify audience demographics such as age range and geographic location

 Develop messaging that this audience will find relatable and authentic

 Determine which social media platforms your audience uses the most

 Take photos throughout your location of team members, customers, products, etc.

 Film four or five short videos to use throughout the month 

 Gather customer testimonials

 Create a content calendar that includes key holidays and events

 Identify two dates per month when you will go “live” with your audience

 Create four different Instagram Reels and/or Stories

 Curate four different inspirational quotes that will resonate with your audience

Here are some questions to ask yourself as you go through the checklist:

• What are your business goals?
• What do you want people to do after they see your post — i.e., what’s your call to action? Buy something? Sign up for a newsletter? Share it on their profiles? Whatever it is, make sure this is clear in every piece of content you create so that you can measure success.
• Are there any key performance indicators (KPIs) you’d like to use to evaluate success?
• Is there someone on your team you can rely on to be a dedicated social media manager, or do you need to outsource your social media management? At a minimum, having someone who can take photos will help you stay on track.

Tool: Get Organized With the Rallio Dashboard

Rallio’s social media dashboard is a great tool for managing your business’s social media accounts. The dashboard allows you to schedule posts across platforms, view analytics, engage employees in advocacy, respond to reviews and comments, and monitor what’s going on with your brand — all with a single login. Easily monitor your follower growth and engagement rates, as well as view detailed analytics for each post. If your business has multiple locations, Rallio allows you to schedule and syndicate content across locations.

Our dashboard is a powerful tool that helps you get organized with your social media marketing and can help you uplevel your efforts. You’ll spend less time trying to organize your efforts, leaving you more time to engage with your followers, and focus on your business. Here’s how:

• Activate Rallio’s Local Tech and Local Team to ignite the engagement of your local pages. 
• Engage REVV, our reputation management app, to add massive numbers of positive reviews to your online reputation. 
• Finally, use our local listings management solution to maintain consistent location data across the web and give Google confidence to list your locations at the top of the search results.

It’s the ultimate solution to maximize your local social media engagement and improve your local search results. Ask us about the details, bundled pricing solutions, and case studies to prove the measurable results.

Video: Increase Exposure With Both Paid and Organic Posts

There are two main ways to increase your exposure on social media: paid and organic posts. What’s the difference between the two? Organic posts are posts that are shared by users who see your post and decide they like it enough to engage with it or share it with their friends or followers. Paid posts are ads that pop up on someone’s screen when they’re browsing Facebook or Instagram and may include both boosted and sponsored posts.

Paid Posts

Paid posts are the easiest way to get more exposure for your business on social media. You have two options when purchasing paid posts: boosted posts and ads. A boosted post is simply a regular post for which you pay to increase its exposure, while an ad is a completely separate piece of content that uniquely promotes your brand and requires an Ads Manager account connected with your business page. Both can be used to promote your business and website, but they’re different enough that you should consider using both if possible.

Organic Posts

Organic posts are free but take a lot more time and effort to create than boosted posts do. However, they can help build credibility with followers by showing them that you care about their interests and opinions — even if they don’t always respond or share what you post. You can also increase your reach with organic posts by engaging employee advocates; Rallio enables you to provide limited logins to employees on your team so they can upload and share more content.

Start Using Your Toolkit Today

The future of social media is interwoven into the fabric of our society and will continue to grow and expand. As such, you must investigate and adopt new tools and tactics to keep up with these changes. Social media marketing requires that you become a curator for all social networks, using social listening and insights to keep current, enhancing your content with multimedia and live-streaming, as well as engaging your customers in fresh ways. Hopefully, this toolkit has provided you with some practical tips for getting the most out of your social media engagement and taking your marketing to the next level.