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Twitter suspended your account? Here’s what to do

Stop me if you’ve heard this one before: You’re humming along consistently with your social media postings, and all of a sudden one day you hit a speed bump. Maybe you get a terrible review from a customer; maybe you forgot your login information.

Or maybe you discover your entire Twitter account has been suspended.

via GIPHY

It could happen to you

Thousands of locations utilize the Rallio platform daily for social publishing without any problems. However, Twitter is making a big push for accounts to publish custom, individualized content. Why? Twitter, in its efforts to crack down on the pervasive issue of bots and spam, is using duplicate content to help identify potential spam accounts. Unfortunately, it also flags legitimate accounts in that process.

[bctt tweet=”Twitter is making a big push for accounts to publish custom, individualized content. #accountsuspended” username=”rallioHQ”]

Twitter states: “Most of the accounts we suspend are suspended because they are spammy, or just plain fake, and they introduce security risks for Twitter and all of our users. These types of accounts are against our Twitter Rules. Unfortunately, sometimes a real person’s account gets suspended by mistake, and in those cases we’ll work with the person to make sure the account is unsuspended.”

There are many different reasons an account can be suspended. Today we are focusing on our multi-location clients who utilize the Rallio platform to syndicate content out to multiple locations. When the same post is distributed across many locations, it can start to look like spam in the Twitter world.

[bctt tweet=”When the same post is distributed across many locations, it can start to look like spam in the Twitter world. #spam” username=”rallioHQ”]

As per Twitter’s terms, one of the factors that Twitter takes into account when determining what conduct is considered to be spamming includes the following: “If you post duplicative or substantially similar content, replies, or mentions over multiple accounts or multiple duplicate updates on one account, or create duplicate or substantially similar accounts.”

What to do if your account is suspended

Twitter may prevent you from tweeting for a specific period of time, or ask you to verify certain information about yourself before you may proceed. If your account becomes locked for security purposes or because it may have violated Twitter’s rules, walk through the steps that apply to you in this link. For suspended accounts, Twitter states: “We may ask you to complete certain actions before we start the countdown on your limited state. These actions may include verifying your email address, adding a phone number to your account, or deleting Tweets that are in violation of our rules.”

If you are cannot get your account unsuspended using the steps above, you may appeal the decision. Log in to the suspended account, and then open a new browser tab and file an appeal.

Additional resources

  • Click here for the complete guide to managing your suspended Twitter account.
  • Click here for the complete rules and policies for publishing content on Twitter.
  • Read a description of local content in this post I wrote earlier this year so you can begin publishing custom content that doesn’t look like spam.

Reach out to us at support@www.rallio.com if you’re a current account holder in need of assistance with your social media platforms or if you need ideas of ways to manage and grow your local presence. We’re here to help!

About Rallio

Did you know Rallio was recently ranked as a top franchise supplier by Entrepreneur magazine? In a first-ever ranking of companies that provide franchise support services, Rallio has been named a top supplier for franchises in 2018. The inaugural franchise supplier ranking identifies companies that provide behind-the-scenes support for franchisors and their franchisees in each of seven different categories. Rallio landed in the Marketing category as a top supplier of social media marketing and reputation management services among other companies that provide all types of marketing support.

See the ranking here.

Rallio is more than a social media management technology. It’s a smarter, simpler way for brands to maximize social marketing efforts. Rallio technology provides a complete social media ecosystem allowing manufacturers, corporate brands and their locations, employees and customers to build a local community, share experiences and drive local business. The Rallio Local division also provides agency-style support services to help franchise locations manage their online reviews, advertise on social platforms, and grow their social media following.

 

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Not responding to your online reviews & engagements? You need to read this

One of the divisions at Rallio is called Rallio Local, wherein our customers entrust our team with managing their Facebook ad campaigns, as well as responding to their social media engagements and any online reviews that appear on Google and Facebook. I happen to be the person in charge of the “inbox/review monitoring” portion of things, so my team and I see all of the social comments and reviews that get dumped into each client’s “inbox” on our platform.

We always let our clients know when there’s a review in need of their attention so they can address it personally. Whether it’s a positive or negative review, it’s important that a customer feels heard. An owner’s response to a review has the ability to generate trust in a brand. So, let’s say Sally leaves a glowing review but no one ever says “thank you” to her for taking the time to leave feedback. Or maybe Sally leaves a negative review and no one ever takes the time to acknowledge and resolve the complaint. Either way, it reflects poorly on the business.

It’s About Reputation

Both of the above scenarios contribute to a brand’s reputation either positively or negatively. Here’s an example of a review response for one of our Rallio clients, Pet Supplies Plus. As you can see, the review was positive, but we still recommend posting a reply to say “thanks” for the review.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

On the other hand, it’s not uncommon for a customer to write something negative (or even outlandish) about a location that leaves the owner feeling baffled about what may or may not have happened to cause this customer to leave such a review. In the below review (names withheld for privacy), my team reached out to the owner to ask how he’d like to respond.

Oftentimes, the owners ask us how we recommend they respond to these types of reviews. I always recommend that owners stay professional, courteous and matter-of-fact when responding to negative reviews. Sometimes we’ll write the response for them or help them polish up their response prior to posting.

In this case, the owner took some time to talk with his technician and then got back to me, and we worked together to craft the response you see above. It’s fact-based and respectful, and it offers to resolve the issue in a way that goes above and beyond expectations. Although I do not know the outcome of this issue at this time, it shows good business practices for this customer as well as anyone who happens to come across this review.

What About Former Employees?

In other cases, an oddity will pop up where a disgruntled former employee decides to unleash their venom via an online review. This is a trickier situation because each platform handles these situations differently.

On Facebook, anyone can report a review, but that doesn’t mean Facebook will take it down. On Google and Yelp, there are more checks and balances that give owners some recourse to try and have the review removed. For example, Google‘s policies disallow the posting of content about a current or former employment experience. You are able to flag the review by following the steps outlined here.

Take It Case By Case

Each review is going to be different, and your responses should be just as unique depending on the situation. If you’re unclear on how to handle a review, feel free to reach out to us at support@www.rallio.com and we’ll be more than happy to assist!

 

 

 

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Content Marketing Social Uncategorized

Social media best practices: What is local content?

With Rallio’s recent launch of the Rallio Local division, we’ve created an in-house agency that helps our clients create and execute a local content strategy on Facebook and other social media platforms. One question that comes up frequently is what exactly local content is and why it matters. If you’re asking that question for your own business, today’s post will help you learn what types of content will get you the best results on social media.

The algorithm

Social media is increasingly shifting its focus in favor of local businesses, with Facebook leading the way in terms of how its algorithm serves up content to various audiences. The right type of content, combined with targeted ads, allows businesses to reach customers in their local area, especially those who are using their mobile devices to find businesses in their communities. In addition, the rise of platforms such as Yelp and Google reviews has made it essential that businesses have a local content strategy to reach the people who are likely to do business with them or buy their products or services.

So what is the right type of content? Encourage your visitors and followers to stick around and become a part of your online community by including the following in your social media posts.

Real-life photos from your office and staff

Include not only special events such as birthdays and holiday celebrations, but also simple “day in the life” photos showing what happens in your office. Here’s a post from one of our Rallio Local clients, Pet Supplies Plus Greenfield, with a cute picture of a dog and a great caption:

Spotlights about a star employee or customer

Give props to an employee of the month. Include a photo along with a caption explaining why they rock! You can also highlight customer testimonials and thank customers for their business, feature before and after photos if that makes sense for your business, or simply feature a repeat customer who brightens your day. Here’s a post one of local clients, Pure Barre Anaheim Hills, created to feature a customer testimonial and which we boosted with ad dollars. To date, the post has reached 645 people and has earned 28 likes and loves.

Pointed questions that elicit comments, likes and shares

A question like “Would you rather sleep in on a Saturday or get up and go for a hike?” will get more responses than “Do you like hiking?” You know how they say you have to ask for the sale? The same is true for comments. Quite literally, you can say “Comment below with your response” and it will be more likely to earn engagement.

Videos

Explain a how-to topic, offer helpful information, or feature an interesting aspect of your business or the people behind it. People love to watch short videos and often will watch those as opposed to reading a lengthy post on a topic.

Meat and potatoes

Infographics, blog posts and guides on topics your audience wants to know about are the backbone of your business, the “meat and potatoes” if you will. Prove you’re the guru in your field by creating assets that show off your expertise.

Promotions

Include only occasional posts about current promotions and contests. Stick to the 80/20 formula where just 20 percent of your content promotes your brand and the other 80 percent is dedicated to topics that interest your audience and engage them in conversations. Here’s an example from the same Pure Barre client where they do a nice job of including promotional details within the caption of an inspirational post describing the studio’s “20 in 31 class challenge.”

In general, posts that include more personalized information about your location tend to perform better than general posts. They are more aligned with Facebook’s current algorithm, thus improving your overall reach. If you need a hand creating your local content strategy, click over to Rallio Local.

To learn more about the recent Facebook algorithm change, see this article.

 

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Social

Friday 5 Weekly Social Media Tips: Social ROI and the Marketing Ecosystem

Welcome to the first edition of the Friday 5, a weekly look at important things to know in the world of social media marketing. Today, our Director of Business Development, Avery McCaslin, offers deeper insight into how different marketing channels work in conjunction to improve your overall return on marketing investment. Happy Friday, all!

Social ROI and the Marketing Ecosystem

What are your favorite marketing mediums, and how do you use them together for the greatest return?

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Branding Content Marketing Uncategorized

What Facebook’s Algorithm Changes Mean for Brands

If you read about the most recent changes to Facebook’s algorithm, then you might be wondering how the changes affect brands. As a social media and reputation management firm, Rallio always strives to help brands optimize their online presence and their advertising budgets. So if you’re in full-on panic mode, we’re here to tell you that these changes are not cause for alarm …

IF YOU ARE PUTTING AD DOLLARS BEHIND YOUR FACEBOOK CONTENT.

Pardon me. I don’t mean to yell. But it’s so important to understand that Facebook is a pay-to-play platform where if you want to have any kind of significant impact among your target audience, you need to pay to get in front of them.

If you find it difficult to wrap your head around this concept, think about it in terms of print advertising. Leaf through a magazine, and you see that the nicest, largest, glossiest ads at the front and back of the book. These are the big-money ads. The tiny little classifieds are small and hard to find because the advertisers didn’t pay as much for them.

And those that didn’t pay … well, do you even see them anywhere? Of course not, because nobody expects something for nothing. Or do they?

There are still brands out there that believe they can put up a Facebook page, post content and get it seen without ever paying a dime for advertising. Of course, there’s still something to be said for organic reach in terms of how your audience interacts with your content, particularly with Facebook’s new (or renewed?) emphasis on putting content in newsfeeds that’s community-oriented and focused on engagement among friends and family.

However, there’s an opportunity here for a powerful combination of paid posts and local engagement, one that we at Rallio are already using to help brands.

But Facebook stock dropped. What does it mean? 

It’s true that Facebook stock dropped 5 percent with the news of its algorithm change, because people are worried that some ad revenue will decrease. And, it probably will. However, it’s not going away, and shareholders will demand it doesn’t decrease too drastically.

What we stress with our clients is that we need to be continually considering ways to convert “business” posts into “personal” posts. That is, once a brand gets engagement on a post, that interaction can be seen by others and the content is now falling under the consumer newsfeed algorithm and isn’t simply viewed by Facebook as a business post. The same is true with check-ins: When a consumer checks in to a business via Facebook, it can create great organic reach.

[bctt tweet=”Brands have a tremendous opportunity to capitalize on Facebook’s algorithm changes. Let the others leave, and you step in to reach more and more of your target audience and boost your visibility on the platform! #FacebookAlgorithm” username=”rallioHQ”]

So in actuality, brands have a tremendous opportunity to capitalize on Facebook’s algorithm changes. Let the others leave, and you step in to reach more and more of your target audience and boost your visibility on the platform!

The key is creating the kind of quality content that earns your customers’ comments, likes and shares as opposed to blatantly asking for them. Consider the words of Yuyu Chen in this Digiday article: “For starters, brands have treated Facebook like a pay-to-play platform for a long time, and Facebook said the new algorithm won’t affect paid posts on the platform, although CPM rates for Facebook ads may eventually increase, according to agency executives. However, they think the new Facebook algorithm will filter out clickbait-style promotions (‘Like our product if you think this dog is cute’), which will pressure brands to create more meaningful content over the long term.”
At Rallio, we’ve always stressed the importance of creating quality, relevant content that isn’t overly promotional or “me”-centric. Shift your focus to what your audience cares about, and you’ve got a whole world of opportunity as an advertiser. Do you want to be visible, engaging and relevant? Of course you do. Head over to ralliolocal.com, and we’ll help you get started making a major splash with your local customers.

 

 

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Uncategorized

11 Top Tips for Boosting Your Instagram Following

Instagram has millions of active monthly users, and businesses of all sizes are asking themselves how to tap into that user base and gain more followers. It’s an important question to ask as more and more Instagrammers engage with businesses both on and off the app, whether they’re visiting a brand’s website, commenting on posts or showing up in person at a business to claim a special offer.

The general rule to know is that, as with any social media platform, there are really just two ways to do it effectively for long-term success: 1) through organic growth where you’re interacting authentically and consistently with your audience, and 2) through targeted sponsored ads. There are strategies attached to those two methods, and we’ll get into those below, but first, you might be asking yourself, “Why not just buy followers or use bots to get more of them?”

Sure, that seems like a quick way to get a big boost, but it’s an artificial boost that won’t allow you to connect with real people who care about your brand. What you want is an ongoing relationship with your audience, people who are loyal to your brand and able to assist in growing your followers.

[bctt tweet=”Did you know? You could actually hurt your brand by buying artificial followers. #InstagramTips” username=”rallioHQ”]

Moreover, you could actually hurt your brand by buying artificial followers. Take a look at this Hootsuite experiment to see what might happen, i.e., zero engagement and a bunch of followers you don’t necessarily want associated with your brand.

At the end of the day, click-throughs and engagement are the best measures of your Instagram profile’s success. So toward that end, this post focuses on the top ways to build the kind of following you’d be proud to call home about.

1. Use hashtags

Hashtags are one of the best ways to make yourself findable. Choose hashtags that are relevant to your post and likely to be discovered in a search. Instagram makes it easy: Just type in your “#” and start typing a few letters of a hashtag, and Instagram will suggest hashtags that are popular and show you how many times it’s been used.

2. Cross-promote

Use your other social platforms, your website and your email campaigns to tell your audience about your Instagram account. Give them a glimpse of what to expect, such as special offers, behind-the-scenes scoop and advance notice of special events.

3. Hold a contest

I wrote about this topic extensively here, but in short, Instagram contests can be either standalone events you run on your own, or collaborative where you involve other brands in a “loop” type of contest. It’s a quick way to boost your followers among an audience that’s interested in your brand. Check out more examples of contests below.

4 Instagram Contest Ideas to Engage Your Followers

4. Engage with other users’ content

Set aside time daily, even 10 minutes, to like and comment on random photos from your target audience. Selectively follow those accounts that are well-aligned with and complement your brand.

5. Post quality content

Make your brand look sharp! Only post images that elevate your message, not random photos that you’re posting just for the sake of posting. Quality beats quantity every time.

[bctt tweet=”Only post images that elevate your message. Don’t post just for the sake of posting. #InstagramTips” username=”rallioHQ”]

6. Invite engagement

Ask a question or use the word “comment” to encourage engagement from your users. People love to voice their opinions! You can also ask users to “tag a friend,” e.g., “Tag a friend who would love these leggings!”

7. Post at the best times

What works for one brand doesn’t necessarily work for all. You might need to experiment to find the best time for you. You can always try out a scheduler such as Later, which will automatically calculate the best time to post for your account, or just go with a trial-and-error approach to see when you get the most engagement. Here’s a more detailed look at choosing the best times to post:

https://later.com/blog/best-time-to-post-on-instagram/

8. Complete your bio

Incorporate keywords and hashtags in your bio, and don’t forget a link back to your site. If you have specific posts where you want to direct users to a certain website or landing page, you can mention it in the post. For example, if you’re promoting a workshop series, you could say “Link in bio” within the caption of your post, and then swap out your bio link to feature a link to sign up for your workshop.

9. Sponsor your content

Look at your Insights on Instagram to see your most popular posts by impressions, and then throw some ad dollars behind your most popular posts. Just scroll down to the bottom and click on Create Promotion to get started.

10. Use the “Live” feature

Posting “live” on Instagram means you’re filming in real time, and your audience gets notified that you’re live. You have the option to keep these “Live” videos active for another 24 hours after airing.

11. Use Instagram Stories

I saved the best (arguably) for last: Instagram Stories. These stories are accessible at the top of a user’s home page when opening the app and feature a 24-hour snapshot of what’s going on with a brand or a person. After 24 hours, the story disappears, giving them a type of urgency that doesn’t exist with photos alone. You can tap within your own story to see who’s viewed it, giving you a clear picture of engagement. They’ve become an integral part of brands’ success on Instagram, and many brands are getting creative with these stories to promote their products and services.

One stellar example is a recent Chipotle campaign promoting their new Queso dip. For the campaign, Chipotle archived all but a few posts so that only Queso photos appeared on the profile page. In the days thereafter, the brand rolled out more posts, a contest offering a year’s worth of free queso to winners, and a 100-part Instagram Story that saw a 70 percent completion rate, meaning 70 percent of users clicked through all 100 parts of the Story to the end (no easy feat!). Read about it in the link:

http://www.adweek.com/digital/chipotles-instagram-story-featuring-100-pictures-of-queso-generated-a-70-completion-rate/

 

 

There are many more strategies you can use on Instagram, but these 10 are a great starting point! What other methods have you used to grow your Insta following? Leave your comments below.

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Quick Guide to Social Media Marketing: Q&A With Rallio’s Director of Business Development

In working with thousands of customers over the past few years, we’ve learned a lot about the best ways for businesses to use social media to their advantage. Those who have come on board to use the Rallio platform are able to pair our technology with social media strategy to produce incredible results.

Today, I sat down with our Director of Business Development, Avery McCaslin, to discuss our platform as well as the key trends for social media marketers to know today. But first, we had to grab Starbucks and wonder what was inside this Nasty Gal trailer parked behind me at the Irvine Spectrum near our office. They’ll be popping up later today, so we’ll just have to wait. In the meantime … here’s our Q&A.

Karen Spaeder, Director of Content, crushing it on social media

What is Rallio?

Rallio is a software technology that helps businesses create engagement online to increase local demand. For multi-location brands that want to turn on their local impact, our technology empowers them to connect authentically with customers, drive traffic and increase revenue at the local level.

What are the key online trends that multi-location businesses need to know today?

Reviews and online reputation are a huge piece of their SEO. Brand consistency is critical. Perhaps most important of all, they need to be aware of the importance of video content. According to an Animoto survey, four times as many consumers would rather watch a video about a product than read about it. Also, Facebook prefers video in their algorithm over traditional content.

Another huge thing for multi-location businesses to understand is that social media is not a free medium anymore, at least not if you want to make an impact with your brand. More than anything, it’s a pay-to-play system, yet it’s still much more cost-efficient than traditional channels.

If you want anyone to see the content you’re spending so much time creating, you should be boosting it! If you don’t, only roughly 15 percent of your followers will see it. But if you do, you get much better visibility.

[bctt tweet=”If you want anyone to see the #content you’re spending so much time creating, boost it!” username=”rallioHQ”]

Why is online reputation important?

Online reputation is so important for new customer acquisition. Before anyone will buy your product or service, the first thing they’ll do is go online to see what other people are saying about you. Your online reviews can either make or break you, and they need to be kept current. In fact, some 73 percent of consumers feel that reviews older than three months are no longer relevant. It’s an ongoing process.

How can businesses use digital coupons to their advantage?

With Rallio technology, you can use digital coupons to incentivize a survey that leads to a positive review. You can use coupons on social media to create full-blown national campaigns, but at a local level. That produces true ROI, all tracked through the Rallio system.

Another huge benefit to using our system is that each of our coupons has a unique tracking code, and it’s completely digital and mobile-friendly. The coupons can only be used once, so you’re getting better analytics and improved ROI. You can’t have the same person using the coupon or a local store manager scanning the same coupon over and over again, so it’s a better way to track the offer.

Also, in Rallio, you can share digital coupons with your friends and they get their own unique code. A map will even pop up to show the nearest store to that friend, so it becomes an interactive experience.

Sharing is caring with Rallio’s coupon integration.

How should businesses use social media to connect with customers?

The biggest thing to understand is that now more than ever, customers want companies to be transparent. Having a company be real and personable is really important to them, especially for millennials, who treat social media like a customer service channel. When they comment or ask a question on social media, you need to get back to them and respond right away.

[bctt tweet=”Nowadays, #millennials treat social media like a customer service channel. #smm” username=”rallioHQ”]

What are some of the biggest mistakes brands make on social media?

Not boosting posts is one of them. Also, not responding and interacting with potential and current customers. Finally, not posting local content that’s specific to each location’s needs. You can’t expect to sell the same lawn and garden products to a city dweller as you would to a farmer, for example. You have to tailor your content and offers to each geographic location.

What are some of the unique features of Rallio technology?

One of the coolest things about our technology is that manufacturers can syndicate content down to the corporate level, and corporate can dish it out to all end user locations. For example, we work with Samsung and Verizon. Before, Verizon had individual store owners Googling Samsung products and posting whatever content they wanted about them. Samsung wanted more control over what was being said about their brand, and Verizon wanted more control over what their retailers were pushing out. With Rallio, everyone can work together to stay on brand for both the manufacturers and the retailers. And retailers like it because they’re getting more engagement and customers.

Here’s an example:

What about independent business owners? How can they use the Rallio platform to their advantage? 

Rallio has a great offering for small business. Those that use our technology have all their social and review platforms located in one place, saving them time, which is important for a busy small-business owner. They’re utilizing a powerful system that billion-dollar businesses are using, at a fraction of the cost. Plus, they get the expertise of an awesome support team and strategy team.

What is one key takeaway for businesses you’d like to mention?

Social media is not a trend. It’s not going anywhere, and it’s only going to get more important and more local. Rallio is the solution to the ever-changing market.

To learn more about Rallio or to request a demo, go to www.www.rallio.com.

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How to Build Social Media Content From Scratch

Whether you’re a new or established business owner, by now you know the importance of having a social media presence. But if you’re just getting started with the various social media platforms, sometimes it’s tough to know where to begin.

Today’s post is all about helping you do just that. Building something from nothing is totally doable if you have the right tools to get going one step at a time.

First, the Basics

Although it’s important to have some kind of presence on the major platform, you’ll probably only pick one or two where you’ll really focus your efforts. Start by finding out where your audience spends the most time; that’s where you’ll want to be. If your audience is millennials, for instance, you’ll likely be on Instagram and Snapchat.

Once you’ve nailed down your platforms and set up your pages, you’ll need a system for creating and scheduling your posts. The Rallio platform is a great option, especially if you’re trying to manage multiple locations. There are others out there, too, such as Hootsuite and Buffer. I won’t get into comparing these different options in this post, other than to say we’re happy to walk you through a Rallio demo. Click here to request one.

[bctt tweet=”Find out where your audience spends the most time; that’s where you’ll want to be. #socialmediatips” username=”rallioHQ”]

Now, the Ideas

Most business owners would say that the reason they’re not posting on social media is lack of time, lack of ideas or a combination of the two. As far as time goes, try carving out 30 minutes daily to dedicate solely to social media. You might find you actually enjoy interacting with customers and building a following!

And as far as ideas, I’ve got several to get you going.

Easiest: Share relevant content from others

Don’t have time to write a blog post or an article? Someone else has already done it for you. Search for content created by non-competing entities, and simply share their content on your social pages.

Take our client Saddleback Memorial Hospital, for example, for which we actually create social media content. In this post, we shared mountain climbing safety tips from the publication Healthline, adding in a health-related spin (“bring the right gear, stay hydrated …). The post works great because not only did Saddleback Memorial not have to create the content themselves, but they also capitalized on a “holiday” of sorts, National Mountain Climbing Day.

Also easy, once you’ve done the work: Repurpose your own content

This one takes a little more legwork initially, but once you’ve done the work, you have endless opportunities to repurpose your own content. You can either write blog posts or videos yourself or hire someone to do it for you, but in any case, those posts are great shareable content.

Here’s an example. I wrote a post over a year ago, 31 Days of Social Media Ideas, in two parts. We’ve repurposed several elements of those two posts over and over again, pulling out different ideas to share. Here’s a recent tweet that capitalized on one idea from my post:

All it took was going back to that original post and calling out one of the “days” to share. No extra blog post needed!

Create a Poll

People love voicing their opinion on social media, so why not capitalize on their desire to be heard? Polls can be silly or serious, but make sure you ask something that’s sure to get a response. On Twitter, you can create polls right from your “Compose new Tweet” box. On Facebook, see this link for help creating a poll on the platform.

Some polls should focus on helping you learn more about your audience, while others might simply speak to a current trend. Entrepreneur magazine recently created a poll on the topic of the eclipse:

The post has nothing to do with entrepreneurship or small business, but it’s so easy to answer that users can’t resist voting in the poll. The lesson: Keep it simple and relevant.

Ask a Question or Invite “Fill in the Blank” Responses

Along the lines of polls, anytime you pose a question or ask users to fill in the blank in a post, you’re inviting engagement. Try a simple either-or question such as, “Would you rather eat hamburgers or pizza if those were the last two foods on Earth?” You can also post an engaging photo and either ask users to caption it, or create a fill-in-the-blank response, such as, “My favorite thing about summer is ____.”

Post a Quote

Apps like canva.com make it easy to create your own attractive graphics. Find some inspirational quotes, plop them into a Canva template, download and upload the image, and voila! You’ve got a post. Repurpose the quote image across platforms, including Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. Here’s one from our CEO, Chuck Goetschel, created in Canva:

Or Create an Infographic

Share facts and stats about your industry in an infographic, which you can create yourself using Canva or Visual.ly. Head over to Daily Infographic for ideas, such as this gem, The Ultimate Guide to Burritos.

Go Behind the Scenes

Can you share a behind-the-scenes glimpse into the world behind your business? Maybe offer a look at how your products are produced, or make it personal, like this Instagram post of our team out to lunch:

Invite User-Generated Content

Ask your audience to post photos of themselves using or benefitting from your product or service. Not only does this invite some creativity into your posts, but it also provides the social validation people are looking for online. Your audience is more likely to believe a testimonial from a real customer versus a piece of sales copy you created!

Gather Inspiration

As you’re browsing online, save your favorite articles and images so you can look at them later and get inspired to post. Pinterest and Pocket are great tools for organizing and keeping track of your content.

What are some other ways you’ve created content from scratch? Let’s hear your ideas! For additional brainstorming, refer back to my posts featuring 31 days of social media ideas, part 1 and part 2.

Categories
Branding

Why Your Why Needs to Be Part of Your Marketing

Browsing my Twitter feed the other day, I came across a tweet that gave me pause. Here it is:

I responded:

And then received:

Claire Boyles went on to tweet: “An individual’s ‘why’ is not always the same as the value/result the customer wants from that purchase. I don’t care why Bill Gates created Microsoft operating systems, I just care that it does what I need.

“I don’t care why Jobs created the iphone [sic], I care that I have a smartphone. I care that I can create documents, that I can email, that I can design on my computer, I care that I have a pocket computer online.

“Why anyone invented them is irrelevant to my buying choice – do I need something to create documents? Then I’ll consider buying Word, do I need to know why someone was inspired to create a word processor on a computer? Nope. Do I care that it works? Absolutely.”

I can appreciate the sentiment, that ultimately the customer wants to buy something that does the thing it promises to do. However, what gave me pause is the idea that the “why” is independent of the benefit provided to customers by a product or service.

Your Why Must Be Inextricably Part of Your Product or Service

The tweet included mention of Steve Jobs. That’s a perfect example to use as I dive into why the why needs to be integrated throughout a company, not viewed as separate from the products/services. It’s true that customers don’t ponder why Steve Jobs started his company when they’re standing in line to purchase the latest iPhone. However, they most certainly have been influenced by that why as they’re making buying decisions.

It’s not about an entrepreneur blatantly telling customers, “Hey, here’s why I started my business,” but rather, subtly infusing that why into every bit of messaging, marketing and branding. That’s exactly what Jobs did by taking products that were basically already on the market and reinventing them in ways that made people gravitate to the Apple brand.

It’s about developing a why that matters more to the customer than you as the entrepreneur. In that sense, the why becomes the very thing that puts customers’ needs first, and the idea that “your why isn’t really that important to the customer” doesn’t hold true.

[bctt tweet=”Successful entrepreneurs let their #why evolve from being me-focused to being customer-focused.” username=”rallioHQ”]

Your Why Has to Be Bigger Than You

Oftentimes, people start a business for me-centric reasons: For example, they want to make more money, they want the freedom of being their own boss, they invented some fantastic thing they think everyone should buy, or they otherwise want some kind of personal gain. Those are not very good “whys” because they put the entrepreneur first and ignore what the customer needs or wants.

To be successful as an entrepreneur, your “why” must evolve from being me-focused to being customer-focused. It must move beyond ego and become a purpose serving some kind of greater good, something bigger than us.

So let’s put this in Steve Jobs terms. Let’s say his why was simply that he loved creating cool techie things. That’s a me-centric why, and of course, that’s not what Jobs did. Rather, he had a “bigger than me” why that puts customers before anyone else. As this Harvard Business Review article points out, “Apple existed to ‘delight customers’ first — benefits to other stakeholders, including shareholders, followed.”

Jobs did more than just delight customers, too. He generated an emotional connection to the brand that causes people to crave the next Apple product. That connection happened largely as a result of the “Think Different” campaign.

In this Forbes article, author Robert Hof writes about Bill Cleary, who worked for Jobs at Apple from 1981 to 1985 and later worked with both Apple and NeXT at CKS Partners. Here’s what Cleary had to say: “When Jobs returned to Apple, he instituted the Think Different ad campaign. Nobody else had the sheer chutzpah to say that people like Gandhi and Einstein would be using Apple Macintoshes if they were alive today.”

“Here’s to the crazy ones, the misfits, the rebels, the troublemakers, the round pegs in the square holes… the ones who see things differently — they’re not fond of rules … You can quote them, disagree with them, glorify or vilify them, but the only thing you can’t do is ignore them because they change things … they push the human race forward, and while some may see them as the crazy ones, we see genius, because the ones who are crazy enough to think that they can change the world, are the ones who do.” — Steve Jobs

Nowhere in that statement does Steve Jobs talk about iPads, iPhones or MacBooks or the benefits those products provide. But when you see an Apple product, you instantly feel the emotional connection to the brand. You feel the why, without it even being spoken in words.

As I tweeted:

 

Your Why Has to Be Connected to Your Company’s Values

I could go out and buy any word processing tool and still be able to type up this blog post, but I don’t want just any tool. I want the MacBook Pro I’m using because first and foremost, it’s an incredible product. It’s sleek, fast, easy to use, portable and fun.

Still, even if Microsoft created something similar, I’d turn to Apple because I’ve grown to trust and value the emotional connection I have to Apple products. I got excited to tell my tech-savvy brother about my new computer. I think the products are cutting-edge and cool. Delightful and beautiful even. And working at a tech company, naturally I want to be cutting-edge!

There’s no real way to treat the why as separate and apart from the product or service you’re providing. On the contrary, when you treat your why as an integral part of your branding, you create brand loyalty.

You build the emotional connection that makes people stand in line for your product, post about it on social media and engage with your brand. You give your brand a personality, something that every customer seeks out when they’re checking you out on social media and online.

Simply put: You create something that gets remembered.

“Marketing is about values. It’s a complicated and noisy world, and we’re not going to get a chance to get people to remember much about us. No company is. So we have to be really clear about what we want them to know about us.” — Steve Jobs

Update, July 12, 2017: My CEO, Chuck Goetschel, reminded me today of a great Simon Sinek TED Talk where he discusses the need for a why, how Apple inspires buying behavior, and why “People don’t buy what you do; they buy why you do it.” It’s the perfect complement to my discussion above, and you should watch it here if you want to start elevating your thinking:

What is your why, and how do you infuse it into your marketing? Let’s hear your thoughts.

Categories
Social

Complete Guide to Starting a Facebook Business Page

Facebook is an extremely powerful tool that can help your business grow by expanding your customer base, boosting your reputation and developing brand awareness. Setting up a Facebook business page is too easy a task to pass up, so let’s get started!

Step 1: Create a Business Page

If you do not already have your business page created, head over here and click “Create a Page.” A business page is different than a personal page, though your two pages will be connected. That being said, you will also need to have a personal page in order to continue creating your business page. This business page will be attached to your personal profile on the backend, so it will ask you to log in to your personal account before continuing.

Next, choose your business’s category. If you own a sandwich shop, you would select “Local Business or Place,” but if you were to create a page for a marketing agency, you would select “Company, Organization or Institution.”

Step 2: Add Imagery  

Add your profile picture and cover photo. These pictures should be of good quality, so be sure they are clear and representative of your business. While you may find beautiful, artistic imagery, if it does not represent your business, it is not a good idea to make it a profile picture. Profile pictures can include company logos, company products, the company name and more.

[bctt tweet=”Adding a #calltoaction button on your FB page is an easy way to boost business. #smm” username=”rallioHQ”]

Step 3: Add a Call to Action Button

Adding this call to action button on your Facebook page is an easy way to direct customers to your business, increase revenue and grow your customer base. Link this button to coupons, appointment bookings, games or your website. For example, businesses such as salons, cosmetic dentistry or pottery painting may add a button to book appointments, whereas a coffee shop or a store may add a button for a coupon.

Step 4: Edit Your Page Information

It is important to have correct information about your business on the page, including store hours, services, menu items and your location. You may also create a username to make it easier for happy customers to tag your business page in one of their posts! The more time you take to fill out the page information, the better your business page will be at attracting and retaining customers.

Step 5: Promote Your Business

By clicking “Promote,” you can choose how you wish to attract new customers. You can set up an ongoing promotion or promote your business locally. If you choose to promote your business locally, you can choose a specific area to target for your promotion. If you are enjoying the publicity you are gaining from your business page, you may want to promote your page!

Setting up your business page is just the first step in making a splash on Facebook. The real work begins once you start creating offers, engaging with followers and creating a trustworthy brand. You’ll need to keep a close eye on your analytics, continually test different strategies to see what works best for you, and always work to build and maintain a positive reputation.

To learn more about growing your following, see our post here about reaching more people on Facebook, as well as this post about improving your offers for better results.

Have you grown your following after setting up a Facebook page for your business or brand? Let us know in the comments how you did it, and we may feature you in an upcoming post.

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