Why You Should Consider Using YouTube Videos For Senior Living Marketing

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When it comes to choosing what platforms to leverage in order to reach senior living audiences, you may have skipped over YouTube assuming that this particular platform is aimed at younger audiences. However, this is actually not true. You may want to give YouTube another look as it turns out YouTube videos are an excellent way to reach older audiences. The following are just a few of the reasons why you should incorporate YouTube videos into your senior living content marketing strategy:

1. Seniors Use YouTube Frequentlydigital marketing tactics

The idea that YouTube is for younger generations is a misconception that simply isn’t true. In fact, YouTube is the number one video platform of choice for the Baby Boomer generation. According to YouTube’s Trends Dashboard, more than 60 million Baby Boomers over the age of 55 view content on YouTube every month. In fact, four times as many Baby Boomers visit YouTube than people under the age of 18. This means that creating YouTube videos is actually an excellent way to reach your target demographics.

2. Seniors Are Social

By 2013, there were already 39 million people 65 and older that were using Facebook, Twitter, and Skype. At the time, this made them the fastest growing age demographic for these social channels. Considering the fact that there are more senior citizens than ever, incorporating social into your content marketing strategy is a must–and YouTube is a social platform. When you create YouTube videos, you can post them to Facebook, after all. Seniors can then comment, like, and share your YouTube videos, helping to increase brand awareness amongst their social circles, which are likely to be filled with family members as well as friends in the senior citizen age range.

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3. Seniors Prefer Visual Storytelling

The best way to reach senior citizens is through the use of visual storytelling (according to multiple studies on the subject). There’s no more effective way to tell a story in a visual manner than through video. For example, you could use video to tell the story of a resident and their journey to find a home at your senior living facility. By making a resident the main character in your video, you would make your content more relatable to your audience.

4. YouTube Videos Allow Pre-Roll Ads

Pre-roll ads have become quite common on YouTube videos. They are the 5 to 30-second spots that run before the video and that usually can’t be skipped until 5 seconds in. While they can be a real annoyance for a lot of viewers, they can actually be very effective if they are relevant to your video content. This is especially true if you already have video content available on your site.

Read More Related Article: 4 Senior Living Video Marketing Ideas That Will Improve Engagement

You can create effective pre-roll ads by cutting short 15 or 30-second spots out of existing video testimonials or video tours of your senior living facility. This way, when someone watches one of your YouTube videos (especially those that are instructional or informative and not promotional), your pre-roll ads will showcase your senior living facility so that they know who you are.

5. YouTube Videos Can Drive Traffic

YouTube isn’t just a platform to host videos. It can be used to help drive viewers to your website for more information. Curate your YouTube page so that you have a lot of YouTube videos audiences can go through, but make sure that it’s obvious that it’s your senior living facility’s page and include a link from your YouTube channel to your website. You should also add links to your video descriptions and clickable links embedded within the videos themselves towards the end. Doing so can help drive a significant amount of traffic to your website.

YouTube videos can be extremely effective at reaching a senior living audience, which is why you should incorporate YouTube into your content marketing strategy. It’s also worth mentioning that YouTube is owned by Google, which means that properly optimized YouTube videos can help to boost your SEO as well, thereby increasing your page rankings and helping to drive more organic traffic to your YouTube channel as well as your main website.

 

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Inbound Marketing Strategies

5 Types Of Marketing Videos You Should Think About Using

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Year after year, marketing videos grow in importance. Video has never been easier to consume for Americans, especially when considering the increasing quality of smartphones and tablets. Video is also the easiest way for people to absorb information. Additionally, according to a prediction by Zenith, the average person will spend around 100 minutes a day watching videos in 2021. The pandemic certainly had an impact on these numbers as well. People have more time on their hands to watch video content, especially those who have switched to a work-at-home environment.

Because of this increase in video consumption, a video marketing strategy is an absolute must. The following are some of the different types of marketing videos that you should consider producing this year.

1. Educational videos

Educational videos should be used to help inform your audience about a particular subject. No video marketing strategy will be successful without them. This is because the more informed your audience is, the more confident they will be in making a purchasing decision down the road. Educational videos provide them with the knowledge they need to understand your business and the solutions you offer. There are several types of educational videos, including:

  • Demo videos – Videos that demonstrate how your product or service is used.
  • Explainer videos – Videos that showcase why your product or service is needed.
  • How-to videos – Videos that provide step-by-step instructions on how to do a specific task.
  • Animated videos – Animated videos are a fantastic way to deliver information in an entertaining way, whether they’re explainer videos or how-to videos.

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2. Interview videos

Interviews are an excellent way to provide detailed information about certain subjects to your audience while also providing a personality to engage with. You can film interviews with both employees and upper management as well as experts that are relevant to your industry. What’s great about interview videos is that they are incredibly easy to produce.Marketing Video

3. Event videos

Certain events, like industry tradeshows, conferences, fundraisers, and round table discussions, can reveal a wealth of information. Film these events and edit them into event videos for your audience to enjoy.

4. Case study and testimonial videos

These types of videos focus on customers and their experiences using your product or service. Not only can you use them as social proof that your products or services work, but they make it easier to build trust with your audience. Potential customers are much more likely to relate to and believe what previous customers have said, after all. Using case studies and testimonial videos, you give customers the chance to explain what their challenges were and how your product or service solved those challenges.

5. Behind-the-scenes videos

A big part of creating a successful brand identity is presenting your company as being relatable. You don’t want your audience to think of you as a big faceless corporation, after all. Creating videos that depict your company behind the scenes is a great way to do this. It shows that there’s a human element behind the business. There are tons of ways to go about creating behind-the-scenes videos. A video of the day-in-the-life of the typical employee or a video of the manufacturing process of a product are great examples.

These are five different types of marketing videos you should consider creating in 2021. As you develop your video marketing strategy, remember that the quality of your content matters — and so does the audience that you’re creating it for. Always keep viewers in mind to ensure that your video marketing efforts are relevant.

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types of marketing videos

Types Of Marketing Videos You Should Use

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Year after year, video marketing grows in importance. Video has never been easier to consume for Americans, especially when considering the increasing quality of smartphones and tablets. Video is also the easiest way for people to absorb information. Additionally, according to a prediction by Zenith Media, the average person will spend around 100 minutes a day watching videos in 2021. The pandemic certainly had an impact on these numbers as well. People have more time on their hands to watch video content, especially those who have switched to a work-at-home environment. Because of this increase in video consumption, a video marketing strategy is an absolute must. The following are some of the different types of marketing videos that you should consider producing this year.

1. Educational videos

Educational videos should be used to help inform your audience about a particular subject. No video marketing strategy will be successful without them. This is because the more informed your audience is, the more confident they will be in making a purchasing decision down the road. Educational videos provide them with the knowledge they need to understand your business and the solutions you offer. There are several types of educational videos, including:

  • Demo videos – Videos that demonstrate how your product or service is used.
  • Explainer videos – Videos that showcase why your product or service is needed.
  • How-to videos – Videos that provide step-by-step instructions on how to do a specific task.
  • Animated videos – Animated videos are a fantastic way to deliver information in an entertaining way, whether they’re explainer videos or how-to videos.

2. Interview videostype of marketing video

Interviews are an excellent way to provide detailed information about certain subjects to your audience while also providing a personality to engage with. You can film interviews with both employees and upper management as well as experts that are relevant to your industry. What’s great about interview videos is that they are incredibly easy to produce.

3. Event videos

Certain events, like industry tradeshows, conferences, fundraisers, and round table discussions, can reveal a wealth of information. Film these events and edit them into event videos for your audience to enjoy.

Leveraging Video Marketing During COVID-19

 

4. Case study and testimonial videos

These types of videos focus on customers and their experiences using your product or service. Not only can you use them as social proof that your products or services work, but they make it easier to build trust with your audience. Potential customers are much more likely to relate to and believe what previous customers have said, after all. Using case studies and testimonial videos, you give customers the chance to explain what their challenges were and how your product or service solved those challenges.

5. Behind-the-scenes videos

A big part of creating a successful brand identity is presenting your company as being relatable. You don’t want your audience to think of you as a big faceless corporation, after all. Creating videos that depict your company behind the scenes is a great way to do this. It shows that there’s a human element behind the business. There are tons of ways to go about creating behind-the-scenes videos. A video of the day-in-the-life of the typical employee or a video of the manufacturing process of a product are great examples.

These are five different types of marketing videos you should consider creating in 2021. As you develop your video marketing strategy, remember that the quality of your content matters — and so does the audience that you’re creating it for. Always keep viewers in mind to ensure that your video marketing efforts are relevant.

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What’s Trending in Marketing for January 2021

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Knowing what’s trending in marketing is a great way to keep your marketing efforts fresh and to find new tactics that can help improve your marketing strategy. We know it can be difficult to keep up with these trends, so we’ve gathered some current marketing trends that are worth paying attention to:

Noteworthy Marketing News

Audio Social Media is Booming

In a time of social isolation and screen fatigue, audio social media is all the rage. While audio communication has been around for a while, new apps are making voice the way people connect again. Clubhouse, Discord, Wavve, and Twitter’s developing Audio Spaces are trying to win people’s ears and shape the future of social media. Read more on Wired.

Facebook Asks Users to Opt Into Activity Tracking Ahead of iOS 14 Changes

Facebook’s business has been growing steadily during the COVID-19 pandemic, but that might change in 2021. The company disclosed that the new privacy features in Apple’s iOS 14 update could lead to a slowdown in advertising revenue. In order to combat the potential adverse effects, Facebook has announced plans for users to still allow tracking for personalized ads. Users with iOS 14 will receive a prompt asking to use their app and website activity. Facebook is testing the effects of this update now before Apple makes it mandatory for all apps in the spring.

NBCUniversal and Twitter Announce New Worldwide Digital Content Partnership

NBCUniversal and Twitter have been working together since 2013, but they recently announced that they are deepening their partnership. They want to meet global, national, and local audiences where they are. This new agreement will bring NBCUniversal’s premium digital content, from real-time sports to red carpet livestreams, to Twitter, meeting the growing demand for premium social content. See more details on Marketing Dive.

Budweiser, Coca-Cola, and PepsiCo Sit Out in Advertising Their Trademark Beverages at This Year’s Super Bowl

With the first-ever COVID-era Super Bowl just around the corner, major brands like Budweiser, Coca-Cola, and PepsiCo have announced that they will not be advertising their trademark beverages. These brands usually spend millions on commercials, but they have decided to reallocate those funds towards COVID-19 vaccine awareness and other resources.

Latest Color Trends Show that We Are All Hoping for a Redemptive 2021

Calm. Sanctuary. Transcend. Illuminate. These are all words popular companies like Sherwin Williams, Behr, and Pantone are using to name and describe their 2021 colors of the year; these companies, as well as many others, chose their colors to speak to the events of 2020. In light of those events, it seems to be clear that everyone is looking for stability, peace, and restoration in 2021, even in color.

You Might Like: 5 Marketing Tactics You Should Be Using in 2021

 

Improving Your Marketing Program

Why Call to Action Phrases Are So Important in Inbound Marketing

Call to action phrases seem so innocuous. They are just a few words on a link or a button. Yet, CTAs are some of the most powerful and important elements on your website to support your Inbound Marketing efforts. Without them, your conversion rate is not going to be anywhere close to where it should be. Learn why here.

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The Future of Email: What to Expect

Although one of the oldest forms of online marketing, email marketing is consistently one of the most cost-effective marketing strategies there is, and it will continue to be so well into the future. Therefore, it’s worth thinking about the future of email in order to begin adjusting your email marketing strategy accordingly. What to expect.

Ten Ways to Use Google Trends to Increase SEO-Jan 25

Most people love free SEO tools. Google Trends is one of the most underused free tools; it is a place marketers can use to get their finger on the global pulse. Learn how to increase SEO using Google Trends here.

Recent Marketing Reports, Updates, and Trends

Social Media Ad and Video Spend Skyrocketed in Q4 2020

One thing to learn from 2020 is how quickly advertising behaviors change. Last year, people began to spend a lot more time on smartphones and other devices to stay connected and entertained, and this increased time online led to a lot more streaming and shopping. Marketers then began to make big investments into tactics to engage homebound customers. By the peak of the holiday season, worldwide spend on social media advertising was up 50.3%, in comparison to the same time in 2019. In North America, there was a 92.3% YoY spike in social media ad spending, much of that via livestreaming content. For 2021, it is expected that directly “shoppable media,” such as livestreams and shoppable ads, will be the fastest-growing advertising categories. Livestream-generated sales are estimated to double to $120 billion worldwide this year. This data is critical for marketers to create campaigns that will continue to resonate with consumers. More details here.

Influencer Marketing: Social media influencer market stats and research for 2021

Insider published their “Influencer Marketing in the Age of COVID-19” report, and it is clear that influencer marketing isn’t going anywhere in 2021. By this time next year, the estimate is that influencer marketing will be a $15 billion industry, up from as much as $8 billion in 2019. As fast as this industry is growing, it is also changing, so it is imperative that brands learn to adapt and evolve their strategies. Influencers are no longer exclusive to those with millions of followers. Some of the most influential influencers are those with only thousands. This means that niches of all kinds are being covered. Influencers are becoming vital in helping brands connect with their target audiences in authentic ways that produce immediate results. You can access the full report on Insider.

Ads on Facebook May Not Be That Important for Brands, After All, Study Shows

In a recent Forrester study, 46 companies that participated in last year’s Facebook ad boycott were examined to see the effects of not buying advertising on Facebook. Out of those 46, only seven companies saw their revenue decrease in Q3 as compared to Q2. The other 36 companies saw their revenue increase from quarter to quarter. In 2019, Facebook made just shy of $70 billion from ad revenue. This means a lot of companies are trusting Facebook to bring in online customers. But analysts are beginning to question the value and payoff that Facebook brings to its companies that use its advertising services.

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Video Marketing Ideas: Using Storytelling In Social Media

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Storytelling is one of the most important aspects when it comes of successfully conveying your message to your audience and giving them an idea of who your brand is and what you stand for. While storytelling is something that can be done via all types of content across all platforms, it’s particularly effective in video content on social media. However, coming up with different video marketing ideas that help strengthen your brand’s storytelling can be challenging. The following are a few video marketing ideas that you may want to implement on your social media channels to aid your storytelling efforts:

1. Film Your Customers’ Stories

Telling the stories of your customers is an easy way to get viewers to relate on a more personal level to your brand. When you film the story of your customer, they become the main character, which allows you to demonstrate through their story how you were able to provide a solution to their problems or needs.

2. Tell Personal Stories

Tell your brand’s story by showcasing how your company came to be. For example, you can focus on your owner as the main character and show how they started the business. This is a great way to put a face behind your brand and to make your company more relatable to your audience.

3. Create Fictional Stories

In addition to using the stories of your customers, make up some of your stories. Fictional stories often give you the opportunity to add humor and excitement that real stories don’t always have. For example, you could make the main character a superhero but keep the problem or need the same. If you’re selling a carpet stain removal product, it might be humorous to show a superhero having trouble removing a carpet stain even though you just showed them having no issue at all taking down a bad guy. Just make sure the message is clear and that you end with a strong call-to-action.

4. Film Documentary-Style Videos

Documentary videos give audiences a look into the process behind your company, whether it’s showing the process of working with a client or showing what a typical day at the office is like. It’s a good way to showcase how hard your company is working to help your customers.

5. Provide Behind-The-Scenes Videos

Behind-the-scenes videos give audiences a glimpse into what it’s like to work for your company and into what you and your company are trying to achieve. These types of videos make your brand feel more human as opposed to just being a faceless corporate entity.

The Power of First-Person Experience Videos

6. Perform Product Walkthroughs

Showing how a product works will be a lot more engaging if you film it in the form of a story. You can do this by establishing a character, showing what their problem is, demonstrating how to use your product or service, and, finally, revealing the result.

Storytelling is an essential part of marketing your brand effectively, and there are few better ways to do it than through video marketing. Use some of these video marketing ideas to enhance your storytelling abilities on social media.

Learn The StoryBranding Process

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4 Senior Living Video Marketing Ideas That Will Improve Engagement

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When it comes to engaging with your audience on social media, you’ll want to consider implementing a video content strategy. This is because video is an excellent storytelling medium — and if it’s one thing that audiences can connect with, it’s good storytelling. Not to mention that roughly 72 percent of people would rather learn about a product or service from a video than from text. The following are four video marketing ideas that are particularly effective for senior living communities:

4 Effective Video Marketing Ideas For Senior Living

1. Share The Stories Of Your Staff

Getting your audience to engage with a video about a place is difficult, but if you highlight the people at that place, it becomes much easier. Putting a face to your senior living community will make it easier for potential residents and decision makers to relate to your video content (and therefore, your community) on a personal level.

Showcase the stories of some of the people that work at your senior living community and the relationships that they have built with the residents. You could also highlight the people that are in charge by showing why they decided to establish or run your senior living community.

2. Share The Stories Of Your Residents

As good as your reputation might be, you still have to work hard to build trust amongst your audience. Instead of shooting videos about how amazing your community is, consider allowing some of your residents to tell their stories instead. Make the resident or the decision maker a main character, explain what their needs or problems were and allow them to tell the audience why your community was the perfect solution. Not only can such storytelling be extremely effective at engaging the audience, but it works as a customer testimonial of sorts as well.

5 More Tips for Marketing to Senior Living Communities

3. Shoot Documentary Videos And Behind-the-scenes Footage

Provide your audience with a peek into what it’s like to live at your senior living community by shooting documentary videos and behind-the-scenes footage. Video content like this makes audiences feel like they are getting an unstaged glimpse or even a tour of everyday life at your senior living community, which can make your community much more appealing to them.

4. Tell Fictional Stories

While using video to showcase your residents, staff, and management can help make it easier for audiences to connect to your community, don’t be afraid to tell fictional stories as well. Creating a fictional video, such as an animation, for example, allows you to get a little more creative with your video marketing ideas, which in turn can make your videos much more entertaining and engaging as a result.

 

Storytelling plays an important part in getting audiences to engage with your senior living community on a more personal level, and one of the most effective ways to tell your story is through the use of video content on social media. These are four video marketing ideas that will allow you to employ visual storytelling to engage your audience more successfully.

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What’s Trending in Marketing for August 2020

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Staying current on marketing trends is especially important to assess whether your marketing efforts are harmonious with today’s evolving world. We know the difficulty of keeping up with these trends given the abundance of information thrown at us every day. The following articles highlight current August 2020 marketing trends that we think are worth paying attention to:

Noteworthy Marketing News

Hulu Launches Beta for Self-Serve Advertising Platform

In effort to combat the negative economic backlash of Covid-19, Hulu has created an opportunity for small businesses to use its platform. Hulu has recently launched a self-service advertisement program eligible for any company with a minimum ad budget as low as $500. The process is simple: a company creates and submits a 15-30 second creative video along with details on budget, date range, and an area to upload the ad to Hulu Ad Manager. Hulu approves or denies within 3 days. Brands also have the option to specify their target market by age, gender, genre and location. Hulu provides approved brands with a simple walk-through of set-up and launch. For this program, Hulu permits a maximum of one version of a creative video per campaign.

As part of its recent Enabling Dishonest Behavior Policy, Google Ads is banning any advertising for “spyware and surveillance technology” in both search and shopping starting August 11. Examples of services include fake passports, fake degrees or diplomas, drug test aids, exam or paper writing services, invalid reviews and clicks, and fake social media endorsements. Examples of unauthorized access includes hacking, cable-stealing, radar jamming technology, traffic signal changers, and phone/wiretapping. Google explains that its list is not exhaustive and only mentioned for example. Google exemplifies spyware as GPS trackers, cameras/recorders marketed for spying purposes, and software that monitors someone else’s texts and phone calls, with the exception of parents tracking underage children. Violators on Google Ads will receive a 7-day warning.

Social Short: Twitter Ad Engagement Drops, Snap Minis Launch, more brands pause Facebook Ads

Twitter’s ad revenues have fallen in the past years though daily active user rates have increased. However, Twitter’s CFO Ned Segal is confident in the rebuilding process of Twitter’s ad server. He expresses optimism for the future of advertisements on Twitter through the advantage the platform has for live events.  Snapchat reports a 17% increase in revenues. Though its audience is largely younger, Snapchat CEO Evan Spiegel found that the average number of users on the Discover page are in their thirties. Additionally, the platform has benefited from the increasing Facebook ad withdrawals. Twitter has also taken action against QAnon content, suspending thousands of accounts for sharing or associating with any “conspiracy theory-ridden content”.

Improving your Marketing Program

Lessons Learned: Buyer Persona Gone Wrong

Before a company can establish a solid marketing plan, it must be aware of the specific target markets or customer profiles it has the best chance to attract to its product or service. Creating a buyer persona is essential to effective attraction marketing. In order to perfect your approach in buyer persona launch, here are some common mistakes to avoid.

30 Ways to Boost Instagram Engagement & Following

Looking for ways to boost your social media brand presence? Knowing how to increase brand engagement on Instagram, the latest and hippest social media platform app, is a great start. People are online all day due to working from home. Virtual shopping has risen due to restrictions and pandemic fears. As we have geared toward a more online world, your brand’s presence on the web is more important now than ever. According to Forbes, 80% of Instagram users follow at least one business or brand, and 200 million users on Instagram visit business profiles daily. 70% of users turn to Instagram to look up a brand, and 60% learn about new products using Instagram. Now is the time to catch up with the competition that is already using these trends to their advantage.

Istanbul, Turkey – December 15, 2018: Person holding a brand new Apple iPhone X with Instagram profile on the screen. Instagram is an online mobile social networking service, launched in October 2010.

5 Ways to Improve Your B2B Marketing Strategy

B2B marketing can be a challenging endeavor, especially if you don’t have a clear cut marketing strategy in place. To have any hope of running a successful B2B marketing campaign, you’ll need to establish what your goals are. Once you’ve done so, you should implement marketing strategies that will support those goals and help you achieve them. The following are five B2B marketing tips that you should use to help improve your marketing efforts.

Free Digital Marketing Tools To Cope With COVID-19

Recent Marketing Reports, Updates, and Trends

No in-person events until 2nd half of 2021, marketers say

According to a recent Marketing Land survey of 300 people, 3 out of 10 people responded that they anticipate attending in-person events in the first half of 2021. In another survey, 70% of respondents plan to attend solely online events until a Covid-19 vaccine emerges.

U.S. Mobile Ad Spending Update

In March, E Marketer’s Mobile Ad Spending Report forecasted that the pandemic would cause a 20% increase in mobile ad spending, but they have now updated this expectancy and reduced it to 4.8% growth. Among mobile advertising results, location-based advertising has suffered, and gaming and streaming video apps have done well. This year’s lost growth in mobile ad spending will affect overall spending through at least 2024.

COVID-19 Is the Asteroid That Struck American Small Business

Positive news regarding the virus is 78% of small businesses report being able to survive 7 to 12 months or more with existing cash on hand, and 57% could last over a year. Restaurants suffered primarily, as there were over 133,000 business closures total and of the 26,000 Yelp restaurants that have been closed since March, 60% were now permanently closed. A majority of 92% of businesses report pivoting strategy in at least one way form the pandemic. The most common change was a creation of delivery channel, and 96% of businesses reported planning to keep some new services and channels post-pandemic, while 43% will maintain all changes. Find out more on Search Engine Land.

 

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30 Ways to Boost Instagram Engagement & Following

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Looking for ways to boost your social media brand presence? Knowing how to increase brand engagement on Instagram, the latest and hippest social media platform app, is a great start. People are online all day due to working from home. Virtual shopping has risen due to restrictions and pandemic fears. As we have geared toward a more online world, your brand’s presence on the web is more important now than ever.

Why Instagram?

According to Forbes, 80% of Instagram users follow at least one business or brand, and 200 million users on Instagram visit business profiles daily. 70% of users turn to Instagram to look up a brand, and 60% learn about new products using Instagram. Now is the time to catch up with the competition that is already using these trends to their advantage.

Here is a compilation of our 30 best marketing tips for businesses to grow Instagram engagement and following in 2020:

Instagram Profile and Posting Habits

  1. Get to know the Instagram app and master how to use its basic features such as uploading posts and stories.
  2. Write a compelling Instagram bio and integrate it into your brand personality.
  3. Keep posts visually consistent to meet your brand’s style guide and tone.
  4. Incorporate categorized pinned stories on your Instagram page so it is easily navigable and can be used as a resource for sharing your brand identity to consumers.
  5. Optimize captions using brand hashtags and relevant hashtags with high popularity. (Determine if a hashtag is trending by typing the hashtag in the instagram search bar to see how many posts come up with the hashtag.)
  6. Use tools such as Hashtagsforlikes to optimize hashtags to use for your business sector.
  7. Create and promote a specific branded hashtag for a campaign. Encourage others to share the hashtag with it theming around a relevant, trending topic that consumers are passionate about.
  8. Use local hashtags and geotags on posts in order to attract local users on Instagram in a similar way SEO works for the web.
  9. Post consistently with both posts and stories, including videos, polls, and other interactive elements to keep followers engaged and entertained with your content. 
  10. Start conversations using Instagram stories stickers and polls.
  11. Schedule Instagram stories to generate more views.
  12. Keep in mind that 40% of Instagram videos do not have sound on, so ensure you caption relevant verbal content.
  13. Convert instagram followers into email subscribers by making your Instagram a business account and promoting your email subscriptions in your Instagram posts and stories.
  14. Monitor your tagged photos to ensure a good reputation, and un-tag your account on posts that are irrelevant or spam, so they do not appear on your profile.
  15. Add a link to instagram stories in order to generate website traffic.
  16. Use humor through gif’s and memes to execute your brand message through a creative angle.

Increasing your Instagram following

  1. Optimize SEO on instagram by paying vital attention to your Instagram handle and name. It is very important that your handle (@…) reflects your business industry. Try to make it short, sweet, and with relevant words. The account name should reflect the account handle and industry because it is what Instagram checks its searches against when users type a word or emoji in the search bar.
  2. Partner with micro influencers.
  3. Run a contest, giveaway, or raffle entry through your account page.
  4. Invest in Instagram ads, which targets customers with personalization and buyer persona techniques.
  5. Create “savable” content, or posts that are aesthetically pleasing, informationally useful or relevant. This will entice followers to save the content to their library and increases the chances of further brand awareness. Simultaneously, creating desirable content provides people a reason to continue following your page and share your content.
  6. Participate in popular conversations on accounts with high following and public relevance in order to get your instagram handle out there and quickly generate new followers.
  7. Encourage followers to re-share your Instagram stories through incentives of discount promotion codes and/or contests.
  8. Open up about your business with a weekly featured vlog of the day in the life of an employee, an interesting biographical picture and captioned story of the founders, or inspirational quote from the CEO.
  9. Follow relevant accounts and users following competition in your industry to gain followers back.
  10. Promote your Instagram on other social media accounts. Feature your Instagram account in your Twitter and Facebook bios, and make a post promoting your Instagram page with a link.
  11. If your Facebook has many likes or followers already, consider linking your Facebook and Instagram together to boost your Instagram following.

6 Social Media Trends to Follow in 2020

Keeping Track of your Instagram Performance

  1. Ensure your account is in business mode to automatically receive valuable insights and analytics on how your posts are doing.
  2. Regularly test and analyze new content to post to your Instagram.
  3. Use a free follower tracking app to regularly unfollow accounts that do not follow yours back in order to maintain a good follower/following ratio while continuously following new accounts.

We hope these 30 tips with various resources serve you well on your journey to becoming an Instagram lead-generation powerhouse. Happy “gram-ing”!

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TikTok Advertising Strategies Are Becoming More Common

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Most businesses these days are using at least one or two social media channels to market their brand. However, new social channels emerge every year, many of which are worth your attention. Take TikTok for example. Although initially dismissed by most as another social media platform for teens, more businesses are taking notice. This is because they are beginning to realize that TikTok is attracting more adult users every day. As such, TikTok advertising is well worth considering.

What is TikTok?

TikTok started off as a platform on which users could upload videos of themselves lip-synching to music videos. These videos were no more than 15 seconds long. In a way, they were like a more niche-based version of the now-defunct Vine social platform. As such, it was no surprise that the platform attracted a younger audience. However, older users began taking advantage of TikTok’s audience to showcase themselves in different ways. For example, comedians would upload short videos of stand-up routines. Another example is of skateboarders, who would upload tricks that they landed. Soon, TikTok allowed its users to upload videos up to 60 seconds long.

Who Uses TikTok?

TikTok still has a userbase that leans on the younger side with more than 66 percent of its users under the age of 30. However, if you have a younger target audience, then TikTok is very much worth your time. This is especially true when you consider the fact that more parents are using TikTok on a daily basis (it’s estimated that 41 percent of dads have used TikTok). Not to mention that TikTok currently has over six million users in the U.S. alone.

Video Marketing Ideas: Using Storytelling in Social Media

How Can You Leverage TikTok To Market Your Brand?

If your buyer personas match the target audience of TikTok, then you may be curious as to how you can use the platform to your advantage. The following are just a few effective tactics when it comes to TikTok advertising:

  • User-generated content

TikTok is a great platform for encouraging user-generated content. Instagram is the other social channel where user-generated content is incredibly effective. One of the reasons user-generated content is so successful on both of these channels is because it encourages active audience engagement. Not only will they be engaged with your brand, but they will also generate content that helps promote your brand. In a sense, you’ll be getting free advertising. Users are more likely to participate using TikTok as well due to the platform’s focus on video creation.

  • TikTok challenges

One of the reasons why TikTok’s popularity has exploded over recent years is due to the challenges that users engage in. For example, one type of challenge involves doing a specific dance move or physical challenge (such as taking off your shirt while doing a wall stand). Many of these challenges go viral organically, but businesses have begun creating their own challenges in an effort to engage more users. When creating a challenge, make sure to use a hashtag along with an appropriate title. Doing so ensures that the challenge has a better chance of being found and shared.

  • Influencer marketing

Just like Instagram, TikTok is home to users with enormous followings. As such, you should consider influencer marketing. Influencer marketing involves building a relationship with someone on the platform with a large influence (number of followers). As long as your brand is relevant to them, they will be able to influence their followers’ awareness and feelings about your brand. For example, if you create a challenge, you can get it exposure by having an influencer take part in that challenge. They can also encourage their followers to do the same.

  • TikTok’s advertising platform

Like other social platforms, TikTok does have its own advertising platform that you can use. Some of the TikTok advertising options include in-feed videos, brand takeover ads, branded AR content, and more. TikTok can even help assist with your influencer marketing campaign via its customer influence package. Additionally, you will can customize your targeting options using website traffic, ad engagement, app activity, or customer contact data.

Begin Integrating TikTok Advertising As Part Of Your Social Marketing Strategy

Although TikTok has a younger user-base, it is continuing to grow, attracting more and more older users. As such, it’s worth considering TikTok advertising, especially if any of your buyer personas match with TikTok’s current audience.

 

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Leveraging Video Marketing During COVID-19

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When it comes to creating content for your marketing strategy, arguably the most effective type of content is video content. In fact, the success of video marketing when compared to other types of content marketing has been proven time and time again. For example, the viewing of video content accounts for roughly one-third of all online activity. Additionally, 64 percent of consumers will purchase a product or service after watching a branded social video.

If that wasn’t enough, video content generates 12 times more shares on social media than text and image-based content combined. With these video content statistics in mind, you should make an effort to focus on video marketing. This still holds true in today’s current stay-at-home environment.

Why Do Audiences Love Video Content?

The main reason why audiences love video marketing is because people are visual creatures. It’s much easier for the typical person to absorb and retain information that they got from a video than from an article. In fact, the human brain processes visual information roughly 60,000 faster than it can process text. Movement tends to attract the human eye as well. Video content provides such movement, whereas text-based content does not. But these are not the only reasons why video content is more effective than text-based content.

Video content allows you to display a personality. By having someone onscreen, you give your audience someone to relate to and to connect to on an emotional level. It doesn’t matter how much personality you write with, text-based content simply cannot stack up to video’s ability to do this.

Enjoy this article: Video Marketing Ideas: Using Storytelling In Social Media

How Can You Leverage Video Content During COVID-19?video marketing 2

Considering that the majority of the country is staying at home, there are more opportunities to reach your target audience via video marketing. Many people are out of work. Those who aren’t may not have as much work to do and are likely working remotely from home, which means that they have much more time on their hands.

While they might have more time to read text-based content while stuck at home, they will likely be even more drawn to video content. Video content gives people the chance to watch somebody speak on screen. In some cases, such as through the use of video messaging software, they can even engage with the speaker directly. As a result, viewers will be able to connect with a real human, which is something that’s a bit of a rarity during these times of social isolation. With that in mind, the following are a few examples of how you can leverage video marketing during this pandemic:

  • Pre-produced video content

Because of COVID-19, you can’t exactly go out and produce new video content. However, you can promote the existing video content on your website. It’s a great way to get more views and to generate more brand exposure. Post links to older videos that are still relevant to your social pages. You can also get your company’s leaders to produce simple video messages for your audience as well.

  • Webinars

Arguably the best way to provide your target audience with new video content is to hold webinars. They can be hosted by a variety of people, from company leaders to industry influencers. Webinars are convenient since they can be hosted from home. All you have to do is to schedule a live stream through one of your social channels. Viewers can then tune in from the comfort of their own homes at a specific time. You can encourage participation by making your webinars question and answer based. This will help to improve engagement with your audience. Following the webinar, you can post the video of it to your website so people can view it at their own convenience.

  • Virtual tours

Companies that provide essential services can create behind-the-scenes video content of their place of work. They can also film virtual tours of your place of business. For example, if you have a factory that manufactures an essential product, you can showcase how you’re keeping your employees safe. For example by demonstrating social distancing in the workplace, allowing employees to speak about your safety standards, and more.

Continue Focusing on Video Marketing During The COVID-19 Pandemic

Video marketing has always been one of the most effective content marketing strategies that you can implement. This is because video content tends to engage audiences more than any other type of content. During this COVID-19 pandemic, much of your audience will be staying at home and will have more time on their hands than usual. With that in mind, video marketing can be a great way to engage them. Use older video content, virtual tours, and webinars to effectively leverage video marketing during this particularly strange moment in time.

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