How to Build a Thriving Fan Base on Social Media During These Times

Today we’re going to discuss how to create a large and thriving fan base on ANY social media platform! We’re going to go over techniques and strategies to give you the highest chances of success possible. It will be up to you to put in the work. But we will give you the layout. We’re going to discuss things like consistency, transparency, building a brand image, along with your values, and color scheme.

1.      Keep it Consistent: Consistency is key to building a solid rapport with your fan base, keep a schedule on when you’ll be releasing your content and stick to it. For example, if you release food challenges, release one every Tuesday at 3 o’clock so your fans know when to tune into your social media channel, it gives them something to look forward to, and it creates a sense of anticipation. Your fans will thank you for this and will be able to tell others when they can tune in as well, a good example of this is the YouTube show “Hot One’s” which airs on a weekly schedule in-season.

2.      Keep it Transparent: Transparency is key when building a loyal fan base that will brag about you to everyone they know. You have to let them know if you haven’t been posting, why not? Or let them get a behind the scenes look behind your creative process, how do you come up with these stunning visuals, engaging stories, or hilarious videos? The people want to know! Being honest is always the best quality, do your best to assist your fans in whatever way you can.

3.      Building a Brand Image: When building a brand image, you need to think of what does YOUR targeted demographic relate with the most? What colors would really draw them in? As well as what colors really fit with the theme of your business, as each color conveys a different emotion, red: power, blue: calm, tranquility, purple: royalty, yellow: energy, happiness. Each unique with the power to display many different messages, and conjure up many different emotions within your fans, choose your colors wisely. We need to think about the brand values associated with your brand as well, what do you stand for? What impact are you looking to make on the lives of your fans, as well as the world at large.

Four Ways to use Social Media to Grow Your Business

While it's common knowledge that social media is used by billions of people around the world, what surprises many is the fact that every 6.4 seconds someone new is joining the craze. When used properly, sites like Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn can draw traffic to your website and increase the general public's knowledge of your brand. Here are a few tips that will help you to take charge of your web presence.

Establish your brand across several different sites

All platforms have different uses, so it's best to have accounts on multiple websites. Twitter is best for short blurbs of information and humor is often best received here. Facebook has the most users of all ages and is great for reaching a broader audience. Instagram is amazing if visual content such as pictures and videos will help get your message across. It's also great for reaching a younger audience. LinkedIn will help to showcase your company's values and is a great place to share more serious information and post job openings to qualified candidates. 

Use social media as it was intended

Social networks are designed for interaction between people. The biggest mistake you can make is having social accounts, posting on them regularly, and not engaging with people. Respond to comments, answer messages, and feel free to reach out to people who post about your business and ask for permission to repost their content. 71% of consumers who had a positive experience with a brand on social media say that they're likely to recommend them to family and friends. Interacting with users online can increase the amount of people that are exposed to your business and positive experiences can up the number of repeat customers. 

Focus on quality over quantity

All too often people believe that posting frequently on their profile is the way to success. This can actually annoy your followers or connections and cause people to mute you or, even worse, unfollow you altogether. The best way to handle posting is to only do so when you have quality content you'd like to share; information should draw users in, teach them something new about your company, inform them about upcoming sales and events or new products, or at the very least be memorable. Filler content, especially on platforms like Instagram, can dampen people's understanding of your brand and discourage new people from following you. 

Social media can be a useful tool if used correctly

Social sites are used by billions of people with new users joining every day. Posting content on several different sites increases your visibility and allows you to reach people in different ways. It's important to engage with your followers in a meaningful way and ensure they have a positive experience. Creating quality content instead of posting simply to post will draw new followers and keep existing ones. Having a successful online presence can greatly impact your business and following these tips ensures it's in a positive way.

Three Common Social Media Marketing Mistakes (And How to Avoid Them)

Social media is everything today. We live in a world where almost everyone has at least one or two social media profiles. Many businesses have their own profiles too!

However, social media marketing is more than just starting a page for your business and posting here and there. In fact, many small business owners make mistakes when using social media to market their business. Here are some of the most common ones that are made.

Mistake Number One: Avoiding social media.

Business owners that avoid social media are losing out on a large number of potential customers. Most people have at least one social media account that they check regularly. Many have more than one.

If you want to grow your business, it needs to be found on social media!

How to Avoid It

You just need to get started on social media. Start small with one platform (Facebook or Twitter) and give it a try. Once you start posting regularly and building up a following, you will be amazed by how many people find you through social media.

Mistake Number Two: Using only one platform.

Many business owners don't understand the importance of using multiple platforms. This helps them to reach as many potential customers as possible.

You are going to notice that some of your customers spend time on Facebook, while others prefer Twitter or Instagram. If you aren't on multiple social media sites, you may be missing out. The more places that you are, the more people you could potentially reach.

How to Avoid It

You need to use as many types of marketing and advertising as you can, even if this means that you need to get help. Your business won't be found if you don't put yourself out there (in multiple places)! 

Mistake Number Three: Trying too hard.

Many business owners crash and burn. They think that they have to join every social media site. However, the business owners that try to do too much too fast burn out and quickly let things slide. They may start out with lots of ideas, but then they can't keep up, so they just stop marketing altogether.

How to Avoid It

Start slowly. Try one thing at a time. Once you get the hang of it, you can add more to your plate. Start with one social media profile. Once you are comfortable using that, you may want to add another.

While many business owners avoid social media altogether, others crash and burn. They try to join every site that they can think of and find out that they can't keep up with them all. The best thing that you can do is to start small and build up.  If you are struggling, don't hesitate to get help.

Contact us for all of your marketing needs. 

Three Keywords in Social Media Marketing and What They Mean

Today in social media there are buzz words that are flying around all across the internet, and we will be looking at the most important few of those, to help you be better equipped to enter the arena of social media marketing. Also please stay safe folks, and stay informed!

1.     Hashtags: First on our list will be hashtags what are they? What purpose do they serve? What are some popular hashtags that have been used throughout the short history of social media? We will answer all of these questions! First off hashtags at the base level are words that come after a pound sign, these are used to create viral movements, such as the #MeToo movement, #IceBucketChallenge, or even things as simple as #love, #ootd, #yoga which are used to make it easier for users interested in content such as this to find your post. Hashtags are powerful tools to create a buzz in the social media world, and some catch fire and set the internet ablaze. Brain storm with your colleagues to create your very own viral sensation.

2.     Stories: Second are stories which are short videos that can be posted Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, that are used to do exactly as it says tell miniature stories. These are also extremely useful in telling your brands story, interacting with customers, holding contests, etc. These help you to interact with customers on a daily basis without the need to flood their timeline with actual posts, it is important to be consistent with your posts, so your consumers are constantly informed on your business’s plans, and future ideas.

3.     Ads: Ads are vital to the success of new businesses because the first step when creating a business is to create brand exposure! As you can have the greatest product or service in the world but if no one knows about your business it is all for not. Without awareness of your brand, you will never be able to be truly profitable, this is where ads come in. Ads will allow you to target specific users of social media platforms that you believe would be most interested in your business. This is an extremely helpful tool, as you can target by age, gender, income, hobbies, and so much more. Become familiar with ads and you will set yourself up for the best chance of success.

We hope that this blog post has been informative, and will assist you greatly in your entrepreneurial journey!

Social Media Marketing Tips For Beginners in 2020

Getting your name out there when you're just starting out on social media can be a challenge. All the terminology and "rules" can be overwhelming, so here are a few tips on how you can make the most of it.

If you are a goal-driven person, you're going to want to ask yourself what the end result should be. Do you want to get three new leads by the end of the month? Is there a certain target audience you want to reach? Whatever it is, be sure you're creating tasks and schedules that help you reach that end result.

As a beginner, you will want to avoid anything that will take up too much of your time unnecessarily. Those starting out on social media should be aware of how much time is spent performing certain tasks. If you have other external responsibilities such as being a stay-at-home mom or a student, steer clear of spending four hours batching content for your platforms. Take time for what's important, and the rest will fall into place.

The previous point briefly mentioned content batching. This is an excellent time saver and will be less stressful in the long run. Keep it simple; people can tell when you're trying too hard. A well-used tip that many people use is dedicating one day to each platform or theme. Run specials for your business on Mondays or perhaps do those inspirational quotes mid-week.

The last tip deals with platforms themselves. While it's okay to use as many platforms as possible, it's always wise as a beginner not to overwhelm yourself. Choose two platforms that you think will get you the most results. Facebook and Twitter are pretty popular choices these days. Smaller businesses lean towards Instagram.

Marketing yourself on social media can be a daunting task. Let us at Real Time Outsource help you make the most of your goals. Contact us today!

Best Instagram Marketing Strategies for Mompreneurs

Mompreneurs are a driving force in the home-based business world. Many stay-at-home moms have become mompreneurs in recent years, but single mothers and even mothers who work full-time outside the home are also embracing this sector. The U.S. Census states that the number of women-owned businesses rose from 7.8 million to 9.9 million between the years 2007-2012. In addition, many moms are becoming business owners out of the desire for a better work-life balance that is sometimes lacking in traditional jobs. If you're a new or established mompreneur, it's important to embrace social media marketing. Instagram is a platform that is growing in popularity each year, and here are ways you can use it to promote your business.

Don't Post Content Excessively

You should post content to Instagram on a consistent basis, but this doesn't mean that you need to do it too frequently during the week. The key is posting quality content that will get your audience's attention and make them want to share your work with others. Create a flexible posting schedule that you can stick to and this ensures that you're posting regularly without overdoing it.

Utilize Hashtags Strategically

If you're new to Instagram marketing, you're probably intimidated by the use of hashtags. Hashtags are helpful in targeting your audience if you do it correctly. Come up with a list of keywords that your audience is likely to search for, and those words can be your hashtags. Currently, Instagram allows for at least 30 hashtags.

Let's Get Visual

Go beyond long boring text or links to your content. Make your brand's mission come to life with visual storytelling. Start by writing down the goals you have for your storytelling campaign, and also plan how you will promote those goals through Instagram. Post videos about how your products work and how they will benefit potential customers. Also, post videos on what motivates you as a mompreneur. If you create homeschool curriculum for students with learning disabilities, talk about your struggles with finding materials that would be a good fit for your child who struggled with reading or math.

In conclusion, these strategies can help mompreneurs get started with Instagram marketing.

If you need assistance with Instagram or other types of social media marketing, contact us. We are here to assist you in your business promotion efforts.

Three Common Mistakes the Businesses make with Social Media

Today we will be discussing common mistakes within social media, such as not creating a sound strategy to follow, dealing with criticism in the wrong way, not having the right target audience, not creating a budget appropriate for your business size, and many other obvious and not so obvious obstacles that can arise while creating a solid foundation for your business’s social media ventures.

1.     Ignoring negative comments:  Rule one of social media is do NOT ignore negative comments, they should be addressed in a calm and helpful manner, try to assist the consumer it whatever problem they are having with your product or service, as if left unchecked it will continue to fester and hurt your reliability, and will create doubts of the customer service aspect of your business. Be courteous, respectful, and respond in a timely manner, and it will pay dividends for your business.

2.     Not having a strategy in place for your business: Do not go into business without a plan that is recipe for a quick exit, you need to know your product inside and out, know its strengths and weaknesses, be able to sell it to anyone and everyone, be persuasive in your methods you plan to implement. You need to know your target market, you need to know how much it costs to advertise your particular business, what’re the hot key words, what is the appropriate length for the keywords your targeting you don’t want them to be too broad in scope where it’s a buckshot approach and shows the ads to anyone, but you also don’t want them to be too narrow where it will be missing out on potential customers.

3.     Not having an appropriate budget regarding the size of your business: You need to gauge the necessary amount of money you will need to distribute towards the ads you will be showing on social media. Too little and you’re not maximizing your effectiveness, too much and your wasting unnecessary resources, you have to do some experimenting and look at how much you are willing to gamble, and when the ROI begins to drop off.

We hope this post will be useful in assisting in you all of your future entrepreneurial endeavors on social media.

Two Major Differences Between Social Media Platforms

Today we will be discussing the key differences between the various social media platforms at our disposal. We’ll be looking at the foundations of sites such as Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram, the three giants of the industry. We’re going to determine how each site is used by the users, and what the pros and cons of each site are.

1.      Twitter vs. Instagram: One of the key differences between these two sites is the way people try to portray themselves. On Twitter people are much more vocal about their beliefs, and unforgiving. They are willing to speak up to others and often engage in arguments to defend their point of view on matters. While on Instagram people wish to create a facade. They only show you the highlights of their life, no one will post what is going wrong in their life, and essentially it is only what they want to show you, in an attempt to show you how great their life is, but in reality, we have no idea what their life is like behind the screen. Another thing to note is the censorship on Twitter is very lax, and you can almost put anything you want, nudity, cursing, bullying, whatever you choose. While Instagram is quite strict when it comes to things of that nature and engaging in posting such content will surely result a ban on your account. So, depending on the type of content you post, you’d want to choose one over the other. Visuals vs. Words, this is another significant difference between the two, while both can be used as visual mediums, Instagram is definitely the preferred of the two, to post things like photography, graphics, memes, etc. While using Twitter is the preferred method when using words, while you can write captions on Instagram, like posting visuals on Twitter, the latter is preferred when writing about issues your passionate about.

2.      Instagram vs. Facebook: While on the surface these appear quite similar there are some differences we can look into. It is well known that typically Instagram has a younger userbase than Facebook, this is because Facebook has become a more family oriented social media platform, this is because it is usually to keep in contact with loved ones, such as Aunt’s, Uncle’s, Grandpa’s, Grandma’s, you get the gist of it. They are both owned by Facebook, so they are also highly compatible, you can almost think of a Facebook as compliment to Instagram or vice versa depending on your age.

We hope this discussion will serve you well in dispelling the mysteries surrounding the differences and similarities regarding the various social media pages we interact with.

3 Book Recommendations to read in 2020

Books are an incredible resource for information in the business world, there are books on any topic in business you can imagine, such as marketing tactics ranging from how influence your consumers, how to build deeper long lasting relationships with your customers, etc., there are also books you can read about former business giants, to seek out their perspective when making decisions, as well as to see the mistakes they made throughout their careers and how this can show you that even the greatest of greats fail on their way to the top, and you will not have to make the same mistakes they did.

1.      Shoe Dog: Written by the founder of Nike, Phil Knight. This book is Phil Knight’s memoir about his rise to prominence in the business world. It is an inspiring tale of a young man lost trying to find his way in the world. I feel that young adults will find his story very relatable and also inspiring. He goes through the whole evolution of Nike as a company, which was originally Blue-Ribbon Sports, which got its funding from Japanese investors. Highly recommended.

2.      Influence! The Psychology of Persuasion: Written by Robert B. Cialdini, Ph.D. This book is incredible in learning the many different ways marketing can be used to influence your consumers to make purchasing decisions. It goes over things like price adjustment, reciprocation, authority, scarcity, and social proof among other techniques. All of these are useful additions to your marketing tool belt, not only that but it is useful information to know so you can defend yourself against such practices and be aware when they are being used against you. A must read to improve your marketing skills.

3.      How to Win Friends & Influence People: Written by Dale Carnegie. This book while not necessarily specifically for business, has many insights and techniques that can be used within a business setting. Such as remembering people’s names always, in the book he describes a person’s name as being the sweetest sound in the world to themselves. Another technique is letting the other person do most of the talking, as people love to hear themselves talk, be genuinely interested as this is one of the greatest compliments you can pay to someone. It has many recommendations that while they may seem to be common sense, we all too often forget to utilize.

We hope these recommendations will be of great use to you in your professional and personal lives! Good luck to you in all of your endeavors.

4 Social Media Marketing Don’ts You Should Know (And the Dos)

Social media marketing is not an option in today's business environment. For every business, big or small, smart use of social media is the way to go. To optimize your use of social media, these are some caveats that you definitely should pay attention to. 

Don't Forget Your Links

Your website is your anchor when it comes to marketing because that's where you properly showcase what solutions you have to offer, what your brand is about, and what your business cares about. All roads should lead home, and by roads, we mean Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, and just about every other social media platform you're on.

Don't Post Text Only

A chunk of text after another won't cut it.  Your audience will soon tune out. Not good for your business. Remember, with social media marketing, and indeed, all types of marketing, visuals always go a long way. Imagery is appealing, captivating and more impression leaving. Mix up your text with an infographic, a video, or photo(s).

Don't Ignore Negative Reviews

One of the mistakes marketers do is to ignore negative feedback, believing if they do so, it will go away. In fact, these are the reviews that deserve your attention the most, because it shows goodwill and desire to fix mistakes. Instead, initiate dialogue with the customer. Ask for their contact so you can reach out and listen. Take this as a lesson on how to handle such a situation in future. It's a win for everyone.

Don't Spam Your Followers

There's nothing more annoying on social media than seeing the same person fill your news feed with the same info time and again. Brands are not exempt. Inundating your followers with the same material, or even mixed up content, but without a break, will drive customers to hit the unfollow button. Instead, schedule your content in such timing that it's relevant, fresh, and insightful every different time. 

With these simple guidelines, you are guaranteed a smooth and productive use of the very handy social media to market your business and stay ahead of the curve.

Please contact us to speak with one of our social media marketing experts today.