Tag Archive for: social media tips

Instagram’s Latest Hashtag Update: What Digital Marketers Need to Know

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Instagram’s latest update revolutionizes content exploration via hashtags, urging marketers to optimize content and profiles for maximum visibility, captivating users in a sea of search results, and encouraging further exploration.

This update swaps out the former “Top Posts” feed with a more expansive search results page when users click on a hashtag. Consequently, Instagram aims to boost profile discovery and inspire varied search habits among its users. Let’s explore further to understand the implications for digital marketers eager to leverage this update.

A Deeper Dive into Hashtag Search Results

Previously, tapping on a hashtag would only display a limited selection of “Top Posts.” However, with the new update, users are now presented with a comprehensive array of search results similar to those found in the Explore section. This expanded view allows users to explore various elements related to the hashtag, including accounts, audio, places, and reels. By offering a more holistic search experience, Instagram aims to enrich user engagement and broaden content discovery within the app.

Implications for Digital Marketers

For digital marketers, this update carries significant implications. Here are some key strategies to leverage Instagram’s latest update:

  • Optimize Content: Marketers should ensure that their content incorporates relevant hashtags to increase visibility within the broader search results. Utilize popular and niche hashtags related to your industry or content to attract a wider audience.
  • Enhance Profile Information: It’s crucial to update profile names and descriptions with relevant keywords to improve visibility in the “Accounts” display. Make sure your profile accurately reflects your brand identity and includes relevant keywords to attract users browsing through hashtag searches.
  • Create Engaging Content: With users now being directed to a wider array of search results, it’s essential for marketers to create compelling and engaging content that stands out amidst the competition. Focus on producing high-quality visuals, videos, and captions that resonate with your target audience and encourage further exploration.
  • Monitor Trends: Stay updated on trending hashtags and topics within your industry and incorporate them strategically into your content strategy. By aligning your content with popular trends, you can increase the likelihood of appearing in relevant hashtag searches and reaching a larger audience.
  • Encourage Interaction: Engage with your audience by responding to comments, messages, and mentions related to your content. Building meaningful connections with your followers can help increase engagement and visibility on the platform.
  • Analyze Performance: Regularly monitor the performance of your hashtag strategy and track metrics such as reach, engagement, and follower growth. Use insights gained from analytics to refine your approach and optimize future content for better results.

By implementing these strategies, your business can effectively harness Instagram’s new hashtag update to enhance your brand visibility, attract a broader audience, and drive engagement on the platform.

Room for Improvement

While Instagram’s hashtag update represents a step in the right direction, there is still room for improvement. Many users have expressed a desire to reintroduce the ability to sort search results by date posted, allowing for greater relevance and timeliness in content discovery. Addressing this feedback could further enhance the platform’s usability and cater to the evolving needs of its user base.

How Onimod Global Can Help

Instagram’s latest hashtag update presents both opportunities and challenges for digital marketers. At Onimod Global, we understand the importance of staying ahead of industry trends to help ensure our clients’ success in the dynamic world of digital marketing. With Instagram’s latest hashtag update, our team is poised to help businesses harness this opportunity effectively. By optimizing profile keywords, leveraging the expanded search results, we can help enhance our clients’ visibility and engagement on the platform.

Our commitment to innovation and staying at the forefront of emerging trends allows us to continuously refine our strategies, helping ensure that our clients remain competitive in the ever-evolving digital landscape. With our proactive approach, we empower businesses to navigate the complexities of social media marketing and achieve their goals with confidence, contact us today to learn more.

Top Mistakes to Avoid in Social Media Marketing

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Social media has become an integral part of businesses’ marketing strategies. With platforms constantly updating their algorithms and rolling out new features, there is always something new to learn. But with so many moving parts, there are also plenty of pitfalls to avoid.

Is your social media content hitting the mark regarding user engagement or reach? Below, we’ve outlined the top mistakes you should avoid in social media marketing and what you can do to course-correct. Here’s what you should know. 

Sharing Low-Quality Content

When it comes to visual-centric platforms like Instagram, the quality of your imagery isn’t just a “nice to have”—it’s an absolute must. Instagram is a highly competitive landscape with over a billion active users and millions of photos and videos posted daily. Users have become accustomed to scrolling through a feed filled with visually stunning, professionally curated content. In this context, any visual that is less than exceptional will quickly go unnoticed, blending into the sea of content without making an impact.

High-quality visuals signal professionalism and credibility. When users see a sharp, well-composed image or a high-resolution video, they immediately associate that level of quality with your brand itself. Conversely, blurry or pixelated images can make your brand seem unprofessional, regardless of how good your products or services may be.

The Text Factor: A Lesson from Twitter

The second mistake is not using Twitter’s character count to its full potential. While visual platforms like Instagram and Pinterest often grab headlines for their influence in social media marketing, it’s crucial not to overlook the power of text-based platforms like Twitter. Twitter may limit you to 280 characters per tweet, but those characters can be a goldmine of engagement, branding, and direct interaction with your audience. 

Twitter’s character limit forces you to get to the point quickly, which is often a blessing in disguise. In an age where attention spans are shrinking, a well-crafted, concise tweet can deliver a message more effectively than a wordy post. Carefully chosen words, short sentences, and compelling phrases can make your message digestible and shareable. And the more your content is shared, the broader your reach becomes.

Ignoring New Features

In social media, change is the only constant. Not embracing the new features can help your brand immensely. Platforms frequently roll out new features to keep the user experience fresh and engaging. The shifts can be subtle or monumental, but they are designed to enhance user interaction and keep people invested in the platform.

Understanding the ‘why’ behind these constant updates can help businesses effectively tailor their strategies. Social media platforms are relentlessly trying to capture user attention and engagement. New features are one way they can outpace competitors and maintain or grow their user base. Instagram, for instance, has recently updated its algorithm. This update will now factor in the time users spend watching your videos. If your videos are captivating enough to be viewed from start to finish, there’s a higher chance your posts will appear in those users’ feeds.

Lacking Cohesive Graphic Design

In an age where users have limitless options, inattention to design details can be costly. Design elements that clash can jarringly interrupt the user’s experience, causing them to skip over your post or unfollow your page. Poorly designed posts are less likely to be shared, limiting your organic reach. When you fail to engage the user immediately through design, capturing their attention with the content becomes an uphill battle.

When it comes to social media, cohesive and attractive graphic design serves a purpose that goes far beyond mere aesthetics. It is a powerful tool that significantly impacts brand recognition, message clarity, and user engagement.

Tailor Your Design to Your Brand

Your design choices for your social media profiles can heavily impact how your brand is perceived. A carefully selected color palette, font family, and image style can attract your target audience and subconsciously communicate your brand values.

Beyond color choices, typography and image styles are the backbone of your brand’s visual identity. Fonts should not only be aesthetic but also legible across devices. The imagery you choose should resonate with your target audience and maintain a quality that reflects well on your brand.

The Power of a Call-To-Action

In social media marketing, a Call-To-Action (CTA) serves as your brand’s persuasive nudge. It’s your way of steering the audience in the direction you desire, be it by sharing a post, subscribing to a newsletter, or clicking through to a product page. While the concept might seem simple, the execution requires careful consideration. The right phrasing, positioning, and context can significantly boost your CTA’s effectiveness.

The first rule in crafting a compelling CTA is clarity. Your audience should instantly understand what you’re asking them to do. Phrases like “Share this post if you agree” or “Click the link in our bio to learn more” are explicit, to the point, and require minimal cognitive effort to comprehend. The easier it is for the audience to understand the desired action, the more likely they are actually to complete it.

Elevate Your Social Media Game with Onimod Global

Creating consistent, high-quality, and engaging social media content can be a daunting faucet of running a successful business. That’s where Onimod Global comes in.

We assist with social media management, digital marketing, and high-end graphic design. Our digital marketers can help elevate your brand’s online presence, enabling you to focus on your core business actions and goals. 

Contact Onimod Global today to take your social media marketing to the next level.

The Ultimate Guide To Avoiding The Biggest Social Media Mistakes

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There are many times when we ignore new features on social media platforms. However, if your content is not reaching or engaging users like you want or expect, there’s probably a specific reason for it. 

Social media is constantly evolving, as such we need to keep up with it. Keep reading to see our list of mistakes to avoid on social media.

Sharing low-quality content

While Instagram may be more than a photo-sharing app, visuals are still king. If you want to succeed on the platform, you need to produce high-quality content.

Just look at Twitter: Although you can upload images and videos, it is a text-based app. From threads to retweets, the main feed is designed to prioritize written content.

The same is true for Instagram. Visuals are everywhere on the platform and if yours is not up to par, you will struggle to retain your audience’s attention.

Ignoring new features

Instagram is constantly evolving. Just this year, it’s rolled out new features like the Creators Marketplace, supervision tools for teens, pinned posts, Reels up to 90 seconds—and that’s just to name a few.

As Instagram continues to roll out new features, it prioritizes accounts that use them. For instance, when Reels first launched, the algorithm would prioritize accounts that used them—earning them more reach and impressions—than those who posted videos on the feed.

With this in mind, it’s important that businesses stay updated on the latest features coming out and how they will impact the platform’s algorithm. While a smaller change like a new button on the Shop tab may not affect your day-to-day business strategy, a new bigger change may warrant a strategy review.

Lacking Cohesive Graphic Design

When it comes to social media, your brand’s visual communication is just as important as the content you share. Design choices can vary depending on what kind of business you have. For example, if you are a finance firm, you might want to stray away from a bright color pallet and opt for something neutral.

When users are scrolling, you want to make your graphics eye-catching, but clear and easy to read. When you have limited time to get your message across, you want to make it count. Many marketers go with Sans- Serif fonts because they’re modern, simplistic and good for digital screens.

The same rule applies for images. If your image file is too small and has to stretch, this usually results in pixilation and poor quality. This can make your brand look unprofessional and are rarely shared by other users. Make sure the images you post to your pages are high-resolution and are the right dimension for the platform.

Content Lacking Engagement

Social media marketing can be a great way to reach new customers, but not all social media marketing campaigns are created equal. If you want to convert your followers into paying customers, you need to make sure that they’re engaged by the content you share.

Try posting engaging content and include a compelling call-to-action. Oftentimes, call to actions are a key point that many people miss. If you want your followers to share a post, then ask them to do so. If you want them to click on a link, then tell them to “click here.”

Social Media Marketing with Onimod Global 

Let’s face it: creating content for your brand can be hard if you don’t have the right tools in hand. It takes time and effort, and the results aren’t always what you’re hoping for.

But when you take the time to plan, create and customize your graphics to suit your brand and preferred social platforms, the results are worth it. Sometimes, outsourcing these efforts can make a world of difference. At Onimod Global, we’re experts in social media, digital marketing and graphic design.

We offer high-end design and branding for your business, as well as the ability to boost social reach, engagement and conversions. Ready to bring your social media marketing to the next level? Contact us today!

How To Improve Facebook Ad Performance and Measurement

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Per ususal, the last quarter of the year is a busy one and a very important time for businesses like yours. For 2021 in particular, you are most likely attempting to execute paid social media strategies with Facebook ads and digital marketing plans while navigating through a sea of privacy and platform changes across the entire online advertising industry.

Facebook estimates that in aggregate they are underreporting iOS web conversions by approximately 15%. however this is an overarching number with a broad range for individual advertisers. Facebook claims that the conversions occurring in the real world, like sales and app installs, are higher than what is being reported for many advertisers. Onimod Global experts are here to help you understand these changes, specifically in Facebook ads, and optimize performance in this new environment.

Actions to Improve Facebook Ad Performance and Measurement

As you build your campaigns, try to keep these Facebook advertising best practices in mind:

  • Before you analyze performance, allow some time: Delayed data is a real pain. Due to the fact it’s almost inevitable as well as modeled reporting, we advise waiting a minimum of 72 hours or the full length of the optimization window selected before evaluating the performance for campaigns that are optimized for conversions. Daily assessment is of course still possible for campaigns and should be monitored, but waiting to analyze and report will ensure you get the most accurate picture of performance.
  • Analyze at the campaign level, not the creative level: Where it’s possible and makes sense for your analysis, analyze reporting at the campaign level. While you can always assess performance at the ad set and ad level is possible, some estimated conversions are aggregated and reported with a delay. We advise to take this into account when assessing ads performance.
  • Enable Aggregated Event Measurement: This essentially means to choose the web events (like a sign-up or a purchase) that are most aligned with your core business outcomes and are frequently used as the events to optimize against in your campaigns. If you are running ads optimized against events that have not been prioritized in Events Manager, it may potentially effect your results negatively.
  • Set up the Conversions API: The Conversions API creates a simple, reliable and privacy-safe connection between your marketing data, such as website events and offline conversions, and Facebook. Adding the Conversions API to your existing setup will help you optimize your ad campaigns, decrease cost per action and more accurately measure campaign outcomes while offering the same privacy protections we’ve put in place across our other Business Tools. Many advertisers are already seeing success with Conversions API, and you can check out their stories here.
  • Use the learning phase help Facebook discover the best way to deliver your ads: One tip we recommend to be able to exit the learning phase sooner is to consolidate your ad sets, expanding your audience or choosing an optimization event that occurs more frequently. Another way you can make the most of the learning phase is reducing the frequency of manual edits or expand your audiences, so there are more opportunities for people to complete your optimization event.
  • Take all available tools into account: You may also want to consider all measurement solutions available to you, on Facebook Ads platform and off. During this period of transition, it’s crucial to review all measurement solutions to identify potential underreporting that may be occuring for your business.
  • Continue to test and learn: Through testing new bidding, format and audience strategies, you can identify what is working today and evolve over time as Facebook Ads continue to improve. Testing new creative and marketing strategies is essential for improving your performance over time.

Final Thoughts on Facebook Ads

When there’s even more to take into account in terms of making your Facebook Ads perform better, it’s important to know how each will benefit you and drive results. We will continue to share case studies and considerations to help you drive your business. Our goal is to ensure we help improve your marketing and drive success.

At Onimod Global, we have endless experience and expertise when it comes to all things Facebook advertising, general social media advertising, and digital marketing. Got questions about Facebook advertising or want to learn more about us? Contact us here today.

The Best Times to Post on Social Media for Your Business

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As a business, the goal of posting on social media is to generate brand awareness, engagement and drive more traffic to your website. To optimize your social media marketing strategy, the times you post on social media does matter. A well-timed post can lead to greater reach, more likes, comments, shares, etc. It is important to note that optimal times do vary based on industry and user trends. But in general, there are times of the day users are more engaged than others. We’ve put together a guide for the best times to post on each social media platform, making it easier to find your sweet spot for optimal performance in your specific industry. 

Facebook: 

Reaching people on Facebook isn’t as easy as it once was. Organic traffic has been on the decline over the last few years due to it becoming mostly a pay per click platform. That doesn’t mean it should be ignored, however, as there is still massive opportunity. 

During the week, the best time to post on your business page is between 1pm and 4pm. This is likely because it’s the time of day when users have some downtime at work are browning their desktop or scrolling through their phone screens. 

The best days of the week to post on Facebook are Thursdays, Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays. Weekends in general show the highest levels of engagement. And Sunday at 3pm is the single best time to post on Facebook. 

Twitter:

With Twitter, timing is everything. The lifespan of a tweet is only 18 minutes so you only have a short period of time to make sure you’re reaching the right people. 

The best time to tweet has shown to be between 12 and 1 pm. Workdays seem to drive the highest engagement, with Wednesday being the single best day. Tweeting during lunch every week day can help increase your general social media engagement. Additionally, the weekends have shown to be the worst days of the week to tweet, driving the lowest engagement. 

Instagram: 

Instagram has recently changed its algorithm for how the platform ranks posts on users’ feeds. In general, it has made driving traffic and engagement difficult for pages with small follower numbers. It favors “recency,” but does not use chronological order. It shows users posts they believe they will be more likely to engage with. This makes it even more important to post during the time your followers are most engaged. 

If you’re marketing or selling products, the best time to post on Instagram is 11am to 1pm during the week or evenings from 7pm to 9pm. Because Instagram is favored on mobile, most users tend to avoid it during the work day. When it comes to days, the best performing are Mondays, Wednesdays and Thursdays, with Wednesdays driving the highest levels of engagement. But the single best time to post on Instagram has shown to be Saturdays at 5 pm. Overall, Sundays are the worst days to post. 

LinkedIn: 

LinkedIn’s algorithm is very different from all other social media platforms. Oftentimes, it will show posts from weeks ago. This makes it even more important to create compelling content that will stand out amongst the crowd. 

Considering most LinkedIn users are business professionals, the best times to post are between 10am and 11am on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays. Weekends and after office hours tend to be the worst times to post. 

Final Thoughts

It’s important to note that this is all a general guide. To be successful on social you really need to know your own audience. Consider their age, their location, their challenges, pain points, etc. It’s also essential to continue to test and optimize. You never want to get complacent because things are constantly changing, especially when it comes to social media. 

If you need assistance with social media marketing, we can help. We’re experts in everything from SEO and SEM to social media marketing and website development.   To find out more about who we are and what we do, click here. To catch up on the top digital marketing news and trends, click here.  

 

Tips to Grow your Small Business Through Social Media

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The value of social media for businesses continues to grow, especially in light of COVID-19 pandemic. Social media allows for businesses to maintain connections with existing customers and extend their reach to new audiences. With over 2 billion worldwide users, everyone knows social media has now become a crucial part of an overall business strategy. But as a small business, joining social media effectively can be easier said than done. Let’s take a look at 5 ways you can start using social media to grow your small business. 

1. If you can’t create, curate. 

Posting consistent content is one of the most important factors that goes into increasing engagement. If you can’t create new content on your own, curate other’s content. Tools such as Pocket, Flipboard and Feedly allow you to curate useful, relevant content from other sources and share due credits. We recommend posting a minimum of twice per week and a maximum of 5, depending on your content type and industry. 

2. Use video to keep your audience engaged and growing. 

Nowadays, visual content is key. Algorithms have changed and evolved to actually preferring video content over all other forms. Going even further, 72% of consumers prefer videos over manuals to decide on a buy. There are numerous types of video content you can create to keep your audience engaged and growing. Consider sharing behind-the-scenes looks at your business, product launches, how-to’s, service examples, etc. 

3. Involve your followers. 

Finding ways to directly involve your followers in your content is another way to maximize engagement. Consider making quizzes, polls, giveaways and contests.  Many brands will create giveaways and contests and require those that enter to like, comment or share their posts with their friends. This is a simple and effective way to drastically increase your awareness among your followers and a larger audience. 

4. Utilize hashtags. 

Hashtags are one of the best ways to improve your searchability,  gain more awareness and expand the reach of your content. This goes beyond just creating your own hashtags. Find trending hashtags that are pertinent for your business: 

  • For your subject matter: #HowTo’s, #Hacks, #DIYS 
  • For your industry: #Food, #Fashion, #Auto 
  • For your audience: #StartUp, #WannaBeChef, #FitnessFreaks 

Research what’s trending among your audience and find a relevant way to involve yourself into the conversation. 

5. Reach out to influencers. 

Influencer marketing is a great way for new and small businesses to gain traction amongst a large audience. Influencers are now seen as more trusted, relatable and popular than celebrities. Consumers turn to them more for advice on what products to buy, services to use, brands to trust, etc. There are a number of tools that can help you research who the best influencers are in your industry and make it easier for you to reach out and connect with them. 

Final Thoughts

To be successful on social media it’s ultimately about giving value to your audience, whether that be through educating or entertaining. Users are constantly being bombarded with massive amounts of content and ads everyday. Meaning you have to find ways to bring value to them and differentiate yourself from the competition. Strategies will differ based on your industry and audience, but these 5 tactics are a great way for anyone to get started. If you need further assistance in social media marketing, or any other area of digital marketing, contact us today! 

Onimod Global releases the latest digital marketing news and essential marketing tips every Tuesday and Thursday! To catch up on the top digital marketing news and trends, click here.

Tips to Increase Your Brand’s Engagement on Social Media

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Promoting your brand through social media has become vital for overall business success. But just being on social channels isn’t enough anymore. The key to real success is through user engagement. This can help increase your brand awareness, customer relationships, and conversions, ultimately improving profits. 

Something that often gets lost to marketers is this: engagement is much more than just likes. Engagement is also comments, shares, follows, re-tweets, clicks, private messages, etc. And these types of engagements are often more valuable than likes. That sounds great, but how can brands accomplish all this? We’re here to help. Here are 5 tips for boosting your brand’s engagement across all social platforms.  

1. Talk about interesting topics, not just your brand. 

It’s common for businesses to frequently or exclusively post about their products or services. That’s not really not what social media is for, or what users want to see. The best content is exciting and informative. Ask yourself if it’s something you’d want to see or would share. It’s also important to ask yourself how it makes you feel. What getting people to engage, click, and convert comes down to is emotion. You should constantly be evaluating if your content is making you feel something and if that is worth sharing. If it’s not, editing and reevaluating may be needed. Most importantly, the content you’re creating and putting out to your audience should have value. The value is either making your audience happy, gives steps on how to get there, or anything else that’s beneficial. 

2. Join and hold Q&A’s and surveys. 

Joining Q&A sessions is a great way to provide your audience with value and get more brand awareness. You can spark discussions with prospective customers, all before competitors, you can become the go-to seller. Consumers are more impatient than ever and don’t want to wait for answers. That’s why, if it’s possible, you should have a dedicated response management person/team. While answering questions quickly is important, it’s also important to answer them accurately and clearly. We advise you to complete ongoing research for the most commonly asked questions and develop sample answers that can be customized for each question/situation. 

3. Share other people’s content. 

Constantly creating interesting, high quality, and engaging content is not easy. If there’s someone else providing quality answers to a query or other relevant content, make use of it. Your audience will see that you are there to give them what they need, no matter where it comes from. If your feed provides relevant and valuable information, whether it’s yours or not, people will be more attracted to your brand and be more encouraged to follow you. Keeping your feed diverse and from different contributors keeps audiences interested.

4. Make your customers feel engaged. 

To boost engagement, you need to be social. This means directly responding to all messages, comments, etc. Whether it be negative or positive, responding is essential. Show appreciation for the positive comments and suggest solutions for negative ones. It’s also important to respond to posts that aren’t addressing you directly, but indirectly or through hashtags. When responding you should present yourself as personable and approachable, ultimately humanizing your brand. Addressing comments with the person’s name is a great way to do this. It shows that the comment wasn’t computer generated and that someone really is listening to them. You should also try to match the person’s tone/emotion. If their comment was lighthearted and included emojis, feel free to use them back. This is a great way to generate a longer conversation and may even get other audience members involved. 

When it comes to negative comments, it’s smart to have a plan on how you’re going to deal with them. You want to be able to respond quickly to stop the issue from growing. You want to respond to show others that you’re not just ignoring the problem, but it’s also best to take the conversation offline and solve the problem privately. 

5. Post frequently and at optimal times. 

Posting frequently across all channels is vital for overall social media success. This shows your audience you’re relevant and up-to-date on the latest trends. This also helps your audience members stay up-to-date with you. Loyal customers want to know what’s happening with your brand the moment it occurs. Whether it’s a promotion, a new product/service, expansion, etc. This helps your audience stay connected and strengthens your relationship with them. 

A large part of engagement is posting at optimal times (when your audience is online and active). Most people are online during lunch hours or later at night, but it’s important to do research on your audience specifically. A/B testing may be necessary. Experiment with posting times to see which performs best and generates the most engagement amongst your audience. 

Social media moves quickly. If users think your page is inactive, they will unfollow you. Which is why it’s important to be posting as frequently as you can. Everyday isn’t necessary, but a few times a week is best practice. 

Final Thoughts

No matter what industry you’re in, social media is beneficial. It only continues to grow in value as times change in 2020. Brands that are focusing on growing their social media engagement are benefiting from better marketing reach, ROI and higher brand awareness. All which makes it easier to reach prospects and customers. Boosting and sustaining engagement is difficult and does take time, but it’s not impossible. It takes knowing your audience, a strong strategy and ongoing effort. In the end, it will be worth it. 

More from Onimod Global

As experts in social media marketing, our team knows where and when your customers need you most. We help create visibility for brands where their customers are searching, interacting and engaging. If you’re struggling in social media or any area of digital marketing, contact us today.