by Dotun Olagbadebo | Oct 6, 2017 | Social Media Tools
Can WhatsApp Boost your Business?
WhatsApp is the online instant messaging application for mobile devices that has revolutionised the way we communicate with colleagues and friends. WhatsApp was acquired in 2014 by Facebook at a cost of $ 19 billion and is a total success in terms of use and diffusion. Today, the app has over 1.2 billion active monthly users, 42 billion messages sent per day, and is available in 53 languages.
This powerful application allows video, audio, image, and text messages all through the internet. With more than 250 million daily shared videos, WhatsApp is the leading instant messaging application.The WhatsApp service is currently used in 109 countries. 70% of WhatsApp users use the app on a daily basis. Each day 100 million voice calls and 55 million video calls are made. 175 million people actively use the WhatsApp Status function.
It goes without saying that WhatsApp’s potential as a marketing tool is huge – it’s a platform where brands can connect with a massive global audience. WhatsApp can be a great tool for engagement and relationship building if used for customer service. Quicker response times and personal B2C interaction will only add to customer satisfaction.
WhatsApp works when there is an internet connection, which saves costs when it comes to contact a team member who is not in the office. With WhatsApp, communication is instantaneous and it is possible to even create groups to interact and share business updates, regardless of the location of the other team members.
As a small business owner, what better tool to serve your customers than the one that everyone is using? Your client will prefer to send a message through this app than to call your customer service number or to contact you via email.
It is an excellent channel to keep in touch with your customers on a more personal level. WhatsApp allows you to send short messages: from images to video and audio files related to your products.
The open rate for WhatsApp messages is 70 percent. So instead of calling customers for feedback, you can create questions for your group that will deliver answers that are relevant to your business. This is marketing research at its best, and it is free. With the feedback you receive from your customers, you can respond to their requests and improve the products and services you provide.
With the new Status feature, you can create special promotional codes your customers can share to redeem at your business. Using the instant photo and location feature, Status can let everyone in your group know about the promotions you are running. This could include a two hour flash sale or a one day special to drive in traffic and create buzz. Based on interaction levels, you can expand the promotion with WhatsApp-Status exclusive coupons or promotions.
The instant interaction capability of Status means you can provide special access to events you are holding and send a live feed. If you have a special guest chef in your restaurant, a musician in your music store or a renowned architect in your firm, you can share this news with your audience.
WhatsApp, as a communication tool, continues to evolve and add more features — like Status — with more likely in the future. It is a versatile platform that lets you send files, images, and short video clips about your products and services.
But the key to using WhatsApp effectively is to avoid abusing the relationships you build with your audience these. Measure your interactions so each message you send has value. Don’t make every conversation about making a sale. Remember other users have the power to delete your message with a single click.
by Dotun Olagbadebo | Sep 26, 2017 | Online Marketing, Social Media Marketing
Seven Quick Ways To Use Snapchat As A Brand
With over 100 million daily active users and 400 million snaps per day, Snapchat is one of the fastest-growing social networks and is fast becoming a vital part of global marketing strategies. With Snapchat, you can increase community engagement and brand awareness through innovative marketing campaigns. As a business, Snapchat can help you build an engaged following, increase loyalty, and boost your brand visibility through daily stories that engage and excite audiences. Snapchat stories, which last only 24 hours, are a string of snaps used to create a video narrative. There are over 1 billion views of Snapchat stories each day. Below are seven quick ways to use Snapchat as a brand.
1. Share Milestones
When your business is on the verge of something big—finishing a major project, achieving a new milestone, or preparing for a big event—the last thing you have time for is marketing. However, these are definitive moments of your business that reveal personalities and culture. Snapchat stories are a great way to fit some quick and easy marketing without spending hours finding the perfect photo to post. This will let you stay connected with your audience without missing a beat in your bigger event.
2. Pull back the curtain once in a while
Use Snapchat to give your customers a look at what goes on behind the scenes at your company. Buyers still like feeling as if they know the story behind your company. With Snapchat, you can provide behind-the-scenes content to your community, which helps create and engage a strong following. Show off your company and make sure to have fun with it. Capture birthday parties, Friday afternoons or company outings. The sky’s the limit on showing how your brand differentiates itself with company culture.
3. Promote Your Other Social Media Platforms
Another way to use Snapchat for your business is to provide instructions in your Story for action on a different social media platform. For example, you can have them send you a Direct Message on Instagram with a promo code that you provide only on Snapchat or tell them to follow you and comment on a certain post on Twitter in a particular way with a specific hashtag and they get a free coupon or some other prize.
4. Provide Access to Live Events
Snapchat is perfect for real-time social media marketing because it can give the audience direct access to live events. You can use it for product launches, trade shows or one-of-a-kind events like the 1,000th customer to shop in your store. Snapchat gets your audience excited because you’re providing a different, more authentic view of what’s going on at the event.
5. Deliver Private Content
You can also use Snapchat to provide special content to your audience that they might not receive on other digital platforms. Think of something unique to surprise your community of followers.
6. Offer Contests, Perks or Promotions
Everyone loves social media giveaways and promotions, so think of ways you can keep your followers coming back for more. For example, you could offer promo codes or discounts to the fans who watch your entire Snapchat story, or ask them to take a snap while holding your product or You can get your followers involved with Snapchat-exclusive coupon codes or other exclusive promos. Make it fun and your brand’s reach is sure to grow!
7. Drive Traffic to Your Website
You can use Snapchat to drive traffic to your business website. Though like Instagram, Snapchat doesn’t allow you to post clickable links, You can instruct users to go to specific URLS, but they should be easy to remember, or easy to copy and paste into their browser.
by Dotun Olagbadebo | Sep 21, 2017 | Business
Things Apple Can Teach You as a Brand
While other companies fight for attention, Apple seems to effortlessly dominate the media–not to mention the hearts and minds of customers–with its new product launches. That is because with Apple, every product is a story, not a list of features. With 43 per cent rise in value in 2015 according to leading authority, Apple is famously disciplined (some might say secretive) in every aspect of what it does. Below are some of the things Apple can teach you as a brand.
- Suspense and anticipation
Take a page from Apple. Apple is a master of the teaser marketing campaign, dragging on the suspense for as long as possible. For weeks if not months before the release of every iPhone, the media conversation builds to deafening levels. Start building relationships with the media and bloggers–the influencers who cover your industry. Nurture and expand them over time. Remember, the Internet is word of mouth on steroids. Marketers have always known that the best way to promote your product is to get others to do it for you.
- Less supply, more demand
Scarcity not only increases the value of a product, it propels the procrastinators and all us who want to be part of the trendy crowd to step up and buy. Apple has found its own ways to hype the sense of faux scarcity. Just one hour after the iPhone 5 went on sale for preorders on September 14, 2012, the Apple website reported that heavy demand had necessitated delayed delivery. The tactic worked. Like Apple, consider intentionally restricting production of a product to create scarcity and fuel demand for your product. Other tactics you can explore are making the offer only available for a limited time or until a certain number have been sold. Or you can report on your website or customer sales calls that only a small number of certain items are left in stock–but only if that’s really the case.
- Customer First
Think outside-in as smart branders do. Begin with your customer first (outside), then figure out how you can improve your product or service to meet that customer need (inside). Ask yourself, “What would make your product easier to use for customers?” and “How can you make the customer experience special and different–at every touch point?” Think of the customer experience holistically. Apple products have always been designed to be different, delightful and friendly. Its history of innovative, “friendly” gadgets creates anticipation about what they will do next to advance the consumer experience. Make sure that the customer benefits your product offers are crisp and clear in all your marketing.
- Brand personality
Make sure every touch point where customers come into contact with your company and its products conveys your company’s brand personality with a unified visual identity, a distinct look and feel that sets you apart from others. Not only does Apple have a history of product innovations, they package their products brilliantly. Many customers are so wowed by Apple’s beautiful, “open me first” packaging that they don’t throw it away, which is called “unboxing.”
- Humane website
Add copywriting to the long list of things Apple does well. Click on Apple’s website and you’ll find page after page of great marketing copy. Pick any topic there and you’ll find good writing. It’s easy to read. Sentences are kept as short as possible, and crafted to flow rhythmically. It has genuine, authentic personality. When you read anything from Apple, it sounds like someone is speaking to you in person. It’s humble. Even when promoting a new breakthrough, the copy is never about how great Apple is; it’s about how much you’re going to enjoy using all those new breakthroughs in your daily life. Nor does their copy ever try to impress the reader with how smart it is. Apple’s writers don’t write for themselves; they write for their audience. And they avoid self-indulgent attempts at cleverness.
That’s how your website should be. Warm and conversational. No one wants to be talked at and no one likes patronizing and condescending people (in this case, write ups). Try and implement some of these things in your website and the result will be… people actually reading them.
by Yomi Ashiru | Jul 26, 2017 | Online Marketing, Social Media Marketing, Social Media Tools
Ways LinkedIn Can Grow Your Brand
LinkedIn is the top social network for businesses that offers business building opportunities and makes outreach easily effective. Often forgotten by marketers, LinkedIn is no joke with over 300 million members and the percentage of usage by experienced social media managers being 23% more than beginners. There are many ways LinkedIn can grow your brand. check out some of them.
- Opportunities abound for your brand to make connections on LinkedIn. Join groups that have something in common with your industry and get involved in discussions by asking questions or providing answers to questions in your field of expertise. Then, use the site’s Advanced Search to find a specific target market.
- You can reach out to your connections through carefully crafted personal messages that introduce you, your mutual interests and the benefits of working together.
- Create your own group. It is a great way to make connections and establish yourself as an authority in your field. Don’t forget to use keywords in your group title. This makes your group more searchable. Also, link your brand’s website to the group to drive traffic to your site.
- Build your online presence and authority using the LinkedIn Answers feature. Set up the feature on your homepage and select topics you have expertise on. This allows users to contact you directly with any questions they have on the subject thus, building your online credibility.
- According to LinkedIn expert John Lemo, you can turn your profile views into lead generation by tracking the people who have viewed your profile through the “who’s viewed your profile” link in the “Profile” drop down of your page and inviting them to connect.
- In addition, LinkedIn Pulse is a feature of the app that can help grow your brand. The LinkedIn FAQ says …“the quickest way to build your professional brand is with LinkedIn’s publishing platform. Use it to write about everything from industry trends to career accomplishments. It’s important to write about what you know, as these articles will help you establish yourself as an expert.”
- Finally, post regularly. LinkedIn stats show that companies who post at least 20 times per month will reach at least 60 percent of their audience.
These are just a few of the many ways LinkedIn can grow your brand. You can try them out and also look for more ways as you progress.
www.brandwatch.com
www.instapage.com
www.blogs.oracle.com
by Yomi Ashiru | Jun 8, 2017 | Online Marketing, Social Media Tools
Social Media Trends To Follow as a Brand
As a brand looking to generate leads and boost sales through your digital marketing strategy, it is important to stay abreast of social media trends and follow them. Social media has created an avenue for people to relate with brands and ask questions. Being up to date on Social media trends puts you one step ahead of your competitors. With over 1.8 billion Facebook active users and 500 million active Instagram users monthly (60% of these users learn about brands online and 75% of them take action form what they’ve learned), it is in your brand’s interest to follow trends on these two social media platforms. So, we at ScubedStudios have compiled some of the best social media trends to follow.
- Live streaming. This is a live video post Facebook introduced to its app. You can post real time video and see the number of live viewers and the stream of live comments as well with the help of the Facebook Page Manager app.
- Plus, Facebook recently introduced the 360o photos that allow users see the view all around a photograph. It is more interactive and immersive that regular photo posts.
- Comments on followers/subscribers photos on Facebook and Instagram. It earns their respect, interest and can eventually convert them to customers.
- A useful trend to follow is the chatbot service on Facebook Messenger. This service has settings to answer FAQs and send information immediately. Prompt customer service will increase your credibility.
- Also, Instagram stories are a great trend to follow. Share behind the scenes stories of your brand that play like a slideshow. You can tag profiles of people and add a geolocation so your followers can know where you are.
- Use the Instagram insights for business account to analyze statistics and optimize your content.
For more, visit www.jeffbullas.com
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