Customer engagement

Instagram apps that will help you tell your brand story

News broke recently that Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg planned to merge the social network’s messaging services — WhatsApp, Instagram and Facebook Messenger – came as a bit of a surprise and left marketers wondering what it meant for them. In the short term, it will not mean any change—these things would take time to happen—and... Read More

How to master Messenger

As the digital age picks up speed, so has the expectations of your customers. Most people expect fast communications and nearly instant service, whether they’re asking a question or voicing a complaint and it’s up to you to provide it to them. More and more often, that means some form of messenger. As many as... Read More

How to get reviews (without bribing your customers)

Customer reviews are vital to the success of your small business. The more you have, the better you’ll look, both in terms of the quality of service you provide and the loyalty of your customer base. Not only that, but they will lead to new customers and, hopefully, increased reviews. Consider that 90 percent of... Read More

Facebook page feature gives info on competitors

Efforts to promote transparency in advertising on Facebook have given business owners an additional tool to use to scope out the competition. You probably already know how important it is to do a competitive analysis of your business competition: you need to know how they are marketing themselves to consumers in order to do it... Read More

Facebook is changing ratings to recommendations

Facebook is changing the way people will review your business page. The social media giant is rolling out a plan to all business pages that would replace the rating system to recommendations in an attempt to generate more authentic information about the quality of business you operate. “Local business pages have always features ratings and... Read More

It’s beginning to look a lot like…Christmas?

We know what you’re thinking. Please! I’ve barely warmed up! I can’t be thinking about Christmas! True, the year is barely six months old and, while we don’t want to hasten its departure any more than the next full-service marketing firm, it’s time to start thinking about your holiday marketing campaign—or, at the very least,... Read More

How to stay ahead of your competitors on social media

Social media is just like your business: you have to get ahead to stay ahead. With so many people taking advantage of social media in 2018, you have to be smarter and faster than your competition in order to stand out, lure in new customers and keep your current audience engaged. Fortunately, that’s not all... Read More

Social media predictions for 2018

The New Year will bring challenges to business owners, and the continued digital marketing revolution will be there to help—or hurt. Just like last year, we expect plenty of changes to impact your business’ social media channels. Here are some of the top trends we’re predicting: Shrinkage. You probably noticed last year that the number... Read More

How to repurpose your blog content

It can be difficult to continually come up with new content for your social media feeds, but if you maintain a blog you’re already ahead of the game. In addition to showing off your expertise, your blog can also provide plenty of content for you to mine from. It’s easy to repurpose your blog into... Read More

Holiday marketing tips for small businesses

The holidays are all but upon us, but there’s still time to put together a quick holiday marketing campaign or, barring that, at least increase your visibility during the busy shopping season. Here are some quick ideas of things you can do to capitalize on the season of capitalism. A good old-fashioned gift guide. Any... Read More

How to upload a cover video to your business Facebook page

Facebook has long been moving toward more vibrant, graphic content. What started out as primarily a text-heavy format graduated into a medium where graphics held more sway. Today, video is replacing the pictures of cute kittens and puppies that once gained the most attention. “We see a world that is video first with video at... Read More

How to get personal with your business page

It’s easy to forget a simple business truth in a world that is increasingly digital: people like interacting with people. Whether it’s talking to a real human to solve an IT issue or handle a payment problem instead of navigating an automated voice maze or handling some kind of consumer complaint, there’s no substitute for... Read More

6 free ways to increase interaction on your Facebook page

As you know by now, there’s more to maintaining a business Facebook page than setting it up and hanging up a proverbial “Open” sign. Much like your business itself, you need to interact with the people that visit it in order to make your Facebook page successful and to grow your business. It doesn’t take... Read More

FIve ways to get additional traffic to your website

Your web site won’t do you much good if nobody sees it. There are ways to promote it, of course, through advertising venues like Google Adwords, Facebook—and virtually every other social media platform out there, as well. If you’re just starting out, however, or if you have a very limited budget, there are some things... Read More

Commonly misused business terms

We’ve often said that if your customers don’t trust you with the little things, they won’t trust you with the big things—like giving you their business. Proper word choice is one of those “little things.” If you’re positioning yourself as an expert in a field of service, your task will be more difficult if you... Read More

Facebook fights fake news–and what that means for you

Facebook is taking steps to combat the spread of fake news and to create a more-informed user base In a blog post this week, the social media giant announced that it would no longer allow pages that repeatedly share fake news stories to advertise. “We’ve found instances of Pages using Facebook ads to build their... Read More

Use your social media feeds to improve customer service

Your social media channels are not just another way to reach out to new customers and engage with the ones you have. They’re also very effective at dealing customer complaints and improving customer service. More than 42 percent of mobile patrons use social media to direct their anger or general dissatisfaction at businesses—or to ask... Read More

How nostalgia marketing can help your brand

  Everybody remembers the ‘good old days.’ Holidays like Memorial Day certainly usher in the feeling, but no matter how old you are, there’s always time that you refer back to fondly, whether it was the 90s, 80s, 70s—or further back still. Nostalgia is part of the human condition and it’s also becoming a part... Read More

Four ways social media can help your CRM

Marketing with social media is effective because it can help build or strengthen your connections with existing customers. Used properly, it can enhance your Customer Relationship Management (CRM) results and build a solid, loyal customer base. There are plenty of reasons to improve your CRM, of course. The biggest is the cost factor. According to... Read More

6 ways to persuade customers through social media

Your business’ social media pages are perfect places for you to persuade customers to visit your shop, use your services or buy your goods. It’s more of a soft sell that other forms of marketing, like direct advertising or cold-calling; you’re trying to foster a relationship to build up trust to bring customers into the... Read More