A Look Ahead

December 31, 2016

2017 is just around the corner (quite literally!) and it's important to always plan ahead. Last month we discussed the history of social media, so this month we're going to take a look ahead to see what the future of social media will hold in the new year. 2016 has been a year of shifts in social media, technology and digital marketing. The internet became all about video and every digital marketer is looking for a way to connect business outcomes to their social media efforts. So what's in store for 2017?

1. Live video – Live video took off in 2016, but it has so much more potential that it has yet to reach. There are already social media platforms taking advantage of this – Facebook Live, YouTube Live and Periscope Pro, to name a few, with Instagram recently releasing live video to US residents. Live video is a great feature for businesses to capitalize on. It is now possible for four hours of video to be streamed, and it can even be streamed to groups and event listings. It’s a great way to raise awareness of your brand and build a community.

2. Snapchat – As Snapchat's amazing evolution continues, it will offer more and more interesting new opportunities. Snapchat (now Snap) has transformed user expectations and major trends in the social marketing world. Now it’s looking to develop products outside its main means of exchanging messages, introducing real-world glasses to help users capture first-person visual information. Expect big things and huge marketing opportunities from them in the new year!

3. Inspiration & Imagination – These two things will be highly fashionable in 2017. Practical posts get a lot of consumer attention, while emotionally charged posts have a greater likelihood of circulating virally. But inspirational and imaginative posts are starting to become even stronger candidates for social media success. These are often artistic in nature, giving users something “pretty” as opposed to something pragmatic or reactive. It also forces a separation from any kind of company positioning or low-key advertising, giving users something truly valuable. In 2017, it will be valuable to forgo some pretense here, and just post beautiful images or sentiments.

4. Instagram – Instagram worked with hundreds of businesses to understand what was needed to enhance their Instagram experience, and three key needs became clear—stand out, get insights and find new customers. And the release of Business Tools brought with it business profiles, analytics, and the ability to create ads from posts directly within the app. As Instagram continues to enhance its ad product, we’ll likely see business profiles and tools continue to evolve in order to make it easier for businesses to drive traffic and revenue from their Instagram profiles.

5. Personalization is Key – The need for personalized and relevant content and advertising delivery becomes more important. Facebook re-targeting and adverts driven by identifying where you have been on the web and your interests are becoming the digital advertising tactic of choice for campaigns. Relevance is king for catching a distracted eye and online glance in a noisy world of data clutter.

The social media landscape is ever-changing and businesses must keep reinventing as time goes along. Stay up-to-date on what's new and what's best practices in your 2017 marketing plan and you'll have a fabulous new year! Happy 2017!

 

A (Fairly) Quick History of Social Media

November 29, 2016

As social animals, people have always relied on communication to strengthen their relationships. So when we can't chat face-to-face, we've come up with plenty of other ways to communicate (smoke signals, anyone?). Social media though has transformed the interaction and communication of individuals throughout the world. Social networking has become daily practice in some users' lives. The roots of social media stretch far deeper than you might imagine. Although it might still seem like a new trend, sites like Facebook are the natural outcome of many centuries of social media development. Let's dive in and see what we can find!

First there were the smoke signals, then there were letters, and then…the telegraph! In 1792, the telegraph was invented. This allowed messages to be delivered over a long distance far faster than a horse and rider could carry them. Although telegraph messages were short, they were a revolutionary way to convey news and information. Next came two of the greatest inventions ever – the telephone in 1890 and the radio in 1891. Suddenly we could talk to people who weren't in front of our faces – or listen to people who were elsewhere! What's the tie to social media here? The first blogs and podcasts came about via phone. No really. See, during the 1950s, phone phreaking (the term used for the rogue searching of the telephone network) began. This was done through the use of homemade electronic devices that gave people unauthorized access to the telephone system to make free calls. Phreaks were able to find telephone company test lines and conference circuits to complete their task. In this way, phreaks were able to hack into corporate unused voice mailboxes to host the first blogs and podcasts. Guess we've always wanted to share our lives, huh?

Next came along supercomputers in the 1940s, the birth of the internet in the 1960s (though the internet wouldn't be available for public consumption till 1991 – so if you're like me, you can say, “I remember those dark days before the internet, when we had to search phone books for numbers and real, live encyclopedias for knowledge!”), and 1979’s UseNet allowed users to communicate through a virtual newsletter. Internet relay chats, or IRCs, were first used in 1988 and continued to be popular well into the 1990’s.

The first recognizable social media site, Six Degrees, was created in 1997. It enabled users to upload a profile and make friends with other users. In 1999, the first blogging sites became popular, such as Blogger and Epinions. We're already familiar with Blogger, but Epinions is a site where consumers can read or create reviews of products. Many online social sites were of the niche market, including sites for public policy advocacy and a social network based on a web of contacts model.

In 2000, social media received a great boost with the witnessing of many social networking sites springing up. This transformed the interactions of individuals and organizations who share common interest in music, education, movies, and friendship, based on social networking. Among those that were launched included LunarStorm, six degrees, cyworld, ryze, and Wikipedia. In 2001, fotolog, sky blog and Friendster were launched, and in 2003, MySpace, LinkedIn, lastFM, tribe.net, Hi5 etc. In 2004, popular names like Facebook Harvard, Dogster and Mixi evolved. During 2005 YouTube emerged creating an entirely new way for people to communicate and share with each other. By 2006, Facebook and Twitter both became available to users throughout the world. (That's right – Facebook originally started as a site for college kids only and grew from there!) These sites remain some of the most popular social networks on the Internet. Other sites like Tumblr, Spotify, Foursquare and Pinterest began popping up to fill specific social networking niches.

Can you believe how far we've come? What does this have to do with business though? Engaging in social media will help strengthen the brand experience which will support brand building. A company is more attractive to customers if it has a well-built brand name, and social media is another way of helping in building a good reputation for your organization. Brand awareness starts with the experiences with the employees of a company. If a company is approachable, people-friendly, then the company must make itself visible by inclusion on the web. Social media becomes a good venue for discussions and becomes a classic goal of marketing and communications, just make sure you're adhering to the rules and etiquette of social media.

Now, there are a tremendous variety of social networking sites, and many of them can be linked to allow cross-posting. This creates an environment where users can reach the maximum number of people without sacrificing the intimacy of person-to-person communication. We don't know what the future of social media & networking holds, but we're guessing it'll be a wild ride!

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By Misty Layne

Happy 5th Anniversary, SMS!

August 16, 2016

 

Last month, Social Marketing Solutions, LLC celebrated FIVE YEARS of success! That's right, 5 years ago, in July 2011, Kelly Jones founded SMS and started out as the first representative of the team. Later that year, Kim Perry joined the team and helped manage and grow the company. The following year, SMS joined the Morris County Chamber of Commerce and stayed an active member for the next 3 years.

In the past 5 years, our all woman-employed company has had the pleasure of working with 3 interns from High Point University, Montclair University, and Susquehanna University, as well as 8 amazing employees! Currently we operate a team of three strong women, who manage customers in New York, New Jersey, Florida, Oregon and California. Misty Layne joined the SMS team 4 years ago and has been a crucial part of SMS’s success. Working side-by-side with Kelly, she has helped to grow and develop both the company and its services. There have been a lot of changes over time!

When SMS first started, we only worked with Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn, but we've now grown to include additional sites such as Google+, Pinterest, Instagram, WordPress, Blogger, MailChimp, and Constant Contact (and other social networks!). We now offer blog writing and uploading services, website edits and updates, and newsletter creation and distribution to our many customers. Within the past 5 years, we've worked with over 120 different businesses from a range of industries across the U.S. and even Canada! Some of our clients have included: NY Times Bestselling authors; realtors; lawyers; medical facilitators and practices; therapists; online stores; construction companies; payroll providers; fitness studios; dryer vent cleaners; movers & haulers; health product stores and seminars; mortgage brokers; flower shops; chocolate shops; marketing firms; furniture stores; schools; and home food delivery services.

We look forward to many more years of success and to growing our amazing team of women and roster of wonderful customers. We couldn't do it without you guys – YOU are the reason we're so successful. THANK YOU!

Client Spotlight!

July 30, 2016

 

We are incredibly lucky at Social Marketing Solutions to be able to work with some of the best companies and people out there. From clients we've been working with for years to the ones who are brand new, we work with a vast array of talent all around the tri-state area and we thought it would be great if you had a chance to meet some of them. Today we're introducing you to one of our newer clients, the Opthof Center for Psychotherapy, LLC!

 

The Opthof Center for Psychotherapy, LLC is run by therapist, Gerald Opthof, out of two offices – one in Westfield, NJ and one in Morristown, NJ. A graduate of Montclair State College, as well as Montclair State University, and with a doctorate in Forensic Psychology from Eisner Institute for Professional Studies, Dr. Opthof is a highly trained professional with a litany of credentials and accomplishments to his name.

His areas of specialty include:

•  Alcohol and drug addition and court mandated therapy

• Sexual problems, additions and relationship counseling

• Coping with depression, anxiety and pain

• Mental Health Evaluations

• Marital and couple counseling

• Coping with grief, loss, anger, stress and recovery issues

• Parenting and family conflicts/issues

• Adjusting back into a sober/healthy lifestyle

What I personally like about working with Dr. Opthof is – he gets it. Simply put, he is a great listener, and he is realistic in his practice. He supports people in rough times of their lives who are dealing with tough stuff, but he has a passion for getting his clients through the muck and over to a healthier and happier lifestyle.

A client since March of this year, Dr. Opthof has hired Social Marketing Solutions to oversee and build his Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn accounts, as well as website editing (yes, we do that too!). And since it's our job to hype our client, we're going to do just that – Dr. Opthof is participating in the Rock-N-Ride Fundraiser hosted by Road Recover Foundation on August 21^st! Dr. Opthof and his team are cycling in this event, which helps support non-profit Youth Programs and Community Outreach Events. Road Recovery helps teams and young adults who have been derailed by addition and/or or other adversities, but who want to embark on a path to a healthier future. So far, Dr. Opthof has raised $525 of his $1000 goal. Anyone can donate by simply going to the website below, every donation helps and he appreciates the support – https://www.crowdrise.com/rock-n-ride

Visit Opthof Center of Psychotherapy, LLC online via their website, Facebook, or Twitter! And keep checking back as we keep introducing you to more of our fabulous clients and sharing more wonderful social media tips and news!

Successful Engagement – What’s It Look Like?

March 25, 2016

 

You already have a Facebook page for your business (and likely a Twitter handle and LinkedIn profile, Instagram and Pinterest accounts, and more) but are you actually engaging with your audience? What does successful engagement look like? It's comments, likes and shares of your posts, taking quizzes, entering contests, redeeming offers and writing reviews. You don't want people to simply “like” your page, then move on and never return. But how do you GET engagement like this? Simple – by putting in the work.

And it does involve work but perhaps not as much as you might think (and some of it is fun!). Post content that is relevant, timely and interesting. Most people spend an average of 15-30 minutes on Facebook so your time in front of their face is limited. Make sure you're noticed. Post information of value to your fan base and their friends. Educate your audience on something they may value. Posting photos and video also increases engagement. In fact, you'll get MORE engagement with photos and video than you will with any other type of content. So post ways to use your product…photos of “behind the scenes”…positive reviews and testimonials…videos on how to use your product – sky's the limit!

A few other things to remember:

1. Respond quickly to posts or reviews on your page. You may have noticed that Facebook monitors this and highlights how responsive you are on your fan page.

2. Don't over OR under post. Posting more than once a day is great – you'll show up in your audience's feeds more often – but show up TOO often and they'll be turned off.

3. Keep your page updated. Likewise keep your website and all other links updated. What's the point of having a great fan page, if a customer gets to your site only to find out of date information, etc.?

Facebook is an important tool when it comes to online marketing and you need to make sure you're on top of your engagement (by the way, this stuff works fabulously for other sites as well). Get the conversation going and if you're not sure where to start, give us a call. Make the best of the free (or nearly free) resources at your fingertips to exponentially expand your business!

Let’s Blab About It!

March 4, 2016

Consumers today are more visual than ever before. Studies have shown that people spend more time on your website on average if video is involved and pay more attention to social media posts involving photos and video. A practice that's growing in leaps and bounds? Live-streaming. There are so many ways in which it can be used – from webinars to product demonstrations and more – and easily holds attention. That means platforms for live-streaming are popping up left and right, so which do you choose? One of the latest ones to spring up is Blab.

What is Blab? Simply put, Blab lets you build a personal and business presence while creating community. How does it work? It lets you host your own live show or conference with up to four people engaging at the same time. The moderator has control over who's in the three additional video seats, but anyone who wants to tune in can use the right panel to chat and the left panel to tweet. Blab’s ease of use, simplicity and functionality give it the edge over other live-streaming platforms. It's also important to note that Blab’s time length is open-ended and most blabs last about an hour.

Blab is easy to use. It's an off-shoot of Twitter, so you just login with your Twitter account info. You also find people to follow by using their Twitter handles (and of course you can search by subjects, etc). To create a Blab, you push the “create Blab” button, give it a title and a few tags, then either go live or schedule a time for it to post and away you go! And when your Blab is done, you can upload it to YouTube or as a podcast on iTunes or somewhere similar.

Blab really is the next step in live-streaming and is an easy way to introduce yourself to the format. Check out the FAQs section on their site to familiarize yourself, then Blab away! And remember, when you need help setting things up in the social media world or get too busy to handle everything yourself, give us a call. We'll put together the perfect plan for your company and get all eyes on you!

Start the Year Right!

February 4, 2016

January is about to end (can you believe it?) and 2016 is off & running! That means it's time to create a social media marketing plan that details your business's social media goals and the actions necessary to achieve them. Do you know what a good social media marketing plan entails?

1. LISTEN: Tune in and listen to what people are saying about your company. This is how you can evaluate your current social media presence. It also helps you better understand what the competition is doing and figure out what people are talking about so you can join the discussion.

2. SET GOALS: The next obvious step is setting your goals for the year. Now that you know what people are saying, what's trending and what your competition is doing, what do YOU want to accomplish this year? You want to use social media to meet your audience's needs and capitalize on your company's strengths.

3. IDENTIFY OBJECTIVES & DEFINE STRATEGIES: Identifying objectives and defining strategies is how you'll decide to meet your goals for the new year. Breaking down each goal into the steps to achieve them, makes the bigger picture easier to accomplish.

4. IDENTIFY YOUR AUDIENCE: Who are you trying to reach? Do you want to continue reaching your current market or do you want to branch out into new areas? Deciding this helps you tailor content to each market's specific needs.

And from there it's onto implementation! Social media is a wonderful (and necessary) marketing tool that businesses often don't understand how to use. Many ignore the above steps and simply hop on social media creating random posts or spamming people, which is why they rarely (if ever) see results.

So what's your plan for 2016? If you're still working on it and need a hand, give us a call and we'll help you figure out the perfect strategy. And if you find yourself having trouble with the implementation portion (too little time, etc), our social media managers can handle it, down to the last detail. We work with each company to create an individualized plan, so we're able to market it all, big or small!

 

 

 

Happy 2016 and Best Wishes for the New Year!

January 4, 2016

The holidays are behind us and the new year is here…Another year gone, can you believe it? We wanted to say THANK YOU to all our wonderful clients. It's been amazing and wonderful helping you all grow your social presences online this past year! We love what we do!

This year has been amazing for us as we've accomplished more than ever! We recently celebrated 4 years in business, with progressive growth each year. We expanded to clients in three new states: California, Florida and Georgia. We also expanded our services to include social media sites such as Pinterest and Instagram. In addition, we had a rise in customers in need of blogs and the creation and distribution of online newsletters, which led to the addition of those services to our repertoire. Our newest clients include NY Metro Dryer Vent, Orangetheory Fitness of New Providence and Middletown, NJ as well as Ketterhealth, who have been added to our list of clients who have been with us from the beginning, such as Payroll Specialties, College Hunks Hauling Junk and Moving, Suburban Furniture, and C&M Medical Billing.

2015 was fabulous and we can't wait to see what 2016 brings. Most of all though, we hope all of your holidays were bright and that the new year brings with it plenty of luck and love!

~Kelly Jones

Scare Up Fun and Spooktacular Sales This Halloween!

October 28, 2015

Halloween is right around the corner. One of the world’s oldest holidays, Halloween is celebrated in many countries in many different ways – honoring lost loved ones, preparing for the new harvest season, dressing in costumes and celebrating with friends and family. Where did Halloween even come from? It's thought to have originated with the ancient Celtic festival of Samhain, when people would light bonfires and wear costumes to ward off roaming ghosts. In the eighth century, Pope Gregory III designated November 1 as a time to honor all saints and martyrs; the holiday, All Saints’ Day, incorporated some of the traditions of Samhain. The evening before was known as All Hallows’ Eve and later Halloween. Over time, Halloween evolved into a secular, community-based event characterized by child-friendly activities such as trick-or-treating. With all the Halloween festivities and excitement going on plus the added advantage of Halloween being a visual holiday, it's no surprise that Halloween is one of the BEST times to connect with your customers! But how?

Did you know Halloween is the second biggest holiday event in the U.S., where nearly $7 billion is spent on Halloween activities? It's also the kick-off to the huge holiday season that's so crucial to small businesses. This makes Halloween the perfect time of year to reach out to customers and prospects, but with everyone competing for attention you want to make sure you stand out from the crowd. So what's the plan?

Halloween is an entirely visual holiday and one that the entire family (pets included!) likes to get involved in. So get in the spirit! People love sharing photos of their costumes and decorations, and they also want to participate in promotions that are Halloween themed. Host a photo contest for best costume or best PET costume online and have people like and share your page to vote. Doesn't matter if you don't run a business that exactly ties into Halloween – the prize can be whatever.

Another idea for a business that may not sell anything Halloween related is COUPONS. People love coupons. People also love businesses – especially small businesses – that get into the Halloween spirit. Create a mailer that is Halloween themed and offer a discount for shopping near Halloween. You also could offer a discount to anyone coming in wearing a costume on Halloween.

One final idea for partaking in Halloween – no matter what you sell, consider the uses. If you're a small hardware store that sells things like reflective tape, flashlights or glow sticks, then do a promotion with those products, tying them into Halloween safety.

There's ALWAYS something you can do to reach potential prospects and customers. So get into the Halloween Spirit and scare up some sells!

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What’s Periscope, You Ask?

September 25, 2015

 

Kids these days with their 801 million social platforms – am I right? (Whatever happened to the days of MySpace and LiveJournal)? It can be hard to keep track of it all and know whether you should be utilizing each one in your marketing campaigns (the answer is no, by the way. You do not need to use every single one that comes along). Sometimes though, a platform comes along that catches your attention and makes you think about all the ways you could integrate it into your advertising. That's where Periscope comes in!

Periscope is a live-streaming video mobile app that Twitter purchased in February 2015. Twitter then rolled it out to the public on March 26, 2015. Basically what Periscope allows you to do is broadcast "live" from your smartphone from any location, at any time of the day or night. And viewers can tune in to your broadcast from anywhere in the world and chat with you in real time while you broadcast (they type in questions/messages which pop up on your phone's screen, which you can then answer verbally). Yes, there are a couple of other networks like this out there right now but Periscope is currently the No. 1 fastest-growing social network to date! Have a look at these numbers: 1) Periscope hit 1 million users in 10 days and 2) Periscope hit 10 million users in 4 months. Wow! Even more staggering than the size of this user base is the amount of content users are consuming: 40 years of content is viewed every day on Periscope. Yes . . .40 years. Unbelievable!

So you know there's absolutely an audience there, at the ready, just waiting for you to press "record"…but what are you going to do during a "live" stream? Here's a few thoughts to get you started:

1) Live product demos – Are customers always wondering how a certain product of yours works or have a new product coming out? Set up a Periscope broadcast and show 'em exactly how it's done! So do an interactive product demonstration by answering pertinent questions from viewers. Showcase cool product features, packaging, etc.

2) Behind-the-scenes look into how your product is made or what your offices look like – People love the idea of " being on the inside" and showing them the magic that happens behind-the-scenes is a fabulous way of humanizing your brand. Not only are you letting people see the art on your office walls but they're seeing you and your employees faces and now have an idea of with whom they're actually dealing. Periscope takes the business/consumer experience and makes it very personal by having the consumer connect with a real person, which in turn builds the "know, like and trust" factor at a faster rate.

3) Live events – Having a live event that not everyone in your fan base can attend? Stream it on Periscope and let everyone know ahead of time when it'll be showing.

4) Expand your fan base – Periscope opens up a big, wide world of new people with whom to interact. Once you start interacting on a regular basis here, you can then start adding people to Facebook or your mailing list, etc.

What do you think? Ready to take the plunge and give Periscope a whirl? Or even just dip in a toe and do something small just to see what it's about? Video is essential for marketing as the world has become a visually driven place. As we get more and more "now, please!", I suspect live-streaming will only get bigger and bigger. Happy broadcasting!

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