As a brand, it may seem prudent to step back and stop posting or creating ads on social media. We are in a crisis mode – on overdrive, fighting a global pandemic. COVID19 has infiltrated every aspect of our lives.
BUT! Perhaps you may want to reconsider.
Consumers are longing for answers, distractions, entertainment, messages of support, things they can do at home and a way to process this new sense of [crazy] ‘normal.’
HELP them.
Remain active. Challenge your own status quo. Get in front of people (6’). Don’t be afraid to do something different. Creativity in business goes a long way. Every effort you make is not only a deposit for your audience but also for your business.
Maintain sensitivity and respect with your content. Table the hard-selling, remembering many people are out of work and unsure of their future. They don’t want to buy what you are pushing. They are in survival mode struggling to pay bills and make ends meet. Be thought FULL by showing how you add value and compassion. These are hard times for all. Your customer needs you to think about them.
Shift priorities from the sale to customer relationships. That’s where retention lives. Your goal is to show support using the talents you bring to the table. Being relevant to today; it is your survival tool.
Social distancing is the buzz word but it is actually physical distancing. People have become MORE social, finding ways to remain connected, reach out and still engage in a new world. Kids are having virtual playdates, adults share drinks and stories via video, companies hold virtual happy hours. People holler to their neighbors across the street. This is your new audience. For now. Meet them where they need you.
Make the time to:
Check-in with customers via text, phone, email or video
Create handbooks and white papers
Make offline events into webinars
Support other small businesses
Create fun social media contests
Share some of your daily business activities
Invite people into your day with video
Make ‘how to’ videos
Organize a virtual lunch meeting
Brainstorm unique and resourceful tools, packages, or products to fill the social distancing void
Review your website
Write blog posts
Build or enhance your digital footprint
If you’re unsure of a direction, please feel free to PM me to chat.
I want to share a local example of an AMAZING young couple, who are on top of social media, they have their finger on the pulse of their city, understand their customer needs, all the while, supporting other local businesses. I love this couple. I can’t say enough about them.
Kelley Farm Kitchen in Harper’s Ferry, WV is a phenomenal illustration of meeting customer wishes while instituting the highest level of safety measures. On March 20th, the owners posted a detailed video of their meticulous COVID-19 restaurant mandates from start to finish, including sanitization, the outdoor customer signage, menu placement, and disposal, down to the NO guest policy and pickup procedure. All of their Facebook posts profess their love and gratitude for the support and opportunity to serve the public. They consistently outline their policies and procedures, making sure everyone fully understands how, what and why they want to protect their clients. Always so genuine and from the heart.
Times are tough. The days are challenging. Couples must telework together [nightmare for many]. Finances are tight and some of the news is grim. We humans are tough and resilient. We will get through this.
Be resourceful and creative.
Find the compassion to be patient.
Support local businesses.
Innovate and inspire.
Step into each day with a positive mindset. It is a new opportunity to extend your hand for a better tomorrow.
If you know of a local business like Kelley Farm Kitchen or have read a story of innovative business practices, please share them here!
PS, remember that you still need to shower, brush your teeth and get dressed for work, no matter what your office consists of.
The population is constantly tethered to digital technology, romanced by the instant gratification coming from these devices. This has promoted a lack of respect and value for the company you keep.
Fueled by a recent article in Tiny Buddha, “Put Down Your Phone: Why Presence Is the Best Gift You’ll Ever Give”, my brain scanned the images of daily life. You’ll see it everywhere, whether on the street, at home, on a conference call or at a meeting, there’s the distraction of the click, click, click. The head is down, the mind is wandering, and the physically present person or persons have mentally vacated and immersed themselves in a tech device. They’re letting you know that some other matter or person is of much greater worth and significance than anything else around them.
Devices have become the lifeblood of today’s society, putting real-life interactions on the back burner. No longer are people present in the moment, but instead searching for the next best thing, taking a selfie, sending a text, spending money, posting a pic, or otherwise, totally removed from the current situation.
These harmful disconnections are slowly detaching human connections.
I remember reading a story a few years ago about something as simple as standing in line at the grocery store. Standing in line allowed us to think a little bit, and strike up a conversation with the clerk or person behind us. Maybe notice our surroundings. Be touched by some random act of kindness (RAK) or even generate a RAK!
Life before devices meant we weren’t so dopamine-distracted. When did we start needing to numb ourselves? No longer can most people survive without some form of ‘entertainment’ or busy time. It seems that any downtime, away from that virtual distraction, giving folks a moment of ‘reality’, is not within their comfort zones. Is the new norm that it’s freakish not to be scrolling, typing, or responding?
What message does this send? “My device is my priority in life. Not you or the current event.”
Is that what you are trying to convey in meetings, with co-workers, friends, colleagues or loved ones?
In the spirit of connection, here is my challenge: Put down your device and Practice Presence for 30 days using the list below for inspiration.
If you are at a meeting, BE with your co-workers.
If you are on a conference call, LISTEN, don’t just hear.
If you are meeting a friend for lunch, ENJOY their company.
If you are with your family, INVEST in who they are and those relationships.
If you are in public, ENGAGE with a clerk, shopkeeper, or ‘stranger’
People feel valued and cared about when you are present. This is the best of what life has to offer.
You’ve been blogging for a while but you’re not seeing the growth you crave.
Traffic is starting to grow, but you’re not able to convert those visitors to regular readers (yet.)
You know the importance of building an email list, but your conversion rates just aren’t where they need to be.
So, let’s fix that, shall we?
In this post I’m going to share 5 powerful conversion hacks that will help you convert those one off visitors into regular readers. Your blog will grow faster as a result.
Let’s get started:
1. Build targeted landing pages for your lead magnets
What is a landing page exactly? A landing page can technically be any page on your website that someone lands upon.
But, what I’m talking about are conversion-focused landing pages. This type of landing page stands apart from every other page on your blog.
It has no navigation. No distractions.
It’s a single page with a single conversion goal. In this case, to sign up and download your lead magnet.
Here’s an example that I created for FunnelOverload.com:
So, why should you bother with a landing page when you probably have opt-in forms on your blog already?
Landing pages convert better than any other type of opt-in forms. By a significant amount.
The example above hasn’t been split tested and was built in a rush for a new website. And it converts at over 30%. Crazy right?!
And one of the great things is that you can get very granular with who these pages are for. You can create one for each lead magnet, or you could create one for each type of person that may want to download your lead magnet (or, each audience persona.)
Alternatively, you could use a stand-alone landing page tool to build your pages, but these are usually a lot more costly.
Once you’ve built your landing page, you can start off promoting it by doing the following:
Add a link to your social media profiles
Share a link on your social networks
Add a link to your navigation bar
Create unique Pinterest graphics to promote your landing page
But, by far the most effective use of conversion-focused landing pages is to use them as part of a sales funnel together with paid traffic.
2. Offer category targeted lead magnets
Lead magnets are a great way to get more people on your email list. But can you take them a step further?
Yes, you can!
You may have heard of something called the content upgrade technique. These are just post-specific lead magnets). But, this isn’t what I’m talking about here.
You won’t need to create incentives for each one of your blog posts. Wow, that’s a lot of work!
Instead, I’m talking about creating lead magnets for each of the main topics you talk about on your blog. In your content management system (e.g. WordPress), they can be arranged by category.
Here’s the big question: What sort of results can you expect?
It depends on a lot of variables. Your copy, your offer, your content, and a few more things.
But, when I tried this for an agency I used to work for – the result was a 300% increase in email sign ups.
Here’s how to get started:
Take note of up to 5 main topics you cover on your blog
Make sure they’re organised by category
Create a lead magnet for each topic/category (you can use PDF versions of the post, PDF’s with bonus tips, templates, or checklists)
Create opt-in forms for each category
Add your opt-in forms using a tool that supports category-level targeting (Thrive Leads or ConvertPro are solid options, if you use WordPress)
Integrate your email provider
The part where this gets tricky is integrating your email provider. With some email providers, it may mean creating several different email lists.
Or, if you use the Thrive Leads plugin, you can integrate a transactional email service and it will email the lead magnets for you.
Another option is to use an email marketing service like ConvertKit because they have a unique way of handling email sign up forms. For every form you create, you can assign a lead magnet by providing a URL or file download.
You can customise the confirmation email, and once a user confirms their subscription, they get access to the download.
Sidenote: I won’t go into GDPR here since I’m not a lawyer and most lawyers would likely disagree on what’s necessary. That said, it’s important to ensure you are completely transparent about what people are signing up for. Just so we’re clear, this isn’t legal advice, okay? 😉
3. Add social proof to establish your authority
You’ve probably seen examples of social proof all over the web.
We’re talking about testimonials, trust logos, and any data that a company shares that makes it look impressive.
Here’s why these trust indicators improve conversions:
On a psychological level, we assume that if a bunch of other people are taking one course of action, that it’s the correct course of action to take.
Now, when you display powerful examples of social proof, it can help to establish you as an authority, and build your credibility. In a nutshell, it gives people more of a reason to listen to what you have to say.
And in a world where we’re all vying for the same spot-light as countless other bloggers – social proof matters.
Now, what can you do with social proof?
Whether you’re adding testimonials, or trust logos, prime places to add this social proof include:
Homepage
Service pages
About page
Opt-in forms
Landing pages
Sales pages
Order pages
It’s also important to note that social proof can actually be positive or negative. Display something noteworthy and you’ll create a positive sense of social proof.
When it comes to negative social proof, it’s typically an issue when displaying numbers. For example, if you have social media widgets that tell people you have 10 followers, what you’re actually saying to them is “hardly anyone followers me and you probably shouldn’t either.”
4. Use contrasting colors for your calls to action
If you want any of your readers to complete a specific action, you’ll need to display a call to action. Otherwise known as a CTA.
This will typically come in the form of button. Whether it’s attached to an opt-in form, part of some sort of call out box, or on it’s own.
The only problem with most buttons is they don’t stand out. This is because there’s no contrast between other colors in the design.
So, if your blog uses a lot of blue in it’s design – don’t use blue for buttons. Use something with more contrast such as red or orange. In my brand color guidelines I like to refer to this as the “action color.”
Here’s an example:
While this example isn’t from a blog, this page from 20i.com illustrates my point perfectly. Notice how the green buttons contrast the rest of the design?
If you’re not sure what color buttons would still match the rest of your design, while standing out, consider grabbing the hex code for one of the colors from your design.
You can then use that tool to find a number of colors that you can use.
5. Split-test your opt-in forms & landing pages for maximum conversions
The web is full of best practice advice that will help you improve conversions.
But, it’s important to understand that best practice isn’t always right. It plays on the law of averages.
Think of it like the foundation to a house. Every house needs a foundation, but there’s a lot of building to do afterwards.
So, when focusing on improving conversions for any element of your blog, use best practice as your starting point. Then run tests to further improve your conversions.
WordPress plugins like Thrive Leads and ConvertPro will take care of this for your opt-in forms. And some landing page builders have this functionality built-in (Leadpages and Unbounce are great examples.)
But, if you want to split-test your landing pages and don’t have the functionality built-in, you can always use Google Optimize – there’s a bit of technical setup to deal with but you can get started for free.
Wrapping it up
Growing a successful blog is a marathon. Not a sprint.
Regardless of what stage you’re at, these ideas will help you move those conversions in the right direction.
Now, it’s time to take action. There’s no better time than now.
About the author:
Adam Connell is a content strategist with a background in SEO and email marketing. He used to manage the content marketing efforts of international brands. Now he teaches bloggers how to get noticed at BloggingWizard.com
If you want to successfully promote your business, you need to know how to create effective landing pages. Distraction free landing pages can help you generate more leads and sales. If set up properly they can achieve conversion rates as high as 60% or more.
Therefore, today I am going to show you how to create landing pages that convert…
Find a landing page software:
The first thing you must do is get yourself a landing page software. Of course, you can always hire a designer to create the landing page for you. But using a tool will save you time and work out cheaper.
Most of the top ones provide access to several templates with which you can design your landing pages quickly. You also won’t need to hire a designer every time you need an edit. A couple of good landing page design tools you can try are Leadpages and Unbounce.
They have templates that will make it easy for you to design webinar landing pages, product landing pages and more.
Design the landing page:
After you choose your landing page software choose a template that will suit your project best. Then you can begin designing your landing page. Start by writing a headline. It should be both attention grabbing and enticing as it needs to convince people to read the rest of the landing page.
You should also optimize it for social media so that the headlines will drive more clicks and shares.
Next, write the body copy. The goal of the body copy should be to convince people that signing up for the content in exchange for their details or buying the product is worth it. The best way to do this is by discussing the benefits of the content or product.
Start with a short paragraph and then continue with bullet points that quickly state the benefits.
After that you can end with a call to action that asks people to ‘Sign Up’ or ‘Buy Now’ to gain access.
Here’s a good example of a landing page from Hubspot that promotes a free marketing assessment…
As you can see it starts with an attractive headline followed by a sub headline. After that you have a couple of short paragraphs which are followed by bullet points that state the benefits of the assessment.
Finally, it ends with a call to action that asks people to fill up the form.
Another important step they have taken here is adding their logo at the top. When people see this they will instantly know that this is a promotion from Hubspot. If you don’t have a logo, you should at least add your company name at the top.
Attach it to a domain:
The aforementioned landing page design tools can host your landing page. So, you can set them up there. But if you want them to have an extra layer of credibility you should host it on your own domain. When people see that the name on the logo matches with the one in your URL they will trust you more.
So, attach it to your website.
If you are a startup and haven’t got a website, you can purchase one using a domain name finding tool.
When you type in the name of your company in the search field it will find all the domain names available and you can buy the one you like most.
Once you have a domain you can attach the landing page to it and it will look very credible. Some landing page design tools have their own WordPress plugins. So, if your website runs on WordPress, adding the landing page to it should be much easier.
Send traffic and test results:
The next thing you must do is send traffic to this landing page. This should be done through both organic and paid methods.
While you do this watch out for the conversion rates to see if they meet the industry standards. If it is not converting well enough you should make some modifications to see if it improves.
Split test different versions:
Another thing you can try is to split test your landing pages right from the start. This is where you create different versions of your landing page and then simultaneously send the same amount of traffic to all of them to see which converts the best. To help with split testing you can use a free tool like Google Optimize.
Now create your landing pages…
This is how you create landing pages that convert. Start by getting a landing page design tool. Next, choose a template and add your copy to it. After that you can attach it to a domain and send traffic.
While you do this you should regularly monitor your page to make sure it is converting well enough.
How do you create your landing pages? Do you use any tools or do you design them from scratch? Please leave your comments below.
There are literally millions of businesses occupying social media space just vying for a customer’s attention.
They are pulling out all of the stops to promote their business, to get customers to buy their product. So it’s safe to say that there is stiff competition in the socialverse.
For a business to survive and thrive you must have a strategy that works. And in order to create an effective social media strategy you have to know what the latest marketing trends are.
Otherwise, you won’t get a return on the time and money you invest in your marketing plan.
In this post, I’m going to cover the latest social media marketing trends for 2018.
Social Media Marketing Trends For 2018
Social Media Examiner published their 10th annual social media marketing industry report. More than 5,700 marketers were surveyed and they shared how they will use social media to grow and promote their business.
The most commonly used social media platforms marketers are:
Facebook
Instagram
Twitter
YouTube
Pinterest
Snapchat
And in spite of Instagram’s ever-growing popularity, Facebook is still holding its own. A whopping 94% of marketers use Facebook followed by 66% who use Instagram. And…2 in 3 marketers claim Facebook as their most important platform.
The Most Commonly Used Types of Content
Social Media Examiner asked marketers to identify the types of content they use in their social media marketing. The chart below shows the percentage of marketers for each type of content.
Visual Images
I can’t tell you how important visual images are. It is what will drive a customer to take action, like clicking the link to your blog post.
When people hear information, they’re likely to remember only 10% of that information three days later. However, if a relevant image is paired with that same information, people retained 65% of the information three days later. Brainrules
80% of marketers said they will use visual images in their social media marketing plan.
Social media is busting at the seams with brands trying to get a customer’s attention so it’s important that your visual images stand out from the rest of the digital herd.
Studies demonstrate that images receive a high response rate, and are a very effective technique for generating leads.
So how can you use visual images in your social media marketing?
Infographics are not only a quick and easy way to share information with your audience, they are also highly engaging. It is a graphic visualization tool to capture attention and to tell a story while the reader consumes the content.
There are tools like Piktochart to create your own infographics but you can also find infographics created by other marketers in just about any industry on Visual.ly.
Video
The digital landscape is exploding with video content. As a matter of fact, 77% of marketers plan to increase the use of video.
According to Hubspot: 54% of consumers wanted to see more video content from a brand or business they support.
Adding video to your social media marketing plan is an effective way to draw more attention to your business. Remember a video should be interesting, engaging and helpful for viewers, reaching their pain points, their sweet spot to want and need your service or product.
Here are some of the ways to incorporate videos into your social media marketing plan:
Create short and simple instructional videos to show your audience how your product works
An audience loves original, out-of-the box videos. A good example is one Dollar Shave Club created to promote their blades:
You can also create thank you videos to show gratitude to your audience for using your product or service
Blooper videos are also popular so share those out-takes and goof-ups!
Blogging
Customers prefer live videos over reading a blog post but blogging is still an important, fundamental tool to drive your business success. You can incorporate videos into your blog, further boosting the readability interest with active content.
Blogging is means to keep your audience informed of the latest trends in your industry, develop your reputation as a thought leader, provide updates about, and to your product, and be a valuable resource hub of information. A blog also aids in building your community of loyal, interested followers. Followers can become customers because they know, like, trust you.
Quality content is essential. It truly is KING! Be the subject matter expert to drive social waves to you and your business. Rich and relevant is a must.
Here are some of the stats that caught my attention:
According to the infographic, 80% of customers would rather watch live videos from a brand than read a plain old humdrum blog post.
Live streaming can be used to make announcements and give updates on your products. You can do a live event to promote your business. And you can do a live behind the scenes video to show your audience the creative process for your brand.
Now, live streaming is popular on many social media platforms but Facebook is killing it! Statistics show Facebook live videos are watched 3x longer than regular videos.
So if you’re wondering whether you should use live video streaming, the answer is YES!
Podcasting
Podcasts are a low cost, high impact content platform to promote your business, reach your target audience, personalize your brand and share your voice. Typically, it’s unfiltered, an opportunity to humanize brand and provide a more authentic feel than other types of content marketing.
Podcasts expand your reach, touching the lives of many. In a report by Edison Research, they found that in 2018 (so far) 44% of Americans, 124 million people, have listened to a podcast. 73 million listen in on a monthly basis. Pretty impressive.
TIP: Pat Flynn wrote a great tutorial that has step-by-step instructions to start a podcast.
Messenger Bots
Messenger bots came into the scene back in 2016 and have become a leading tool in content marketing. This form of content marketing took off when Facebook figured out how to take payments in messenger so users wouldn’t have to go to an external website to make purchases.
And from there a new trend was born!
Bots uses Artificial Intelligence to understand a user’s question and provide the right response according to the conversation flow.
It’s designed to help your customers in a more “personal” way and can help businesses provide content and resources to help customers. It adds another layer of communication to help convert viewers into customers.
Here is a list of Messenger chatbots you can check out:
Investigate the available platforms and tools to further your audience engagement and customer journey. There are many to choose from and while it can be overwhelming, start small but think big impact. Be creative and innovative, not a copy of the competition.
Experiment. The key to a working social media marketing plan is to analyze your results and tweak your plan as needed.
Over to you: What’s working? What isn’t? What are your favorite platforms?
Mitt Ray is the founder of 
