Author: Sam Silvey

Categories
Marketing

5 Tips for Better Marketing on Social Media

If you’re looking to try and boost your social media platforms and gain more attention, consider these 5 tips.

 

1. Create a voice for the company
Social media is similar to an employee, their role being the brand ambassador for your business via the web. With that in mind, they should have a consistent speech pattern for all post, responding to comments, answering messages, and visual presence. This brings consistency on your social media pages and also makes it feel more personable for customers. All around less like they are talking to an automation.

2. Post regularly
Stay up to date with all the latest happenings within your business on social media so people can learn about what you do. This is another way of letting people know that there is a group of hard working individuals behind your business. Regular content also helps by giving you frequent chances to appear in customers news feed. Don’t be afraid to talk about things your community is interested in that are not specifically about your business. While you should post about yourself, you also need to engage in the scenes that your customers are there gain respect in the community.

3. Find times of day that promise most engagement for posts
Check your social media analytics page/records to see what time of day people most often engage with your social media pages. Use this data to start posting at high traffic times to get more results. You can also look into what types of post do best over others and consider regularly posting more like-minded statuses to the ones that do well.

4. Talk to your customers
When people comment, comment back. Engage with customers and let them know that they are heard. Even on the little things. If someone leaves a bad review or comment, take a moment and evaluate how best to handle the situation without escalating the problem or speaking as the company in a manner you could later regret. Rember that there are people on the internet who cannot be pleased and you may run into them. Evaluate the situation and execute with the utmost care.

5. Use graphics designed specifically for each platform
Don’t post the same images and words to every social media platform. There are ways to make content more appealing specifically to each platform. For example, a generic candy ad will not do well on Instagram, people will scroll right past it. But a picture of a hand with bright colored candies taken by a camera phone will look more spontaneous and do well on Instagram. If you don’t know if your image is good for a platform, check out your competitors and see what they do with like-minded content.

Categories
Marketing

Medical Companies Joining Social Media

Social media helps people connect over the web, and over time businesses have been using social media to also connect with their clients. With many ways to connect to clients, and with many different platforms, medical companies are reaching out through Facebook and Instagram as new ways to connect.

Bloggers sharing their stories

People on social media already love to share their experiences online. Be it by blogging or photo journalism, we love to tell others what we’re up to. Many people have started sharing their experiences while in hospitals, battling medical struggles, and how to deal with challenges from similar issues to try and help others going through the same predicament.

Medicine/healing treatments looking for recognition

Companies who have treatments or services to help those in need are looking for people who could use their services in exchange for publicity if that person has a large push the community. Some business have put out ads for such people or search on social media channels to find the biggest influencers and offer them sponsorships.

Sponsorships

Before you can be sponsored by a medical company, you must first be evaluated. The evaluation is less on the status of your sickness or issue, and more on your ability to influence people on social media who will be looking at relative content. For example, companies will want to see how many people follow you and interact with your post. If you have a strong following, their more likely to get more recognition then from an Instagram with fewer followers, but a stronger story. Lots of clothing and makeup companies do this already by sending influential people their products in exchange for photos and high praise on products if they honestly feel like they enjoy the products.

Company awareness on social media

Through connecting with patients, clients, and former/current users, medical companies are hoping to use social media as a new way to better talk about their services. New marketing tactics are likely to hit the next generation of clients and must be explored to see if they produce any results for said companies. Who will be the next to hit social media, or will marketing start on even newer platforms like video games and other smart electronics.

Categories
Marketing

8 Tips for Better Business Branding Online

Check out some helpful tips for better business branding online. While some may seem more intuitive than others, remembering and refreshing on helpful tips could spark a new idea!

Create a Visual

People like to look at visuals over long bodies of text. Create visuals for your business to get people attention online with eye-catching colors, a logo, interesting photography, etc. When on social media platforms, pictures carry much farther than text and can get to a wider reach of people. Make sure to not only set up pictures for your business but to regularly update them with new visuals to keep people interested. As time goes on, people may get concerned if the visual content has not been updated over time and wonder if you’re still open.

Be on Social Media

Why for some people social media is second nature, for others it is not. If you haven’t joined a few social media channels for your business, consider starting that today! Social media is a great way to let people know about your business without even asking you any questions over the phone or stepping into your store/office. The top platforms to start on are Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.

Consistency

If you decided to start sending out weekly emails, monthly parties, daily blogs, etc., keep it consistent. Try your best to keep up a maintainable schedule of consistency in what you do. While this can be helpful for yourself, in that it keeps new content and events coming regularly, it can also keep others thinking about your business. If they come to expect to see new content from you every week, they are thinking about you every week.

Don’t Please Everyone

It can be extremely tough to please everyone online. Some people are unpleasable. This is something you must remember. With social media being a way that people can voice their opinion without showing their face, this has led some people to be completely unpleasable. Handel situations calmly if there is a problem. Remember the type of voice you want your company to have and use it. If a comment or rating is upsetting, see if there is a way to resolve it without changing a positive persona.

Reach out to your Community

Consider ways you can stand out in your community. Join in local events in your city or post regular helpful tips on the web, there are many ways to get involved. Look for ways for people to keep you in their thoughts. When you reach out to your community, your reach out to all their friends and family who could also be potential customers in the future.

Be Trendy

Consider if your company actions are too dated for the present face of your brand. Is it time to switch to email questions over phone calls? Could people get digital, paperless coupons over physical ones? While every company is different, it might be time to look at what the kids are doing these days and see if you can jump into some of the latest trends.

Know who your Selling To

If your customer base is mainly people in their 50’s and 60’s, you may not be needing to create content for teenagers and young adults. Find out who your target audience is and what their trends are. While teens might be more likely to get online at noon during school lunch, an adult may not be online to see your new content till 6:30 after a long work day.

Share Information and Knowledge

Keeping the business secret recipe can keep you above your competition, but that doesn’t mean you can’t help with some of the small things. Use your knowledge and share tips and advice among the community to show just how much you know and why people should be interested. This can help make you look more reputable and knowledgeable.

Categories
Marketing

What Can Website Maintenance Do For You?

The Importance of Regularly Scheduled Website Maintenance and How It Can Boost Your Business

 

Quarterly maintenance and updates are important, that much we know- or have been told. But why is keeping your online presence clean and optimized important? In a growing digital world it is not enough to “just have an online presence” anymore. Having an optimized site that is accessible across multiple platforms, user-friendly, and overall nice to look at, will help you achieve your business goals and customer satisfaction by:

-Boosting SEO rankings and overall driving more traffic to your site.

-Preventing hackers that look for outdated software and plugins from gaining access to your site.

-Ensuring brand consistency and awareness to customers and prospects with a site that expresses your business’s brand, mission, and vision.

-Improving user experience and return rate to your site by providing customers  and prospects current and informative content and user friendly experience.

 

The Importance of Website Maintenance and Your Consumer

 

A study by Adobe, The State of Content: Expectations on the Rise, links why optimizing your online presence is important to your consumer and how damaging a lack of maintenance to your website can be to your business.

     – 39% will stop engaging with your content if images won’t load

     – 39% will stop engaging if content takes too long to load

     – 38% will stop engaging if content is unattractive in its layout or imagery

     – 66% of consumers would prefer to view something beautifully designed

     – More than 7 in 10 consumers (73%) say content “must display well” in order for them to continue engagement

To learn more, check out the rest of the adobe report by clicking here.

 

So, Why Is Website Maintenance Important?

 

In a nutshell, regularly scheduled maintenance and updates prevents major maintenance issues that can be damaging to your business, brand, and customer experience. A well maintained website gives your business and brand credibility and your consumers confidence in your products and services. 

 

Categories
Marketing

Importance of User-Generated Content

Getting a consumer excited enough about your product or service to spark them to talk more about it to others- it’s the most important and promising challenge in marketing. Just a casual conversation, while engaging, doesn’t necessarily generate on-going engagement. The challenge for brands is to organize user-generated content that actually accomplishes valuable goals for a brand. It’s not starting a conversation- it’s framing it.

User-generated content allows the consumer to become more involved in the marketing and sales process for a product or service. Starbucks started utilizing user-generated content early in the game through their “My Starbucks Idea,” which allowed customers to send their best coffee or tea idea to Starbucks because they recognized the disconnect with their current offering. Also, in 2014, Starbucks launched a contest featuring their signature white cup where they asked consumers to decorate and submit a picture of their artwork on the cup by posting a picture on social media with the hashtag #WhiteCupContest. In just a few weeks, thousands of customers submitted their artwork to Starbucks. This initiative engaged customers, gained Starbucks publicity, and showed that Starbucks once again was listening closely to the opinions and ideas of their consumer.

Simply putting a contest on your Facebook page isn’t going to generate on-going engagement. So what should companies do to turn a promotion or contest into consumer engagement?

First, reward consumers with recognition when they positively promote or advocate for your brand. These folks don’t “owe it to you” to be engaged with your brand. Earn their business! As you monitor your social channels and you see someone post a picture or content saying how great your company did— engage! Reach out to them and thank them for their feedback, ask to use their content on your page, and encourage them to complete reviews or rankings to have their voice heard by more people.

When running a promotion, don’t just think that once the award is given, the marketing benefit stops. Ask consumers who submitted entries if you can use their content in an on-going manner. Utilizing videos and photos generated by consumers engages new customers and encourages repeat customers by endearing the brand to the public.

Finally, harness user-generated content to create advocates for your brand. “There are stories about your brand that are being shared every day. Harnessing UGC enables you to engage and share the narratives through the voices of your most passionate brand advocates” (Wright, 2017). By engaging with consumers about the content that they create, you can generate more passion and excitement for your brand from them, their friends, and your general consumer audience.

Next time you see someone post an Instagram selfie with your product or see someone post a picture of a great job your company did, don’t simply settle for the double tap to show your appreciation. Engage with your audience, earn their continued business, and utilize their content to reach new audiences.

Sources:

Categories
Marketing

Royal Highnies Spends Less and Makes More with Spectruss

Overview:

Many years ago, Royal Highnies set out on a quest to create the perfect boxer short. Today, Royal Highnies produces luxury undergarments and loungewear for the whole family. Their products are sold by boutique retailers both online and in brick and mortar stores.

 

The Situation:

Digital marketing provides an opportunity for smaller companies, like Royal Highnies, to compete against larger, more established brands in the crowded retail apparel space. However, capturing buyers’ attention online can require a hefty marketing spend.

For the 2017 holiday season, Royal Highnies wanted to boost the success of its online advertising campaigns and sell more underwear that’s fun to wear. That’s where Spectruss came in.

 

The Spectruss Solution:

Our plan started with research. We took the time to understand the exact target markets Royal Highnies needed to reach, then developed a plan around keywords and platforms that would put Royal Highnies in front of its desired customers – and convince them to make a purchase.

 

After defining their markets and doing rigorous keyword research, we developed a digital marketing plan that included:

 

  • Creative email campaigns

  • Shopping ad campaigns

  • Display ads

  • Social media ad campaigns

  • Fresh graphics

 

The campaign incorporated new creative materials and approaches. Each piece of the plan was designed to better reach Royal Highnies’ target markets and convert prospects into customers. We also maintained a rigorous schedule of reviewing campaign results and, in response, making small adjustments to continually improve the success of the campaign.

Royal Highnies achieved more while spending less, thanks to Spectruss’ strategic approach. SEE MORE OF THE AWESOME WORK WE DID FOR ROYAL HIGHNIES HERE

 

Categories
Events

2018 Lookout Wild Film Festival, Huge Success!

Lookout Wild Film Festival Surpasses Expectations in Sixth Year.

 

The annual Lookout Wild Film Festival started six years ago. The film festival began in hopes of bringing a substantial presence and impact within the Chattanooga community. It began with only a few board members and has since grown into a very well-known, successful annual event. With selling out two nights in a row, the 2018 Lookout Wild Film Festival proved to be its best year yet. The festival took place at the Walker Theatre Auditorium for its fourth consecutive year.

The lineup included 80 films that individually captured beautiful, powerful stories. The films ranged from rock climbing to surfing while captivating the audience with deep, meaningful raw footage. With four days to see incredible films, the Lookout Wild Film Festival presented a wide range of showtimes. This allowed the audience to see as many films as possible.

Not only did the Lookout Wild Film Festival provide outstanding entertainment for the viewers, but it also provided a full bar, concessions, yoga, and live filmmaker Q&As. These are just a few aspects that created an environment that proves to keep people returning.

The founder of the Lookout Wild Film Festival, Andy Johns, hopes to experience even further success down the road. He recently said, “As we continue to grow, our goal still remains the same. That is to share inspiring films that tell a story of beauty while educating viewers.”

 

For more information about the Lookout Wild Film Festival, visit www.lookoutfilmfestival.org or www.facebook.com/LookoutWildFilmFestival/.

 

Categories
Business

Spectruss, a Google Partner

For years, Spectruss has excelled in custom website development, UI / UX design, graphic design and custom API integrations. With the extensive experience and knowledge we have gained over the years, it is time to take the steps to become certified in all areas, including digital advertising. With that said, we are excited to announce that we are now officially a Google Partner and will be offering custom packages for increasing brand awareness and conversions for our clients.

Becoming a Google Partner is a proud achievement for Spectruss. With this partnership, Spectruss represents a company with employees who are certified as Analysts and Account Managers in Google Adwords, who have the ability to maximize the return of every dollar you spend on online advertising. As a Google Partner, Spectruss is well-versed in every Adwords aspect and completely dedicated to paid search marketing for all clients.

To become a Google Partner, one must prove the mastered use of comprehensive analytics, negative keywords, site links inside of ads, ad extensions, phrase match keywords, split testing, ad scheduling, mobile development, YouTube advertising, digital sales and more. We successfully passed all nine of our exams, displayed an increase in return for our clients, and have spent over $10,000 in advertising in the last 90 days.

Spectruss is adamant about staying current on all things technology and is constantly looking for ways to increase our clients return on investment. As a creative marketing agency, Spectruss is always looking for creative ways to help our clients grow their business.

Categories
Events

Jack Brown’s Beer & Burger Joint Presents Southeastern Climbers Coalition Fundraiser

CHATTANOOGA, TN — On October 26, 2017, Jack Brown’s Beer & Burger Joint will hold a fundraiser for the Southeastern Climbers Coalition.

 

The fundraiser will take place from 12 pm to 2 am. With the total amount of money raised, 15% of sales will go towards the Climbers Coalition.

The Southeastern Climbers Coalition Fundraiser will include raffle donations from High Point Climbing Gym. The raffle will take place from 7 pm to 9 pm. In order to participate in the raffle, tickets must be purchased at the event. All fundraiser participants will receive 1 free raffle ticket with each food purchase during the event. Free pint glasses will be available to the first 20 people to arrive at the event after 7 pm.

In 2008, Aaron Ludwig and Mike Sabin, two childhood friends with big dreams, established the first Jack Brown’s Beer & Burger Joint. Over time, the chain has continued to grow and prosper throughout the South. With the latest location being 818 Georgia Avenue in Chattanooga, Jack Brown’s Beer & Burger Joint hopes to establish a strong presence within the Chattanooga community.

Sara Taylor, the manager at the Chattanooga location, cannot wait to apart of this event. Sara said, “It is important for Jack Brown’s to get involved in the community around us. Partnering with the local Chattanooga climbing community will be a great fundraiser. On October 26th, we hope to help raise money for the Southeastern Climber Coalition. Beer and burgers to show support doesn’t get more delicious or simple!”

ABOUT JACK BROWN’S BEER & BURGER JOINT

Jack Brown’s is a bar that happens to sell a really fantastic burger, and the menu is purposely simple. This is not a restaurant that tries to please all tastes. We choose to focus on doing one thing and doing it really well. Our burgers are unique and crave-able. We always stock an exciting variety of all styles of craft beer, ranging from local darlings to rare beers from around the world. Our staff is the “special sauce” that brings all of this together. They have all been trained to guide you through the world of craft beer and crazy burgers and to make sure you have a good time.

For more information, please visit www.jackbrownsjoint.com.

 

Linkedin Youtube Instagram Spotify

Stay connected with us and receive the
latest news and marketing tips from our team.

200 W M.L.K. Blvd
Suite 901
Chattanooga, TN 37402

info@spectruss.com

423.264.2404