Category: Marketing

Categories
Marketing

Best times to post on social media: Based on new research

Figuring out the best times to post on social media is never easy. People browse at different days and times depending on the platform. The ideal time to post on each social network is when your audience is most likely to see and engage with your content. But, how do you figure out those perfect times? In reality, there are no exact magical times to place every post in front of your whole audience. But, based on research, some posting times are proven to be more effective than others. Sprout Social also furthered this specific topic and researched best posting times for different industries.

Thankfully, there is a handful of secondary research available to use as a resource. In fact, CoSchedule recently combined its data with more than twenty other studies on this specific topic that claims its findings will help you get more traffic, more engagement, and more followers.

Before diving into the best times it’s important to consider audience location. Eighty percent of the U.S. population is in Central and Eastern time zones. So, these time zones would be ideal for a United States audience. If you’re trying to reach a global audience, it’s recommended to create different social handles for different regions. Or, you can target their time zones according to demographic research from Google Analytics.

 

 

Instagram

 

Audiences are engaged throughout the week, thanks to our mobile devices.

Best days: Monday and Thursday.

Best times: Between 8-9 a.m., 2 a.m., and 5 p.m. Avoid posting from 3-4 p.m.

Sunday is found to be the least engaging day.

 

Facebook

 

Facebook is still dominating social media with 1.4 billion daily active users. The best days to post is during the workweek because users are known to be active on their computers and mobile devices. Use Facebook analytics and Fanpage Karma(free) to track data and find best times based on engagements. Analyze every detail of your Facebook’s posts and determine best posting times with Fanpage Karma, a free analytics platform.

Best days: Sunday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, and Saturday.

Best times: 9 a.m., 1 p.m., and 3 p.m.

Posting at 3 p.m. will increase clicks, while 1 p.m. will increase shares.

 

Twitter

 

Users are often online scrolling through their feed during their downtime. Use Twitter Analytics and Followerwonk to track and determine best times to tweet.

Best day: Wednesday.

Best times: 12 p.m., 3 p.m., 5-6 p.m.

B2B performs 16% better during business hours.

B2C performs 17 % better on weekends.

 

LinkedIn

 

LinkedIn is used by 25% of U.S. adults, mainly for professionals during work hours.

Best day: Aim for the middle of the week: Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday.

Best times: 5-6 p.m., 5-6 p.m., and 12 p.m.

Best time to post if midweek from 5-6 p.m.

 

How do find the best time to post?

 

Know your key audience

Research and build a profile for your audience based on demographic and psychographic information. What social networks do they check frequently? Where do they get their information? What websites do they visit?

Test different posting times

Figure out best times to post based on previous post engagements.

Consider audience location

Watch competitors

See when your competition receives high engagements and what type of content they are posting.

Continue to monitor and tack

While monitoring the results of your social media marketing campaign is essential, it’s also important to see who is saying what about your business. This provides an opportunity to respond with answers and be aware of what’s circulating.  

 

 

Categories
Marketing

Secrets to Getting Your Email Blasts Opened

 

Learn how you can increase the open rates in your emails.

 

 

  1. Appealing subject line

 

To make sure your hard work doesn’t immediately get tossed into the trash, your subject line needs to convince people that your email is worth opening. Introducing the email’s call to action with a short and sweet phrase does this. The subject line needs to make audiences feel special, so use personalized phrases.. Including the words “thank you” have the highest above-average engagement levels (Adestra, 2015). Another way to grab attention is by using numbers and compelling questions, especially if you know it’s relevant to the recipient.

 

  1. Use customized content

 

People are drawn to content that is intended for them. The open rate for emails with a personalized message was 17.6% compared to 11.4% without (Statista, 2014). Hence, do your research and have an understanding of who your different target audiences are and their wants. Then, Segment your subscribers into lists by demographic and psychographic information, to increase relevance. According to the Direct Marketing Association, segmented and targeted emails generate 58% of all revenue. It’s  important to avoid incorporating spam words like: “Free access”, “Get it Now”, or “Winner” that may make the email appear in the junk mail. Also, build organic SEO by including keywords and phrases into your email’s content to create an opportunity for click-throughs to your website.

 

  1. Valuable content builds trust

 

Emails should offer something of value. Whether it’s an exclusive value (offers), valuable information (tips), or emotional value (inspirational), if subscribers receive value from what you, they will start to build trust and continue to open your emails. Keep in mind the frequency of your sent emails. Hubspot reported that 78% of consumers have unsubscribed from emails because a brand was sending too many emails. Eighty six percent of consumers would like to receive promotional emails from companies they do business with at least monthly, and 15% would like to get them daily (Statista, 2015).

 

  1. Land email at the perfect time

 

If your first email does not receive your desired open rate, it’s ok because you can use it as an opportunity to test the best delivery time. You want to schedule the delivery time when a majority of your subscribers are actively looking through their inbox. So, once you send a test, analyze and choose the distribution times that produce higher open rates. Hubspot reports that 11 a.m. ET has the highest click-through rate for email sends. Another noteworthy time finding from Tomasz Tunguz is, 66% of unsubscribers occur between 5 and 10 p.m.

 

Categories
Marketing

Don’t Hold Back Your E-Commerce

Take a risk. Increase your e-commerce business to new levels.

 

If you follow these steps, the payoff will be well worth the hard work:

 

Research the Current Competitors in Your Marketplace

Knowing where your business stands among competitors is the most important step to take. Why? Because there are numerous choices online for consumers to choose from. In order to ensure your business is attracting the most attention, it is imperative to see what your competitors are doing well and capitalize on what they are not.

 

Use Google Adwords

With Google Adwords, there are two networks to use in hopes of achieving the highest position possible on SEO:

Search Network

When you advertise on the Search Network, your ad can show next to search results, on other Google sites like Maps and Shopping.

Acquiring the perfect list of keywords is vital to the success of all search campaigns. Fortunately, there is a tool called Keyword Planner that sorts through all past searches for specific words and gives ideas for other words that might work best within the campaign.

Display Network

Advertising on the Display Network allows you to capture potential consumers on their favorite websites, YouTube, Gmail accounts, mobile devices and apps, through different types of ads.

Four different types of ads on the Display Network: 

Responsive Ads

Uploaded Image Ads

Engagement Ads

Gmail Ads

The Display Network gives the opportunity to grab the customers’ attention earlier in the buying cycle. Everyone knows that ads can be very boring and repetitive but by creating ads that are appealing to the eye, consumers’ attention can be caught quickly and efficiently.

 

REMARKETING IS ESSENTIAL

Remarketing ads on both the search and display networks helps potential customers remember your business.

Tip: Tag your site for remarketing – Add the remarketing global site tag and event snippets to your website to show ads to people who have visited your desktop, mobile website, or app.

 

Create Ads to Run on Social Media Platforms

Running ads on social media platforms helps:

Raise brand awareness

Gain bigger followings on social media channels

 

Rigorously Post on All Social Media Platforms

Ideas for potential posts:

Introduce new products

Run promotions

Discuss current social topics

 

Send Email Campaigns

Promote new things happening within the company

Give information about upcoming promotions

 

Applying these steps to your e-commerce business model could help your business reach new heights you never thought possible.

 

Categories
Marketing

The Perfect Formula for Your Social Media Strategy: 70/20/10 Rule

Messaging for a social media strategy is the number one way to gain public favor and increase brand integrity. It’s important to balance your content production of frequency and quality. While sales are important, it shouldn’t be the primary focus of all your content. No one wants to follow an account that feels forced. So, when drafting your next content calendar, add the 70/20/10 rule:

 

70 percent of your content build brand awareness.

This content should focus on your brand story in a fun and engaging manner. Use it as an opportunity to create your brand voice and differentiate yourself from others. Aim to make your posts become shareable.

A few examples are:

  • Sharing an inspirational story

  • Posting videos

  • Giving shout-outs

  • Sharing interesting articles

  • Posting funny memes

 

20 percent of content should be other people’s content- shares and reactions

Here is where you share the love and build your network. It’s a perfect opportunity for relationship-building with other brands, influencers, and followers. Make sure the content is still consistent with the mission and culture of your business

because you don’t want to confuse your audience. Your brand should genuinely believe in what’s being shared.

 

10 percent of content should be promotional

The smallest portion of your content should be self-promotions. Your sales pitch should remain just as seamless as the other weekly posts. Remember, social media is communicating with your audience, not at. Each post doesn’t  have to be completely straightforward like, “Buy now!” or “Partner now!”. Sharing your success stories or case studies is a more subtle way of communication your call-to-action.      

 

Categories
Marketing

Why SEO is Essential in Every Business

Benefits of Organic SEO

Eighty percent of organic SEO attracts search traffic. Why? Because organic search engine optimization does not feel forced or unnatural. In fact, it is known as natural SEO because it focuses on unpaid methods like high-quality content creation, link-building, and keyword enhancement which greatly increases a site’s page rank. Think of organic SEO as organisms, meaning they will grow, expand, and adapt over time in response to readers’ desire.

In present-day SEO, you can not include as many keywords as possible to reach the people who are searching for you. It actually does the opposite. Loading your webpage with keywords to manipulate a site’s ranking can be recognized as “keyword stuffing”, harming your site’s ranking. So, although producing organic SEO is time-consuming, it is a valuable asset in increasing your websites’ traffic.

 

Benefits:

1. Low-cost investment.

While pay-per-click ads are guaranteed to be placed in front of potential website viewers, the cost adds up over time and only ends up reaching a smaller audience. With organic SEO, you are spending significantly less and building long-term ROI.

2. Credibility.

Seventy percent of the links search users click on are organic. Why? Because people can tell the difference between forced content and natural. Organic SEO builds your company’s credibility, creating long-lasting relationships.

3. Gain domain authority.

Using organic SEO increases your domain authority and increases your search rankings, pushing competitors down the list.

4. Long-term optimized search presence.

Organic SEO will forever remain on your site and Google will continue to give you more credit for links that have been linking to you. Meaning it will continue to increase rankings and long-term ROI.

Categories
Marketing

The Power of Local Search Optimization – Case Study of Southeastern Endodontics

Get More Customer Reviews

According to a survey by Search Engine Land, 72% of consumers trust online reviews as much as personal recommendations from real people. That means positive customer reviews may be the single most effective marketing tool out there for your business.

 

But how do you do it?

 

At Spectruss, we provide services that get your customers spreading the good word about your business on the sites that matter. Our solution helps you tactfully ask and remind customers for feedback, guides them through the online review process, and gives you a chance to reach dissatisfied customers before they write a negative review.

The Review Management & Automation service we offer allows your business to increase local search visibility and catch potential negative reviews before they get published.

 

Take a look to see how Spectruss established a successful review management campaign for Southeastern Endodontics.

 

Before Spectruss, Southeastern Endodontics had a total of 5 customer reviews. Since adopting our services in March 2017, the dentistry practice has seen an immense amount of improvement.

Total New Reviews: 22

Average Review Rating: 4.82

Effected an increase of 1.02 star

33% increase in Overall Star Rating

157% increase in Total Review Count

Increase in Social Likes & Checkins 

 

 

Matthew Brock, DDS, MSD

 

Dr. Matthew Brock is a graduate of University of Tennessee College of Dentistry and Boston University. He received his Certificate of Advanced Graduate Studies and Masters of Science in Dentistry at Boston University School of Dental Medicine (BUSDM). He is one of a distinguished few in the region that have achieved a Master’s degree in the science of endodontics.

Dr. Brock is a member of the American Dental Association, a Specialist Member of the American Association of Endodontists, and a member of the Tennessee Dental Association, Chattanooga Dental Society, Tennessee Association of Endodontists, and Georgia Association of Endodontists.

“A little over a year ago I was looking into revamping our website and running an SEO on the site to keep everything up to speed.  I knew of a few places to call and ran across Spectruss when they were one of the sponsors for an event at the Hunter Art Museum.  I contacted Sam Silvey, President of Spectruss, and set up a meeting for my partner and I to meet with him and brainstorm about some ways to improve our online presence.  Sam was great at listening to our perspective and concerns.  In health care my partner and I have chosen to not really advertise much, but we do want a strong online presence as so many people use the internet to research and look for health care providers, even an address while they are on their way to the appointment.  After listening to us, Sam had some great ideas of how to improve our site & get feedback from our patients so that we could grow the practice and offer the best possible care to our patients.  Sam has truly been great for my partner and I to work with through this process.”  -Matthew Brock DDS, MSD

 

What are your customers saying?

 

Get your free report using our online review analysis system.

Click Here to Receive a Free Review Analysis

 

Categories
Marketing

The Future is Listening – Voice Recordings

Have you ever wondered if your phone or electronics are listening to your conversations? You talk about something new, for the first time, and then suddenly the ads on Facebook mobile are for what you just talked about? Maybe you plan an event and without scheduling it your phone already knows about it?

Voice Recordings and Software Listen to your Conversations

The digital age has introduced a new world of personal voice listening devices currently ranging from ones Xbox, Amazon Echo, smartphone, and even your Samsung smart TV. Most recently, in November of 2015, police began investigating a death where incriminating evidence was possible to be found near the crime via an Amazon Echo located inside the house. The Echo could have possibly picked up key information as it recorded. The police filed a warrant, but Amazon fired back with a motion which stopped them from using Amazon recordings on the ground that is going agents the first amendment and broke privacy laws.

The Amazon Echo is like a personal assistant and is constantly tuning into surrounding conversations which can spark the question of where all that personal information is stored. With this information, if you are in the privacy of your own home, is your voice recordings on the Echo protected by the first amendment? Could the device be impacting free expression and what ones says out loud in private? These are the kinds of questions that are coming up more frequently as listening devices enter in as evidence in a courtroom.

While it’s very possible that our devices are listening into conversations and making advertisements on the web related to those subjects, companies such as Google and Facebook deny giving information out to third parties. It could be from other methods such as when you download a new app and it asks for microphone privileges or the idea that we are searching for connections when we see advertisements. Looking for connections in everyday life is a human trait that could be making the digital generation more paranoid of possible coincidences.

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.