Social media is constantly changing, and it seems that every year, strategies change when it comes to growing your business. It’s up to businesses to adapt to this ever-changing industry to survive and thrive.

Take Facebook, for instance, it was so easy to reach your audience without having to boost your posts or run ads a few years ago. Now, you need to carefully allocate your budget, choose your target market, and come up with creative ways on how to get your audience’s attention. Facebook has changed the way how its platform works by emphasizing user-to-user interaction rather than business-to-user interaction.

But don’t worry, it may have changed its algorithm which resulted in a lot of strategies to not work anymore, but there are still some proven strategies that still work in 2020. We’ll discuss these five strategies in detail and how you can use them for your business.

1. Choose The Right Page Template For Your Business.

Always remember that it’s not enough to just post daily but you need to optimize your Facebook pages too. One way of doing that is by using the right templates for your business under Page Settings.

The reason why Facebook provides different template options for users is that they help highlight your business effectively with its different features. For example, shops would have “shop now buttons” while charity pages would have “donate buttons.”

Take advantage of this feature and use all the tools provided to you. Using templates will also help Facebook easily categorize your business so users can easily search your business.

2. Come Up With Different Kinds Of Content

Content is King and that will never change when it comes to digital marketing. It’s what makes your audience keep coming back for more apart from the products and services you offer.

However, one common mistake that most marketers make is that they get stuck in a loop and keep on using the same type of content. They have this idea that whatever worked for them in the past shouldn’t be changed.

There is some truth to that, but that doesn’t mean that you should stop innovating. You can still keep your old strategies while adding new ones that will help grow your business. One of the most basic marketing principles that businesses should follow is the 70-20-10 approach which is:

• 70% original content
• 20% curated content or reposted content
• 10% promotional content

You also need to include a variety of content types like videos, blogs, infographics, polls, questions, surveys, and more. Posting frequency varies depending on the amount of content you have and the size of your audience. Posting once a day is the standard for most businesses but some big brands post up to 4-5 times a day.

3. Come Up With A Facebook Messenger Strategy

Facebook Messenger is more than just a communication tool. A lot of businesses underestimate this app, but little do they know that it’s a powerful marketing tool that can generate leads.

The Messenger app can now be integrated with chatbot technology such as ManyChat and Chatfuel. If you don’t know what chatbots are, they’re virtual assistants that help automate your communication with your audience.

Chatbots have lots of features that provide convenience for both the business and the customer. For example, an insurance company can set up pre-encoded questions that will ask potential clients about their information and other relevant questions. This will help the company filter out those high-quality leads that they can retarget with ads.

You can also use chatbots to input FAQs about your company, list your products, and send out newsletters and promotions.

4. Include Short Videos In Your Content Strategy

Statistics have shown that about 500 million people watch videos on Facebook daily. Businesses can take advantage of this by creating short videos that are relevant to their business.

Videos that are under 3 minutes are suggested because they capture people’s attention without boring them. In fact, if you even add captions to your videos, it will increase your viewing rates by 12%.

You don’t necessarily have to put out high-quality video content all the time because people these days are into ephemeral content and raw content these days. Some examples of video content businesses can make are:

• Behind-the-scenes Videos – This helps “humanizes” your brand and gives customers a sense of exclusivity.
• Instructional/Educational Videos – Provide values to your customers and build brand loyalty.
• Feedback Videos – Builds social proof and trust.

Creativity, not a big budget, is needed to have a good video content strategy. You don’t even need high-quality gear because camera phones can take really good videos these days.

5. Use New Augmented Reality Tools

Facebook is constantly adding more features both for users and businesses, and one of those features is augmented reality. It’s an interactive way of marketing where users can try on clothes or makeup and even customize their own car, just like what KIA did for their KIA Stinger promotion ad.

Creating AR content can be difficult to do if you’re a beginner so it’s best to hire experienced people to do it. However, allocating the marketing budget on AR is definitely worth it gives users a brand new experience.

New platforms may come and go, but Facebook will always be one of the top platforms to market a business. It has been used by countless businesses and marketers for over a decade. It’s constantly improving its platform and adding more features to cater to the younger generation. Make sure that you include Facebook in your marketing plan and use these 5 proven strategies that will grow your business.

Digital marketing is changing so rapidly that a lot of business owners are not even aware of the latest trends in social media. Don’t worry! Just sit back, relax, and take your time to read this article because we listed some of the top 10 social media updates that happened this 2019.

1.Facebook Gets Corporate Logo

 This is a low key social media update but it has definitely created some buzz in the digital world.

The company’s move aims to put a distinction between the Facebook corporation and the Facebook social media app

Source: Facebook, Inc.

The social media giant will use the new logo, which is basically the word “Facebook” spelled out, as a watermark on all of its standalone apps. The Facebook social media app will still use the same old blue/white “f” logo, however, we’ll see the new corporate logo on the login screens of the entire Facebook app family: Facebook, Instagram, and Whatsapp.

The company just wants everyone to knows that it owns all of these apps given the fact that only 29% of the US population know that Instagram is owned by Facebook.

2.Instagram Releases “IGTV Series” Feature

 It’s actually not a new feature because Snapchat and Youtube have been doing this for years. However, Instagram stated that they will be having this social media update on IGTV so that content creators can organize their videos better. Well, better late than never, right?

Source: Instagram

Whether you’re a business, celebrity or an influencer, you can easily create and upload your own video series that will allow users to easily “consume” your content. This latest update will also feature an opt-in button so that your audience can subscribe to your brand and get notifications from when you release a new video.

3.Facebook News Tab Is Now Available

 Facebook has rolled out Facebook Watch, Gaming, and Marketplace in the past few years but it seems like Mr.Zuckerberg isn’t done just yet. Facebook News is the latest addition to the app where you can find news from the biggest publishers worldwide such as  The Wall Street Journal, USA Today, and BuzzFeed.

This social media update has been rolled out to only a few thousand users in the US just to test the waters.

Source: The Verge

While there’s no definite number on how many publishers are a part of the test, reports say that Facebook is paying some of them to distribute news. There will also be an independent team of curators to avoid bias, but over time, the News tab will be filled with content related to your interests.

4.New LinkedIn Reactions

 This social media platform, which is widely used by professionals, has rolled out a new set of react emojis which are based on the common reactions its users have on the platform. In fact, the app users played a big role in this update since it has been their constant request to be able to express their reactions in a variety of ways.

The platform only had the Like button before, but now, users can use the latest react buttons which are: Celebrate, Insightful, Love, and Curious. This social media update creates more interaction, engagement, and allows users to understand their audiences better based on the reactions on their posts.

 5.Third-Party Apps Can Now Post On TikTok

If you haven’t heard about TikTok yet, well you should start getting into it now. It’s a Chinese social media platform that is quite similar to Instagram but its mainly used for short and comedic videos (it’s a reincarnation of Vine).

Source: Social Media Today

Recently, the company rolled out the “Share to TikTok” feature which will allow video editing tools to publish directly into the app. Some of the third-party apps mentioned where Adobe Premiere Rush, PicsArt, and Momento GIF Maker.

6.Dynamic Ads For Snapchat

Snapchat is one of those platforms for the Millenials and Gen Z, so if you’re one of those brands who caters these markets, now’s the best time to dive in. The company has announced a social media update for its platform where it would roll out dynamic ads for e-Commerce advertisers to use.

Source: Snapchat

It’s currently available in the US but this update is surely good news for brands. Marketers can easily choose from a variety of templates and all they need to do is to add their product catalog on the platform. This means less time for production and more time to earn revenue.

 7.Pinterest Academy Is Now Open

When it comes to social media platforms, Pinterest has always been under-the-radar, but it’s one of the top platforms that businesses use. Lucky for you, the company released its own e-learning course and tools that will help you get started on how to use Pinterest to market your brand.

There are nine topics included in the course which include Pinterest Narrative or Creative Strategy. The academy is currently rolled out to only a few select countries: Germany, France, Australia, UK, the US, and Canada. Just watch out! Maybe your country is next.

8.Brands Can Now Turn Sponsored Influencer Posts Into Ads

Influencer marketing has been around for quite some time now where brands team up with well-known people in a specific niche to promote a certain product. Before, brands didn’t have access to the data gathered by an influencer’s post, but now, that is surely about to change.

Source: Instagram

Influencers can enable this feature by going to the advanced settings in their profile then their business partners can now use their posts as a regular ad in the feeds or a story ad. This feature will allow brands to do proper scaling, targeting, and measuring of ad performance which will result to a higher ROI. Instagram released a step-by-step procedure on how to do it.

9. Facebook Changes Measurement On Organic Impressions

It’s always a headache when Facebook does some algorithm changes and now, they’re at it again. But is it a good one? The answer is yes. The update stated that there will be a significant drop in organic impressions but that doesn’t mean that your pages aren’t doing well.

Source: Facebook, Inc.

It’s basically a matter of metric calculation and not distribution which means your content will still be seen by your audience if it’s relevant to them. In fact, businesses might even see an increase in engagement rates on their pages because of this social media update.

10. Instagram Threads Is Out Now

Do you get a lot of unwanted messages in your DMs? Don’t you worry because Instagram just released its latest standalone app called Instagram Threads. It’s a camera-first messaging app that’s designed for speed, privacy, and to keep your close connections closer than ever.

Source: Instagram

The app will allow users to choose or create their own status so their friends will know what they’re currently up to. Photo and video sharing has also been optimized and can easily be done in just two

That’s it everyone! We hope that these top 10 social media updates for 2019 have helped you a lot. Social media is constantly changing and it’s always good to keep up with trends so social media efforts don’t go to waste. If you have any questions or want to get the latest updates, make sure to follow us @smith_marketing_pros.

Decades have passed and Facebook has drastically transformed from a simple social website where friends and families can communicate into a global platform that is meshed into everyone’s daily lives.

It’s the biggest social network worldwide that recorded 2.45 billion monthly active users and 16.89 billion U.S. dollars in revenues just in its second quarter of 2019.

Most of the company’s revenues were generated through advertising so there’s no denying that a lot of businesses are using Facebook to also generate income for themselves.

In the first quarter of 2019 alone, the company released a statement that it has more than 7 million active advertisers on its platform.

Number of Active Users Who Use Facebook Advertising (1st quarter 2016 – 1st quarter 2019)

This number is both composed of big brands and small businesses so if you’re one of those businesses who isn’t into Facebook advertising, it’s not too late to start now – even if your competitors are already on it.

Facebook Users Statistics

 You might not be convinced at this point how this can help boost your business, probably because these statistics aren’t that convincing.

Don’t worry, we’ve also came up with other statistics that might get you to jump off the fence of uncertainty and take a leap of faith into Facebook advertising.

• Facebook has an average of 63 billion daily active users worldwide as of September 2019.
• In 2018, there were 5 million people who use Facebook in the United States which was a 0.9% increase from the previous year.
• Facebook stories has reached 500 million daily users.
• Outside of the U.S and Canada, there’s about 80% of active Facebook daily users.
• The average Facebook users spends around 37 minutes on the platform daily.
• 1 billion Facebook users come from Asia and 385 million users come from Europe.
• The platform has 57% male users and 43% female users.
• In the US, 78% of consumers bought goods and services that they found on Facebook.
• In 2018, there were 26% of Facebook users who clicked and purchased through a Facebook Ad.
• There were1 million users from the U.S and 2.9 million users from the U.K. who are using Facebook in January 2018.

What Makes Up A Good Facebook Ad?

1.Good Strategy : Facebook advertising isn’t just about boosting a post, putting your money into it, and expect that our dear old friend Marc Zuckerberg and his team will bring you a good ROI.

If you want your customers to actually buy what you are selling on your ads, here are some things that you should consider:

•  What is my goal for this ad? Is it sales, downloads, engagement or traffic?
• Who is my target market?
• How is my product going to benefit them?
• What are their pain points?
• Are they a cold audience or a warm audience?

Ask yourself these questions first because these are the building blocks on how you will put your ideas into action. These questions will also determine what you are going to put on your videos, photos, and captions on your ad.

2. Relevant and Trendy

 Take note that you aren’t just competing with your competitors, but you are also competing against other brands that aren’t even in your niche.

Consumers are bombarded with content and ads on a daily basis so it’s a must that you get their attention by staying relevant in this fast paced world of social media.

Take this ad for example. Who would have thought that you can put Halloween and Coke together all in one photo?

You might think that it’s just a simple and funny photo, but these are the ads that drive engagement. Engagement is very important in Facebook because it makes the algorithm think that your content is relevant so it’s shown more on people’s feeds.

So how do you keep up with trends? Make a list of all the holidays and events that are relevant to your target market. For example, if you own a coffee business, you might want to come up with campaigns on International Coffee Day.

Aside from events, you can also make use of viral trends and incorporate them to your ads.

Do you remember the #KiKiChallenge that went viral back in 2018? It was a popular dance craze that a lot of people got into, but for business owners, it was a marketing opportunity.

Take this shoe brand called Veldskoen as an example who took advantage of the trend by showcasing their products through dancers wearing their shoes (click to see the full video here).

3.Simple and Straight to the Point

Craft your ads that even a fifth grader can understand it. You really need to KISS or “Keep It Simple Stupid” for your customers. You are competing for their attention and if you create complicated ads that takes so much of your consumer’s time, they won’t end up buying.

Here’s an ad from Hootsuite, a social media scheduler. You would notice that there’s not a lot of words on their ad.

The whole point is that their product can do everything for you when it comes to organizing, scheduling, planning, and executing your social media plans and they were able to put this together in just one sentence

You would also observe that the offer, which is a 60-day trial, and the call-to-action, which is to sign up, are very defined. As you scroll through your feeds, you would immediately know what they want you to do.

Is Facebook Advertising For Me?

This is the question that’s hard to answer because how would you know if you have no idea how it works? There are two ways on how to figure this platform our and it’s either you do it by trial-and-error or you let experts do it for you.

If you have any questions on how Facebook Ads work, you can always contact us or email us at info@smithmarketing.com.

Let’s face it, Instagram marketing is undeniably an integral part of promoting your business these days. All the top brands out there are on this platform so if you’re a business owner, there’s no reason why you shouldn’t be on it.
In 2018, Instagram was able to hit 1 billion monthly active users wordwide and it will only keep on growing as years go by. This platform is all about visual presentation so it’s the perfect place to showcase your products and services in a way that will capture your target market’s attention.
The result? SALES of course. Statistics show that 72% of Instagram users have purchased products that they’ve seen on Instagram. However, having an Instagram account doesn’t automatically translate to sales. You need to have the right strategic plan to properly execute your social media campaigns so here are 5 key principles that you need to take note of.

1. Content Is King

As cliche as it may sound, this principle will always be relevant because customers slowly develop loyalty to a brand through the content that they consume from you. There are different categories of content that you can provide for your audience but the three basic categories are educational, entertainment, and inspirational content.
Educational content are those that provide valuable information for people that they can use in their daily lives. Some examples of these are “how-to” and “do-it-yourself” videos that you will see on IGTV.

For entertainment content, the best examples would be memes, funny videos or any content that puts a smile on your audience’s faces. On the other hand, inspirational content are those that motivate your audience to do something and the perfect example would be podcasts or those short clips coming from inspirational speakers such as Gary Vaynerchuk.

The kind of content category you use will always depend on your niche. Just make sure that you are consistent when creating your content by using color schemes, filters, and feed patterns so your audience can easily remember your brand.

2. Create A Posting Plan

Once you’ve figured out the kind of content that you will craft, it’s now time to create a content calendar. What this means is that you need to determine when to post your content on specific days and times of the week. You can do this by using Instagram insights to know when your followers are online.

It ‘s also important that you are consistent with your schedule. A good example would be Taco Bell UK posting its #TacoTuesday campaign on Instagram every Tuesday. The human mind is wired to recognize patterns and it’s best if you take advantage of that. Come up with at least one weekly content that’s relevant to your business.

3.Make Use of Geotags and Hashtags

You don’t have to be a social media expert to know what hashtags are but if you are a total newbie, then let’s break it down for you.

A hashtag can be any word the has a “#” before it. For example, if you go on Instagram and type the hashtag #food on the search bar, this is what you will see:

What the platform does is that it categorizes all content with that same hashtag and ranks it according to popularity (top posts) and chronology (recent posts). The proper way of using hashtags is by using relevant tags on your posts to make them more visible. It wouldn’t make sense putting #shoes on a photo that’s all about food, would it?

Another way of maximizing the use of hashtags is to create branded tags that are unique to your business. A perfect example would be Nike’s #JustDoIt campaign. Obviously, that is there slogan but they utilized it well and turned it into a branded hashtag so when you type it on the search bar, most of the posts you would see are related to Nike.

Meanwhile, geotags are basically locations that are added to your posts. It will look like this:

You might be asking what this does to your business. Well, just like hashtags, it makes your business more visible. A lot of consumers these days are turning to Instagram as well to search for stores in their local areas.

For example, if someone wants to find restaurants in this local city of Murray Bridge, South Australia, all they need to do is go to “places” and type this:

This would then give you a list of all the restaurants and their addresses in the locality. You can tap each one them and have a look at their photos or photos from other people who have visited them.

There have been lots of success stories that were a result of geotagging so don’t miss out on it.

 4.Dive Into Instagram Stories

There are more than 400 million active users on Instagram that are posting stories on their accounts. If you think that stories are only for personal accounts, then that’s where you’re wrong.

Statistics show that one-third of the most viewed stories on Instagram are coming from business accounts. What stories do to your business is that it makes your brand more authentic. For example, a restaurant can take behind-the-scenes footage of what they do in the kitchen or what they did during their team building event.

Giving your consumers an inside look to what you do is a good way to create brand loyalty.

 5.Videos Are Important Too

We all know that Instagram started out as a photo-sharing app but videos have been taking over the world of content marketing lately. Not to mention, videos are comment magnets so they can definitely boost post engagement.

Instagram limits videos up to 1 minute only so make sure that you craft your videos well that you’re able to deliver your message across your audience properly.

However, if there is a need for longer videos, you can always post on IGTV. Whenever you post on IGTV, you will also have the option of posting a preview on your feed. You can basically give your consumers a teaser of the video content that you have in store for them.

If your business is not on Instagram, you’re definitely way behind your competitors now, unless they’re not on Instagram too. Kickstart your business by building that page and applying these five core principles