Franchise Organizations Giving Back to Their Communities

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Want to do some good in your neighborhood? Check out these examples.

May 11, 2018

4 min read

Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

I recently wrote an article titled "Franchise Organization Joins Forces to Help Hurricane Victims" that featured the power of the collaborative effort of a franchise network to help others.

Franchise organizations are very different from any other company structure due to the individual owners serving their respective communities under one common brand. This unique structure puts boots on the ground like no other business model.

These networks of entrepreneurial business owners create many benefits that make sense for business, such as pooled marketing dollars, shared technology platforms, buying power, support and training as well as best practices and strategies to fast-track business growth for the franchise owners. These networks also have tremendous power to make a difference by using their collective efforts and resources to help others.

Most brands encourage their franchise owners to participate in their communities and to give back whenever possible and practical. Some franchise brands have initiated formal programs to streamline the participation efforts of their franchise operators.

I interviewed franchise operators and franchisors to get a snapshot of the types of initiatives that are taking place in our current marketplace.

Ann Windell is a Chem-Dry Carpet and Upholstery Cleaning franchise owner in Southern Indiana. She has been with Chem-Dry for 25 years and reported that she loves the tremendous support that she receives from their corporate office. She also enjoys the relationships that she has forged over the years with other franchise owners and always looks forward to their annual convention.

Best Friends Animal Society

Ann mentioned that Chem-Dry has aligned with the Best Friends Animal Society to create the Cleaning for the Paws program. This program encourages the adoption of rescue pets from animal shelters and promotes healthier homes for families and their pets. Ann and her three employees participate in local events and fundraisers and by doing so join forces with their network of over 2,000 U.S. locations to make a real difference. Chem-Dry exceeded its 2017 fundraising goals, donating over $28,000 to Best Friends, and have its sights set on breaking that record for 2018. 

Bio-One Backs the Blue

Bio-One is a crime and trauma-scene cleaning franchise based out of Denver. It has been growing steadily over the last few years and have recently been ranked #344 in the Entrepreneur magazine’s Franchisee 500. Their motto is “Help First, Business Second.” Director of Operations Sandi Edds told me about their brand-new initiative to reward law enforcement officers, called Bio-One Backs the Blue. Bio-One is awarding at least four franchises to officers that have been wounded in the line of duty but still want to serve their communities and work side-by-side with their brothers and sisters in blue. 

Business as Mission

LIME Painting is a new franchise opportunity that delivers coatings and contracting services for new construction, repaints and complete restoration projects for high-end custom homes and commercial buildings. LIME founder and CEO Nick Lopez pointed out that LIME is all about doing "Business As Mission." This philosophy known as BAM is to give back and to help others. 

Nick started a nonprofit called LIME Light Outreach, Inc. that focuses on LIME Light’s Four Pillars of Knowledge: Faith, Family, Patriotism and Prosperity. These initiatives bring resources to their communities tailored to the youth. LIME Light is leveraged by the franchise model as each franchisee partners with LIME Light within their local communities to empower the youth through knowledge. A current campaign at the LIME Painting-Denver location is geared toward building a church in Ethiopia. 

How franchises can give back to their communities

Franchise organizations are having a huge impact on communities around the world by collaborating and working together to bring muc- needed resources to people (and pets) in need. The strength of these innovative companies and the people that make them up is tremendous.

As a member of a franchise organization, you have the opportunity to create or participate in initiatives and programs to help others in your community. You can begin by finding a cause that is near and dear to your heart and then identify resources, systems and people to get the ball rolling.

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How to Create a Killer Video Promotion to Increase Engagement

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People love watching videos. That’s why 87% of marketers use video content to engage with their audiences on the Internet.

More than half of marketing experts across the globe say they get the highest ROI from their video promotions.

When it comes to social media, videos generate 1,200% more shares than both text and pictures combined.

Another reason why videos are great is because it’s easier for viewers to comprehend your message while watching videos. In fact, your audience will retain 95% of information they consumed through a video as opposed to just 10% of information they consumed through reading text.

It’s no secret that video content has been dominating the latest trends.

But with so many videos out there flooding the market, you need to make sure your video promotions can stand out from the crowd.

The majority of consumers prefer watching video content on YouTube and television:

These are the platforms you should prioritize when creating a new video promotion.

Don’t get me wrong, just because videos are a great way to market your brand doesn’t mean you should completely abandon your other marketing strategies.

You should still continue blogging, sending emails to your subscribers, and staying active on social media. Another reason why video promotions are so awesome is because you can incorporate them into all these other distribution channels as well.

It’s easy to add videos to your blog, embed them into your emails, and share them on social media.

Here’s something else to keep in mind. Yes, consumers love videos. But that doesn’t mean that everything you publish will automatically be a huge success.

You’ve got to learn how to engage with your audience through promotional videos, which is why I created this guide. Keep these tips in mind if you want to continue running successful video promos.

Identify your audience

Your video promotion won’t appeal to everyone.

That’s okay. You shouldn’t try to reach every person on the planet with your marketing campaigns.

The first step in creating a killer video promo is to identify your target market. For starters, I’m assuming your brand has already done this.

But not everything you offer is necessarily intended for all your customers. You may sell products for men and women of all ages. Don’t try to appeal to these different audiences with the same video.

Instead, segment your target audience based on the goal of your campaign, which we’ll discuss in greater detail shortly.

Here’s an example of how Lululemon used this strategy in this ad:

Lululemon sells yoga clothing, gear, and accessories. This brand primarily sells to women. But recently, they launched a men’s line as well.

This video promotion is aimed specifically at male audiences.

Don’t worry. By doing this, you won’t be abandoning the rest of your customers. You’ll just need to come up with additional promos to target them as well.

Next, you’ll use different distribution strategies appropriate to the market segment you’re targeting.

Stick to a reasonable budget

You don’t need to spend a ton of money on your video promotions. The cost will largely depend on what you’re trying to accomplish.

What do you need in your video?

For example, you may need to rent a facility, hire actors, or work with a celebrity, which may cost you a lot of money, but you may not need any of that.

Keep in mind, to be successful, you’ll need to make lots of promos. You don’t want to dump a ton of money into each one.

For the most part, you can make a great video without breaking the bank. Use your employees and friends as actors and look for locations that are free to shoot.

You also need to keep in mind how much it’s going to cost you to distribute your promotions. If you’re planning to just upload them to your YouTube channel and share them on your website, social media pages, and email lists, there won’t be any cost.

But if you’re filming an ad for television or paid promotions on social media, the costs will vary.

Marketing experts cited the cost and budget as the number one reason preventing them from spending more money on video advertising:

But if you can find ways to keep your costs low, this won’t be an issue for you.

That’s why it’s important to come up with a budget before you get started. Then you won’t have any surprises or money problems once you start filming.

Focus on one goal

What’s the point of your video?

Are you trying to promote an event? Advertise a sale? Build hype for a new product or service? Or maybe you’re trying to get downloads, add subscribers, or drive traffic to a landing page?

Video promotions are great for building brand awareness as well. The possibilities are endless.

Regardless of your reason, it’s important that you create one video promo for one goal. As I said earlier, this goal is also related to your target audience, which you’ve previously identified.

Do not go overboard here.

If you try to accomplish too many goals in one promotion, it’ll confuse your audience, and the engagement will suffer. Later, we’ll talk more about your ending call to action, but it should reinforce the goal of your promo.

Make sure you’ve got the right equipment

You don’t need to hire a professional director and camera person to film your video promotions. It’ll help you keep your budget within your means, as discussed above.

If you’re planning on making lots of promotional videos in the future, which you should be, it’ll be worth it for you to invest in the right equipment now.

Here are some things you’ll need to get:

• quality camera


• microphone


• lighting equipment


• editing software

These are necessary if you want to make sure your promotion looks professional.

Publishing a poor quality video can create the opposite effect of what you’re trying to accomplish:

Research shows that unprofessional videos cause consumers to have a negative association with the brand that published them.

Don’t underestimate the importance of getting the proper equipment.

Write a script

No matter how creative you are, don’t try to wing it when you’re filming a video promo.

Even if you have a general idea of the content of your promo, write out each line ahead of time. Write the lines for all the actors as well as any narration lines.

You should also consider dead air time when nobody is speaking. Include pauses and breaks in your script as well. All of this needs to be accounted for before filming starts.

Having a script will keep things organized. That way, you’ll use your time efficiently whenever you’re filming.

Trying to figure out the best way to word a scene on the filming day is an ineffective allocation of your time. Instead, your efforts should be focused on getting quality shots.

Having a script that’s ready to go will also help eliminate any friction or confrontations with your staff.

Depending on the managerial structure of your brand, there may be several people who have an input and strong opinions about your marketing campaign.

The last thing you want is for people to argue about the direction of your video while you’re trying to film it. Working out the details ahead of time will make sure everyone involved sticks to the script, pun intended.

Time is of the essence

How long is your video promotion? 10 seconds? 30 seconds? a minute?

You need to plan that before you get started. The most important part of your video promotion is capturing the viewers’ attention at the very beginning.

Research shows that as time increases, engagement decreases. Don’t ease into your videos.

Chances are your audience may not get through the entire thing. But a strong introduction in the first ten seconds can keep them hooked and engaged throughout the duration of the promo.

The length of your video will also vary depending on your distribution method.

HubSpot studied the ideal length of a promotional video based on the distribution channel. These were their findings.

Instagram promos should be 30 seconds long. That’s because the average length of videos on this platform with the most comments was 26 seconds long.

Plus, Instagram’s platform encourages users to keep scrolling. Shorter videos make the most sense here.

Twitter videos should be short as well. People are used to reading short updates on this platform since they have a 140-character text limit. Plus, the average length of Twitter’s videos of the day was 43 seconds long.

Video promotions on Facebook that were one minute long had high engagement rates.

YouTube videos can be a bit longer. The optimal length of a YouTube video is roughly two minutes because users tend to spend more time watching videos on this platform.

Make sure your timing is sorted out before you start filming. Otherwise, the promotion could feel dragged out if you don’t get right to the point.

Choose a theme

What’s the mood of your video? This may seem like a strange question, but you need to answer it.

Figure out what kind of emotions you want your audience to feel when they’re watching your promotion. These are the top positive emotions felt by viewers watching viral video content:

Having a clear theme will keep everyone working on this project on the same page.

If you don’t know where to start, here are some theme recommendations to give you some inspiration:

• humorous content


• serious and informative


• sad


• romantic


• dramatic


• inspirational


• confrontational


• corny and quirky


• music video


• entertainment


• sense of luxury

The list goes on and on, but these are reasonable places to start your brainstorming.

Here’s something else you need to consider. Music. Will there be any music playing in your promotion, or will it be only people talking?

The type of music included in your video promo will give your audience a good sense of your theme.

Make sure you stick with just one or two themes at the most. Don’t throw a joke into a promo that has a serious and informative theme because it will confuse your audience.

Pick a style

In addition to your theme, you also need to determine a style of your promo.

Are you using actors to replicate a real life scenario? Or maybe you’re using live footage.

If you’re not using actors, you may want to use an animated style or b-roll video. You could have a screencast with a narrator speaking or use a whiteboard demonstration.

Here’s a quick video promo on the Dollar Shave Club website:

It’s promoting their shave butter. This video has a lot going on, but it’s used effectively.

It uses a combination of actors and animations to create a fantasy scene that’s humorous. The actor puts on the shaving butter and then feels as if he’s swimming in it.

As you can see, you’re allowed to combine styles. You can always use a voiceover to enhance the style and prove a point.

Film multiple versions of your promo

You’ve got all your equipment set up, so you might as well take advantage of it.

If your end goal is a 30-second video promotion, don’t film just 30 seconds and call it a day. Mix things up.

Film longer versions of your promo as well. You can always edit it down later based on your distribution channel.

For example, you can create a two-minute-long video intended for YouTube and then release a 30-second clip of it on Instagram and a minute-long version on Facebook, according to the optimal length of videos for different channels I discussed earlier.

You could also consider filming a long version and release part of it at a time. Create a series out of your promotion so viewers anxiously anticipate the sequel to find out what happens next.

End with a strong call to action

Your CTA will be the extension of your goals I discussed above.

The call to action should be at the end of your video and reinforce whatever you’re trying to accomplish.

If the video is being distributed online, it could end with a website for people to visit or a download link to click on.

Include a phone number if you want your audience to make a call.

Use phrases such as buy now, save today, or sign up for free.

Again, this will all vary based on the goal of your campaign.

Here’s an example of the last clip of a Little Caesars video promotion:

The message is clear. Pay $5 for a pizza.

This entire promo talks about how you can just walk into one of their locations and leave with a hot pizza that’s ready to eat. It differs from most pizza restaurants where you’d have to order your pizza and wait for it.

The CTA at the end of the video reinforces this message.

It should be very obvious to anyone who watches your video what type of action you’re trying to get your viewers to do based on your call to action. Don’t be ambiguous. Get straight to the point.

Conclusion

Consumers love videos. Your brand needs to learn how to master video marketing campaigns.

The first thing you need to do is identify the audience your video will target.

Set a budget, and stick to one goal per promotion. Get yourself proper filming equipment, and write a script to stay organized.

Decide on the length of your promotion. This will vary based on your distribution methods.

Choose a theme and style of your promo based on what type of emotions you want the viewers to feel while they’re watching it.

Film multiple versions of the video promotion. You can always cut it to an appropriate length later.

All great video promos end with a strong call to action.

If you follow these tips, your video promotions will have high engagement rates and ultimately lead to more conversions.

How is your brand using video promotions to engage with your target audience?

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If You Forget About Lead Gen, You Can Forget About Growth

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Want to scale? You'll never get there without a lead-generation process.

May 11, 2018

7 min read

Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

What’s the worst thing that can happen if you buy weak leads from a questionable source? New York City real estate broker Nathan Horne almost found out.

Like the thousands of professionals in his industry who collectively spent $10.5 billion on advertising in 2017, his employer, The Corcoran Group, focused on branding instead of strategic lead generation. So, when Horne called someone he thought was a hot lead, he got the surprise of his life. Instead of a potential buyer, the police detective who answered the phone made a veiled threat about having a gun and being willing to use it.

Related: When You're Hungry for Sales, Consider These Lead-Gen Tools

Fortunately, Horne received only a verbal scolding and not something more dangerous. It turns out there’s a whole underground world of companies that specialize in lead generation, but those in the broker business -- like Horne -- have discovered that these businesses not only provide poor leads, but they also occasionally flirt with illegal activity (like lead dilution, acquiring leads by dubious means or, in Horne's case, providing fake leads that can lead to irritated recipients).

En route, Horne learned a big lesson: If your company doesn't have successful lead generation, you’re putting your business’s future at risk -- not to mention leaving your team hesitant to pick up the phone and call an untested lead.

Planning a business is easy; growing it takes lead generation.

Why do so many companies fall into a trap that keeps them from focusing on their lead gen? Call it the spiderweb effect.

When founders begin their organizations, they work their own networks first. Eventually, they tap out these personal spiderwebs and neglect to move beyond them. Instead, they delve into the everyday operations and forget to keep bringing new prospects in the door. And if someone brings up the notion of organized lead gen? A succinct “We aren’t ready for that yet” usually stops the conversation.

To outsiders, this may seem shocking. Yet it’s common, particularly among lifestyle businesses large enough to allow their owners to prosper just enough. Those types of organizations weren’t created to scale; they were created to provide an income for the entrepreneurial C-suite folks. Is it any wonder that so many of those commercial establishments close down after the founders retire?

Our own company started similarly 35 years ago. For 25 years, lead generation was a passing fancy. Customers came but weren’t wooed. And while we enjoyed growth in that time, little of it came through a solid lead gen strategy (because, to be frank, we didn’t have one).

Thus, a decade ago, we decided to align our lead-generation and marketing tactics. And we’ve grown phenomenally ever since, like the 90 percent of other businesses that have made similar decisions, according to CSO Insights.

Of course, some companies ardently say they want to get bigger, but they’re not necessarily following a wise map, either. Far too many bring in outside salespeople to make cold calls. That's not a lead-generation tactic; it’s a cold-calling one. Sometimes that works, sometimes it doesn’t, but it’s always a tough way to scale.

The best strategy? Hire amazing salespeople and supplement what they naturally do with a content-driven lead-generation protocol. Without this kind of commitment, even the most exciting organization with the highest potential can run the risk of not hitting revenue goals, frustrating the heck out of amazing sales professionals and not closing deals due to lack of appointments.

Congratulations! Your new lead-generation policy begins tomorrow.

Unless you like the idea of falling behind the competition, you owe it to your company to make lead gen a priority by developing a thorough content-marketing campaign. Constant content creation and dissemination ensures you won’t be scrambling for prospective buyers.

The more consistent you are, the better your returns: Orbit Media says that nearly half of bloggers who put time and effort into blogging make money. HubSpot concurs, noting that busy blogs offering at least 16 posts every month can expect traffic to triple, as opposed to their barely there blogging counterparts.

Ready to begin? Here are the rules:

1. Go to your customers. Start at your heart by surveying your clients about what they want to know, what they read, how they think and where they hang out when they’re not buying your merchandise or services.

Their answers will help drive content. At the same time, ask your salespeople and customer service personnel what they’re constantly being asked. They'll happily share everything they've heard, and you can turn their responses into content topics later. The more research you do up-front, the better your lead-gen plan will be.

Although this should be an ongoing task, plan on about 30 days to get a head start. Evaluate the feedback to use the information innovatively. Ironically, that’s what SurveyMonkey did: It sent out surveys to users to make its brand more attractive. As a SurveyMonkey enthusiast, I’m pleased to see the company utilizing its own offerings to improve.

2. Devise your plan of attack. Open a Google Doc or grab a piece of paper. Then, clearly write down what you plan to do in terms of content creation. Just as you wouldn’t start a business without a proposal or route, don’t jump into speaking engagements, blogging, ebooks, webinars or any other content production without forethought.

Related: A Comprehensive Guide to Building a Better Content Marketing Strategy

What will your plan look like? That’s up to what you discover. Mine included a mission to produce only educational content, not promotional pieces. As the one spearheading everything, I worked during “off” hours on fulfillment to get traction. Now, our team is all on board because we’re able to track how effective our content is month over month.

3. Share your trade secrets. Don’t gasp at the thought of sharing your expertise. It’s not your grandmother’s famous cookie dough recipe, after all. If you don’t offer anything valuable through your content, you’re just sending out sales pitches. Instead of treating readers, viewers and listeners like droids, craft intriguing items that provide insider knowledge.

Through this approach, you'll humanize your efforts. In the eyes of the public, you'll be seen as a partner. This will lower readers' defenses and promote honest engagement. In addition, you'll set up your content creators to be thought leaders. For example, at Influence & Co., a content marketing agency we work with, CEO John Hall has made being honest his mantra with significant reputation-boosting and profit-generating results.

4. Create accountability for maximum results. Obviously, you’ll want to measure your success, to determine how well your lead generation is working. Why not start by developing a service-level agreement (SLA) between the sales and marketing departments? An SLA defines each team’s role in sharing and ensures important information won’t be lost in translation.

In addition, have key performance indicators in place. The KPIs can be tracked by spreadsheets and monitored routinely. At our company, we consistently investigate which content is bringing in the most leads. That's an actionable approach and puts everyone on the same page.

Related: The Right (and Wrong) Ways to Track Your Company's Performance

Wondering whether the time is right to strike on this type of lead gen venture? It is, hands down. As the old adage says, "A good plan today is better than a great plan tomorrow." The faster you get a process in place, the faster you'll see those golden returns.

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How to Distribute Content Effectively Across Multiple Channels

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Your content is great. You’ve been applying new strategies and learning how to master the art of storytelling to make your content more engaging.

But now what? This is useless if you’re unable to distribute it to your audience.

I see this problem all the time when I’m consulting businesses. They have excellent writers who know how to write great blog posts, but nobody is reading their work.

The key here is learning how to distribute your content so it can reach the widest audience possible.

If you’re using only one distribution channel, you’re missing out on a huge opportunity.

Some of you may be thinking, “If it’s on my website, someone will eventually see it.”

That’s not true. You can’t rely on your website alone for content distribution. That’s because people consume information in a wide variety of ways.

For example, if you have a B2B company, you should be aware that majority of your content is being viewed on desktop computers.

B2C companies, on the other hand, need to put more emphasis on optimizing their mobile websites for Google searches.

But effective content distribution goes way beyond the types of devices your audience is using. Using multiple methods of distribution gives more people a chance to see your content.

Use this guide as a reference for how to successfully deliver content to your target audience. Here’s what you need to know.

Establish an active presence on all your channels

Your distribution won’t be effective if you’re adding content to each channel only once per month. If you want more views and engagement, the first thing you need to do is make sure all your platforms are active.

This is the best way to make sure that as many people as possible have regular access to your brand.

Start simple. How many social media profiles do you have? Create accounts on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube if you haven’t already.

You’ve been adding new subscribers to your email list, but how often do you send them messages?

People subscribed to your emails because they wanted to hear from you. They follow you on social media because they are interested in your products and services. Don’t let them down by going silent.

While you should post often, make sure you don’t get too carried away. Otherwise, this strategy could backfire and you could be perceived as annoying.

We know that 57.5% of social media users unfollowed a brand on social media because they thought the brand posted too many promotions.

Find that middle ground. Post content daily, but do this without blowing up your followers’ timelines.

Understand your audience

As I said earlier, not everyone consumes content the same way. Conduct research to clearly identify your target market.

Once you know whom you’re trying to reach, it will be easier to figure out how to target them based on their consumption habits.

First of all, think about the platform you’re distributing on. This will tell you how your audience wants to consume.

For example, take a look at your Instagram followers. If you’re debating what you should post on your Instagram profile, stick to pictures and videos. It wouldn’t be effective to write short blogs in the caption of a photo.

Instead, focus your website on more text-heavy content, such as blogs. Send newsletters to your email subscribers. Keep your Twitter audience updated with short newsworthy headlines.

Does this make sense? Make sure the content is tailored to each channel based on what your audience consumes.

But you also need to realize not everyone has the same social media preferences. Take a look at some of the differences in the way Millennials and Baby Boomers consume content:

If you’re targeting Baby Boomers, you’ll be better off using Facebook as a primary distribution method. Don’t use hashtags. Give them written content.

But if your brand is targeting Millennials, you’ll need to focus more on Instagram, hashtags, and photos to have an effective marketing strategy.

Timing is everything

So, you just wrote a new blog post. Now what?

Do you instantly share it on all your distribution channels at once? Not necessarily.

You can add it to Facebook on one day and Twitter the next. Add a promotion to your Instagram story a few days later to drive traffic to your blog post.

Here’s the thing. There is going to be some overlap between your followers on different distribution channels. You don’t want to bombard them all at once with the same marketing pitch.

Put yourself in the shoes of your customer. They open Facebook and see a link to your new blog post. Then they log into Twitter and see the same headline.

Later that day, they’re reading through their emails and see you emailed them a link to that blog post as well. This is overkill. Plus, it can annoy your audience. They want to hear from you, but not that often.

You also need to consider the actual day and time when you’re posting new content. The optimal time will vary based on the distribution channel:

Use this as a guide to make sure as many people as possible see your posts. But this will depend on what you’re talking about.

For example, let’s say your brand is releasing some type of breaking news that’s time-sensitive. Obviously, you shouldn’t wait until the next optimal time to tell your audience.

You’ll want to get this information out on all of your channels right away. But if it’s just a general discussion topic that’s not time-sensitive, it can wait.

Make sure your content is relevant

The best content is always on topic and relevant to your brand.

Yes, I know that earlier I talked about breaking news as an example of time-sensitive content that should be shared right away.

However, that doesn’t mean you should be sharing every news story you hear.

For example, let’s say your company manufactures home furniture. There’s no reason for you to be sending your customers weather alerts unless, of course, this weather is somehow impacting your business, such as a delay in shipping.

Also, earlier I said you should distribute content on different channels based on a specific time or day of the week.

But that doesn’t work if you’re promoting an advertisement or offer that expires soon, such as a flash sale.

Take advantage of automation tools

As I said earlier, you’ll need to stay active on all your distribution channels. But I realize this can be a challenge.

You’re busy. I get it. I’m sure you’ve got dozens of tasks you think are more important than posting new content.

If this sounds like your situation, you’ll definitely want to try some of my favorite time-saving social media marketing tools.

Automated tools can make your life much easier. For example, take a look at Hootsuite:

The platform allows you to schedule your social media posts automatically. This can save you a ton of time.

Now, you can write a new blog post and then schedule the post on the day and time that will get the most engagement depending on the platform.

It’s easier to do this all at once instead of manually posting each time.

You can dedicate just one or two days a week to schedule your posts and let the automation tools take care of the rest. Plus, seeing everything in a calendar view on the platform will help you make sure the distribution is even.

Repurpose old content

This piggybacks on our last point. You’ve got to work smarter, not harder.

If you have some marketing materials or documents written a couple of years ago that are still relevant, you can reuse them.

You may have written a very informative blog post with lots of data and facts to back up your claims. But at the time, you didn’t have the marketing skills to get it distributed to a wide audience.

The views and engagement on that page were really low. But that doesn’t mean you can’t bring that post back to life. You’ve got a couple of options here.

First, you can write a new article on the same topic, changing the title. Use your old post as a reference to make the writing process go faster.

Or you could republish an old post with updated statistics. Here’s an example of how HubSpot uses this strategy with its blog posts:

Statistics change over time. This is especially true when it comes to marketing data. That’s why I always try to use the most recent sources to back up my data.

HubSpot recognized that the research they conducted in 2012 was outdated. So, they updated the statistics and republished an old post.

Your content must be shareable

Did you notice anything else in the HubSpot’s example above?

The post is plastered with sharing icons. Readers can distribute this content to others with just a click of a button through channels such as:

• Twitter


• Facebook


• E-mail


• LinkedIn


• Facebook Messenger


• Slack

Including these icons makes it much more likely that readers will share your content. Otherwise, you’d have to rely on them manually copying your link, opening a new tab or window, and then sharing it with their friends.

It’s too many steps to be an effective strategy that you can rely on.

There are other ways to approach this strategy as well. When you share posts on social media, you can try to encourage user-generated content as a distribution strategy.

Run a contest or promotion that requires a retweet, post, or share as an entry.

This will get your content in the hands of as many people as possible.

Leverage your relationships with influencers

As you can see, you don’t have to distribute content alone. In addition to your followers, you should form relationships with social influencers.

These people already have an active audience engaged with their posts.

When a social influencer shares something, their followers will be likely to follow up to find out more information.

Don’t think you need to pay big bucks to work with a celebrity. In fact, you may have better luck working with micro influencers:

This strategy is valid on all your distribution channels. Nearly 40% of Twitter users have made a purchase based on an influencer’s tweet.

Further, 70% of teenagers say they are influenced more by YouTube personalities than traditional celebrities, and 40% of Millennials say they can relate to their favorite YouTube stars even more than they can relate to their friends.

Make sure you find an influencer who speaks to your target market. It’s a highly effective way to distribute your content.

Track your results

When running any marketing campaign, you’ve got to use analytics tools to see how effective your distribution strategy is.

Most of your platforms will have these tools built-in. You can track engagement with your email marketing software as well as your social media networks.

If you’re using third-party tools to distribute content, they will provide accurate analytics. This is a great opportunity for you to evaluate your methods and make adjustments.

Stick with strategies that are working well. Fix the areas that need improvement.

Conclusion

Your content is useless if nobody sees it. That’s why you need to figure out how to get it in the hands of the widest audience possible.

The most effective way to do this is by leveraging multiple distribution channels.

First, you need to make sure all your channels are active. Understand your audience and give them content they want based on their preferences and platforms.

Focus on timing and relevance. To save time, take advantage of automation tools and bring old content back to life.

Make sure all your content is shareable. Use social influencers to help with your distribution strategy.

Always track your results so you can determine if your methods are successful. If you follow these tips, you’ll have higher engagement and conversion rates from all your distribution channels.

Which marketing channels are you using to distribute your content successfully?

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His Parents Loaned Him $30,000 to Start a Company. Now It's Valued at $1.7 Billion.

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The founder and CEO of Squarespace on launching a dream and the importance of giving back.

May 11, 2018

5 min read

In 2003, Anthony Casalena’s parents gave him a $30,000 loan to help get his business idea up and running. Fast-forward to 2018 and it would appear that Casalena is more than able to pay that loan back. The company he started with the $30,000 is Squarespace, the website-building resource that now has over 800 employees and its logo emblazoned on the jerseys of the New York Knicks. Also, according to Bloomberg, a valuation of $1.7 billion. Not too shabby.

Casalena hasn’t forgotten how that loan made all the difference, and so this year Squarespace and the New York Knicks teamed up to create the “Make It Awards,” a program that provided four entrepreneurs with a $30,000 grant and use of Squarespace’s marketing muscle.

Entrepreneur connected with Casalena to learn about his company’s journey from an idea that existed in his head to a logo that is stitched on NBA All-star Kristaps Porzingis’s jersey, and where he hopes it heads next.

Related: 10 Tips for Web Design That Drives Sales

Tell us about the "aha!" moment for creating Squarespace.

When I started programming Squarespace in 2003, I wasn't intending to start a company. I initially created Squarespace for myself for two reasons. First, I was frustrated that there were many different pieces of software that had to be integrated in order to create a website -- page-building software, blogging software, hosting and website analytics software were all separate. Secondly, I was bothered by the fact that there seemed to be no products on the market that were paying attention to design.

There was a moment in my dorm room when I was still developing Squarespace where a friend offered me some small amount of money for the platform, thinking it would be useful for his website. It helped me realize that the problem I was solving for myself was something a lot of people might be struggling with.

How did it feel the first time you saw your logo on a Knicks jersey?

Pretty incredible. My first apartment in New York was actually 10 blocks south of Madison Square Garden, and I know the area well. The Garden and the Knicks are iconic, and it feels great to be a part of what makes this city amazing.

Credit: MSG Photos

What was the toughest part of getting Squarespace off the ground?

I ran Squarespace almost by myself for a number of years, which was immensely stressful. In the early years, I often resorted to using engineering to solve problems versus making other decisions that might have made Squarespace into something that resembled a company a bit faster. I was very slow to hire a team, and when I did, I think it took a while for things to click into place.

Related: Hiring Your First Employee? 5 Things You Need to Know.

What do you wish you knew then what you know now about fundraising?

I’ve actually tried to minimize the amount of money I’ve had to raise for the business. Squarespace has always been a company that generates revenue, so our dependence on outside capital has always been quite limited. The rounds we have raised have been used in very specific and strategic ways in our history, versus rounds that we’ve had to raise to “keep it going” or to try and prove our model. All that said, I think it’s important for anyone raising capital to understand what the exit terms are on that money. Do your investors want to be in for a year? A decade? What kind of return qualifies as a success for them, and how do they want to achieve that result with you? It’s important to keep everyone aligned around outcomes and timeframes.

Did you ever doubt yourself when you were starting out?

I typically initially approach situations as a skeptic, so I think there was a healthy understanding of the amount of uncertainty involved in running and scaling a business. Squarespace has always been successful at earning initial traction and leaning into that growth in all of our endeavors. That doesn’t mean that every idea we launch works, but we try and move away from our mistakes quickly and instead move on to what is working. I think the ability to be nimble in that way has been encouraging, and it helps get us through periods where things are bumpy.

Related: Tim Ferriss Explains How to Scale Your Business in 3 Steps

Why is the Make It Awards initiative important to you?

I got a $30,000 loan from my parents when I was first starting Squarespace, which I used for our initial servers and to get some early design work done. So along with The Madison Square Garden Company, we thought it was great to be able to build on that notion and give away a symbolic $30,000 to a few local entrepreneurs who were doing great things. Squarespace as a company is about helping people with creative ideas succeed, and this initiative is just another way we can highlight and help entrepreneurs who are just getting started.

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The Top 12 Tips for Running a Successful Video Blog

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Blogging is one of my favorite ways to drive traffic to websites and engage with audiences.

But those of you who have been staying up-to-date on the newest marketing trends know video content has been on the rise.

In fact, experts predict that by 2019, 80% of the global Internet traffic will be videos. More than half of marketing executives say video content is their most profitable ROI.

Blog posts containing videos have triple the amount of inbound links compared to blog posts without videos.

It’s understandable why you might be interested in starting a video blog.

Based on all these numbers, it’s safe to say people love consuming video content. But establishing yourself as a prominent video blogger can be a daunting task, especially if you’ve never done it before.

There are many factors to take into consideration.

What kind of equipment should you use? How do you behave in front of the camera? How do you promote your new video blog?

You’re not the only one who has recognized these video trends. Research shows businesses plan to add more content distribution channels in the next year.

Do you see a commonality in the top three responses? All of these are platforms for video distribution.

If you need some pointers for launching a new video blog or improving your existing one, you have come to the right place.

These are the top 12 tips for running a successful video blog.

1. Invest in a high quality microphone

Audio is one of the most important aspects of your video blog. People need to be able to hear what you’re saying.

Having a quality microphone can help make sure you’re not wasting any time recording your video. Sometimes, you’ll have poor video quality. It happens.

But even if your video sucks, you can always salvage the audio and use it for something like a podcast. Or you can use the audio to voiceover a presentation or something else that’s not live.

Your computer has a microphone built into it, but you can do better. Cheap cameras also don’t have the best microphones.

If you want to take your video blog seriously and do videos often, high quality audio needs to be a priority.

Which type of microphone should you get? I’ll be honest with you: I’m not an expert when it comes to this type of equipment. You’ll need to do some research yourself.

That said, you shouldn’t have to spend a fortune on this investment. You should be able to find what you need for roughly $100 or less.

Just make sure you’re able to balance your audio levels with the microphone. Test it out each time before you start broadcasting so you don’t waste time recording audio that’s unusable.

Know your environment. Where do you plan on recording the most?

There are certain microphones that are meant for different things, such as being in a large room with echoes, outdoors with high winds, or in areas with crowds and lots of background noise.

Find a microphone suitable for your broadcast environments. It’s worth the investment.

2. Make sure you have proper lighting

We’ve all seen videos that look unprofessional. They can be anything from those low-budget local commercials to your family home videos.

It’s unacceptable for your video blog to look like this. It’s important for you to understand the concept of a basic three point lighting setup.

Sure, sometimes you’ll be filming on the go. It’s not always reasonable for you to be carrying around all the equipment with you.

But if much of your video blog content is going to be filmed in your home or apartment, you should have these lights set up like in the example above.

Lighting can do a lot for the quality of your videos. These are the three terms you need to get familiar with:

• key light


• fill light


• back light

Your key light will serve as your primary light. For the most part, it’s placed on the left side of the camera and should be roughly three feet higher than your eye level.

The key light will be the brightest of these three lights. Angle it at a downward angle so it replicates the sun and has a natural lighting effect.

Your key light will create a shadow. To fill that shadow with light, you’ll need a fill light on the opposite side of the camera.

With two lights placed in front of you, you’ll need a back light behind you so the lighting looks natural. Otherwise, you may have some dark shadows on your shoulders.

The back light should be diffused—it’s the least bright of the trio.

You don’t need to spend a fortune on your lights, but you should keep in mind that inexpensive lights won’t last forever. If you’re in this for the long haul, it may be worth it to invest now and save yourself some money down the road.

Whenever you’re shooting outside of your home or office, you need to position yourself properly in relation to natural lighting resources.

Use the sun to your advantage when you’re filming outdoors. Try to position your camera so that the sun is at the same angle as your key light would be in a studio setup.

3. Add captions to your videos

Not everyone will be watching your video with the sound on. That’s why you need to add captions to your content.

You’ll have much higher engagement rates if your video blog has captions. Videos with captions have 40% more views. Furthermore, the chances of a viewer watching your entire video increases by 80% if you make closed captions available.

Are you planning to share your video blog on Facebook? Take a look at these numbers:

As you can see, 85% of videos on Facebook are watched on mute. It makes sense that captions increase the viewing time by 12%.

Think about all the different scenarios under which someone may be watching your video blog. The viewers might be at work, at school, or in a room full of people they don’t want to disturb.

Do you watch all videos with the sound on? Probably not. Make sure you add captions to all of your video blogs.

4. Get yourself a decent camera

Let’s get back to talking about your equipment. In addition to a microphone and lights, you’ll also need to have a reliable camera.

Again, I’m not saying you need to spend thousands of dollars. Just make sure you take certain factors into consideration before making a purchase.

Depending on where you’ll be filming, you won’t always have access to a power outlet. Battery life is really important if you’re filming on the go.

You should also consider the size of your storage cards. You’d hate to be in the middle of filming great content and run out of space on the camera.

The size of your camera should also be an important consideration. Make sure it’s small, easy to hold, and convenient to transport.

If you don’t have your camera with you at all times, it’s not the end of the world. You can use your computer or smartphone for some videos.

But if you are serious about becoming a successful video blogger, carrying a high quality camera with you everywhere you go will give you the opportunity to film great content any time you have some inspiration or see something that’s cool and worth filming.

You should also know the video format that your camera records.

Popular formats include .mov, .avi, .mp4. This is important to know depending on how you plan to edit, export, and share your videos. You want to make sure the format can easily be converted.

5. Find the right screen capture software

Sometimes you won’t even need a camera to video blog—well, at least not for all your posts.

If you want to show your audience how to do things on your computer, you’ll need to be able to record your actions with software such as ScreenFlow.

You’ll have to pay for the software, but it’s worth it if you plan to do any screen recordings on your Mac.

PC users can use something like Camtasia.

There are other options, but these are my top choices for Mac and PC. You can use them as a reference point for price and features if you’re shopping around.

6. Be personable and engaging

Part of being a successful video blogger means you need to have a great personality. Don’t be shy, timid, or boring.

If you’ve got a sense of humor, let it shine.

Remember, this is your video blog. There aren’t any rules when it comes to the type of content you’re sharing.

Just be aware that anything you say or do could affect your personal and professional brand. I’d recommend staying away from controversial topics. But go for it if that’s a risk you’re willing to take.

Mix up your content so it’s engaging. Nobody wants to watch the same thing every day, week, or however often you plan to upload a new video.

7. Give your audience a reason to watch

This relates to my last tip about engaging with your audience. You need to answer a few questions about the direction of your video blog before you start filming.

What is the point of your video? Are you teaching your audience how to do something? What are your qualifications?

Sure, video blogs can be entertaining, informative, or both. But you need to make sure your audience has an incentive to watch.

Unless you’ve got one of the best personalities in the world, nobody will want to just listen to you talk about your day.

Understand what your audience wants, and give it to them.

8. Learn how to edit effectively

You’ll need to know how to edit your videos before you publish them. Just don’t go crazy with this.

Lots of cuts and edits don’t look professional. If you’ve got a Mac, you can use basic software such as iMovie to get the job done:

It’s great if you’ve got multiple iOS devices you’ll be recording on.

For Windows users, Movie Maker is the free software for this purpose.

These tools are necessary because they can help you accomplish basic tasks such as trimming clips and piecing videos together.

You can adjust the audio and do other edits as well. Just don’t go overboard with too many effects, or it will look unprofessional.

9. Encourage users to comment

Another way to keep users engaged is by enticing them to comment on your video blogs. This can be easy if you position your videos accordingly.

Ask for their opinions. Try to spark a discussion or a debate.

If you take a stance on a particular subject, say something like, “Well, let me know what you guys think in the comments section.”

Respond to comments. This is a great way to keep people coming back to your content even when you haven’t uploaded a new video.

If you’re handling this effectively, you could be getting new comments on videos you uploaded months or even years ago.

10. Host an interview

If you think your content is getting stale or you need to spice it up with something new, bring guests on.

Sure, people may love you. But seeing the same face over and over again could get old and boring.

Bring in an expert on a particular subject. Do you have any connections to an athlete, movie star, or some other celebrity? Even if they are a D-list actor, a fresh face can help you build hype for your video blog.

If you don’t have those kinds of connections, ask your friends. I’m sure you’ve got someone in your circle or in your family who is funny and has a great personality.

It’s all about keeping your content fresh. Don’t think your video blog needs to be about you every time.

11. Distribute your content

Once you’ve recorded a video blog, you’ve got to get it into the hands of as many people as possible. YouTube is the best platform for video distribution.

All of my video content starts on my YouTube channel:

The great thing about YouTube is you can always repurpose your videos after you add them to your channel.

Post these videos on social media. Add video blog links to your website. Send video content to your email subscribers.

If you’ve got a written blog as well, you should be writing about your video blogs and embedding links in your content to drive more traffic to your videos.

Again, I’d start with YouTube first. But some video bloggers like to use other distribution channels, such as blip.tv or Vimeo.

12. Keep recording

You won’t use every piece of film you record. Don’t be afraid to tape as much content as you can.

That’s why it’s important to have a camera with you as often as possible.

You can always filter through the content later and discard it if it’s not that great. Or save it for a future broadcast.

Regardless, always be ready to record so that you don’t miss any opportunities.

Telling your audience about an experience is one thing, but being able to show them the video of it will make your video blog that much better.

Conclusion

With video trends on the rise, it’s a great idea to start a video blog. But with so many other people out there doing the same thing, it can be difficult to separate yourself from the crowd.

Take the tips I’ve outlined above, and apply them to your video blog if you want to be successful.

Start by doing simple things such as getting the right equipment and editing software.

After that, it comes down to your personality and marketing ability to get your video content out there for people to see.

Follow these tips, and your video blog will rapidly grow in terms of traffic, viewing time, and engagement.

Which tools, software, and principles have you used to drive more traffic to your video blogs?

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3 Strategies to Reinvent Your Marketing and PR Playbook

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Spark new interest in your brand among new and current customers.

May 11, 2018

4 min read

Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

Technology has forever changed the way we learn about new brands and interact with our favorites. With smartphones always at our fingertips, we are constantly being bombarded with information, and brands are battling it out to earn our attention. This competition puts increased pressure on marketers to cut through all the noise and keep their brands top-of-mind and relevant with customers.

Related: 4 Ways to Market Your Business for Free

If your customers are not engaging with your current marketing message and approach, consider these steps to give your brand a competitive advantage in the marketplace.

Try a reverse.

If marketers in your industry all gravitate toward a particular strategy or tactic, here's the question you should ask yourself: Is this really the best way to reach your own customers?

In the insurance industry, for example, fear-based marketing is a common approach. Much of the insurance advertising you see focuses on fear and the need to minimize risk. At Hiscox, we believe that nothing great can happen without risk. We don't fear risk, rather we fear not taking the risk. Our "Encourage Courage" brand platform has resonated with business owners because it celebrates the positive power of risk-taking. We communicate to our customers that insurance helps alleviate fear and risk, and it gives you the freedom to pursue your dreams. Breaking with the norm and taking an alternative approach makes people sit up and take notice.

If everyone in your industry operates from the same playbook, how can you demonstrate your unique value to your customers? In the case of Hiscox, we focused our efforts on a long-term relationship built on courage rather than a potential short-term sale driven by fear. You could take a similar approach and run a new play that challenges conventional wisdom.

Related: Use These 5 Steps to Create a Marketing Plan

Be a conversation starter.

If the industry thought leaders and influencers all talk about the same topic, there's a good chance it's already a trend and yesterday's news. While it's important to be able to weigh in on the trends that impact your industry, if you don't the join the conversation early, you're not going to be heard amid all the noise. It's sort of like talking at a rock concert. The people you're speaking to won't be able to hear you and there's a good chance they may not even try.

If you want to separate yourself from the pack, you need to start a new conversation. Identify the topic gaps in current discussions and offer a social-by-design topic that everyone should be talking about. You'll move the conversation in a new direction, and you'll be credited as a thought leader who can introduce fresh topics rather than one who regurgitates stale talking points.

Related: 10 Laws of Social Media Marketing

Teach your team to be storytellers.

We all know how important storytelling is in marketing. Customers will remember powerful stories about your brand if they're compelling and shareable. And while this strategy and practice sounds good on paper, it's not so easily executed.

When I worked on the agency side, I once had a meeting with client to discuss the pitch we were sharing with the media. We had tweaked the pitch the client had originally created, and turned it into a captivating story. While the company's original pitch may have worked well in a conference room, our practical experience gained in pitching stories to the media provided us a unique advantage in recognizing that it would not resonate with the intended audience.

Let's face it: There are people on your team who are great storytellers. Whether it's the way they talk about the product or the company culture, or the way they recount the employee basketball team's epic comeback to win its first (and only) game of the season, these people know how to get and keep your attention.

Pull this group together and turn them into your "storytelling ambassador network." Give them ownership over a particular topic or "beat," such as customer service, product marketing, culture and innovation. This team of storytellers should meet with groups across the organization to teach other employees how to tell that story, so they can effectively bring these topics to life on their own. If everyone is working from the same script to tell these compelling stories, the messages will start to have an effect on your company's perception over time and will impact sales in a positive way.

Your audience is out there and they're listening. If you have the courage to say something new, you just might surprise them and welcome a new batch of customers.

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How to Increase Your Ecommerce Revenue by Leveraging Social Commerce

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The ecommerce industry has become a very competitive space over the last several years.

In fact, more than half of Internet users across the globe made a purchase online in the last year. Younger generations with a strong purchasing power lead the way in this trend.

In fact, 67% of Millennials would rather shop online as opposed to going to a physical store. This is great news for your ecommerce brand.

Yes, obviously you’ve got lots of competition when it comes to selling products online. But if you have the right tools and marketing strategy, you can do a lot of things to gain an edge over your competitors.

You should know how to design a homepage that converts. It’s also important for you to know which elements add credibility to your website.

While all of this is necessary, it’s not enough. In addition to your website, you need to be taking advantage of as many platforms as possible to effectively sell your products.

That’s because you can’t always rely on consumers navigating to your website. You need to make sure your products are readily available for purchase in places where your customers spend lots of time.

Enter social media networks.

Just like ecommerce, social media continues to be a growing trend. There are nearly 2.5 billion social media users across the globe.

Experts predict that this number will reach 3 billion by 2021.

Your ecommerce brand may already have an active presence on social media. It’s a crucial marketing strategy, but you can take this approach one step further.

Use social media to sell your products.

If you’ve never done this before, you may not know where to start. Fortunately, you’ve come to the right place. I’ll tell you everything you need to know about how social commerce can boost the revenue stream of your ecommerce shop.

What is social commerce?

Let’s start with the basics.

Social commerce is a relatively new concept. The term was first used in 2005. But since then, its meaning and application have evolved.

With social commerce, you can sell your products through a third-party platform. More specifically, the platform you’re selling through is a social media network.

For example, if a Facebook user sees something they want to buy, they can do that directly through Facebook’s interface as opposed to having to navigate to the seller’s website.

This is great news for your ecommerce store. If you’re relying on consumers to visit your website after seeing an ad that promotes your products, it’s hurting your conversion rates.

Why?

It’s too many steps. Sure, you’ll still see some conversions. But simplifying the steps in the purchasing process will boost your conversion rates.

Take a look at the impact social media has on buying decisions:

The majority of consumers say they rely on social media to guide their purchasing decisions. When a consumer sees a product on social media, the chances of them buying it go up.

An additional 31% of people say they use social media to browse for products they are interested in buying.

For ecommerce businesses, it’s a no-brainer to implement a social commerce strategy.

Make your products available on Facebook

If you’re new to social commerce, Facebook is the most logical place to start. Eventually, you’ll add this feature to your other social media pages as well, but this is the best place for you to get your feet wet.

As I said earlier, social commerce is still new. Not every consumer has jumped on board with it yet.

But the majority people who have made purchases through social media platforms are doing so via Facebook:

As you can see, roughly 35% of social media users say they have never bought something through social media. But nearly 50% of social media users say they have used Facebook to make a purchase.

This makes sense. Facebook has always been a trendsetter in the social media world.

Their platform is extremely friendly for both everyday users as well as brands.

Facebook business pages have the ability to leverage this platform in several ways to drive sales.

First, they can list products directly on their page.

This feature mimics the appearance of a standard ecommerce shop we’ve all grown accustomed to.

Second, Facebook also implemented a “Shop Now” button that brings users directly to the brand’s website.

Check out this example from the DressLily Facebook page so you can see what I’m referring to:

On their Facebook page, you can see the “Shop” button on the left menu. This brings their customers to the screen you’re looking at now.

But if customers click the “Shop Now” button on the top of the screen, they will get brought to the brand’s website.

It’s important you take advantage of both of these buttons. As we previously saw, not all consumers have adapted to the social commerce trends. You don’t want to turn their business away. Some people may not be comfortable yet buying directly through Facebook, so giving them the option to visit your website is necessary.

To set up purchases directly through Facebook, you’ll need to associate a Stripe or PayPal account with your page.

Each of these charges 2.9% of the purchase plus an additional $0.30 per transaction.

I realize that these fees may be higher than the credit card fees on your website, but it’s just something you’ll have to accept.

Even though the payments get processed through third-party companies, you won’t need to use those platforms for collections. All your orders can be managed directly from your Facebook shop.

You’ll have real-time information and access to your current, pending, and past orders purchased through Facebook.

Sell on Instagram

Facebook purchased Instagram in 2012. It’s no surprise Instagram has seen so much success over the past several years.

On an average day, 95 million pictures and videos are published on Instagram. The implementation of their “Shop Now” feature is turning them into a social commerce powerhouse.

Here’s an example of how West Elm implemented this feature with a sponsored Instagram advertisement:

Imagine a user scrolling through their timeline. They’ll see not only the posts from profiles they’re following but some ads as well.

Just like a regular Instagram post, these ads can contain several photos and videos. It’s called a carousel ad. If the first image captures the user’s attention, they may scroll through the others to see what else this brand is selling.

Either way, the “Shop Now” button remains part of the post the entire time. It’s an effective way to increase conversions.

As we discussed earlier, the more steps involved in the purchasing process, the worse your results will be.

If your current Instagram strategy is having a post on your profile with a caption that says “link in bio” to entice purchases, it’s probably not a huge success. There’s too much friction.

But the “Shop Now” button simplifies the process and makes it easier for users to buy products in just a couple of clicks.

In addition to carousel ads, you can advertise using a single photo, single video, and slideshows. The slideshow creates a video by automatically looping up to 10 photos.

You can also change the CTA button of your ad to “Learn More.” Here’s an example from Rumble Boxing:

This button takes users to a landing page where they can get more information about classes and schedules. From here, they’re able to make purchases as well.

Selling through Instagram ads is great because you’re able to decide which users will see your posts.

You can customize your advertisement based on your goals, such as:

• brand awareness


• reach


• local awareness


• traffic


• engagement


• lead generation


• conversions


• product catalog sales


• store visits

All these options are available when you build your business on Instagram.

Add buyable pins

As an ecommerce shop, you need to have an active presence on Pinterest as well. If you’re not familiar with Pinterest, I’ll briefly explain how it works.

Many users like to browse through the platform for inspiration, ideas, and products they’re interested in.

For example, someone may use Pinterest for ideas on how to decorate a room in their home. When they like something, they can save the post or “pin” it to one of their boards.

Pinterest is great for businesses because it has a feature allowing the businesses to set up buyable pins for ecommerce shops. Here’s an example of what it looks like:

When a user sees this table when they’re browsing on the platform, they can make a purchase with just a few clicks.

Your customers can pay with their credit cards or Apple Pay. This is great news for shoppers browsing on their mobile devices.

With this feature, buyers can complete the purchase process with just one click, which will increase your conversion rates dramatically.

Recent studies show that 73% of Millennials would like to have the ability to make all their payments from mobile devices.

Apple Pay helped Cocoweb increase conversions on their mobile platform by over 20%. Zin Home also saw a 20% increase in sales after implementing Apple Pay.

It’s important for you to establish your social commerce strategy on mobile applications that process transactions. In addition to Facebook and Instagram, Pinterest needs to be your priority as well.

Leverage social influencers

No social commerce campaign would be complete without the help of social influencers.

Micro influencers increase your product credibility and boost sales revenue. Once you form relationships with these influencers, you’ll have them post content to their personal profiles.

It’s a viable marketing strategy. That’s why the majority of businesses are increasing spending on influencer marketing over the next year:

This strategy is continuing on an upward trend. In the last 12 months, there has been a 325% increase in searches for “influencer marketing” on Google. If you haven’t been researching the topic, it looks like your competitors have.

Another reason why influencer marketing works is because it’s profitable.

Research shows that influencer marketing has a return on investment rate that’s 11 times higher than that of other content marketing campaigns.

Working with social influencers to promote your products will go hand in hand with your social commerce strategy.

Conclusion

It’s tough for ecommerce shops to stay relevant in such a competitive space.

But you should look at these trends as an opportunity as opposed to a struggle. To gain an edge over your competitors and increase sales revenue, make your products available for purchase on as many platforms as possible.

Take advantage of social commerce shops in addition to your traditional ecommerce website.

Start with Facebook. The majority of consumers who have bought products on social commerce platforms have used Facebook to do so.

But you should also leverage other social networks as well, such as Instagram and Pinterest.

Use social influencers in conjunction with your social commerce strategy to maximize your brand exposure.

How is your ecommerce company using social commerce platforms to drive sales?

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Kid News: Bring Your Millennium Falcon to Work Day!

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Guest editor Colin Clauss has all the news that really matters.

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How to Generate Leads with Facebook Ads

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Social media marketing has become one of the most effective ways for businesses to have success in the digital era.

In fact, 95% of adults between the ages of 18 and 34 follow brands on social media. Facebook leads the way in this category. According to Statista, Facebook has 2.2 billion active monthly users.

You can see why it’s so appealing for brands to have a presence on this platform. I hope  your company is on Facebook too.

To have success marketing on Facebook, you need to be active on a daily basis. Post content to your profile. Share photos and videos, and run promotions.

Facebook allows you to broadcast live videos to your followers. You should be taking advantage of that as well.

In fact, live videos are such an effective marketing strategy that it made my list of the top marketing trends to look for in 2018. Lots of these promotional tactics can be done  free.

But if you really want to take your social media marketing strategy to the next level, you need to run advertisements on Facebook.

Why Facebook? Well, in addition to having the highest number of active monthly users compared to other social platforms, Facebook ads deliver a high ROI:

Obviously, running these ads isn’t free. But knowing that such a high number of marketers say  this platform delivers the highest ROI compared to other social media networks should make it worth your while.

That said, nothing is guaranteed. Not all advertisements on Facebook are successful. That’s why I created this guide.

If you are new to Facebook ads or need some improvement running your existing ones, this guide is for you. I’ll show you how to set them up and generate leads for your business.

Set your goals

First things first. Why are you running this ad? You need to determine your goal ahead of time.

There are a few reasons for this. First, you want to make sure the ad you’re creating is aligned with your goals. It’s also much easier to measure the success of a campaign if you have a goal in mind.

But another reason why you’ll need to set up a goal first is because Facebook will ask you what you’re trying to accomplish when you’re putting the ad together.

Here’s a look at different marketing objectives for you to choose from:

As you can see, there is an option for lead generation under the consideration column.

This will help you collect information from Facebook users interested in your business.

The cool thing about the lead generation campaign is you can set up a split test when you’re running it. I’m a big advocate of using A/B testing to maximize efficiency.

You can run tests of your campaign based on elements such as placement, audience, and delivery optimization. This makes it easier for you to measure your results and make any necessary adjustments. But we’ll discuss this concept in greater detail later.

You can also select one of the choices from the awareness column as an alternative method of generating leads.

Selecting the brand awareness option will aim to get your ad exposed to people who are most likely to pay attention to your message. A reach campaign, on the other hand, will expose your ad to the highest number of people possible.

Identify your target market

Next, you’ll have to determine who will see your ad.

No matter what type of business you have or what industry you’re in, it’s important you know your target market. In fact, knowing how to identify the target market of your startup is one of the first steps of creating a business.

Those of you who have been in operation for a while should have done this years ago.

That said, it doesn’t mean this selection will be cut and dry. You may have a diverse target market. Is this ad for everyone?

For example, let’s say your company sells a wide range of products and services. There’s a good chance you sell items intended for men and women of all ages.

Based on the goal  you’ve previously defined, your ad may be geared toward a specific segment or a larger target market.

Here’s an example of how you could set this up based on your audience:

As you can see, this ad is targeting men located in California. They are between the ages of 18 to 24 and speak English and Spanish.

Facebook allows you to get specific here. This is great because you can create multiple ads based on different segments of your target market.

Generic ads intended to reach a massive audience won’t be as successful. But if you target a specific group of people with your ads, you’ll be able to generate more leads.

All the information used is based on what each user puts in their Facebook profile. Keep in mind, this won’t be 100% accurate.

You’ll get some people who lie on their profiles about their age, gender, location, etc. But this shouldn’t be drastic enough to skew your results.

Set your budget

After you select your target market, you’ll have to determine how much money you want to spend on the ad.

Facebook makes it easy for you to set this up. Here’s what your options will look like:

This example uses a daily amount. But you can also use the total amount you’d like to spend on the lifetime of the ad.

Even though I set the daily budget to $20, it won’t always be exact. That’s because Facebook automatically shares your ad based on the most opportunities.

Certain days, the ad spend may be higher, but other days, it would be less to keep the daily average at $20. You’ll get charged based on each impression.

You can also set start and end dates for your ad. Or you can let it run continuously and stop it manually when it’s time.

Choose the format for your ad

Not all ads are the same. Facebook lets you choose which type of advertisement you want to run. Here are your options:

• video


• image


• collection


• carousel


• slideshow


• canvas

Video and image are both pretty self-explanatory, but I’ll explain what the others mean.

A collection displays different items from your product catalog. It encourages users to shop by looking through a few items. Based on what you’re selling and the target market, these items will be customized for each person.

This is a great strategy for sales and conversions—but not necessarily lead generation. You can still use it as a marketing strategy.

Carousels allow you to display up to ten different videos or images within one advertisement. Each one would have its own link.

Slideshows use images, text, and sound to showcase your ad.

Canvas ads can be opened as a full-screen display, and they are fully optimized for mobile devices.

Mobile ads are Facebook’s highest source of revenue:

That’s because businesses recognize how many Facebook users access the platform from their mobile devices.

In fact, as of January 2018, more than 95% of users access this social media network from smartphones.

But let’s get back to selecting your format. Each format has certain rules and restrictions. I’ve highlighted some of the top specifications for each one you need to keep in mind when designing your ads.

Video

Max length: 240 minutes

Ratio: 9:16 to 16:9

Text: 125 characters

Headline: 25 characters

Description: 30 characters

Sound and captions are both optional for your ads; however, it’s highly recommended that you include these features. Also, if your video thumbnail has more than 20% text, it may not have high delivery rates.

Image

File: png or jpg

Ratio: 9:16 to 16:9

Text: 125 characters

Resolution recommendation: minimum 1,200 x 628 pixels

Just like with videos, if your images contain more than 20% text, it can negatively impact the delivery rate. Make sure to limit the text on your picture ads.

Collection

Minimum image width: 600 pixels

Minimum image height: 600 pixels

Aspect ratio tolerance: 3%

Headline: 25 characters

Text: 90 characters

Carousel

Minimum cards number: 2

Maximum cards number: 10

Maximum video size: 4GB

Resolution recommendation: minimum 1080 x 1080 pixels

Link description: 20 characters

Canvas

Text: 125 characters

Minimum video length: 1 second

Maximum video length: 240 minutes

Bitrate limits: no limit for files under 1GB with 2-pass encoding

If you’ve got a vertical video ad with an aspect ratio taller than 2:3, it needs to be masked to 2:3. It’s recommended that you upload the highest possible video resolution based on the file and ratio limits.

Determine the placement and measure your results

Next, you’ll decide where you want your ads to be placed. Here’s a visual representation to show you what I’m referring to:

You can place your ad on a mobile newsfeed, desktop newsfeed, or right column advertising bar.

Mix this strategy up. This relates back to A/B testing you’d need to run to see which version delivers the best results.

Keep track of everything. See which ads are working and which ones aren’t generating enough leads.

It’s important that you constantly rotate your ads. You don’t want your audience to keep seeing the same ads over and over again.

You should also try to market to different audiences. Just make sure everything always looks professional. Focus on your call to action. Change that as well to see how that changes the results.

Advertise on Instagram

In case you didn’t know, Facebook owns Instagram.

It’s really easy for you to run Instagram ads from the same place where you’re setting up your Facebook campaigns.

Instagram has become such a popular marketing medium that 70% of hashtags on this platform are branded. Furthermore, 71% of businesses in the United States are using Instagram to promote their companies:

They’ve surpassed Twitter in this department.

If you want to stay competitive, you should be running paid ads on Instagram in addition to running them on Facebook. It’s easy to do since you’re setting them up through the same platform. You’ll just need to make a few extra clicks.

Conclusion

Having an active social media presence is an effective way to promote your brand at little to no cost. But if you want to take your social media marketing strategy to the next level, you should consider running Facebook ads.

These ads are perfect because Facebook offers tools specific for lead generation.

They are easy to set up as well. Just follow this guide as a reference to steer you in the right direction.

Start with your goals. Identify your target market. Set a budget.

After that, you’ll have to figure out which type of ad you want to run and where you want to place it. Keep all the ad specifications in mind when you’re going through this process.

Measure your results. Rotate your ads and make adjustments based on how successful they are.

You should also consider running ads on Instagram. Since those ads will be controlled from the same platform as your Facebook ads, it will be just as easy for you to set up.

If you follow these tips, you can turn your Facebook marketing strategy into a lead generation machine.

What types of Facebook ads are you running to generate more leads for your brand?

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