Category: Social Media + Influencer Engagement

Boost Your Blog

Clairemont InternBlog, Public Relations, Social Media + Influencer Engagement, , , , , ,

Inception warning: we’re writing a blog on blogs.

You’ve spent hours researching, writing and editing your blog post. It’s perfect. You want the entire world (well, your key publics) to read and love it.

Clicking the publish button isn’t the end of the blog’s journey, though. Ensure that your post doesn’t just live on your website by tapping into other communication mediums to expand reach and boost engagement. To accomplish this, here are four tactics on our radar:

Instagram Story

Example from Sugar & Cloth on Instagram.

If your business page has more than 10,000 followers, you can embed a link in your Instagram Story. With a simple swipe, followers are whisked directly to your website to read the blog. In your story, entice viewers by announcing the blog’s topic and including a CTA like “Swipe up for the full post!” On the Social Media Examiner podcast, Sue B. Zimmerman recommends creating a “Blog” highlights folder where all of your blog-related stories can live forever. (Check out our previous post for more info on Instagram Highlights and why they’re important.)

For an advanced social media move, try going live on Instagram to talk about the post. Sue goes live for 45 minutes the same day she releases a blog post to talk in detail about the topic and bring in guests. Her efforts create an engaging, exciting experience of each post for viewers.

Infographic or Visual Graphic

Itching to show off your creative side? Turn words into pictures through a graphic. Visuals are not only more interesting to look at than long-form text but also easier to share with others.

Is there a piece of info in your blog post that could be depicted visually? Share the graphic on social media to hook viewers and accompany it with a link to the full blog.

Podcast Episode

This ever-growing audio platform was made for the multitasker. Listeners tune in while making their morning commute or evening dinner, which drives deep engagement because there’s less effort needed. Repurpose your written content into an episode that expands on the topic and brings in guests.

Does it seem daunting to take the mic? Check out “How to Start a Podcast” for an in-depth guide by The Podcast Host.

Social Sharing Schedule

This tactic is shorthand for publishing your post more than once on each social media platform. Garrett Moon with Kissmetrics defends the blog repost because it provides your audience the value you promised them. Sharing the blog a second or third time captures the viewers who missed your initial post, and it demonstrates that your content is still relevant weeks and months later.

Garrett cautions against becoming a spammer to your audiences. In his step-by-step guide to create a social sharing schedule, he recommends varying how often the blog is shared on each platform and switching up the message to create different hooks.

From Blog to Brand

These tactics drive traffic to the mother lode: your website. When audiences arrive at your blog post from an Instagram story, Facebook infographic or podcast episode, they may stick around and explore everything else your website has to offer. The boost to your blog will translate into overall brand strength as your activity across all platforms builds a central brand identity.

What do we love more than our own blog posts? Those of our clients. Drop us a line to see how we can help you get the most out of your blog content.

Written by intern Elizabeth Comtois, a senior at UNC-Chapel Hill. 

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Mastering Insta’s New Algorithm

Cherith AndesBlog, Marketing, Social Media + Influencer Engagement, , , , , ,

In March of 2018, Instagram launched an announcement that uprooted the Instagram community.

Article from Huffington Post

For the last two years, Instagram has operated on an engagement-based algorithm, prioritizing posts that received the highest engagement. Instagram posited that this system allowed its users to enjoy content that mattered most to them. (Sound familiar? *cough* Facebook *cough*) However, Insta fans revolted, claiming that the algorithm violated the platform’s real-time dynamic and forced businesses into paid strategies.

The Change

After two years, Instagram took the hint. The revamped algorithm that launched in late March unveiled two major changes.

1. “New Posts” Button

In the past, Instagram utilized an auto-refresh function that interrupted the user’s experience by unexpectedly bumping him or her to the top of the feed. Now, with the New Post button, users have the option to refresh their feeds at will or simply continue scrolling through posts. Notably, this button is still being tested and slowly offered to users. While not earth-shattering, the adjustment eliminated a common thorn in the side of the Insta community.

2. Newer Posts at Top of Feed

Of more import, Instagram will now give priority to “newer posts.” While not a complete return to chronological feeds, the algorithm accounts for the post’s recency, ensuring that your feed isn’t clogged with stale posts from days past. Instead, users have access to current updates with an opportunity to engage in a more real-time dynamic.

What Does This Mean for Businesses?

Pay attention to when your audience is online and active. It matters again! For business accounts, this data is readily available within Instagram’s Insights function. (Incidentally, it also provides additional demographic data to inform target marketing.) By no means disregard the types of content that have garnered strong engagement in the past. Simply include timing into your equation to maximize efficacy.

Best Times to Post

As a bonus tip, research from Sprout Social pinpointed these as the best times to post on Instagram:

  • Wednesday: 3 p.m.
  • Thursday: 5 a.m., 11 a.m., 3 p.m. and 4 p.m.
  • Friday: 5 a.m.
  • “Safe times” to post are 9 a.m. – 6 p.m. on Tuesday – Friday, with Sunday securing the least engagement.

Keep an eye on analytics and a heart for genuine, meaningful content to continue growing your Instagram. And remember, treat it like a coffee-shop date: real, personal conversations held at a convenient time for the other party.

Looking for more tips? Learn how to take an Insta-worthy photo!

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Real Estate’s Top Three Social Tools

Clairemont InternBlog, Real Estate PR, Social Media + Influencer Engagement, , , , ,

Learn how to harness the power of social media visual content on Snapchat, Instagram and Facebook to build your real estate brand.

Triangle Real Estate Trends

If real estate in the Triangle was a children’s fable, it would be a beanstalk shooting into the sky to meet the giants.

According to a 2018 report from Capital Compass, the Triangle experienced record growth in commercial real estate last year, leasing more than 1.4 million square feet. Class A space – the crème de la crème of properties – continues to be in highest demand, indicating that buyers will pay more for premier quality and central location. The Dillon – the 18-story mixed-use building that will join the downtown Raleigh skyline – has leased 43 percent of its residential units and nearly 77 percent of its retail space, leaving more room for real estate growth in the near future.

Photo of Hargett Place in Downtown Raleigh.

Residential real estate in the Triangle is also on fire. In Zillow’s 2018 list of hottest housing markets, Raleigh earned the No. 2 spot “based on its rising home values and rental prices, steady income growth, abundant job opportunities and low unemployment rate.” The Triangle remains in the running for Amazon’s HQ2, which would bring 50,000 jobs to residents and accelerate the area’s growth. As the Triangle establishes itself as a technological, health care and financial hub, homebuyers and business owners alike are flocking to the Triangle to set up shop.

Key Social Media Marketing Tools for Real Estate

In layman’s terms, the time to invest in real estate is upon us. As a real estate developer, builder, investor or agent, effective marketing strategies are more crucial than ever to ensure your properties are the ones getting filled. To stay on top of the trends, we have our eyes on these three social media tools that will shine the spotlight on your brand.

  1. Snapchat Geofilters: The real-time visual platform offers so much more than flower crown filters. With 158 million daily users who exchange 2.5 billion Snaps and check the app an average of 18 times a day, Snapchat boasts a freakishly high engagement rate. Snapchat’s on-demand geofilters encourage direct interaction with key publics and broaden your brand’s reach to other people’s networks. The unpolished, real-time content lends authenticity to your brand, which builds trust and familiarity with your key publics, leading to meaningful relationships.
  2. Instagram Stories: Unlike Snapchat, Instagram more easily builds and maintains a steady audience. Stories can expire after 24 hours or be archived as a “highlight” to live forever on your brand’s page. Use a story to document the course of an activity, like a new property tour or community event. Which stories should turn into highlights? Choose the story clips that get the most views and engagement, says Michael Stelzner, host of the Social Media Examiner podcast. You can even separate highlights into different branded categories, like “Blog,” “Homes” or “Events,” which makes it easier for followers to view what interests them. These snippets provide a peek into the daily life of your brand, putting faces and adding personality to your logo.
  3. Facebook Live: The social media giant’s streaming feature marries long-form video content with real-time presence. These videos provide deeper engagement with your followers, since you can respond to a viewer’s questions or comments while live. Facebook Live seems made for the real estate industry; what viewer doesn’t want to hop on an impromptu tour of the newest properties and communities without leaving his or her living room?

Although they have their differences, these three social media tools tap into the power of visual. Videos and photos with intentional, innovative content give viewers a personalized experience when finding their perfect home or office space.

Are you ready to get social? Tap us in to help build your brand with our strategic social media know-how.

Written by intern Elizabeth Comtois, a senior at UNC-Chapel Hill. 

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How Insta’s New API Affects You

Cherith AndesBlog, Marketing, Social Media + Influencer Engagement, , , ,

Instagram has risen as a cornerstone of social media marketing since its inception in 2010. So the sudden and unexpected retirement of its current API in early April shook the marketing and app development industry.

Back up. What now?

“API” stands for “application program interface,” basically a language for third-party apps to interact with Instagram. Third-party apps leverage the API to complete functionalities like commenting, scheduling and gleaning analytics. Notably, Instagram had already slated its current API to retire in July. However, in the wake of the Cambridge Analytica breach, Facebook — Instagram’s parent company — deprecated the API unexpectedly in early April in order to block “malicious third parties” from using the API to scrape user data.

Image from Instagram.com.

Two Major Instagram Changes

1. Limits rate of data collection.

Instagram limited the amount of times a third-party app can “ping” Instagram for data about users. It was reduced from 5,000 calls (or pings) per hour to 200.

2. Limits public content.

Third-party apps can no longer access public media or read a user’s own profile on the user’s behalf. Previously, apps could “listen” and respond to posts notated by hashtags or location. Effective immediately, apps can no longer respond and soon will also be unable to collect media based on hashtags or location. In addition, identifying information, like a user’s full name, followers and those they follow will be blocked from third-party apps.

What Does This Mean?

Plain (or “plainer”) language, please.

Agorapulse co-founder Emeric Ernoult predicts that the individual user won’t experience much of a change. However, businesses that use third-party social apps, such as Later, Simply Measured or Agorapulse, should connect with their app developers to confirm if any capabilities or data functionalities have changed.

For example, the new API blocks audience-growth services, like follow/unfollow bots, and tools that analyze your followers and the followers of other accounts. As Matt Smith from Later points out, marketers and businesses won’t be able to see the rate at which they gain/lose followers or the timing of follower changes.

In addition, only business accounts on Instagram will be able to post or delete comments via a community management tool. And Instagram will limit search functions on apps, allowing accounts to search only via hashtag rather than by users or posts you have liked.

Arm yourself with updated knowledge on the functionalities of your third-party apps under the new API. You can then adjust your marketing strategy, reassign roles or collect data differently to continue to grow a vibrant, successful Instagram presence.

Beef up your social strategy with a few of our Instagram tips!

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Networking on Social Media

Clairemont InternBlog, Professional Development, Social Media + Influencer Engagement, , , ,

Most of us have swapped business cards at a networking event or connected with our fair share of people on LinkedIn. Both are so common in 2018 that one must look beyond the traditional outlets to forge and maximize professional associations.

Two words: social media.

How can one network on social media? Which begs another question: why should one network on social media? Statista.com gives us 2.46 billion reasons. According to Statista’s research from more than 18,000 sources, there were 2.46 billion social media users across the globe in 2017. And Statista’s projections for the next five years? Add at least another 500 million users to the number. In contrast, LinkedIn has less than 500 million users. With that amount of people available across the web, why wouldn’t you want to network on social media? Here are a few tips to get you started.

Twitter

Engage in Twitter chats: Check out this list of Twitter chats with numerous topics, dates and times. Twitter chats open the door to talk to thousands of people all over the world.
Create tweets that create conversation: Rather than making statements, craft tweets that include questions and prompt replies from your followers. And, no brainer, reply to those tweets you follow as well.
Follow people with whom you want to connect: If you have targeted professionals in mind , follow them on Twitter and engage with their tweets. Be sincere. Forbes shares a story about a woman who used Twitter to connect with the editor of a publication, hoping to get her work published. Her networking paid off as her writing was published and even retweeted by the editor.
#DotheHashtagThing: Whether you’re looking for similar accounts to follow or trends and current events, Twitter hashtags have you covered. Searching even the most basic hashtag will introduce you to new professionals in your industry, like-minded colleagues, potential mentors, media and thousands of related tweets internationally. Consider creating your own hashtag, something as simple as the abbreviation of your company or a tagline for your company. Of course, research your hashtag first.

Instagram

Utilize Instagram Direct Messaging to create a “pod:” Connect with similar accounts through hashtags and the Explore page on Instagram. Create a group message, or what is commonly known as an Instagram “pod,” with these accounts to share content and stay in contact on a regular basis. You can also use these pods to swap ideas, ask advice, questions and invite others to events.
#Utilize #hashtags: Similar to using hashtags for Twitter, utilizing hashtags on Instagram helps you find specific content and accounts on Instagram.

Facebook

Post job-related content: Post and share content on Facebook that will allow your friends to engage and relate. Making this content related to work will draw and maintain a professional presence — a point of reference for contacts.
Use Facebook to market yourself: Share content of your own on Facebook. This might include your published work or a past project. Utilize your platform to showcase your experience and talents with friends and those you consider professional contacts.
Create or join Facebook groups with other professionals: Similar to an Instagram pod, create or join a Facebook group with your professional contacts on Facebook. Use this platform to share relevant material related to your profession, share your own writing and work, and engage with your fellow professionals’ work on a regular basis.

Growing your professional presence on social media doesn’t stop here. Check out our blog post on branding yourself across all of your favorite social platforms.

Written by Clairemont intern, Kennedy Norton, a fashion blogger and junior at North Carolina State University.

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