How to Create Perfect Social Media Posts

How to Get Perfect Social Posts Every Time

Ever wonder what makes some posts go viral while others go completely unnoticed? Thanks to the magic of big data we have a small glimpse into the world of viral social media posts. Here are some take aways:

Facebook: Keep it positive, include an image, link back to your website, and make sure to keep your messaging short suggestive - send them to your site for more!

Twitter: Use bit.ly to increase shares, also keep abbreviations and crazy capitalization to a minimum. And don’t forget to ask for retweets! Read more on this here.

Pinterest: Can you believe that images with red/orange in them get shared more than others? How about the fact that images without heads get shared 25% more than images with heads. Weird, but true.

Google+: I have a Google+ page and do not use it. Do you use yours? How has it helped your business? The tips above are similar with the tips I tell my clients - tag others, use good images, and use hashtags.

And of course don’t forget to post during the times when most people are on that platform. ICYMI: Read that article here. Happy marketing!

7 Myths of Email Marketing Debunked

7 Myths of Email Marketing: Exposed!

Lately email marketing has a bad wrap. It is too bad because email marketing is actually a tremendously cost effective way to engage users in a noninvasive way. Noninvasive, you say? Don’t believe me?

Here’s what I mean.

You’re emailing folks that have the option to opt out of your emails. So, when your message arrives in their inbox they can choose to open it or not, delete it or not, mark you as spam or not and that is even before they read it! That’s important engagement even before they read your message. 

Only 1 in 200 people mark emails as Spam. Those are great odds. Take them.

Additionally, emails sit in the inbox of your subscribers until they delete them. Giving them a much longer shelf life than a tweet or Facebook post. Not to mention they reach folks that are not on social media. Win. 

Emails keep your users in the loop, if they read them or not, they see your email and subconsciously that keeps you and your business top of mind.

Do your business a favor and get yourself an email campaign asap. We can help.

Images: Size Does Matter

One thing I tell all of my clients is that high quality graphics are the difference between being taken seriously and looking like you do not know what you are talking about. This goes back to that Weird Al grammar lesson - professional credibility is like communication: both verbal and nonverbal. The small things matter and carry a lot of weight. 

So, invest your time or money accordingly: either learn to do quality graphics or pay someone to do it. Not a Photoshop wizard? I love picmonkey.com for blogs and other posts with basic graphics. Check it out. 

Also, there are scores of freelance graphics designers that do really good work. Not sure? Ask to see samples and speak with their clients to get references. Check out oDesk for people that do work like this. 

Failing Fast

I love this quote because it reminds me of the Lean Startup principal of failing fast. Failing fast is the concept of making and taking informed risks when doing something new. Using analytics and an experiment to A/B test which will work best before going all in with your investment. 

Want an example of an A/B test? My Emma is what I use for my email blasts and they offer a great A/B test for sending out emails with alternate subject lines. The use a small test group with your 2 or 3 subject lines and using that data they send out the rest with the subject line that performs the best. I love that feature!