Social Media News: In California, Instagram Leads the Social-Media Pack

The Nielsen organization reported in 2018 that adults in America spent about half their day interacting with various "media." Of those approximately 11 hours per day, social media accounts for 45 minutes for the average adult.

That makes advertising on social media important, but, given the scope and variety of the social-media universe, where do you spend your advertising dollars? There are many factors, but one useful datum is provided by a new survey from CenturyLinkQuote

. It turns out that the popularity of social-media platforms varies from state to state. For a local business or other organization that can be factored into the choice of how to connect with that average consumer.

In California, often ahead of the curve when it comes to new trends, it turns out we favor Instagram. It gets relatively more social media time than Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and some of the lesser platforms.

Instagram is one of the newer kids on the social media block. Launched in 2010 as a specialized photo- and video-sharing networking service, it is owned, now, by Facebook. Instagram made like a rocket ship, with a million registered users in two months, and, within a year, 10 million users. Now, in May 2019, it has a cool billion users. By now, the number of photographs uploaded to the site is nearing 100 billion. 

Like Snapchat and other newer social media, Instagram appeals to younger users. That means, in particular, Gen Z, those born after 1996, who are sometimes called the generation born in cyberspace and resident in the (cyber) cloud. That age cohort is now about 25 percent of Americans and estimated by next year to be 40 percent of consumer spending.

If you are a business located in California and want a significant focus on the youngest age cohort, then Instagram can't be ignored. Another plus is that Nevada is one of the half dozen states where users also prioritize Instagram over other social media (so do Florida, New York, and Hawaii). Video and real-time (streaming) video have a special place in Instagram advertising.

The "local" angle always is a focus at Real-Time Outsource

. Because when it comes to digital marketing, the personal element rules. And one of many implications of that is the user's local angle. We work to perfect the art of social marketing to increase your brand's engagement and marketing visibility--and that includes online local searches as well as national and international searches. We want to understand

 your product or service, and your company's trajectory of growth, as well as we understand the regional business environment. Talk to us 

about how your digital marketing strategy can serve your business's future anywhere, including in the California and Fresno region markets.

Six Themes that can Create Incredible Blog Content

Writing blog posts is a great way to engage with and educate your customers! But the only problem is what do you write about? As a growing business the options at your fingertips are endless. Today in this blog we will help you to brainstorm ideas for your next blog post.

1.      Customer Testimonials: Customer testimonials are a great way to hear why customers love your business and its products/services. It also allows you to provide social proof to potential new customers. An example of this would be having a photo of the customer along with a story of how using your product helped them or improved their life in some way, or even the ease of the transaction if you sell cars, real estate, this type of post can be modified to fit whatever kind of business model you can think of.

2.      Trends: Talk about new trends in your industry, if your industry is social media, previous examples could’ve been hashtags, viral videos, mannequin challenge, and the Harlem shake, these are things have had success while some may have been more brief than others, you can enlighten your customers to this and give your opinions on the sustainability of the current trends in the world today.

3.      Have a Q&A with Your Staff: Ask your staff questions about why they enjoy working for your company, what are their favorite products and why, what do they think about the current state of your businesses industry, what advancements or changes are they hoping to see in the coming years? You can come up with whatever questions you feel would be interesting to your readers.

4.      Hold a Q&A with Your Customers: Have an open-ended interview with a customer, ask them questions about your business, and if you want to have them ask you questions, consumers are always interested to see into the minds of the owners of businesses they buy from frequently.

5.      Compare Two or More Products and Services: Compare two products that are currently popular within your industry discuss their pros and cons, their marketing campaigns, and the companies behind the products. Examples of this could be Instagram and Snapchat, Pepsi and Coke, Nike and Adidas, the comparisons you can make are endless.

6.      Give an Update on the Status of Your Company: Let your customers know what products and services that your company is planning on releasing next, let them know of the features and improvements you plan on implementing, let them know why this new product will be even more innovative than the last.

How to Use Social Media to Boost Your SEO

When it comes to Search Engine Optimization (SEO), it’s commonly believed that social media signals don’t directly impact where your website ranks in the search engines.

So why bother?

Well, social media may not have a direct impact on your SEO, but it still plays a momentous role in getting your content in front of a bigger audience. This means that investing time and money in social media can produce something of a multiplier effect. Think about it this way: you create a great piece of content on social media, such as an original infographic, that attracts some pickup from other users. From here, people are more likely to publicize the data, which may in turn generate more clicks through to your site, which may ultimately lead to site visitors becoming shoppers and entrusting you with their money.

Now, all of these things are not only good for your brand, they’re also boosting your SEO score. People who write about your infographic may link back to your site, enhancing your link equity. People clicking through to the on-site infographic will spend longer on your site if the data’s well presented and interesting, increasing your dwell time (how long people spend on-site after entering via a search engine results page). People spending money with you in this way will also reduce your bounce rate (the number of people clicking off after one page).

Share regular content via social media

In the example above, link-building is a secondary benefit of solid social media presence. By sharing an infographic to the widest possible audience, you can increase the chances of getting it shared, whether it’s on social media, an industry-specific blog, or even a well-known daily like The Guardian. By sharing regular high-quality content, you also boost the chance of this happening.

If you’re looking to take your link building to the next level, then check out Click Intelligence, a full service digital agency specializing in SEO lead generation.

Partner with the right people

The stress put on some social marketers to provide quantitative results can lead to problems. When it comes to followings, many organizations get stuck in the mentality of quantity over quality. It’s worth pointing out that an account with 500 followers can have as much heft as one with 5,000 provided 5 of its followers are top industry influencers. You should be strategic about your following, drawing up lists to help you identify key industry influencers and publications in your industry. You increase the likelihood of getting a follow by simply engaging with their posts and showing them you know your onions.

As well as sharing your content to help it find a wider audience, these people are also ripe candidates for partnerships. The golden ticket is regularly engaging with them and developing a lasting partnership, whereby you willingly promote their content in exchange for them doing the same. Be willing to recommend their content on social media with your own informed comments and be prepared to give them backlinks from your own website in exchange. Influencer marketing goes both ways.

Social media may not directly impact SEO, but as you can see, investing time, money and effort in improving your profiles could have the inadvertent effect of giving yours a major boost. As Databox points out, 91% of search marketers are optimizing their brand profiles for SEO. Don’t get left behind!

How To Win Buyers And Influence Sales with 5 DIFFERENT TYPES OF GOOGLE ADS

Get REAL about Google to drive Sales

In this post we will talking about the different kinds of ads you can run online, and it will allow you to get an idea of what kind of ads will be best for your business. There are different social media sites you can run your ads on such as Pinterest, Facebook, Twitter, Snapchat, among others. You can also run your ads all across the internet with the help of Google Ads.

1.      Google Ads

a.      Display Ads: Display ads in a nutshell are ads that will be displayed across blogs, and sites that you choose best fit your target demographics interests. They will be displayed in the form of banners across the top of websites, as well as along the sides of pages. You will have an auction with other advertisers, you will each have a bid amount which is the maximum you are willing to pay for an ad to be displayed, you bid amount as well as other factors such as how relevant your landing page is in contrast to your ad, and the quality of your ad, will help Google’s algorithm to determine which ad will be displayed.

b.      Search Ads: We have all seen search engine ads before, they are the ads that you see when you conduct a Google search, they are displayed at the top of the search results page. This uses the same auction-based format to decide which advertisers’ ad will be displayed. When using this type of ad, Google does not allow you to use gimmicky text such as using symbols, frequent upper/lowercase spelling, or things of that nature. You want your ad to be clean, to the point, while looking professional, and providing proficient information to potential consumers.

c.       Video Ads: Video Ads are exactly what they sound like ads that will be displayed in the format of a video. These ads will be shown on YouTube, they can be in increments of 5 seconds, 10 seconds, as well as much as longer videos up to 5 minutes. It is recommended that you try to keep your message as short as possible, while still delivering an eye catching, attention grabbing pitch. In this day and age, our attention is dwindling every year, as we continue to crave instant gratification, this can be combatted by keeping your message short and sweet.

d.      Mobile Ads: While any of the ads above could technically be mobile ads, when creating mobile ads, you want to make sure that your ads are the appropriate size for the myriad of different devices that are used today, mobile phones, desktops, and tablets. Mobile ads are unique because you can use location targeting, to attract consumers that near you business, and show them ads if they are within a close proximity of your business, this is especially effective with restaurants and retail stores, the presentation of a coupon when considering where to eat, or buy a pair of shoes, can be enough of a push to bring consumers into your store as opposed to your competitors.

Three Tips to using Snapchat for Business

When most people think about Snapchat, they think about millennials documenting their every move. There is an impressive number of snaps sent every day (several million in fact) so it is quickly growing in popularity. Because of this, many businesses are starting to look for ways to grab the attention of all of the millions of users on this social media site.

It can be tricky to incorporate Snapchat into your marketing campaign so here are some tips to help you get started.

Target your key audience. Though this is true in any marketing campaign, you need to know who you are trying to reach so you can figure out the best way to catch their attention. Otherwise, you are just wasting your time.  

Offer something extra to your valued Snapchat audience. Give them content that they won't find on any other social media site. Give them access into your daily life and business.

Contests give people more reason to check out your snaps! Everyone loves a good contest or giveaway so make sure that you offer them plenty of reasons to keep checking back. Many businesses are starting to have contests where they ask fans to take a snap while using their product or visiting their restaurant. These are often very popular, as well as fun for everyone!

As with other types of marketing, you really need to know your audience and what catches their eye. You should also give them content that you don't share at other places. Then, try to incorporate a fresh and exciting twist to your favorite contest to help you grow your business quickly. One of the easiest ways to do this is by asking your customers to take a snap with your products or at your place of business. These types of contests are really fun for everyone and can gain you a lot of attention!

Contact us  for all of your social marketing needs.

How to Utilize Story Telling Most Efficiently in Social Media!

When thinking about the ways to develop your customers trust within your business. We as business owners, or those who aspire to own and create a business, must make our company relatable, we must show that we understand their pains, wants, and needs. We must be warm, accepting and kind. Our companies must reflect the qualities of that of a dear friend, or relative, someone that the consumer can feel comfortable around. We must make our customers see and feel our vision. We owe it to our consumers to inspire them, humor them, inform them, and comfort them. If you are interested in learning how to accomplish this lofty feat, then you have come to the right place my friends.

1.      First, we must figure out what our company’s main goal is, what do we wish to accomplish? Take some time to pull out a piece of paper and brainstorm about this, write down what the impact that you wish to make on the world is, what change would you like to bring about through your company, what pain will you provide the remedy for?

2.      Second, let’s think about how you wish to attract your customers attention, do you want to appear as a humorous company through your marketing campaigns compared to the likes of Doritos, Geico, Mountain Dew, this is often a safe route, as we as human beings all enjoy laughing. Or would you consider the more serious inspirational route? Likened more so to Apple and Nike. Another route that some take is that of guilt or fear, we can look to examples of this from companies such as Red Cross, ASPCA, and PETA, these companies attempt to tug strongly on the viewing audiences heart strings. All of these are effective in their own right, it is up to you to choose which would be most appropriate according to your company’s product, vision, and goals.

3.      Third, now it is time to think about what is your company’s USP or unique selling proposition, what makes your business special? Think about the why, why should people care about your business? What change are you stirring up? Is your product genuinely more innovative than the competitions, is it your customer service that sets you apart? There are many differentiating factors within businesses even more so in products that have so many commonalities such as fruits, batteries, soaps, to give a few examples, these businesses must think long and hard about ways to create the perception that their business is somehow superior to the competitions, is your business GMO free? Gluten free? Vegan? Organic? Handmade? This where these buzzwords and many more come into play, and they are vital to your companies marketing success to utilize words such as these to their fullest potential. Let the customers know that the decision they are making is better for the environment, better for the future of humanity if that is what your company’s goal is!

I hope you’ve found this information helpful today, and it will help you to succeed in your future endeavors! Always remember that story telling is king in the world of business.

The Truth About 6 KEY THINGS TO WRITE ABOUT IN A BLOG POST In 3 Minutes

Writing blog posts is a great way to engage with and educate your customers! But the only problem is what do you write about? As a growing business the options at your fingertips are endless. Today in this blog we will help you to brainstorm ideas for your next blog post.

 1.      Customer Testimonials: Customer testimonials are a great way to hear why customers love your business and its products/services. It also allows you to provide social proof to potential new customers. An example of this would be having a photo of the customer along with a story of how using your product helped them or improved their life in some way, or even the ease of the transaction if you sell cars, real estate, this type of post can be modified to fit whatever kind of business model you can think of.

2.      Trends: Talk about new trends in your industry, if your industry is social media, previous examples could’ve been hashtags, viral videos, mannequin challenge, and the Harlem shake, these are things have had success while some may have been more brief than others, you can enlighten your customers to this and give your opinions on the sustainability of the current trends in the world today.

3.      Have a Q&A with Your Staff: Ask your staff questions about why they enjoy working for your company, what are their favorite products and why, what do they think about the current state of your businesses industry, what advancements or changes are they hoping to see in the coming years? You can come up with whatever questions you feel would be interesting to your readers.

4.      Hold a Q&A with Your Customers: Have an open-ended interview with a customer, ask them questions about your business, and if you want to have them ask you questions, consumers are always interested to see into the minds of the owners of businesses they buy from frequently.

5.      Compare Two or More Products and Services: Compare two products that are currently popular within your industry discuss their pros and cons, their marketing campaigns, and the companies behind the products. Examples of this could be Instagram and Snapchat, Pepsi and Coke, Nike and Adidas, the comparisons you can make are endless.

6.      Give an Update on the Status of Your Company: Let your customers know what products and services that your company is planning on releasing next, let them know of the features and improvements you plan on implementing, let them know why this new product will be even more innovative than the last.

How Does Influencer Marketing Benefit Your Business

Influencer endorsements are marketing for the new millennium. It is when an influencer, a person on a social media platform with a high number of followers, creates content recommending or reviewing your product. It is already a booming business, with ad spending estimated to reach between $5 and $10 billion by 2022, yet there are businesses, particularly smaller companies that still seem hesitant to enter the new field. But with 72 percent of major brands dedicating some of their marketing budget to influencers, rest assured that savvy influencer marketing can be just as lucrative as traditional marketing.

Social media grows every year, nearing 3.5 billion social media users in 2019. Platforms make influencer marketing distinctive in that influencers have already created a niche and a customer base. Marketers need only to find a way to organically advertise on platforms consumer already use. Even micro-influencers can have a following of 1,000 to 100,000 people—potential consumers that are not limited by location.

This creates not only an opportunity for sales, but an invaluable abundance of information. Marketers are able to track current trends as well as customer reactions to their product. Platforms are a place where influencers and consumers alike can engage in a more organic way, which is the reason influencers garner such positive results. As many as forty-nine percent of consumers trust the recommendations from influencers and thirty-seven percent of consumers find inspiration through social networks. In that way, a good post can serve as a global storefront for millions of users.

It's not empty marketing. About seventy-five percent of marketers have said that social media has increased traffic to their business, and those who have been using social media marketing for two years have reported an increase in sales. When adding influencer marketing into the equation, the average value is about $5.20 per every dollar spent.

Influencer marketing is a powerful tool that is only slated to grow alongside social media. It seems that above all, consumers value the authenticity of influencers because they see influencers not as celebrities, but as peers. Marketers can use the trust influencers have built in their base to promote their product in a more efficient way than traditional marketing.

What to Look for in an Influencer

84% of millennials  don't like advertising and it's easy to see why. No one likes to be bombarded with videos, banners ads, and promotional pop-ups solely set on selling something. It's invasive and quickly drives visitors away.

What's a solution? According to research, consumers trust each other more than a brand.

Hearing from a trusted source about a product or service is more valued than a statement from a company. Knowing firsthand what someone else's experience was like saves time, money, and effort.

That's why you need to take a closer look at influencer marketing. Working with someone who has a dedicated following will allow your business to grow the right way, without the need for intrusive advertising.

Before you collaborate with just anyone, read our tips on what to look for in an influencer below!

Are They Relevant to Your Brand?

Choosing an influencer is more than a numbers game. Sure, a massive following looks appealing but if they're not aligned with your brand's value, message, and product, your collaboration will fail.

Think of it this way: a clothing company wouldn't partner with a technology influencer for obvious reasons. They'd want someone who showcases their outfits and shopping hauls.

So you get the right influencer for your brand, look around. Create a list of potential collaborators who'll complement your business rather than collide with it.

Is There Quality Content?

Constant misspellings and grammatical errors are a turn off to anyone. Not only that but influencers who only have sponsored content aren't ones you want to work with.

Too many sponsored posts are the equivalent to advertising--no one wants to be sold to every time they check their Instagram feed. You want someone who has a mix of sponsored and original content.

The original content should reflect their own personal opinions or experiences. This will further enhance your collaboration as they'll let followers know their real feelings about your product or service.

Are Their Followers Engaged?

Don't be fooled by a massive follower amount. What counts is how well they're engaging those people. 

Influencers who barely have comments and shares aren't ones you want to partner with. If no one takes the time to look at their content, who's to say they'll pay attention to yourcollaboration?

To see if their followers are engaged, check to see how many comments they receive per post. Also, consider collaborating with an influencer who has less than 10,000 followers. More than often, these "micro influencers" have a well-engaged audience than those above said number.

Find the Perfect Influencer

Don't settle for the first influencer you see. You need to do your research and make the decision if they're a good fit or not. 

Still not sure where to go from here? Contact us  today to get more tips on influencer marketing!

5 Sure-Fire Digital Strategies for Elevating Your Brand to Next Level

Lets do THIS!

Research has shown that the average individual spends at least 5 hours online every day.  Also, 85% of people begin their product and service search online. These are compelling reasons to take your digital strategy game to new heights. 

Improve Web Loading Speed

In the world of digital, time is everything. If people load your webpage and it's taking them ages, they will swiftly move on to your competitors' website. Loading speed is everything. Maintain your website visitors' interest with the rapid response time.

Use Online Advertising

Online advertising is a no brainer when it comes to digital strategy. And with the advent of social media, you can target millions of prospective customers. Not only is social media easy to use, but it is also cheap too. By forking out a few hundred dollars, you can boost your Ad and use that Ad to also link to your website. The other online advertising entails search engine because people search for what they need online. Drive traffic to your website by the use of brilliant content marketing. This includes the use of keywords and meaningful and insightful content.

Use Mobile Marketing

Research shows that most people respond to text messages no later than three minutes after receipt. This shows that people do look at text messages. You can utilize mobile marketing by sending personalized, earnest messages about your product. People will be driven to see what solutions you have to offer. Also, it's imperative to create a web design that's compatible with all devices – this includes having a platform that's friendly for mobile users.  

Create an Email List

Having an email list is strategic since you have a pool of potential clients who you can turn into customers. The trick is curating a catchy landing page with compelling content that will demonstrate the value of the list. Then send emails a week apart. This will ensure subscribers will have the business in the back of their minds while not getting annoyed by constant emails.

Include Reviews and Testimonials

There's nothing more convincing to a potential customer than the seal of approval from a client. Your digital strategy is more successful when people know they can trust your business.

These digital strategies will help you stay ahead of the game. They're budget-friendly, and they'll help you achieve sustained growth.  Still undecided the best strategy? Contact us today and we'll assist in every way possible.