Monthly Archives: social media

How We Use Popular Social Media Platforms to Help Our Clients Grow

After working with clients to grow their businesses for over 25 years, we’ve learned a few things about putting together the puzzle of success. And along the way, we’ve come to understand that each piece of the strategy plays its own vital, pivotal role in how a company evolves. For our clients, we employ a mix of social media platforms to enhance their presence. Each one helps solidify brand recognition, improve upon search engine optimization, and adds to a well-rounded approach to growth.
But, no two social media platforms are equal. Each serves a different purpose, is constantly changing, and reaches a unique set of audiences. Meaning one platform may be suitable for one client, and not for another. What popular social media platforms do we use for our clients – and how do we capitalize on their differences? We’re breaking down different social media platforms and how to best use them.

Facebook

Founded in 2004, Facebook was first launched as an online networking for people across the world to connect with family, friends, and even strangers. Since then, it has shifted from its original purpose; now acting just as equally as a business site as it does a personal use one. And just as the social media platform’s use has evolved, so have its capabilities; now including an ad center for paid media, live streaming, story abilities, and more.
Facebook is useful to our clients in a variety of ways, both in marketing and in establishing a strong social media presence to show what you’re truly about. According to Facebook’s Investor Relations Q3 2019 results, there are 2.45 billion active users logging into the platform on a monthly basis as of September 2019; and that’s a lot of eyes to try to get in front of.
On the surface level of Facebook, sharing business updates, new product launches, company news, and photos and video is a strong strategy for keeping a client top of mind for their users. That’s because interaction, such as likes and follows, gets you organic attention. And this applies to capturing both returning customers and prospective ones. But beneath that, utilizing Facebook’s marketing integration, in tandem with organic social, is how we make the most of the site.
By working within the website’s robust advertising tools, we’re able to target the intended audience on a more granular scale. Some of the parameters available are gender and age, and you can also target zip codes and interests. This especially helpful to small, local businesses trying to keep their scope of advertising narrow and localized. And because Facebook is built with B2C marketing in mind, boosting posts and employing paid advertising is a great way to snag sales directly on the users’ feed.

Instagram

What started out as a place for users to share photos of their day-to-day life, Instagram officially launched as the social media app we know today in 2010. Over the course of the past 10 years, it’s become the place to be for companies trying to tell their brand’s story in a more visual way. Interestingly enough, the social media platform is now owned by Facebook after being acquired by them in 2012. And while the sites still seem to operate independently in certain aspects, the similar capabilities aren’t lost on us when it comes to using them for our clients.
According to Statista, the social media platform now has 1 billion monthly active users as of April 2020. Because the entire purpose of the platform is essentially to curate a visually appealing, eye-catching feed – it’s all about putting forth the highest-quality images you can. For our clients, especially our B2B ones, this is where your products, goods, and story of your business can shine. With the ability to add shopping directly on a page and within posts, to the swipe-up feature in stories accessed after 10,000 followers, there’s plenty of ways that companies can sell directly to users without requiring them to ever leave the app.
Because Facebook purchased Instagram, their ad center is capable of creating, publishing, and monitoring ads for both platforms. And while only a few of our clients advertise on Instagram, we’ve learned that engagement is what we’re looking for. Sponsored or boosted posts, as well as actual paid ads, are used on Instagram mainly for brand-awareness rather than tangible conversions. It helps keep our clients top of mind for users and truly targets users’ interests through ad targeting and hashtags, Instagram’s main topic browsing method. In our strategies, creating branded hashtags and using them as often as possible helps create the conversation around our client and encourage it to grow.

Unlike a majority of the other social media platforms we work with, LinkedIn has a stronger focus on B2B marketing. Launched in 2003, the social media site has always placed an emphasis on being a place where users can cultivate professional relationships and strengthen their career. According to LinkedIn’s statistics, the platform has 675 million monthly users of professionals across the globe – a number that has steadily increased in recent years.
With LinkedIn concentrating heavily on professional connections, we often tweak content for our clients and tailor it specifically to the platform. Because of that, this is where content curation comes more into play on an internal level. To retain a strong level of professionalism, this is where our clients share industry articles, partake in conversations concerning their line of work, and make B2B connections with like-minded, complementary companies.
Like the other social media platforms, LinkedIn’s ad center is extremely helpful in growing our clients’ businesses. However, targeting parameters look a lot different, with only options to target companies and titles of individuals who work at those companies. In our planning, we don’t just research our clients’ competitors and peers. But, we also keep in mind what entities may be looking for their services, essentially using LinkedIn as a digital resume for our client.

Twitter

Initially envisioned to be a place where users could send an SMS text that was broadcast to all of their friends, Twitter, launched in 2007, and now has an average of 330 million monthly active users as of the Q1 2019. Now, the social media platform is the hub for up-to-the-second news, business networking, and of course – personal use so users can update their followers about what they’re up to. And with only 280 characters available per tweet, messaging has to be clear and concise.
For our clients, this is where we can keep them relevant, keep their content timely, and get users to engage in a more direct conversation. And with such a limiting amount of room for information, it’s critical that we nail down exactly what our client wants their reputation to be. To create variety in content, Twitter has introduced features like polls, and most recently “Fleets”, which is their version of Instagram Stories, or the original ephemeral social media content king: Snapchat.
Similarly to Instagram, Twitter relies heavily on hashtags to help users partake in conversations and track topics. For all clients, and all platforms, we take an in-depth look at data to determine best posting times, relevant hashtags to use, and what branded ones to inc; and for Twitter this is especially important. Why? In order for users to remember you, Twitter, unlike Facebook or Instagram, is built for increased posting. And this could mean sometimes posting multiple times a day. Tweeting, and tweeting often, with these hashtags included generates the momentum our clients are looking for.

Google My Business

Did you know that there’s a free business profile you can create and manage directly on Google? Google My Business is a place to engage with customers directly and keep them informed. We also update profiles with current photos, events information, announcements, and relevant news. Not only that, but it’s where we control exactly how our clients’ businesses appear within Google’s search engine and what information populates in maps. This is done by updating hours and open locations when things are changed. And during the COVID-19 outbreak for example, this has been an especially poignant step.

YouTube

Throughout our years operating as an agency, we’ve provided a variety of video production services to our clients. And beyond sharing them within content on platforms, integrating them into websites, and more, we also run them as ads on YouTube. Just as we do on any of the other social media platforms we use. Originally introduced in 2005 as a free video-sharing platform, YouTube was purchased by Google soon after in 2006, meaning the two are now integrated seamlessly.
By setting up a Google Ads profile, we can begin to target users based upon age, gender, interests, and location. This allows us to create paid ads to drive traffic to our clients’ websites; and run them directly on the platform with ease. This, along with all of our other efforts, work in unison to better support our clients’ needs.

Plan your Platforms with ON Advertising

The world of social media platforms is evolving by the minute…but so are we. At ON Advertising, we offer lots of different services, but we take great care to match them with your specific vision. And this same idea is applied to the unique, custom strategy we create for both you and your business – because we are committed to your success.
When you partner with us we’ll take a deep dive into your company’s needs. And we’ll determine exactly what platforms are necessary for what you do. Whether that includes a full-blown Facebook campaign paired with a tiny Twitter schedule or just targeted ads that get straight to the point – we’re here to help unlock the potential of your brand.
Contact us to get started on your social media strategy today.

A graphic of Mikaela doing some strategic planning

Service Spotlight: Strategic Planning

At ON Advertising, our main goal is to help make you successful. Whether that means we’ve created a video that perfectly tells your story, or developed a website that transforms your eCommerce business, developing your brand is in our DNA. And it involves strategic planning.

But before we reach project’s end – in fact, before we even begin in-depth research, we develop a strategic approach. One that aligns sales and marketing objectives. This allows us to learn what unique business goals and challenges your business has; and that’s what drives everything else that we do!

Our focus is on providing our clients with a tailored marketing plan that aligns with their business approach. And what’s the most important aspect of making it all come together? Strategic planning by our expert team members.

Strategic Planning

When examining our clients, and what ultimately drives their success, one common denominator stands out: the strategy behind each service we provide. Why is this important? In the end, the goal is to create long-term marketing objectives for your marketing team. And the sales team gets the ongoing short-term support they need to close more deals. Don’t worry if you aren’t selling anything physical and instead provide a service. Our strategic planning extends to social media campaigns and beyond. Whatever you need, we can plan for it.

To fully understand your business’s needs, we start by analyzing the current state of your brand; and focus on what will resonate with new customers. We create your marketing strategy by identifying what differentiates you from all your competitors; and what builds an affinity with prospective customers. To do this, we focus on a number of strategic planning services.

Brand Messaging and Positioning:
We aim to unlock the potential of your brand. By performing brand positioning, we define how you want your audience to view your service. That, paired with brand messaging to further solidify you’re targeting this desired positioning, leaves you with a cohesive voice.

Customer Research and Insights:
To become top of mind for customers, you’ve got to be able to dive deeper into theirs’. Not only is it vital to research your competitors, but to evaluate your customer’s habits, both current and prospective. With this, we can better define the direction your messaging takes. We can also utilize any past analytics, in combination with new insights as we begin our partnership; and we can adjust strategies as we go. Adaptability is key, after all!

Strategic Planning and Sales Plan:
When considering a strategy for any marketing and sales tactics, evaluating a company’s current environment is often where we start. For example, many of our clients have fluctuating “busy seasons”. This can ultimately guide things like how much marketing money is spent, where, and at what time of year. This is also where we can get granular in our target markets and create feasible, attainable goals for our clients about who they’re spending their dollars on.

SWOT Analysis:
You’ve likely heard of a SWOT analysis, which is the evaluation of a company’s strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. This could include anything from direct competition in your market to a strong internal culture that makes for happy employees! By analyzing the good, the bad, the ugly, and everything in between, we’re better equipped to help you make the strategic decisions that will shape your business’s future.

Target Market Analysis:
You’ve got a good or service and someone out there has the need for it! But how do you find them in such saturated industries? We perform a target market analysis to determine whether or not you’re reaching your ideal audience. From there we can refine, retarget, and create a truly dialed in customer base/audience – and grow it as you do!

Value Proposition:
At its core, a value proposition describes why a customer would want to purchase your product over another. Or, why they’d rather work with you over another company! And articulating this message, succinctly and successfully, can take a lot more strategic planning than you might think. This message is often one that is seen before anything else concerning your brand. So, we work to make it all-encompassing and expertly crafted.

ON Advertising

We understand that there is a tangible business goal that you want to achieve. And aligning our communication strategies with business objectives of our clients is how we create well-conceived strategies to meet them. When our analytical approach meets big, creative ideas, magic happens! Contact us to tell us all about your business or project; and get matched with the experts ready to take your business to the next level with quality strategic planning.

Ephemeral Content

Have you heard of ephemeral content? You may not know it by its official name, but you sure have seen it in applications like Snapchat and Instagram Stories. And according to Strike Social, ephemeral content is here to stay.

We already utilize ephemeral content in our everyday content here at ON Advertising, both for ourselves and our clients! But as the content grows in popularity, we’re following how it may impact our marketing and advertising tactics overall. We looked at how ephemeral content is evolving, what it could mean for our strategies, and how it may affect yours.

What is Ephemeral Content?

Ephemeral, by definition, means “lasting for a very short time”. And this is a concept we’ve seen rapidly take off in the world of social media over the last few years. Interestingly enough, we have the social media platform Snapchat to thank for this popular content style. They were the first to entertain the idea back in 2011, according to Rebrandly. What was the reason behind this new concept? The platform was looking for a way to break up the monotonous, overly planned aspect of social media. Unsurprisingly, internet users were behind this new way of utilizing their accounts; and from there, a beloved social media medium was born.

Since then, we’ve seen ephemeral content abilities, of various approaches, pop up in a number of platforms. Instagram, Facebook, and, most recently, Twitter with their introduction of fleets – just to name a few. Each platform’s idea is slightly personal, but with a common main concept. It’s content that, once posted, typically lasts a maximum of 24 hours before it disappears for good. At least from an outside viewer’s vantage point.

Ephemeral Content and ON Advertising

We’re no stranger to the inclusion of ephemeral content at ON Advertising. That goes for both our employee’s personal content, our own company posts, and client activity as well! With all that said: we see a huge value in the strategic use of the idea. With where our industry currently is, as well as where it’s headed, being able to convey a sense of authenticity is more important than ever. This goes for personal social accounts belonging to an everyday user, to the much larger, unapproachable platforms that celebrities and public entities hold. And for us, this also applies to our own clients and their businesses.

Typically, the main feed of a company’s social account is fairly premeditated. Whether it’s an in-house social team managing the page or an outside agency running it for them, posts are often planned. It allows for consistency and a sense of cohesiveness that can help solidify brand recognition. But with this also comes a lack of spontaneity; and in a sense, relatability. After all, if everything is perfectly in place all the time, where’s the sense of fun? This goes without saying, but a perfectly balanced mix of both planned and impromptu posting is the ideal strategy.

How We Use Ephemeral Content

So, how do we utilize ephemeral content in our work? By doing a little planning, funnily enough. When thinking about how best to utilize ephemeral posts in our content strategies, we had to think about what goes best, and where. For example, for a business, a planned feed is likely to house things like product updates, strong photos of their work, and anything else they want eyes to consistently be on. Ephemeral content, on the other hand, may be where things such as casual behind the scenes photos, timely event updates, and more personal posts may go.

By evaluating our client’s needs, and the needs of our own company, we have implemented approaches that mirror this! And beyond the ability to communicate with followers on a more intimate level through the content you know won’t last, it’s a great way to keep your feed uncluttered in general. With brand recognition in mind, it is important to have a sense of eye-catching branding. And a feed is the perfect place for that kind of content to live. By allowing more unedited, raw videos and photos to stay within the ephemeral bubble, you can really enjoy the best of both worlds for your accounts.

Along with everything else, ephemeral content analytics are extremely helpful when it comes to meeting the needs of our clients. For example, though posted stories on Instagram only last 24 hours max for another user, it still lives on in an archive. If you have a business account, that is. By regularly tracking this data, we can see what’s working, what isn’t performing, and come up with new ideas based on those numbers.

Where Do We Think It’s Headed

In reality, the capabilities of ephemeral content, as well as its impact on analytics, are at the beginning stages. Like any other aspect of social media, we’re bound to go through millions of changes over the coming years. So far, we’ve found that it’s a great way to engage with our various audiences in a more personal, timely way. And we’re truly excited to see what new ways we can implement ephemeral content, whether it be the introduction of a whole new platform or just an update to the capabilities we know and love.

Partner With ON Advertising

We know it’s important to connect your brand values with your company goals, and we’re here to help. We use customized social media strategies and campaigns to make sure you’re reaching the right people, in the right places, at the right time. And if you’re looking for help with ephemeral content, our highly-skilled social media experts can provide you with the solutions that work. Contact us today to partner with our team.

2020 media strategy sprawled across the image with a cactus standing tall in front.

What is our Media Plan for 2020?

Well, we’re getting ready to say goodbye to 2019 and hello to 2020 here at ON Advertising! While we’re sure you’ve also seen the articles popping up on your timeline describing the top trends for the new year, or what you should look out for when it comes to media planning, we’re here to tell you what’s really what. We keep our finger on the pulse of the latest trends in marketing, branding, and strategy; because we believe a strong media strategy gets results.

We’ve compiled a quick lineup of some of 2020’s hottest predicted trends and how we plan to take them to the next level in the new decade.

Video Marketing

Perhaps one of the most talked about, important aspects of marketing as of late is video marketing. While videos and even GIFs aren’t new to the digital marketing world, incorporating them into your media plan is an absolute must if you want to continue to be viable.

According to Social Media Today, video content can drive a greater response than any other social content type, if it’s done well. In an infographic of video marketing statistics, they revealed that on Instagram specifically, video generates more engagement than any other content type and 65% of impressions from an ad come from videos. On Pinterest, users are 2.6 times more likely to share a video than any other post type. Tweets with video see 10 times more engagement than those without, and promoted tweets with videos can save you on costs up to 50%. Not only that, but on Twitter 82% of users mainly watch video content when using the app. As for LinkedIn, video campaigns have 82% view rates.

Essentially, video rules all when showing social results, and harnessing the power can change the game for your strategy. So, how do we plan to utilize our video services to slay in 2020? By knowing exactly what you need and delivering even beyond your expectations. Our video media professionals are experts at defining the most appropriate video content solution for your needs. By identifying the right type, style, tone, script, and art direction, we can effectively tell a compelling story. Analyzing the needs of your target buyers helps us determine the best way to distribute and showcase your story. These tactics help ensure that the right type of video content is being seen by the right people, and that we’re making the right impact on your bottom line.

Social Media Stories

If you’ve followed us for some time, then you may remember our excitement for ephemeral content for 2019. Again, ephemeral content is any photos and videos that aren’t permanent on your platforms. Typically they disappear within 24 hours, so it’s important to make them eye-catching and memorable for their short lifespan. These stories make it possible to post more, without oversaturating and bogging down your page. We view these as another channel within your channel, and employing them is vital.

In an article by Medium, they explained that Instagram Stories’ see 400 million daily users. That’s a huge number for something that doesn’t remain on your page indefinitely. Although Instagram’s ‘Story’ feature is probably the most famous when it comes to ephemeral content, it certainly wasn’t the first platform to come up with the idea. In fact, Snapchat was the first platform to introduce them in October of 2013 and launch the trend. Since then, we’ve seen a huge influx of other companies coming up with their own versions, such as Facebook Stories. We’re expecting to see even more implement the feature in 2020 and the near future.

As 2020 approaches, ON plans to continually incorporate stories into our social media strategy. With the employment of even longer video mediums, like IGTV, there’s endless potential when it comes to the power of video.

Influencer Marketing

While influencers in marketing is also not a new concept, we’ve seen a massive shift in the impact and influence they actually carry. From beauty bloggers to foodies, influencers from all walks of life are in our feeds, and they hold more power than you’d think.

In an article by BigCommerce, they predicted that 65% of influencer budgets by marketers were going to increase. They also explained that 17% of companies spend over half of their marketing budget on influencers and 89% of all marketers found that ROI due to influencer marketing was comparable or even better than other marketing channels. Sounds like some crazy statistics, right? It might not be as out of the box as you think.

As for ON Advertising, the biggest tactic we used with influencer marketing in 2019 was realizing and harnessing the power and impact influencers and micro-influencers have on social media, especially on Instagram. At the beginning of 2019, we examined our clients and we narrowed down who had a niche product or brand. We then figured out what the best tactic to get the word out about the product was. Unsurprisingly, influencers were the answer. With these tactics, we’ve been able to grow this client’s followers past 15k. We’ve also seen increased impressions, boosted engagement within the 6 digits, and have reported a huge growth of ROI.

Creating partnerships with these influencers and micro-influencers proved to be the most important thing we’ve learned. They trust the brand and the product, and love promoting it. In turn, we share all of their content and find new ways to support them. Building these partnerships through heavy community management and being available to answer various questions took the partnerships even further. It took time but, in the end, our client is flourishing. The influencers and micro-influencers are reporting that their social media has grown with the established partnerships.

As we look to the 2020 and begin planning our social media strategy for our clients, our top priority is finding and establishing new techniques to manage our influencers. Not to mention utilizing tools that can help us find more influencers that we can form partnerships with.

How ON Advertising Can Help in 2020

At ON Advertising, we believe that big ideas build more business. When our decades of experience in full-service advertising, marketing, video production, public relations, website production, media buying, and more pair with new innovations and strategies, who knows what we can create for you. Contact us today.

Man with his credit card in hand is getting ready to purchase items off eBay.

The Pros and Cons of Holiday Marketing

Ho, ho, ho, the holiday season is upon us! It’s once again the time of year where our email inbox is flooded with specials, text message deals come flying in, and all over ads are making use of the festive season to target you. While sales tend to skyrocket during this time of year, the marketing efforts that go behind them can be “snow” joke. Whether you have a large budget or are relying on small marketing efforts, holiday marketing can be the thing that helps you “sleigh” the competition. Here at ON Advertising, we’ve compiled a few of the pros and cons of holiday marketing to keep in mind.

Cost of Christmastime Marketing

According to an article by WordStream, bid prices can increase by 140% over their yearly average during the holidays. Con? This means that your marketing budget has to match your efforts. Pro? Your ROI could increase as well. In a piece by emarketer, they revealed that in 2018, holiday retail sales finally crossed the $1 trillion mark, making it more crucial than ever to secure your spot in a saturated sales snowstorm. An article by Vivial using a report by Ignite showed that companies spent almost $27 billion on social media marketing in 2018 alone and allocated 25% of their annual budgets to social media marketing over the holidays. Essentially, sticking with the same budget is no longer viable and it may be time to up yours. CNBC states that holiday spending is expected to rise 5% this year, so it can be extremely beneficial to revisit your numbers and budget from the previous year to find your baseline. Make sure your budget is substantial, your strategy is flushed out, and that you know your goals. You’ll be feelin’ “pine”.

Digital vs. In-Store Shopping

Do you like to do your holiday shopping online, or do you prefer to head to the store to snag your deals? If you like to purchase on the web, you aren’t alone. CNBC also states that according to Tim Cadogan, chairman, and chief executive officer for OpenX, 53% of all holiday shopping is expected to be done digitally. A press release from Adobe Analytics showed that during Cyber Monday, direct website traffic ranked highest for driving revenue at 25.3 percent share of sales (down 1.2 percent YoY), followed by paid search at 25.1 percent (up 7.4 percent YoY), natural search at 18.8 percent (down 2.8 percent), and email at 24.2 percent (up 0.5 percent). They noted that social media had a 1.1 percent share, impacting online sales very minimally. WordStream’s findings also revealed that 8 in 10-holiday shoppers are influenced by the internet before making a purchase. Con? You may not see the largest crowds in your brick and mortar store. Pro? If your holiday marketing efforts are eye-catching and a substantial enough deal, you’ll have your “elf” a merry little Christmas when it comes to sales.

Coupons and Deals

It’s no secret that most people are happy to find a deal or a discount when shopping, including us! In a 2019 report, emarketer showed that internet users “always” or “very often” use coupons when shopping online. Con? You may need to include some stellar deals in your marketplace to lock in the sale. Pro? As reported by Google, one of the most influential factors in buying decisions was sales, discounts, or promos. That’s directly in line with WordStream’s finding that one-third of shoppers reporting that their holiday weekend purchases were driven by promotions. So while Santa doesn’t need discounts to come out on top this season, you do!

ON Advertising hopes that you have a profitable, successful, and strategic holiday marketing season! If you want help with harnessing consumer spending habits and setting your brand up for success both during the holidays and all year long, contact us.

“Facebook’s “Private” Feature and its SMM Implications”

As of this year’s third quarter, Facebook has reached 2.41 Billion active monthly users, making it the most used social media platform worldwide. Facebook has been the leader in social networks, as they were the first social platform to have monthly users surpass the billions by the second quarter of 2012. With the constant growth, popularity, and innovative features, such as Messenger and Facebook Groups, it’s easy to see how the conglomerate has become the choice social media platform.

It’s no secret that there have been privacy issues with the site in the past. In early 2018, it was revealed that Cambridge Analytica harvested the personal data of millions of peoples’ Facebook profiles without their consent and used it for political advertising purposes. After the loss of trust amongst its users, and millions of dollars in fines later, Facebook’s Founder and CEO, Mark Zuckerberg, is “committed to getting it right,” he said as he opened at the F8 Developers Conference earlier this year. With four simple words projected on the screen behind him: “The future is private,” Zuckerberg explained Facebook’s decision to undergo a ground-up redesign. This redesign aims to place private community groups at the center of its experience and revamp its apps to work with one another. Why? To help people securely reach their core communities. This has been touted as the biggest change the social platform has seen in over five years.

This all begs the question: What is Facebook’s “Private” feature?

For starters, the “Private” feature that Facebook is introducing essentially allows the user to control and see data that websites and applications share between the platforms. It’s being introduced as “Off-Facebook Activity” and gives users the ability to keep track of the information that third-party applications access and what they are using it for. Along with the “Off-Facebook Activity,” they’re also updating their ad library and giving users an option to control what they see from their groups, pages, and friends with a “Why am I seeing this ad” option.

What Does This Mean for the Social Media Advertising World?

Facebook warns that its new privacy tool may impact targeting on paid ads. Whether this is the truth or not, advertisers are preparing for the change. Here at ON Advertising, we believe it will definitely be limited as more and more users will choose not to see content like paid ads. Will some of those users be ones we try to target with our client’s paid ads? Of course. That’s where adjusting the perimeters and revisiting our goals will ensure the users we want and need to see the content, will see the content. As Facebook continues to change, it’s important to get creative with marketing plans to safeguard the effectiveness of the campaigns being launched. It’s also recommended that everyone in the advertising and marketing industry should have plans in place for when the time comes to change their tactics and work to set specific goals that they set in place. After all, we like to stay ahead of the game when it comes to playing it.

How Can ON Advertising Help?

With big changes coming to Facebook and the possibility of more advancements in the future, it’s vital that a plan is implemented to produce campaigns.. Having a hard time wrapping your head around it all? ON Advertising’s digital strategy services can help you stay ahead of the ever-changing social media industry. We can assist in creating innovative and creative ways to remain on top of the competition, while still staying aligned with your goals. Contact us to see how we can help your business grow and learn more about the services we have to offer.

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How Instagram’s Elimination of Likes & Following Tab May Change SMM

Did you notice anything different when you recently opened up Instagram? You’re not the only one. The platform has finally decided to do away with its Following tab, a feature that has caused quite the controversy among users for its expository nature. The newly deleted tab had once allowed users to see what their friends were liking, commenting on, and who they were following in real-time.

Instagram likes are also currently the subject of a deletion rumor, and if the plan is carried out, it would mean the removal of the most popular, sought after feature of Instagram as a whole.

Why are these changes a big deal? Because it means your behavior and activities on Instagram are once again private. What does this mean for social media marketing? We’ll explain everything you need to know.

How Marketing Companies Made Use of the Following Tab

Though the feature was mostly frequented by typical Instagram users to spy on their friends, coworkers, exes, and significant others (and sometimes even their enemies), it didn’t go unutilized in the social media marketing world. In fact, according to Harper’s Bazaar, the original intention of the Following tab was to allow users to find new accounts and interests through who their connections were interacting with. This, in turn, made it much simpler for companies to actively gain information on targeting specific audiences, find competitors, and keep up-to-date with what content of their own was working well. Essentially, the feature was an extra layer of analysis and insight that businesses can no longer use as a reference.

What Now?

If you’re a company that made particular use of the Following tab as a way to collect data, you may be wondering what tool you can now use to retrieve the same kinds of information regarding users’ patterns. That’s where the Explore page will come in handy. It may not display activity as granularly as the eliminated tab, but the Explore page will help supplement information about what is trending, popular pages, and just a general idea of what’s being liked by the people you are following. Keeping close tabs on this page, along with Instagram’s general insights, will give you an edge when it comes to content targeting and following customer behavior.

What Life Might Look Like Without Likes

According to Instagram, the idea behind getting rid of likes is to remove pressure from users to receive likes, to alleviate the need for validation, and to make an effort to help with self-esteem and mental health. While the withdrawal of the Following tab has already occurred, this change has not yet hit the entire app as quickly. Instagram tested the idea in markets like Australia, New Zealand, Ireland, Japan, and several other countries, leaving users in the United States to watch its trial run from afar. Although the move may not affect the average everyday user’s experience with the social media platform, influencers, brands, and companies may be greatly impacted. With likes comes revenue, and now active users looking to grow will only have their follower numbers to increase and rely on.

How ON Advertising Can Help

With massive Instagram changes being implemented and the possibility of even greater alterations on the horizon, the way analytics and user data is gathered may be experiencing a huge shift in the coming months and years. Need some assistance making sense of it all? ON Advertising can help with that. Our agency offers Digital Strategy Services to ensure that your marketing efforts are aligned with your goals because a formal strategy puts you steps ahead of your competition. Contact us to see how we can help your business navigate these changes and continue to grow.

A woman looks at her phone thinking of what she is going to look for. Tag reads find help Phoenix.

Looking for help? You found it!

As mentioned in some of our previous blog posts, we have helped with the Maricopa County of Public Health before to build awareness on different health issues and the general well-being of the community. This season we were tasked to create a bilingual campaign to advertise the resources on FindHelpPhx.org. Why? Because there was an alarming 69% of parents who said if they knew how to locate more family resource services, they would use them.

FindHelpPhx.org was created by the Maricopa County Department of Public Health (MCDPH) to provide residents an easy way to find social and health services. The user-friendly platform offers 1,500 resources including free and low-cost screenings, doctors, disability services, and more. Each of these services is vetted by the county and available for Maricopa residents who want to increase their quality of life. In fact, the website offers bilingual assistance in English and Spanish for those who need language assistance.

The Advertising Campaign

We were entrusted to come up with a plan of action to effectively advertise to Maricopa County families in need of guidance. We started this process by researching their exact target audience. Who are they? Where do they live? How old are they? After we dove deeper into who their exact consumer was, we evaluated where they would most likely be exposed to an ad. We determined Facebook and YouTube would be the best digital platforms, and rotating billboards on Arizona freeways would be a great traditional channel.

After we decided who their target audience was and how we were going to reach them, we brought the information to the creative team. From there, the creative team wrote a story and a narrative that would resonate with the audience to grab their attention. See the creative content below.

Maricopa County Department of Public Health / “Find Help Phoenix” (Spanish) from ON Advertising on Vimeo.

Maricopa County Department of Public Health / “Find Help Phoenix” from ON Advertising on Vimeo.

The Results

We are pleased with the performance and results that the ads have produced so far. The entire campaign launched Monday, September 16th, 2019, and will run through November 27, 2019. There have been 223,000 impressions for the Facebook campaign, with nearly 1,000 link clicks. YouTube has garnered 463,700 impressions that have generated 850 clicks to the website. For the billboards, there are 10 locations rotating weekly around Phoenix for 8 weeks, with an estimated 5 million impressions.

Here at ON Advertising, we always love working with the Maricopa County Department of Public Health because they are trying to improve the lives of their residents. However, if you or your business is interested in spreading an important message through effective advertising campaigns, contact us today.

Mikaela Copley goes over an assignment with Amanda at her desk in the ON Advertising office

The Ultimate Guide to Advertising to Gen Z in 2019

From Millennials to now what we call Gen Z, the personalities, attitudes, and values have shifted from generation to generation. As new generations are introduced, it is often hard to keep up with and understand them all.

Each generation has had a significant event or tragedy strike in their lifetime; defining who they are, how they live their lives and the decisions they make. Gen Z’s significant life event was the Great Recession/Housing Recession back in late 2007. Watching the rate in which their lives changed and those around them impacted them in a huge way. One way is how they handle their finances. They are careful and meticulous and never make a decision on a whim, instead they research. Looking into every purchase to ensure they will remain financially safe.

The technology era is also a huge turning point for Gen Z. With such technology, they prefer connecting via smartphones rather than face-to-face interactions. They would rather shop online than spend time at a brick and mortar. In addition, print has been undervalued as they prefer getting their news from online sources or through social media.

A bigger and more pressing question is raised, for businesses at least: “How do we advertise to Gen Z?”

1. Leverage Video Communications

As previously stated, Gen Z prefers connecting via technology; however, they never leave voicemails and prefer text to email. They also are one of the first generations to frequently use, and prefer, YouTube, Netflix, and Reddit. If you can catch their eye and appeal to them in 5-7 seconds with your 2-minute ad before their chosen video begins, then your campaign is a success.

2. Utilize Influencers

Gen Z was born into a world where social media became incredibly prominent. They value the impact of social media and celebrities influencers which help them to make a decision. Influencers spend a considerable amount of effort and time creating content that will appeal to their accounts followers. When followers are genuinely engaged, it creates a long-lasting relationship with the influencer that they are following. When this happens, it builds trust and loyalty in their minds to believe and trust the advice and recommendations from that influencer.

3. Mobile Strategy

Gen Z values their time spent on mobile devices which is why, on average, they engage in over 10 hours on online mobile content per day. By making sites mobile-optimized, they are more likely to be viewed more often. Say goodbye to desktop web browsers and emails, mobile strategy is the way to go!

4. Be Entertaining

As we know, Gen Z values are connected online. They expect authentic, entertaining interactions and experiences that provide what they need before they tell you. To win them over, marketers and advertisers must evolve from simply informing their audience to catching their eye and keeping them entertained.

5. Provide Them With Information

Gen Z values being well informed before making any big decisions. They want to know who they are doing business with before they do it. Share your company’s message with them, be precise, informative, entertaining, and transparent with what you are selling. Gen Z is different than any other generation, they do their homework!

Catering to different generations through advertising can take time to get a hang of, but as we grow to find new and innovative ways to and become proficient in how to market and advertise to Gen Z, the creative options are endless which opens an entirely new door for the advertising and marketing industry.

How can ON Advertising help?

Above are just a few of the types of ways to market and advertise to the newest generation. Finding new, creative, and innovative ways to appeal to a technologically driven audience can be difficult. At ON Advertising, we have done the research for you to bring high investment to your business. We have found new ways to market, advertise and promote your business with the help of our social media and strategy team. Check out some of our many content strategy services and ways that we can help you. If you would like to learn more about content marketing and how it can benefit you, Contact us today!