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    Category: Social Media Marketing

    Tips for using TikTok for business

    Posted on by Alex Wilks

    TikTok has rapidly emerged as a powerhouse social media platform, captivating millions of users worldwide with its short-form videos and creative content. However, TikeTok mashups aren’t just for dancing challenges and viral trends, it’s an influential platform for businesses to engage with their target audience in unique ways. If you’ve considered leveraging TikTok for your business, here are some essential tips to help you succeed.

    Embrace authenticity

    TikTok thrives on authentic and genuine content. Avoid overly polished and promotional videos, and instead, focus on being relatable and human. Show behind-the-scenes moments, share user-generated content, and let your brand’s personality shine through. Authenticity is key to building a strong connection with TikTok users. 

    Understand Tiktok culture

    To effectively engage with TikTok’s user base, it’s crucial to understand the platform’s culture and trends. Spend time exploring popular hashtags, challenges, and content formats. Stay up to date with the latest trends and adapt them creatively to align with your brand. By participating in the TikTok culture, you can increase your visibility and resonate with the audience. 

    Tell compelling stories

    The storytelling potential on TikTok is immense with the ability to craft narratives that capture attention and evoke emotion. Consider using a series of videos to tell a story that leverages suspense, humour, or a surprise that keeps viewers engaged. Since an engaging storyline creates an emotional connection with your audience, it’s a great way to enhance the likelihood of them sharing your content.

    Utilize TikTok’s advertising features

    The TikTok platform offers various advertising features, such as in-feed ads, branded hashtag challenges, and brand takeovers. Explore these options to reach a broader audience and increase brand visibility. However, ensure your ads align seamlessly with the platform’s content style and capture the attention of users quickly. 

    Engage and interact 

    TikTok is all about engagement and community. Respond to comments, engage with user-generated content, and participate in trends and challenges. By interacting with your audience, you’re fostering a sense of connection and building brand loyalty. Be sure to encourage users to engage with your TikTok mashups and further your brand’s engagement by featuring your videos on their profiles. 

    TikTok provides a wealth of opportunities for businesses to connect with a vast and engaged audience. By embracing authenticity, utilizing advertising features, and so much more, you can harness the power of TikTok to elevate your brand and drive business growth.

    What TikTok mashups have you created for your business? Drop a comment below to share. 

    How to better engage with your followers on social media

    Posted on by Alex Wilks

    Social media engagement is what drives social media marketing. While most brands want more engagement on their social posts, they don’t always know how to revamp their strategies to feed algorithms, which is why they go unnoticed. That said, the more engaged your audience is, the more that other people will see your posts and the better you’ll achieve those social media goals. Let’s dive into the world of social media engagement to learn more about understanding it and how to increase it. 

    What is social media engagement?

    Social media engagement is a term that’s used to measure how much your audience interacts with your content. While it varies by platform, these actions include likes, comments, and shares. Although it’s easy to compare social media engagement month over month and year over year, this is a great way to identify what is working and what needs improvement. 

    Tips for increasing your social media engagement 

    If you’re in the realm of needing improvement, here are some ways to get started:

    • Set some new goals based on your metrics: Whether you use Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, or LinkedIn, your social media metrics offer information on whether your social strategy is working well or not. Set clear engagement goals so that you know what to focus your content efforts on. This can be done by seeing how many people interact with your posts on average. 
    • Understand each platform: Each platform has its own metrics and trends, so this will require you to adjust your social media engagement strategy accordingly. 
    • Know your audience:  The key to improving your social media engagement is understanding your target audience. Since your brand is making content for a particular audience, always keep them in mind when deciding what to share on your social channels. 
    • Understand what makes an engaging post: Since every network is a little different, be sure to pay attention to what content does well on each platform. Check your analytics regularly to identify how your posts are performing with your audience.
    • Know when to post: The best time to post is when your audience is the most engaging. Knowing how often to post is equally as important because you don’t want to flood your audience with too much content. In our opinion, once a day in the morning, early afternoon, or evening is appropriate. Try them all to compare what offers you more social media engagement.  

    We hope this blog taught you a bit about how to better engage with your followers on social media through strategy. 

    What other ways do you interact with your audience? Drop a comment below. 

    Bulk content creation and how it can save you time

    Posted on by Alex Wilks

    Whether you’re looking for a professional digital marketing agency to conduct content creation services or some tips on how to handle things yourself, this blog will offer a range of ideas for your social media platforms, blogs, website pages, and more. 

    What is bulk content creation?

    Bulk content creation is when a large amount of content—photos, videos, captions, and hashtags—are drafted and pre-scheduled to publish for some time. As a good rule of thumb, it’s best to plan about four weeks’ worth of content, but you should be open to any trends that may appear. 

    What is the purpose of bulk content creation?

    Sending out social media posts just for the sake of staying active isn’t going to cut it. While social media is all about interacting with your audience to create lasting business relationships, your social media strategy needs to take on some leadership to incentivize potential customers to buy your products and/or services. Bulk content creation allows you to plan and do just that!

    One of the best examples of this is preparing for the holiday season. It’s essential that you plan, schedule, and orchestrate your social posts to ensure you have enough time to carry out seasonal campaigns. That said, if your business schedule is too full, be sure to reach out for content creation services that you don’t need to miss out.

    How does bulk content creation save you time?

    Saving time is a matter of using the right tools to work effectively. Since there are vast options when it comes to scheduling content, the most important thing you need to know is the following:

    • The date of publication
    • The time of publication
    • Platform output 
    • Created Content
    • Creation caption (including hashtags)
    • Status of post

    Quality is everything. Before your content can impact your audience, it must demonstrate value. This means that prospective followers should gain something from your post—knowledge, a discount, entertainment, etc.

    Are you inspired to start creating your content in bulk? Let us know if you need any pointers in the comments section below. 

    5 ways how to build an email list with Instagram

    Posted on by Alex Wilks

    Is your end-of-2022 resolution to grow your email list? Are you hoping to utilize your following on Instagram to increase email subscribers? In this blog, you’ll learn five ways to use this popular social media platform to generate email signups.

    How to build an email list using Instagram 

    Did you know that you can grow your email list with Instagram both organically and through paid ads? Instagram and Meta Business Suite have several tools for generating email subscriptions. Let’s walk through these options so that you can learn how to build an email list.

    • Direct link from bio: The easiest way to collect emails is to include a signup link within your Instagram bio. You will first need to create a website landing page with a subscription form that’s designed to collect email addresses from visitors. Then you can add the link to that page on your bio, making it easy for your followers to navigate there. How is this done? Scroll down to the links section and tap edit. Then, enter the URL. Consider also adding a call to action (CTA) to encourage profile visitors to tap the link.
    • Create an email sign-up lead form action button: Instagram rolled out a new feature that allows businesses to include a lead form on their profile. This form is displayed as a button under the business bio. To add a lead form action button to your profile tap the “edit profile” button and scroll down to the action buttons. Then, select add lead form from the list of available action buttons. Tap “done” and the button will be added instantly. 
    • Automate your DM responses: Did you know that email signups and lead forms aren’t the only way to collect contact information through Instagram? In fact, you can ensure that your DMs collect what you need. For those who receive lots of DMs, we recommend setting up an auto-reply to turn prospects into subscribers. This could easily start as a welcome message or a response to FAQs. Simply prompt users to provide email addresses and saved your responses to create a list. To set up saved replies, open your Instagram account and go to business settings. Select “saved replies” from the menu, tap the “+” button and create a response. 
    • Boost your organic content: Posts, reels, and stories possess the power to generate email signups, and this can be done by sponsoring content to help you attract more viewers. Promoting organic content can be done easily and quickly via the “boost” button on your Instagram account. Be sure to choose the goal based on how you want to collect new signups (i.e. directing them to your lead form).
    • Run engagement ads: Boosting content to an uninterested audience is far less effective than running paid promotions through a full-funnel campaign that educates potential customers and warms the audience up to your business. 

    So, how do you build an email list with Instagram? From engaging with potential subscribers to directing followers to your landing pages, there is a wide range of options for generating new email signups. 

    Which of the above ideas are you going to use to build up your strategy? Drop a comment below to share.

    How to prepare your shop for increased holiday traffic

    Posted on by Alex Wilks

    The weeks leading up to the holidays are some of the busiest of the year for e-commerce businesses. That said, with more people hunting on the wide web for gift ideas, it’s safe to assume that you can expect a higher-than-average number of visitors to your store—as long as your SEO, social media, and email strategies are working in your favour. Needless to say, if you aren’t equipped to handle an increase in website traffic, it will cost you sales this holiday season, so it’s best to be prepared. 

    Don’t make any big changes to your website layout

    While it’s great to keep things fresh, especially during the holidays, changing up your website’s layout right before the biggest shopping time of the year isn’t recommended. Shoppers rely on consistency, especially when they’re trying to find products to fulfill their orders, and drastic changes to these processes can be frustrating and cause unexpected technical glitches. So, instead of focusing on a web re-design, use this time to present holiday deals to get those sales up. You can create a holiday-specific landing page, a new shopping category, change up with some seasonal banners, and update your content to showcase special deals. Basically, you can develop a festive look without changing the website’s functionality. 

    Ensure mobile shoppers can also enjoy

    The start of November is the perfect time to prep your website for mobile commerce. Since almost every online shopper has a phone these days, it would be silly to not ensure that your website is legible and workable on a smartphone. 

    Our sister company Numinix Web Development offers a mobile optimization service that will adjust font and button sizes and enable mobile payments to ensure that the customer experience is the same regardless of the device they wish to use.   

    Stock up on inventory

    Whether you have items that are seasonal or you have a list of popular goods, it’s important to look at your previous year’s sales trends. This ensures that you can properly stock your products before the influx of sales can in. Keep in mind that if you have inventory on the way, you should be providing regular updates so that customers can come back to purchase. It’s also a good idea to offer alternative suggestions to keep sales in-store rather than offering up sales to your competitors because of a lack of inventory. 

    Which one of our proposed tips for an increase in website traffic do you find most important? Drop a comment below to share with our readers.

    How to allocate your digital marketing budget

    Posted on by Alex Wilks

    While there is no universal strategy for small business budget allocation, successful e-commerce companies will invest in a mix of both paid and organic initiatives. With a wide abundance of marketing channels available in various sectors of online advertising, it’s important to know where your money can be wisely spent to yield a higher return on investment (ROI) and which activities will strategically reach your target audience. In this blog, we will walk you through some steps that you should take when appropriating your marketing budget and offer tips on how to better budget yourself in the future. 

    Making the most of your digital marketing budget

    Whether this is the first digital marketing budget you’ve ever built or you’re looking to give your process a little refresher.

    Here are some steps that can help you to determine where the money should go:

    • Use a budget tracker: All businesses need to track their expenses and analyze where cuts can be made to further the profit. Likewise, your first step to allocating a budget for digital marketing for a small business is to prepare data into a report that shows proposed spend, actual spend, and the results of your spend for future planning.
    • Review goals: Your organization’s top priorities and initiatives are things to consider when budgeting for the next quarter. However, when reviewing these goals, you also need to factor in new product launches, deals, promotions, and event signups.  
    • Select the right sales channels: What works for one business or industry may not work for another, which is why outreach, demographics, behaviours, and intent are elements to consider when choosing the right sales channels. This will not only help you to avoid wasting money but also build up your buyer persona. 
    • Paid search: Online ad campaigns like Google Ads may use up much of your budget because of the cost-per-click but if you secure the right visitors to your website, the investment is well worth it.  
    • Paid social: Popular choices include Facebook ads, Instagram ads, and LinkedIn ads, which show up for potential customers on their social feeds. Depending on the dollar amount you spend, your chances of acquiring new customers can become heightened. 
    • Content marketing: Content is king and since it can typically be put online for little to no charge, the only cost associated with the content is the time that it takes to write. If you can do that yourself, great! But if you’re one of the many who need to rely on freelance writers to produce awesome business content, be sure to budget what you can afford and post as much as you can. 

    If you allocate your budget based on data, you’re setting yourself up to be successful. Since Trek Marketing works with digital marketing for small business, we have all the services and expertise you need for allocating your budget. 

    What other strategies do you consider when depending on your business budget? Drop a comment below to share.

    3 effective digital marketing services regardless of your business

    Posted on by Alex Wilks

    In online shopping, digital marketing is the most effective way for a business to advertise its products and/or services to the masses. While budget is often the only roadblock that stops a brand from investing in all digital marketing agency services, there are three effective ones that work best when learning to understand the needs and interests of the consumer. Let’s delve deep into the various techniques that can be used regardless of the type of business. 

    Service #1: Search Engine Optimization (SEO)

    Since SEO is one of the most effective online sales techniques, it’s often the first service that businesses outsource. That said, since the SEO process relies on research and orchestration to gain results like a higher search ranking, it can also take a bit of time before visibility for particular keywords starts to generate more traffic. Be sure to remember that no matter where the user is in the buying journey, SEO possesses the power to target them while highlighting said products or services for a larger audience. 

    Learn more about Trek Marketing’s SEO service

    Service #2: Social Media Marketing (SMM)

    Social media is a realm where businesses can go to promote their products and/or services, but depending on the platform, it’s also a great way for brands to make personal connections, show off their personality, and increase awareness. Although the main goal of SMM is to create dialogue with new and existing customers, it seconds as a valuable opportunity to influence purchase decisions. Whether you choose to automate some marketing campaigns or promote a few pieces of content ongoing, SMM is a great and easy way to communicate across the social sphere. 

    Learn more about Trek Marketing’s SMM service

    Service #3: Pay-Per-Click Advertising (PPC)

    For those who may not know, PPC is a digital marketing technique that allows businesses to display ads on search engines and various other websites. While the goal of this service is to bring traffic and sales for the company, the return on investment can vary depending on how many clicks are made versus how many purchases are carried out. Since the business can choose how to strategically appropriate their campaign and bid within their budget, while more expensive than many other digital marketing agency services, PPC can be very effective across a wide range of industries. 

    Learn more about Trek Marketing’s PPC service

    Which digital marketing agency services have you tried with your business? Please drop it in the comments section below to start a conversation. 

    How to write social media content that engages with your target audience

    Posted on by Alex Wilks

    There is a misconception that creating content is easy, and while that may be true for crafting a single post, generating continuous posts is a challenge for any brand. If your business is on the hunt for tips to create compelling social media engagement posts, you’ve come to the right place. As part of our many digital marketing services, we analyze the ongoing trends with various social media platforms to look for new ways to interact with customers and prioritize strategic methods of connecting with partnering brands. Are you ready to learn how to better engage with your target audience? 

    Use fewer words and more visuals

    As people who endlessly scroll through social media ourselves, we know how exhausting it can be to be hit with a wall of text. Not only do consumers lose interest but this may even extend further and discourage them from finding your content in the future. Our best suggestion to avoid this roadblock is by delivering a healthy dose of visual content s well. Videos are a fantastic and quick way to deliver your on-brand messages through social media engagement posts, plus they offer a way to get creative and speak with your audience.

    Stock photos are good but not great

    If video isn’t something you can commit to, start with some personalized photos and watch comments and likes rise. While stock images can be effective for social posting, the don’t perform quite as well as authentic images, and as a result, they’re bad for search engine optimization (SEO).

    Do you need help creating custom, unique social media images? Here are some tips we’ve crafted for readers like you: 

    Repurpose your site’s evergreen content

    Evergreen content is search-optimized content that is continually relevant. Since this content is already sustainable, it’s a great resource for repurposing. Take your best pieces and transform them into infographics, charts, graphs, and social media images. Not only is it great for showcasing but you have a high chance of it being shared on assorted social channels.

    Host some competitions 

    Whether you want to host seasonal sales or promotions based on increased following, social media competitions are a surefire way to grow your audience and gain tons of engagement. 

    Those who aren’t interested in re-inventing the wheel can try one of the following to get things moving:

    • Like, comment, and share campaigns: This allows you to gain as much attention as possible in the given time frame.
    • Tag a friend: This allows you to extend your reach to new audiences.
    • User-generated content: User create posts according to the parameters that you set and tag your business—allowing you to get awesome content that can be used promotionally later on.

    With creativity and effort, you can create engaging content that will drive traffic to your website and increase brand awareness.

    Which tip are you most keen on trying to increase the following for your social media engagement posts? Drop a comment below to let us know.

    The customer buying journey explained

    Posted on by Alex Wilks

    With the accessibility of the internet and vast amounts of information available, the modern shopper is now more informed than ever. Because of this transition, sales conversations are in the hands of the buyer. With no pushy salesperson to push the features of a particular product like it used to be, instead, online businesses must adapt to continue to target their audience on their path to purchase. This is known as the customer buying journey. 

    What’s the customer buying journey?

    The customer buying journey is everything that happens on their path to purchase. Since people don’t usually just wake up and decide to make purchases on a whim (this can happen!) the process in which they become aware of a product and/or service, consider and evaluate that product and/or service, and decide to purchase that product and/or service is known as the customer buying journey. Understanding the experience of the customer buying journey can help business owners to influence their digital marketing decisions and allocate their budget to a service that best reaches their consumer audience.

    What are the stages of the customer buying journey?

    There are three steps in the customer buying journey:

    1. Awareness: The buyer because aware of a problem or something that they need
    2. Consideration: The buyer defines their problem or their needs and considers options that might solve it/them
    3. Decision: The buyer evaluates and devices on the right provider to administer a solution—this includes elements like price, delivery time, reviews, etc.

    The awareness stage applied:

    The buyer is experiencing a problem with pain in their back and their goal would be to alleviate it. They may then decide to use online resources to understand and frame the problem. For example, “Why is my back hurting?”

    The consideration stage applied:

    The buyer has defined that their back pain is a problem and they are committed to researching and understanding all of the available approaches to solving their problem. For example, “How do you treat back pain when you sit at work?”

    The decision stage applied: 

    The buyer has decided on their solution strategy, method, or approach. Their goal now is to compile a list of available online vendors, and ultimately, make a final purchase decision. For example, “Is better chair support needed? Should I get a sit-stand desk? 

    How to tailor your sales process to better meet the customer buying journey

    With everything mentioned above, it remains important for sellers to know that buyers don’t wish to be pursued and simply want to rely on your knowledge when the time feels right. We recommend utilizing services like social media marketing and search engine optimization as a way to get noticed, display your knowledge, and await sales.

    Did you have any further questions about the customer buying journey? If so, drop them below for a prompt response.

    How to set up an Instagram shop

    Posted on by Alex Wilks

    It’s one thing to have an Instagram account for your business allowing your target audience to interact with your brand. It’s another thing to curate a list of shoppable products and services that are directly accessible for purchase through your profile. Instagram for business is more than relatable posts, it’s about using the app to make it easy to sell and be discovered by potential customers too! Are you looking to learn the basics of setting up an Instagram shop to drive sales? Here’s everything you need to know.

    What’s Instagram Shop?

    Instagram Shop is part of the Instagram for business setup, offering brands the ability to showcase their product and service catalog to reach customers on the platform. By allowing business owners to curate a list of shoppable products that are directly accessible through the “View Shop” button on their profile page, Instagram is making it easier for these brands to increase traffic and sales on their websites. 

    Instagram Shop is also featured on the app’s Instagram Shop tab—a part of the main navigation menu that filters items based on user interest. As a streamlined way for users to discover shoppable products on Instagram, it’s a great tool for any sized business.

    How to set up Instagram Shop

    Setting up an Instagram Shop is quite easy, but here’s a step-by-step guide for reference:

    Step #1: Make sure you’re eligible

    Your business profile needs to meet the following eligibility requirements to set up with Instagram shop:

    Step #2: Convert to a business account

    Congrats! You’re eligible. Now you will need to switch to a business account to set up Instagram Shop. Follow these steps to convert your account. Once your account has made the switch, you can then add relevant business information, including a link to your website.

    Step #3: Upload your product and/or service catalog 

    Instagram Shop requires you to have a product/service catalog that consists of all your products, inventory, and descriptions. 

    There are two ways to create this catalog:

    • Catalog Manager: The “do it yourself” method that’s found with Meta Business Manager 
    • E-commerce Platform Partner: An integration through a certified e-commerce platform such as Shopify 

    Step #4: Account review

    Once you’ve connected your product/service catalog to your Instagram, you will then need to submit your profile for review.

    To do this:

    • Go to your Instagram profile and tap the menu icon
    • Select “Settings”
    • Sign up for shopping
    • Follow the steps to submit your account to be reviewed
    • Visiting “shopping” in your settings to check on your status—account reviews typically take a few days to complete

    Step #5: Turn on shopping

    Once your account is approved, you can then turn on shopping features:

    • Go to your profile and tap the menu icon
    • Select “Settings”
    • Tap “Business” and then tap “Shopping”
    • Select the “product catalog” that you want to connect to the account
    • Select “Done”

    And just like that your Instagram Shop is live for all to see. If you need help with Instagram for business or you have more questions, please contact the Trek team!

    Have you ever purchased anything off Instagram? Drop a comment below to let us know what it was!