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    Tag: social media marketing

    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. 

    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!

    8 ways to level up your Instagram bio

    Posted on by Alex Wilks

    The bio section of your Instagram page is comparable to a cover letter. With limited character space to introduce yourself and your business, it’s important to utilize this space to convey your value. But what details should be included? Instead of writing what comes to mind, why not be strategic and level up by using the following Instagram bio ideas to ensure that you make a lasting impression?

    What’s an Instagram bio?

    An Instagram bio is the text section that sits directly beneath your profile picture. Users use this space to describe the contents of their page, business or personal.

    The following information is often included:

    • Their display name (business or personal)
    • Pronounce (she/her, he/him, they/them)
    • Page category
    • 150-character description
    • One external link
    • Contact information

    As the first touch for your new and returning visitors, your Instagram bio is the area where users communicate who they are and what they offer.

    What makes a good Instagram bio?

    A good Instagram bio has the power to attract new followers or encourage them to “tap” away. With only 150 characters to set the stage, you must keep this area short, sweet, and informative. That said, this space also offers an opportunity to take action by attracting users to click through to your website or your personalized and branded hashtag. 

    8 Instagram bio ideas

    It’s time to learn what it takes to create a killer Instagram bio! Listed below are eight tactics that will help to make your business (or you) stand out from the crowd:

    • Share your story: Think of your bio as a 150-character sales pitch. This space needs to be used to speak to your target audience and detail your business story or personal journey.
    • Include targeted keywords in the name field: Did you know that the name field in your Instagram is separate from your username and can be used as a valuable SEO tactic? When users search on Instagram, you can improve your visibility by utilizing this section to appear higher on the app.
    • Use a link: Instagram allows one external link, so be strategic when using it. This could link users back to your website or a specific landing page.
    • Add an actionable button: Action drives engagement. This is your opportunity to offer a promo or resource that may be of interest to your customers.
    • Share your contact information: While DMs are a great way to contact someone, email and phone number can often be quicker methods. Be sure to include this on your Instagram bio.
    • Choose high-quality, relevant profile pictures: When it comes to social branding, your profile picture is what authenticates you. This is a great spot to add a company logo or a good shot of you doing what you do.
    • Tag related accounts and add your branded hashtag: Hashtags are the powerhouse of Instagram, so if you can come up with something unique to attribute to your business or brand, your Instagram bio is the place to put it. 
    • Utilize Instagram stories’ highlights: Since highlights appear directly below your Instagram bio, they’re almost an extension of it. Show off your personality and spotlight your community and create something catchy. 

    Trek Marketing’s social media marketing service includes Instagram. Are you ready to get started?

    Do you have more Instagram bio ideas? Drop a comment below to share with our readers. 

    instagram bio writing idea

    Reach vs. impressions: What’s the difference?

    Posted on by Alex Wilks

    Are you working towards building brand awareness? Have you done what seems like everything possible to grow and influence your audience using a wide variety of digital marketing services and tools? If these explanations resonate with you, it’s critical for you to better understand the difference between reach vs. impressions. Since each metric requires a different strategic approach, accurately measuring these metrics will help you to find areas to increase your efforts without wasting time and money. 

    Reach vs. impressions: What’s the difference? 

    In terms of digital marketing, “reach” refers to the total number of people who see your content, whereas, “impressions” refers to the number of times your content is displayed, no matter if it was clicked or not. This is a metric primarily that’s used in social media marketing and pay-per-click advertising.

    Since every social media follower can’t see all of the posts that you publish organically, if your goal is to increase engagement on a particular platform to ensure content is delivered to your target audience, reach and impressions are great analytics to examine.

    Let’s dig a bit deeper

    There are many similarities between reach and impressions, however, there are some underlying differences as well. Let’s use an example to further your understanding. If your company has 1000 followers on Instagram and you publish a post, if every one of your followers sees that post, you have a reach of 1000 users—along with 1000 impressions. However, if you update your post and all of your followers, once again, see your post, your reach doesn’t change, but you now have 2000 impressions. This is partly why you may notice that your impressions can be higher than your follower count.

    Learning more about engagement

    Building brand awareness is about getting your message to the right people. This can be done by improving your reach and impressions. To ensure that you get the most out of each social platform and ad campaign, you will want to analyze the metrics offered by each network. While it would take many pages to break down the process for each social media platform, for this blog, we will focus on Facebook.

    On Facebook, reach falls into three different categories:

    • Organic: The number of unique people who see your content in their news feed.
    • Paid: The number of unique people who see your paid content (ex. Facebook Ad).
    • Viral: The number of unique people who see your post or page mentioned in a story published by a friend. These stories include actions such as liking, sharing, or commenting.

    Similar to reach, Facebook impressions are also split into the same three different categories:

    • Organic: The number of times your content was displayed on someone’s news feed.
    • Paid: The number of times your paid content was displayed.
    • Viral: The number of times content associated with your page was displayed in a story published by a friend.

    A great understanding of building brand awareness must be before engagement, reach, and impressions can drive your target audience to take action. If you’re ready to get your social media marketing and pay-per-click marketing on track, please contact Trek Marketing’s Sales Team to get started.

    What did you find most interesting about the above blog? Drop a comment below to share with our readers.

    Increase web traffic with these 4 strategic services

    Posted on by Alex Wilks

    Every online business wants to increase website traffic to drive sales and conversions. After all, an attractive website amplifies brand awareness and revenue. However, it isn’t easy to get noticed in the vast depth of organic search results, which is why we have four digital marketing services to strategically bring quality traffic back to your website. 

    Search engine optimization (SEO) 

    SEO encompasses a wide range of tactics for helping your website rank well in search engine results for relevant keywords and phrases. Since organic searches are most likely to begin via search engines, this digital marketing service has the potential to dramatically increase the quantity and quality of your website traffic by attracting users who’re interested in completing a sale.

    Pay-per-click advertising (PPC)

    PPC advertising drives traffic to your website through the use of paid advertisements. These ads are strategically placed on search engine result pages (SERPs), social media sites, and other websites. While digital marketers are in charge of creating and managing these ads, with PPC advertising, businesses only pay when the ad has been clicked, making this a cost-effective way to increase website traffic. 

    Social media marketing

    Social media sites like Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter are an excellent way to grow your brand, expand your audience, and drive more website traffic. By creating a social media following you offer added opportunities for users to link back to your website, which increases traffic and incentivizes viewers to learn more about what your business has to offer. 

    Content marketing

    Blog post submissions, infographics, videos, and podcasts are all elements that fall under the realm of content marketing. Whether you choose to create and publish content that aligns with the interests of your audience or keep things simple by outsourcing content marketing to a digital marketing agency, it’s important that you be strategic to increase page session times and conversions.

    Did you know that the following content marketing is more likely to drive website traffic?

    • Long-form content (more than 2000 words)
    • Informational pages
    • Product and service pages
    • Guides

    Trek marketing offers all of the above strategic digital marketing services, so perhaps it’s time that you found out more?

    If you had to prioritize, which digital marketing service would you try first to increase your website traffic?