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Your Social Media Strategy Needs a Face

People connect with people, not logos. Most CEOs of Fortune 500 companies have developed a strong social media presence of their own and give consumers a face to relate to their brand. Using your face in your social media strategy is necessary if you want to make a deeper connection with people.

In fact, for social media identifiers, I often use my personal name vs. my business name. As an example, my Twitter handle is my personal name.

I have two Facebook business pages: one for my company and one for my personal brand. Guess which one I use when I run ads? The one with my name and my face.

Let’s face it, browsing through their newsfeeds, people are much more likely to pay attention to an ad with a face attached to it versus a logo.

My Facebook advertising company recently said, “Melonie, reviewing your analytics, we can’t believe how many people search for you on Google.”

My name, Melonie Dodaro, has more online searches than does my company, Top Dog Social Media.

It’s because I AM the face of Top Dog Social Media.

Let me ask you a question.

When it comes to B2B products and services, what is one of the biggest factors influencing the decision-making process of a buyer?

In a word: trust.

Trust is even more important than the price tag.

In most cases, if your customer knows you have the solution they are looking for and they trust you, they will find a way to pay for your solution.

But if your customers don’t trust you, they won’t give you a dime of their money. In most cases, they won’t even give you their email address or a moment of their time and attention.

It doesn’t matter how good your social media strategy is, how professionally branded you are, how flashy your ads are or how impressive your products or services are.

None of this will matter if you haven’t established trust.

The erosion of trust in business

You may have noticed over the last couple of years more and more people talk about trust.

Why is that?

Warren Buffet said it best:

“Trust is like the air we breathe — when it’s present, nobody really notices. When it’s absent, everyone notices.”

Many people are talking about trust now because it has become increasingly absent in the world of business.

According to Sacha Romanovitch, CEO of Grant Thornton UK LLP, “Trust and integrity is are essential to the effective and efficient functioning of markets that underpin a vibrant economy. Too often we hear about failing of trust in the market. However, more compelling is the power of trust to drive and sustain competitive advantage.“

She then goes on to say, “And yet trust in business and government has been eroded in recent years and remains low …“

Authors Ghassan Khoury and Steve Crabtree share a similar opinion stating that “consumer trust in businesses is at an all-time low. In fact, worldwide, two-thirds of adults say corruption is widespread in business.“

Everywhere you look, people are talking about the loss of trust in the business world.

Yet, it is a well-known fact that people buy from people they know, like and trust.

Why faces are important

I started this article by saying people connect with people (faces) and not logos. This is largely because we are born to engage with and be engaged by others, which is what trust is mostly about.

According to an article by Roderick M. Kramer published in the Harvard Business Review, “…humans are ‘hardwired’ to make social connections. The evidence is impressive: Within one hour of birth, a human infant will draw her head back to look into the eyes and face of the person gazing at her. Within a few more hours, the infant will orient her head in the direction of her mother’s voice. And, unbelievable as it may seem, it’s only a matter of hours before the infant can actually mimic a caretaker’s expressions.”

From a survival perspective, we quickly learn to “engage and be engaged,” building trust with the people around us from the first hours of lives. Essentially, we learn how to trust and be trusted, all based on the power of the face.

The power of a face to help build trust is just as important in business as it is in our personal lives.

This is why I always recommend using a face (yours or that of the head of your company) as part of your social media strategy. It is especially important in industries requiring a high level of trust among the parties to conduct business.

If you don’t include a face as part of your social media strategy, your brand identity can appear impersonal and even cold to your customers. Your goal is to provide your customers with a face they can quickly identify and relate to, making your brand friendlier and more relatable.

Quite simply, it is much easier for people to get to know, like and trust a face than a logo.

Include Your Face in Your Social Media Strategy

Many companies, including the biggest and most well-known brands, use prominent faces as part of their social media strategies.

Whom do you think of when you think of Apple? The late Steve Jobs, of course.

What about Microsoft? Bill Gates.

Virgin? Richard Branson.

What about KFC? Colonel Sanders.

You get the idea.

Even companies such as Amazon, Facebook and Zappos have very prominent and well-known CEOs who have helped define the brand.

If having a human face representing the company is this important for major brands, how important do you think it is for a smaller, unknown business?

Whether you are a large brand, a start-up, small business, consultant or advisor, using your face as part of your branding will significantly increase the “know, like and trust” factor with your prospects.

Your face tells a story

Studies have shown we judge a face on two key traits: warmth and competence.

These two aspects must be present in your interactions online and in the images of your face if you hope to establish the “know, like and trust” factor with your customers.

A study by Susan T. Fiske, Amy J.C. Cuddy and Peter Glick discusses a number of interesting notions around social perceptions of warmth and competence – both relevant and important to your business.

The first is that “warmth and competence are reliably universal dimensions of social judgment across stimuli, cultures and time.”

This is a hugely important statement. It tells us that it doesn’t matter who your customers are, where they are from or how old they might be, it is vital you and your face convey warmth and competence.

The second notion is that “people perceived warm and competent elicit uniformly positive emotions and behavior, whereas those perceived as lacking warmth and competence elicit uniform negativity.”

This tells us that if you, or your image, lack warmth and competence, you are better off not being your company’s face. Otherwise, your brand may be perceived negatively.

The third notion is that “cognitively, people are more sensitive to warmth information than to competence information.”

This means people are faster and better able to recognize and judge warmth (or the lack of it) than competence. This makes it incredibly important for you to authentically exude warmth.

Don’t underestimate the value and importance of warmth in business. This trait is vital for everyone to have, especially for leaders and business owners.

A Zenger Folkman study that looked at 50,000 managers found that a leader’s overall effectiveness is predicted more by warmth than competence. For example, if you’re seen as low-warmth, you have around a 1-in-2000 chance to make the top quartile as an effective leader.

It is even more important for women to appear warm. A study by Margarita Mayo described in the Harvard Business Review shows that “men are seen as confident if they are seen as competent, but women are seen as confident only if they come across as both competent and warm. Women must be seen as warm in order to capitalize on their competence and be seen as confident and influential at work; competent men are seen as confident and influential whether they are warm or not.”

As you can see, warmth is a vital characteristic to have when cultivating business, whether in person or digitally.

But one should not overlook the importance of appearing competent as well. While warmth is the biggest contributor to the “know” and “like” factors, competence is a must to establish trust.

Potential customers need to see you as smart, capable and reliable – that you will get the job done.

When people assess your competence, they assess whether you are knowledgeable, skilled and capable. People will also look closely at your track record.

A study by D. Han Ming Chng, T. Kim, B. Gilbreath and L. Andersson determined that “…leaders are perceived as competent when they do two things. First, they effectively communicate the future of the organization. And second, they continually grow themselves—as well as the people they lead—through learning and action.”

As the face of your brand, you will increase your perceived competence when people see you as someone who:

has a vision for the future

is a good communicator

makes decisions and acts

is continuously learning

cares about the people you lead and encourages their personal and professional growth.

Put your best face forward

Part of being the face of your brand literally means having an image of your face prominently displayed on your social platforms, website and elsewhere online.

That photo needs to portray your warmth and competence.

Conveying competence in a picture might be more difficult than conveying warmth. Here are some tips to help you appear both warmer as well as more competent in your online photos:

look straight at the camera as if you were making eye contact with the viewer

smile easy, slightly showing your teeth

have a slight smile squint to your eyes, but keep your eyebrows relaxed

show your full face and keep your hair out of your face

take the picture from the neck or shoulders up

dress in formal or business-appropriate attire

stand up straight with no head tilt or lean

have a clean, simple background

use good lighting

have the picture professionally taken.

Real trust does the selling for you

In the current climate of eroded consumer trust, you need to increase the trust your customers have in you to achieve business success. Use every means available to accomplish that goal with your social media strategy. Using your face to represent your business is one of the simplest ways to build trust online.

Keep in mind that adding your face to your social media strategy is only one important aspect of building and keeping the trust of your customers, potential and existing.

Trusted businesses have shorter sales cycles and win more deals. Today, the economy of trust needs to be on the minds of all business leaders and integrated deeply into their digital and social media strategies.

The post Your Social Media Strategy Needs a Face appeared first on Top Dog Social Media.

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unifiedsocialblog · 5 years

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20+ Creative Social Media Contest Ideas and Examples

A little inspiration goes a long way when it comes to brainstorming social media contest ideas.

To get your creative juices flowing, we’ve rounded up more than 20 ideas across Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, Pinterest, LinkedIn, Snapchat—and even TikTok.

And to make things easier, we’ve sorted them by objective, from increasing engagement to generating leads.

If you’re looking for platform-specific guides, don’t fret. Check out our Facebook and Instagram contest ideas for suggestions and guidelines.(PS: before launching your social media contest be sure to make sure it doesn’t violate the platforms’ T&Cs or R&Rs.)

Now that the fine print is out of the way, let’s get to the fun stuff.

Bonus: Download our free, customizable social media calendar template to easily plan and schedule all your content in advance.

7 Social media contest ideas to increase engagement

Turn up the likes, comments, and shares with these social media contest ideas.

1. Like and/or comment to win

The classic “like and/or comment to win” is a tried and true way to increase engagement. It can be held on just about any social platform, from LinkedIn to Instagram.

Simply create a post with an explanatory caption, include an entry deadline and simple guidelines, and voila! You can also share the post in Facebook or Instagram Stories to better spread the word.

In this example from Hallmark UK and Ireland’s Instagram account, the entry rules and deadline are clearly stated, and an on-brand image of the prize ties it all together. Hashtags like #giveaway, #freebie, #liketoenter, and #commentoenter help to amplify the contest’s reach, too.

View this post on Instagram

????W I N???? We have a Tuesday treat for you! You could win this beautiful bundle of Birthday cards???? Simply like and comment on this post for a chance to win???? The winner will be announced tomorrow, good luck???? . . . . . . #giveaway #tuesdaytreats #freebie #competition #happytuesday #tuesdaythoughts #cardbundle #liketoenter #commenttoenter #followtoenter #birthday #birthdaycards #birthdaycard #happybirthday #gift #hallmark #hallmarkuk

A post shared by Hallmark UK & Ireland (@hallmarkukandireland) on May 21, 2019 at 11:26am PDT

2. Share or RT to enter

Like and/or comment to win contests prompt engagements with your base, but by pairing the contest with a share or RT requirement, you can reach more people. If you ask followers to share to Facebook or Instagram Stories, keep in mind that you’ll only be able to confirm those shares within 24 hours.

To promote the launch of its new direct flight from Tampa to Frankfurt, German airline Lufthansa ran a two-week #Hausguest social media campaign. To enter for a chance to win houseguest essentials, all participants had to do was retweet.

3. Tag a friend

Bring ideas 1 and 2 together with a “tag a friend” entry requirement, since a tag is technically a comment and a share wrapped into one. Ideally, this approach will benefit from the ripple effect: A friend tags a friend tags a friend kind of thing.

This example from Montreal-based shoe brand asks participants to tag three friends, increasing the odds of additional tags.

View this post on Instagram

GIVEWAY ???? ????????

A post shared by L'intervalle (@lintervalle) on Apr 5, 2019 at 12:14pm PDT

Brands with big budgets may also wish to incentivize tags with double prizes. For instance, a restaurant could ask followers to tag the person they’d like to share a meal with. Another way to encourage tags is to let them count as multiple entries.

View this post on Instagram

*CLOSED*☆????????????????????????????????☆ We're teaming up with @mininatorilla to give two lucky winners a chance to win☀️summer kick-off essentials☀️Enter for a chance to win one $50 Whole Foods Market gift card plus a variety pack of three Mi Nina Tortilla chips sure to make the [unofficial] first weekend of the summer a fiesta to remember???????? To enter: 1. Like this photo 2. Follow @chicadegallo + @mininatortilla 3. Tag a friend in the comments 4. Tag more friends for more chances to win [one tag per comment] . . . This giveaway ends Monday 5/27/19 at 11:59PM EST. Winners will be selected at random and notified via Instagram message shortly after. Open to contiguous U.S. residents only. This promotion is in no way sponsored, endorsed, administered by or associated with Instagram or Whole Foods Market.

A post shared by Chica de Gallo® (@chicadegallo) on May 23, 2019 at 11:25am PDT

4. Photo caption contest

A “caption this” prompt is a fun way to encourage followers to comment on your photo and engage with your brand.

Shopkins toy brand uses this type of contest to showcase its products. You don’t need a big prize budget to run a successful social media contest, either. Simply featuring the winner in Instagram Stories was enough to prompt 45 comments in this contest, three times more than its previous post.

View this post on Instagram

Caption this, SPK fans! (Psst, best caption will be featured on on our IG Story.) Comment your captions down below! Winner announced on 22nd March on IG Story. T&Cs: https://bit.ly/2HEwCwI #CaptionThisContest #SPK11 #ShopkinsFamily #TheDiPastas #Shopkins #MiniPacks #SPKFans #ToyCollector #Collectibles #Toys

A post shared by Shopkins (@shopkins_world) on Mar 20, 2019 at 8:09am PDT

5. Create a best comment competition

Giving followers a prompt can inspire more comments. Ask them to tell you why they—or a person they nominate—deserve to win. Or ask them to come up with a name for a new product.

For a chance to win a print of this Saskia Skoric painting, participants were asked to come up with a name for it.

View this post on Instagram

!!!????????COMPETITION ????????!!! **WIN**WIN**WIN** an A3 PRINT of THIS PAINTING!!!!!! All you have to do is FOLLOW me ????????@saskiaskoricfineart ???????? and ????????LIKE ????????the post.. THEN .. in the comments, give me a NAME for THIS PAINTING as it is yet UNNAMED. The name that myself and my family think works best for the painting will be the WINNER!!!!! It’s THAT simple!!!! I shall announce the winner on 23rd February. ????~GOOD LUCK~???? . . . #texturedpainting #oilpainting #fingerpainting #saskiaskoric #saskiaskoricfineart #competition #biggiveaway #win #beawinner #followtowin #commenttowin #newcompetition #competitiontime #artcompetition #artcompetitions

A post shared by Saskia Skoric Fine Art (@saskiaskoricfineart) on Feb 9, 2019 at 1:27am PST

6. Create a play-to-win game

Over the course of one week, Chipotle kept its Instagrammers on their toes with a series of successive games intended to get people excited about the addition of queso to the menu.

On the first day, fans were asked to comment with the letters “Q-U-E-S-O” on a post in uninterrupted succession. That led to 22,000 comments and a year of free queso for the winner.

On day four, Chipotle launched a “spot the differences” game using Instagram Galleries, a game that 450 people played.

By the end of the week more than 50,000 people had participated, making The Queso Cup Chipotle’s highest engagement Instagram campaign of all time.

7. Vote to win

People love to have their say. Create a contest where a vote counts as an entry. Ask users to vote in the comment section of a post, or create an Instagram Stories poll. This is also a quick and easy way to collect feedback from your audience on something important to your business.

View this post on Instagram

⁣⁣ GIVEAWAY!⁣⁣ ⁣ Ink lovers! We need you! Help us pick our next #thINKthursday ink review from these four inks and you could WIN a sample set of all four! ⁣⁣⁣ ⁣⁣⁣ To enter, just…⁣⁣⁣ 1. Like this photo/post.⁣⁣⁣ 2. Post your ink choice (A,B,C,D or E) in the comments.⁣⁣⁣ 3. Be sure you're following @andersonpens⁣⁣⁣ Voting begins: Now⁣⁣⁣ Voting ends: Tuesday at 5 pm CST. ⁣⁣⁣ A random winner will be selected from qualified participants and will be contacted on Wednesday. ⁣⁣⁣ ⁣⁣⁣ This giveaway is in no way sponsored by, administered by or associated with Instagram, Inc. By entering, you confirm that you are at least 13 years of age, that you release Instagram of any responsibility, and that you agree to Instagram's terms of use.⁣⁣⁣ As with all good giveaways, this one is open to anyone and everyone, worldwide – but you need to be at least 13 years old and have an Instagram account.⁣⁣⁣ ⁣⁣⁣ #fpn #fpgeeks #fountainpenday #penaddict #fountainpenink #inkreview #inkophile #andersonpens #handwriting #votethINK #giveaway #vote #votetowin #inksamples #thINKthursday⁣⁣⁣ #apgiveaway #andersonpensgiveaway #ink #inks #inked

A post shared by Anderson Pens (@andersonpens) on May 6, 2019 at 8:49am PDT

Ginsoy’s new menu’s bound to leave you drooling for a WIN! Which one did you like best? Red Roast Chicken or Shanghai Beef?#Ginsoy #ExtremeChinese #votetowin

Posted by Ginsoy – Extreme Chinese on Tuesday, February 21, 2017

This type of contest can also be paired with a submission-based campaign. For instance, if you’re running a caption or photo contest, the winner can be chosen by vote.

6 social media contest ideas to increase followers

Grow your follower count with these tried and tested social media contest ideas.

1. Follow to win

The most straightforward way to broaden your audience is to require a follow for contest entry.

This contest structure is usually combined with a “like” request, too, as in this example from Riedel UK.

View this post on Instagram

Follow @RiedelUK and like this post for the chance to win a set of 6 Riedel Fatto A Mano Cabernet/Merlot glasses worth £425! Comp ends at 2pm on 22.02.19 ❤️???????????????????? #RIEDEL #myRiedel #competition #liketowin #followtowin #tagtowin #cabernet #merlot #wine #glass #fattoamano

A post shared by Riedel UK � (@riedeluk) on Feb 20, 2019 at 3:15am PST

Brookes Blooms ran a similar contest. But, instead of using a date as an entry deadline, they set a goal of 100 followers before drawing a winner.

View this post on Instagram

GIVEAWAY TIME! Not long to go now until the winner is drawn to win a Keyring & Candle of your choice! Open Australia wide! Simply follow this account and like the corresponding post on my Instagram page! (Post pictured in second photo). Winner drawn once @brookes.blooms reaches 100 followers ???? #smallbusiness #smallbusinessmelbourne #win #free #botanicalart #floralart #candle #soycandles #soycandle #likeforlikes #followtowin #likeforlikes #followforfollowback #asinglej #promiseimlovable

A post shared by Art & Gardening By Brooke (@brookes.blooms) on May 24, 2019 at 3:41am PDT

2. Follow and share to enter

There’s little point in asking your followers to follow you. The best “follow to win” contests are supported by an amplification strategy.

Ask people to follow and share your post. Or ask them to tag someone in the comments so you can reach and hopefully entice non-followers to come aboard.

View this post on Instagram

GIVEAWAY TIME ???? We are giving away one of our lunch boxes to one lucky winner! Winner will be announced on Sunday the 2nd of June! TO ENTER: •You must be following @luxury.eco •Like and share this photo •Tag as many friends as possible for multiple entries Good luck!

A post shared by LuxuryEco (@luxury.eco) on May 26, 2019 at 5:53pm PDT

3. Follow to win + influencer

Another great way to reach new potential followers is to partner with an influencer. These contests can require entrants to follow both accounts for a mutual gain, or just your company’s account.

Keep in mind that the terms you agree upon may influence the partnership cost.

Lufthansa teamed up with influencer Marissa Cox @ruerodier to reach her audience of 123K followers. Based on the post’s comments, the airline scored somewhere near 650 followers out of the promotion.

View this post on Instagram

Congratulations @lilitoohappy – you’ve won!! Please DM me your address details etc…. NOW CLOSED: COMPETITION/CONCOURS: I don’t know about you, but I have serious wanderlust at the moment, so I’ve teamed up with @lufthansa to offer one of you x2 return flights within Europe (Lufthansa destinations) To enter: – Follow @ruerodier & @lufthansa and like this post – Comment and tag your partner or friend you would like to travel with. (You must be +18 to enter & I will announce the winner on Wednesday.) Good luck/ Bonne chance! #unknownplaces #lufthansa [AD]

A post shared by Marissa Cox (@ruerodier) on Apr 14, 2019 at 9:01am PDT

4. Weekly or monthly draws

It’s easy for followers to unfollow. But accounts that run monthly contests or draw winners weekly have a better chance of earning loyalty and maintaining follower counts.

A few years back, Expedia noticed that #tbt was the fourth most popular hashtag on Instagram. Every Thursday over a 10 week period, people who shared a vacation throwback with the #ThrowMeBack tag were entered for a chance to be “thrown back” on that holiday.

Expedia featured content on its account and published winners once a week, a strategy that encouraged people to follow to see if they’d won.

In less than 10 weeks, the company nearly doubled its following on Instagram.

Our winners in action! Post your #TBT w/ #ThrowMeBack @Expedia & you could get thrown back! http://t.co/K6k9QXBDhdhttps://t.co/uJBWLbZ5ti

— Expedia (@Expedia) July 24, 2014

5. Follower milestone campaign

Brands that are on the brink of passing a follower milestone like earning that capital K or M beside a number can use the occasion to build momentum.

There are a few ways to approach one of these campaigns. The New England Patriots asked people to RT or share the hashtag #1MillionPatriots for the chance to see their name on a custom digital jersey. Unfortunately, they used a bot to select winners and things didn’t quite go as planned.

We're saying thanks to @patriots' 1million followers w/ custom digital Pats jerseys – RT for yours! #1MillionPatriots pic.twitter.com/u2SfidCb9e

— New England Patriots (@Patriots) November 13, 2014

As NBC’s Dateline approached the million “like” mark on Facebook, it launched a “One in a Million” campaign. To enter, participants had to explain why they deserved to win a special New York experience.

Bonus: Download our free, customizable social media calendar template to easily plan and schedule all your content in advance.

Get the template now!

Two weeks ago, we brought Kim Trimble & Denise Hunnings, two of Dateline's biggest fans and the winners of our 'One in a Million' contest, behind the scenes of Dateline NBC for two days.It was awesome.

Posted by Dateline NBC on Monday, July 21, 2014

Others, like the craft queen herself, offer to award the two-millionth follower with a price.

If you are my 2 millionth follower – I will give you an amazing Singer sewing machine! Spread the word and RT

— Martha Stewart (@MarthaStewart) February 2, 2010

6. Stage an exciting unveil

Brands can ask people to follow them, or they can give people a reason to follow them. Use a contest as an initial hook, and secure followers by creating an incentive to tune in for the results.

Foot Locker nabbed a Shorty Award for its #HorseWithHarden contest on Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube. For one week, fans were asked to shoot a video of their most creative basketball shots and share them with the hashtag.

Now here’s the sinker: NBA star James Harden would be recreating the best submissions on Foot Locker’s feeds in a faceoff against the Internet.

Unsurprisingly, Foot Locker’s YouTube subscriber rate skyrocketed by 300 percent.

In a battle of two heavyweights, only one could claim victory. @JHarden13 vs. The Internet. WATCH! #HorseWithHardenhttps://t.co/1AFCGFQjp9

— Foot Locker (@footlocker) October 3, 2014

Want to do something like this on a lower budget? Plan to announce the winner in a separate post.

If you put the onus on participants to claim their prize, rather than contact the winner directly, they’ll be more likely to follow for the results.

3 social media contest ideas to collect leads

Learn more about your audiences with these lead generating social media contest ideas.

1. Enter to win sweepstakes

Sometimes the most obvious solution is the best one. The old-fashioned enter-to-win sweepstakes formula still works like a charm, especially with tools like Facebook’s Instant Forms feature.

To collect email addresses for future retargeting campaigns, Asian restaurant chain P.F. Chang created a sweepstakes on Facebook and Instagram that asked people to share their email address to enter.

Backed by paid reach, the month-long contest received nearly half-a-million entries.

Automaker Opel used Instagram Stories and it’s direct-link capability to secure 1,887 contest registrations.

2. Chat to win

A chatbot can offer a more tailored experience than generic form registration.

KIA Motors Europe developed a Facebook Messenger chatbot that could ask people questions and help them enter to win a special experience. Promoted with click-to-Messenger ads, the chatbot was able to deliver 3,000 registrations.

3. Plan a social scavenger hunt

Leaving easter eggs or clues across your social media channels allows you to provide multiple call-to-actions to fill out a form.

Take medical web and mobile-learning platform Osmosis for example. Its #OsmosisQuest challenge asks followers to find answers to its contest across its social media accounts in exchange for a free month trial of Osmosis Prime.

To complete the submission, participants are also asked to share basic information, like what school they attend and what degree they’re pursuing.

View this post on Instagram

Announcing #OsmosisQuest! Running March 25–29, this interactive adventure will take you on a scavenger hunt through all the different features of the Osmosis platform. . Every entrant gets one free month of Osmosis Prime for completing the Osmosis Quest, as well as a shot at winning SIX MONTHS! . Visit the link in our bio to read the full contest rules and begin your journey. ????️???? . #osmosis #giveaway #learnmedicine #FOAMEd

A post shared by Osmosis (@osmosismed) on Mar 25, 2019 at 9:01am PDT

6 social media contest ideas to generate buzz

Promote a new product, takeover a social conversation, or just increase awareness and consideration.

1. Put out a call for submissions

A call for user-generated content is a surefire way to generate buzz. Especially if the call is specific, easy-to-follow, and realistic for enough followers to complete.

Before launching a new chicken burger last September, Burger King UK knew it would have to address its “checkered chicken past.” So the company asked people to share photos of themselves taking a bite out of an imaginary burger using the #BK20KBITE for a chance to be paid £20,000 to taste-test the real thing.

Other companies have encouraged people to submit photos with real products, which in turn can help to boost sales, too.

Taking a different approach, Adobe challenged its community of creators to explore the full range of Photoshop’s possibilities. After realizing many of its users were Dungeons and Dragons fans, the company put out a call for the community to create the new D&D monster.

In the end more than 2,000 creatures were shared, showing everyone what Photoshop and the Adobe community were capable of creating.

This Halloween, create a Dungeons & Dragons monster for a chance to win $5,000 & have your work immortalized as a D&D miniature. #SummonTheTerror of Undermountain at https://t.co/uflRuuYh03.

No Purchase Necessary. Ends 11/16/18. Age of Majority. Rules at https://t.co/uflRuuYh03 pic.twitter.com/Ngm2q8huFP

— Adobe Photoshop (@Photoshop) October 30, 2018

2. Create a hashtag challenge

Hashtag challenges have been around for a longtime, starting with Cinemagram and Vine, and now TikTok. Thanks to their popularity, it’s easy for companies to join in with branded hashtags that prompt users to engage and become brand ambassadors.

Guess was the first to challenge TikTok users with its #InMyDenim campaign that asked participants to create videos depicting their denim transformations. The hashtag has raked in 37.9 million views.

Wondering what TikTok is and if you should care about it? Learn more.

3. Take over an event

This is not the same as an influencer “takeover”. Frank’s RedHot scored a touchdown on Twitter this year with a #FranksSweepstakes that asked fans to help bring its “Put That S#!t on Everything!” catchphrase to life.

During the game, fans were asked to put the chili pepper emoji on every ad they saw. In other words, when a car commercial comes on, you’d tweet the pepper plus the auto emoji. Franks RedHot made use of an event that wasn’t officially “theirs”, but at which they knew lots of customers would be in attendance.

It's time! Tweet ????️ + the emoji for the category of the ad you're watching + #FranksSweepstakes, and you just might win. Not all ads quality. Full rules and prizes here: https://t.co/8NLgQkg2bp pic.twitter.com/u6i8E6EYY6

— Frank's RedHot (@FranksRedHot) February 3, 2019

4. Use a branded filter/lens to win

Why not ask fans to create a Snap or Story with a branded filter for a chance to win a prize? Many companies, including Taco Bell, Dunkin Donuts, and HBO’s Game of Thrones have created branded filters to promote a new product or simply increase awareness.

You donut want to miss our #NationalDonutDay lens on Snapchat today 6/2! ????: dunkindonuts pic.twitter.com/wEEJjRJ4xJ

— Dunkin' (@dunkindonuts) June 2, 2017

5. Play to win a Snapchat game

We’ve all been caught in a Snappable snafu, whether you’ve been walked in on trying to catch imaginary Twizzlers in your mouth, or fulfilling some other odd objective.

With a built-in games setup, brands can use Snapchat to create video-gamified contests.

GrubHub created a Snapchat game called “Food’s Here” game that offered players $10 off their first order for winning, and $15 off if they downloaded the food delivery app.

6. Create a Pinterest Board to Win

Asking followers to create a Pinterest board can be a great way to encourage engagement with your products.

For instance, Pinners could be asked to use a travel company’s Pins to create a board depicting their dream vacation. Or home interiors companies could ask Pinners to use their products to create a board for their ideal living room.

Save time and run your next social media contest with Hootsuite. Promote it across all the major networks, engage your followers, and manage user-generated content in one place. Try it free today.

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15 of the Most Important Instagram Trends to Watch Right Now

Instagram trends can make or break your social marketing strategy. That’s why it’s important to stay on top of them.

Brands that keep up with the top trends on Instagram can take advantage of new features and beta tools ahead of their competitors. They also show their followers they know what’s up.

With added pressure from TikTok and a new head of company, Instagram is rolling out lots of new innovations, features, and tools.

These are the top trends on Instagram we’re watching right now.

Bonus: Download a free checklist that reveals the exact steps a lifestyle photographer used to grow from 0 to 600,000 followers on Instagram with no budget and no expensive gear.

15 top Instagram trends to watch for

1. More Instagram Stories, fewer posts

Instagram Stories have taken over, with more than 500 million viewers every day.

They have also become the place where people keep tabs on their friends and family, according to Instagram research.

On the other hand, the Instagram feed is primarily associated with polished content and discovery.

Getting rid of the chronological feed has only reinforced that perception. Posts now need to be slightly more evergreen. Stories seem more real-time by contrast.

The majority of users see the Instagram feed as a place to find information and discover products and brands.

While that’s good news for brands, regular users find it more difficult to imagine their content in the mix. Some have viewed Instagram’s decision to test hiding likes as an attempt to spur more sharing from those who feel intimidated by the feed.

2. Growth of the Explore tab

More than 200 million Instagrammers check the Explore grid every day and that number is expected to rise this year.

The feed’s new navigation bar now offers shortcuts to IGTV and Shop. From there, people can delve into their niche interests, like beauty, travel, food, or art.

Or, they can get lost in a selection of Stories that will now be algorithmically fed into the Explore feed.

3. Sound on for Instagram Stories

It’s still important to design for sound off environments. But a recent Facebook (and Instagram) study found that viewers like voiceover and music. 80% of Stories with voiceover or music performed better than ads without.

Currently 60% of Instagram Stories are viewed with sound on.

Maybe TikTok’s musical platform has helped turn up the volume across social media channels. Either way, expect TikTok to influence more Instagram trends to come.

4. Strategic stickers in Instagram Stories

Stickers are popular on Instagram Stories, but businesses have had mixed results with them. That’s going to change this year, though.

Expect to see fewer unnecessary and generic stickers, and more polished and original branded stickers over 2019.

5. More interactive Instagram Stories

While stickers have been a mixed bag for businesses, interactive stickers have been a hit.

Questions, poll, countdown, and emoji-slider stickers don’t just prompt more engagement, they make Instagram Stories more sticky. In other words, people stick around longer if there’s something for them to interact with.

For instance, Instagram internal data shows that nine times out of 10, the polling sticker increases video views.

Look for Instagram to unveil for interactive elements over the coming year.

6. Easier ways to shop on Instagram

With more than 70% of shopping enthusiasts using Instagram to explore brands, Instagram now rivals Pinterest as a platform for product discovery.

Over the past year Instagram introduced product tags in feed posts, product stickers in Stories, and a shopping feed via the Explore tab.

With more than 130 million taps on these tags each month, a direct buying option is the logical next step. In March 2019, Instagram rolled out a beta in-app Checkout feature that it’s testing with 20 brands, including Adidas, Burberry, Nike, and Revolve.

Instagram charges merchants a selling fee to use Checkout. But, if it spikes enough sales, the fee won’t stop more brands and influencers from getting in on the action.

Pick up tips on how to make your Instagram account more shoppable.

7. Shoppable influencers

Instagram influencers face a barrage of comments and DMs that often ask the same question: Where’d you get that?

To save influencers’ time, Instagram now lets creators tag products in their posts, which can be purchased directly with Instagram Checkout.

Only a select few currently have access to the feature, including Chiara Ferragni, Kylie Jenner, and Vogue.

Right now, they can only tag businesses participating in the beta Checkout program. But more will be available soon.

8. More realness and representation

Authenticity is so last year. 2019 is all about #nofilter.

Celebrity influencers like Jameela Jamil have waged a war on airbrushing, photoshopping, filtering, body shaming, and non-inclusive creative.

View this post on Instagram

Boob stretch marks are a normal, beautiful thing. I have stretch marks all over my body and I hereby rename them all Babe Marks. They are a sign my body dared to take up extra space in a society that demands our eternal thinness. They are my badge of honour for resisting society’s weaponizing of the female form. ❤️ ps. My face is white because I wear spf 100 sunscreen like a boss. ???? PS. LOVE YOUR BROWN SKIN. I tan responsibly but I love to tan! I love to embrace and celebrate my heritage. This skin bleaching and whitening should be banned. It’s inherently racist, classist and emotionally very damaging. #brownandproud

A post shared by Jameela Jamil (@jameelajamilofficial) on Apr 1, 2019 at 7:50am PDT

Expect to see stretch marks, zits, and more from brands, especially in Instagram Stories. And with it expect to see more real talk about mental health, body insecurities, and other important issues.

In fact, Jamil’s radically inclusive @i_weigh account continues to gain followers. And with a follow from @sussexroyal, the official account of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle, I WEIGH’s profile will by royally amplified.

Expect brands to more frequently sub models for real people. You should also see more diverse creative.

Aerie has earned major social klout for its “Retouching free since 2014” aesthetic. This goes for influencer partnerships, too. See IKEA’s partnership with the rainbow Amina Mucciolo being @studiomucci.

View this post on Instagram

#tbt I can’t believe it’s already been a year since this happened! Caption from the original post: “Total full circle moment! @mrstudiomucci and I got married at @ikeausa 10 years ago and now our loft is featured in the @ikeafamilymag ???????????? and my mug is on the cover ????!” See link in my bio for the full #Ikea home tour.

A post shared by Amina Mucciolo (@studiomucci) on Mar 28, 2019 at 10:36pm PDT

View this post on Instagram

"Middle school and high school years were really hard for me. When it came to accepting my body it felt like a forever struggle that would never ease up. Now I know that my beauty is not determined by how skinny my waistline is or how perfect my skin is. The truth is I know I am beautiful, every day, outside and in. Every pimple, stretch mark, every roll and curve are real and unretouched. My beauty shines every day in every way. And yours does too." @daniebb3 Loves the swim she's in! Share your unretouched swim photos with #AerieREAL @Aerie & we’ll donate $1 (up to $50K) to @NEDA for every post.

A post shared by aerie (@aerie) on May 20, 2019 at 6:00pm PDT

9. Rise of relatable influencers

Users are looking for authenticity from their influencers, too. The unrealistic lifestyles and picture-perfect aesthetics of certain Instagram influencers has given rise to Instagram vs. Reality memes. Out of that has come a new breed of influencer: the relatable influencer.

For example, mommy blogger Laura Izumikawa shares the ups and the downs of parenting. Joana Ceddia channels her awkwardness into humour. Jen Gotch talks anxiety and bipolar disorder. These influencers attract followers who are going through similar experiences.

As Izumikawa shares, “People are on social media to connect—or at the very least—relate to others. Being open and transparent will go a long way to help you connect with your audience.”

View this post on Instagram

This is feels like my new normal. Swollen eyes, constant flow of tears and long, beautiful hair. It’s stress, and insecurity and sadness. it’s emotions – some of which I haven’t felt in a long time. And it’s not that my meds don’t work or that I’m having a depressive episode, and part of me wishes it was, because I know exactly what to do when that type of situation arises. Strangely they come with less pain than this. Less tears. Less rumination and obsessive thinking because the sensation is closer to no emotion than all emotion. Add in a little shame, because I thought I was stronger than this. And also I realized that I am not immune to vulnerability and vulnerability has kind of become my brand. And it feels scary to share and it feels oftentimes meaningless to share, because it is really personal and I don’t have a solution and I usually like to offer solutions along with problems. And I’m in this fucked place because I asked to be and I should be grateful. I’m here alone, in solitary confinement – a form of psychological torture, writing this book that I really want a lot of people to read, because although it is a memoir, the goal is not just to share funny stories from my past. The goal is to enlighten people about their own mental health, to deglamorize success, build emotional intelligence, help as many people as possible feel less alone and yes of course, make everyone laugh. And I feel that instagram was a big part of what brought me this opportunity so I feel accountable to the platform and more specifically to you. So yeah, no solution here. Just an update, because the lack of an update was making me feel worse than an actual update. I know there is a light at the end of the tunnel. I believe there is a light at the end of every tunnel. I just am not deep enough until the tunnel to see it and I want to go back, or lay down & cry or watch the entire first season of the Walking Dead while drunk. But I won’t because I know moving forward is the only way through. Don’t feel bad for me, I am just identifying what is happening and acknowledging that I hate it more than going to the dentist naked – which I never have done, but it sounds awful.

A post shared by jen gotch (@jengotch) on Jan 27, 2019 at 3:59pm PST

10. The influence of TikTok

The unstoppable growth of TikTok, a music-backed video-sharing app that’s popular with teens, may inspire copycat behaviour from Instagram—as we saw with Snapchat.

IGTV will probably see the most changes, since many think the channel is due for a revamp.

And there are already early signs. Instagram’s recent overhaul of the IGTV feed resembles a cross between TikTok and Snapchat’s Discover feeds. Horizontal scrolling has been replaced with vertical scrolling. And, an algorithm automatically queues up the next video for you to view.

TikTok’s popular challenges have already organically migrated into Instagram follower feeds. So it wouldn’t be surprising to see Instagram attempt to foster more of that, especially since these challenges inspire content creation.

View this post on Instagram

anxiety has left the group chat.

A post shared by Liz Plank (@feministabulous) on May 14, 2019 at 11:19am PDT

11. More channel-to-channel sharing

With posts in Stories and IGTV videos in the feed, Instagram has been toying with increased linkage between its different formats. Expect to see more crossover from brands who are attempting to boost views in different streams.

For example, when Instagram changed its feed algorithm, we saw more people sharing “new post” alerts in their Stories. Also, one-minute IGTV teasers have been popping up in the feed to direct viewers to the main channel.

Stories are no longer contained to the top of the app either. Now, they’ll show up in the Explore grid too.

The grid will offer personalized Stories recommendations, reminiscent of TikTok.

Instagram is reportedly testing adding direct links for Instagram Stories, too.

12. Sharing Twitter takes on Instagram

Hot takes have taken over Twitter, and they’re showing up on Instagram more and more.

It’s true, @fuckjerry’s been stealing (ahem, now crediting) Tweet memes for years. But, accounts like @will_ent show that this Instagram trend is not letting up.

As The Verge author Megan Farokhmanesh notes, “For some meme creators, Twitter and Tumblr are a canvas, while Instagram is the wall where they display their work.”

Look for Tweets appearing in more Instagram-friendly templates, from branded backgrounds to cleaner, cropped screenshots.

Expect also to see more text-a-gramming, too, ranging from Rupi Kaur-esque poems to more type-moding in Instagram Stories.

View this post on Instagram

#ElleWoods2020

A post shared by Hello Sunshine (@hellosunshine) on May 17, 2019 at 9:59am PDT

Read more about what meme creators get right on Instagram.

13. Increased social activism

With heightened activism spurred by social unrest and the upcoming elections in Canada and the United States, people are sharing their opinions on social media more than ever.

Text-friendly platforms like Facebook and Twitter have traditionally been associated with social activism. But Instagrammers now have a stronger-than-ever grasp of how to use the platform to share and amplify their views.

From “I voted” stickers to climate change memes, it’s become increasingly common and sometimes inescapable for people and brands to take a stand on the platform.

Activism on all fronts often involves calls for donations to nonprofits.

In February, Instagram introduced a donation sticker that can be added to Stories. While the feature is not yet available to everyone, people will be able to select a nonprofit and even customize the name of their fundraiser.

View this post on Instagram

School strike Day 1… Now I’m not alone anymore! On Friday 24/5 we are striking in 1387 places in 111 countries. And counting! I Stockholm samlas vi i Humlegården kl 11:30 nu på fredag. Sen går vi till Kungsträdgården. Forskare och aktivister talar, inklusive jag. På scen: Astrid S, Molly Sandén, Jireel, Danny Saucedo, Lamix och Annika Norlin (Säkert!) Dela detta!! Sprid till alla!! #FridaysForFuture #schoolstrike4climate #climatestrike

A post shared by Greta Thunberg (@gretathunberg) on May 21, 2019 at 11:50am PDT

View this post on Instagram

Saw this sign near my neighborhood coffee shop. It, like all of last night’s firsts, gives me so much hope. For the first time in HISTORY, there will be more than 100 women in Congress, speaking for us. Check out @glennondoyle’s latest post for a great list of where things stand. #midtermsmatter

A post shared by Natalie Portman (@natalieportman) on Nov 7, 2018 at 1:51pm PST

14. Crackdown on Instagram bots

Facebook and Twitter have been under the microscope for their role in influencing elections and harbouring hate speech. And more recent reports are uncovering the role Instagram has played, too.

Over the coming year, we’ll likely see Instagram take steps to combat abuse on its platform. We’ve already seen a few, including increased access to verification and the addition of “About this Account” to profiles with large followings.

Bans on Facebook may start to apply to Instagram, too. For example, far-right figures Louis Farrakhan, Alex Jones, Milo Yiannopoulos, Paul Joseph Watson, and Laura Loomer were removed from both sites this month.

But before there were any headlines about Russian meddling, Instagram already had a bot problem. Fake engagement bots have long been the scourge of the app, and Facebook has already started the year off by slamming bot sellers with lawsuits.

More purges, enhanced security, and increased scrutiny will likely follow in 2019.

15. Changes to Instagram Direct

Rumours that Instagram would completely push direct messaging to its standalone Direct app can finally be put to rest, at least for now.

With Direct gone, it’s likely that Instagram users will see some changes or improvements to the in-app messaging feature instead.

GIFs were introduced last year, and the Quick Replies tool was added to help businesses quickly answer frequently asked questions. It’s possible that Instagram will offer more filtering options for business and regular accounts.

For example, the option to make a Close Friends list for Instagram Stories makes it easier to direct message a group of friends at once. There are also rumours that Instagram will make direct messaging available on desktop.

Instagram is testing option to share content to Close Friends each separately pic.twitter.com/p21B4oiPof

— Jane Manchun Wong (@wongmjane) May 15, 2019

Manage your Instagram presence alongside your other social channels and save time using Hootsuite. From a single dashboard you can schedule and publish posts, engage the audience, and measure performance. Try it free today.

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13 of the Best Social Media Management Tools

If you use social media, social media management tools can make your life easier.

What is social media management?

Social media management simply refers to a platform or tools that reduce the amount of effort it takes to use social media effectively. They streamline processes and create better collaboration across teams. They’re particularly useful for complex organizations, but they’re also great for small teams.

The best social media management tools meet a variety of needs, from marketing to customer service to social selling.

They allow different teams within an organization to use social media. They encourage collaboration and make social media efforts more effective and efficient.

Bonus: Get the step-by-step social media strategy guide with pro tips on how to grow your social media presence.

13 of the best social media management tools

1. Social media scheduling tools

It’s important to plan your posts—both created and curated—in a social media content calendar. A calendar, like the Hootsuite Planner, can help you:

Balance types of social messaging

Publish posts when they are likely to receive the highest engagement

Curate compelling content to share with your followers

Plan for seasonal and release-specific messaging

Many social media professionals use spreadsheets to plan and organize their social posts. (If you haven’t set yours up yet, check out our free editorial content calendar template.)

Once you’ve created your plan, social media scheduling tools make it much easier to implement and adjust on the fly.

A scheduling tool also keeps your social platforms active even at times when your team is not at work.

2. Bulk uploading and scheduling tool

You can save time by preparing many social media posts in advance, rather than having to interrupt your other work to post throughout the day. This allows you to better plan content and improve your posting consistency. It also frees up time to work on other aspects of your social strategy.

Hootsuite allows you to bulk upload hundreds of posts in CSV format. You can schedule up to 350 social media posts at once.

3. Geo-search tool

For many businesses, the local audience is the most important. A geo-search tool allows you to find conversations happening in the areas most relevant to your business.

Hootsuite’s geo-search tool allows you to track conversations within a specific radius of any address. This focus allows you to make the most of your team’s social engagement efforts.

4. Listening and search streams

You need to know what’s being said about your brand, your competitors, and your industry.

Listening and search streams allow you to monitor multiple channels from one central dashboard. You never need to switch between browsers, and you never miss relevant conversations.

Hootsuite allows you to create unlimited custom streams to track all the important conversations in your field. Stay on top of your own business—and one step ahead of the competition. You can filter by keyword, hashtag, and location, so your streams are laser-targeted to your needs.

5. Content library

Keeping content consistent across multiple channels and teams can be a challenge. A content library can help make it easier.

A content library makes it easy for teams—even those separated by geography and time zones—to share appropriate content. This ensures all of your social channels remain on-brand and on point.

Hootsuite makes this easy with the content library tool.

Social media teams can store and organize approved assets, including images and message templates. You can also integrate the content storage solutions you already use. (For example, Microsoft OneDrive, Dropbox, and Google Drive.) This allows you to access a wide range of content and resources directly from the post composer.

6. Message tagging and assigning tool

Use a message tagging tool to assign messages or streams to specific team members and ensure nothing slips through the cracks.

This reduces the risk of multiple replies by different team members and ensures that all messages receive a timely response.

A good team collaboration tool also allows you to save a bank of responses to commonly asked questions. Team members can then reply quickly to the messages they’re assigned.

7. Content curation tool

Listening and search streams have an added benefit for social media marketers. In addition to finding conversations about your brand, you can use streams as a powerful content curation tool. Use them with appropriate industry keywords and hashtags to source great third-party content that complements content created in-house.

8. Permissions management tool

It is a truly terrible idea to share passwords among members of your team. When multiple people need access to your social accounts, you need a permissions management tool.

Hootsuite allows you to control passwords and set specific permissions levels so that every team member has the access they need. When someone leaves your team or changes roles, you can remove or adjust permissions immediately.

9. Analytics tool

It’s important to use real data to evaluate your social media strategy.

Social media metrics tell you when your content strategy is performing well—and where it might need to be reworked. A good analytics tool helps you crunch the numbers that matter to measure performance.

Hootsuite Analytics allows you to analyze content across channels from one dashboard. You get a complete overview of key metrics and unlimited real-time reports. You’ll also be able to measure team performance and share custom reports to prove the return on investment (ROI) of your social efforts.

For even deeper analysis, you can use Hootsuite Apps integrations for tools like Brandwatch, Talkwalker, and Unmetric.

10. UTM parameters

UTM parameters are important social media management tools for tracking where traffic comes from. You can add UTM parameters to any link manually, but this is a tedious process. Since UTM parameters must be tracked precisely, manual tagging also creates huge potential for errors and lost data.

Hootsuite allows you to add custom UTM parameters to work with an analytics system like Google Analytics or Adobe Analytics. On team plans and up, administrators can create link setting presets that ensure consistent tagging across posts and campaigns.

11. Link shorteners and vanity URLs

Once you start adding all those UTM parameters to your links, the links can get pretty long and unwieldy. Link shorteners allow you to get all the benefits of UTM parameters in a short, simple link.

Hootsuite uses the built-in link shortener Owl.ly.

12. Post-boosting tool

Boosting your top-performing organic content can help increase reach and engagement—while making your advertising dollars go further.

The post-boosting tool in the Hootsuite dashboard uses custom rules to automatically boost your top-performing content to the exact audience you choose, for a set amount of time and cost.

If you prefer, you can manually choose which posts to boost.

13. Social media ad management and optimization tool

Hootsuite allows you to manage your social media ads alongside your organic posts from a single platform. You can create and manage social ad campaigns for Facebook, Instagram, and Google ads.

It’s also easy to optimize your campaigns for cost efficiency. Boost top-performing organic posts, target your social ads, and view analytics to measure the success of your efforts.

Social media management tips

Photoshop alone won’t make you a great digital artist. Likewise, even the best social media management tools alone won’t make you a great social media marketer. Here are some tips that will allow you to use social media management tools effectively to build your brand.

1. Have a plan and a purpose

For your social media management tools to pay off, you have to know why and how to use them. Every action you take should have a purpose, and should support a larger overall plan.

Our post on how to create a solid social media marketing strategy walks you through the details of building a foundational plan for your social media efforts in eight simple steps:

Set social marketing goals that align with your overall business objectives

Learn everything you can about your audience (see Tip 2 for more details)

Research your competition

Conduct a social media audit

Set up your social accounts and optimize your existing profiles

Find inspiration from other brands that are doing great things on social

Create a social media content calendar

Test your strategy, then evaluate and adjust as needed (see Tip 9)

Social media management tools allow you to spend less time doing the grunt work of manually posting content. This gives you more time to develop and refine your strategy.

These tools also help you gather key data to refine your strategy so you’re always using your social tools to maximum effect.

2. Know your audience

One of the biggest benefits of social media marketing is the ability to precisely target your efforts. This allows you to create content that speaks directly to your target audience, so you can make the most of your budget for boosted posts and other ads.

We walk you through the details of audience research in our post on how to define a target market. Here’s a quick overview of the most important steps:

Compile data on existing customers

Learn all you can from web and social analytics

Look at what the competition is up to

Have a clear value statement

Use everything learned from the previous steps to create a target market statement

Test social ads to understand what your audience responds to best

Revisit your research often to stay connected to your audience over time

Social media management tools like search streams and analytics can help you compile the data you need for the first steps of this process. You can then use tools like geo-search, post boosting, and ad management to target your audience precisely. Tools like UTM parameters and link shorteners can help you test and track your results.

3. Share valuable content

Once you know who your audience is, you can create content that’s especially valuable based on their wants and needs. As we explain in our guide to writing great content for social media, there are some writing strategies that every social content marketer should know. For example:

Write to an eighth-grade reading level

Write directly to your reader

Write with purpose

You don’t have to create all your own content, of course. You can use listening and search streams to collect valuable user-generated content to fill out your social content calendar. You can also use social media management tools to find great curated content to share.

4. Share unique content for each network

Once you’ve created a great piece of content, you might be tempted to create one post and share it across all of your channels. But as we explain in our article on the downsides of cross-posting (and what to do instead), this can create sloppy-looking posts and reduce engagement.

You’re much better off to share unique posts created for each social network. This might sound time-consuming. But you free up time for this kind of customization when you use social media scheduling tools and bulk upload tools.

5. Use the right networks and tools

This post is all about social media management tools. But that’s just one category of tools social media managers need to be aware of. There are also tools to help you create visually engaging posts, edit photos and videos, and other essential tasks. We’ve rounded up 21 of the best social media apps for marketers.

In terms of which networks to focus on, there’s no secret recipe that will work for all businesses. You can make some educated guesses based on audience research and demographics. But crafting the right mix of social channels will happen over time as you develop and refine your social strategy.

6. Quickly respond to all comments and @mentions

You can’t allow comments and @mentions to go unanswered. Twitter research shows that 71% of users expect a brand to respond to a Tweet query within an hour.

With Hootsuite, you can quickly respond to messages, mentions, and comments across channels from a single dashboard. The content library allows you to respond to common questions with pre-written and pre-approved messages.

You can also create, import, and share lists of people whose engagements are most valuable. Those people might be influencers, important customers, or other brand advocates. You can then track interaction history, keeping an easy-to-find record across your organization of all engagements your brand has had with a particular user.

7. Use search and listening streams to find opportunities for engagement

Of course, the social conversation relevant to your brand isn’t limited to comments on your owned channels or posts that include @mentions.

Social media monitoring and social listening allow you to keep track of all conversations about your band, your competition, and your industry. There’s no better way to uncover opportunities for engagement across the social web. As we explain in our post on how to use social listening (and social listening tools), this allows you to find real-time opportunities to connect and engage, so you can:

Develop leads

Find potential influencers and advocates

Identify the most important social networks for your business

Keep an eye on the competition

8. Use data to determine when and how often to post

Even in a world of social media algorithms, posting at the right time can help boost engagement and give your posts a wider reach. So, what’s the best time to post? That depends on when your audience is most likely to be online and interacting with social channels.

Hootsuite research shows that for our audience, the best times to post are:

On Instagram: 12 p.m. to 1 p.m. Monday to Friday

On Facebook: 12 p.m. to 3 p.m. on Monday, Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday, and 12 p.m. to 1 p.m on weekends.

On Twitter: 3 p.m. Monday to Friday

On LinkedIn: 7:45 a.m., 10:45 a.m., 12:45 p.m., and 5:45 p.m. Monday to Thursday

But as we explain in our post on the best times to post on social media, these will not necessarily work for all businesses. You need to collect your own data to see which times are most effective based on your unique audience.

Hootsuite Analytics will help you analyze the effectiveness of posts at various times so you can refine your strategy and make the biggest impact.

9. Measure results and adjust your strategy as needed

Of course, social media analytics will provide much more data that just what’s the best time to post. You’ll be able to track results for all of the metrics that really matter to your business

Use social media analytics tools to gather data in real time. Then, use that information to check in on your social media strategy to see what’s working well, and what efforts you might need to adjust.

Ready to save time and money on social media? Try Hootsuite—the most widely-used social media management platform—for free today.

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Social Media Advertising 101: How to Get the Most Out of Your Ad Budget

Social media advertising is a must if you’re looking to reach a new, targeted audience—fast.

Of course it can be scary to move from an organic social strategy to putting real money on the table. So, it’s important to understand all the options.

In this guide, we explain how to use the various types of social media ads to achieve real business results while maximizing your spend.

Table of contents

Types of social media ads

Facebook ads

Instagram ads

Twitter ads

Snapchat ads

Linkedin ads

Pinterest ads

Youtube ads

Social media advertising costs

Social media advertising tips

Bonus: Download a free guide that teaches you how to turn Facebook traffic into sales in four simple steps using Hootsuite.

Types of social media ads

All the major social networks offer advertising options. That doesn’t mean you should use all of them.

When thinking about which social networks to use for advertising, look at which ones perform well organically. Networks where your content naturally strikes a chord with fans are an obvious choice for your first social ad campaigns.

When choosing where to place your ads, it’s also helpful to know which networks are most popular with your target audience.

Pinterest, for example, has far more female than male users. If you’re targeting a younger crowd, you’ll likely find them on Snapchat and Instagram.

Here’s a quick summary from the Pew Research Center showing who’s using which social networks in 2019.

Now that you have a sense of which social networks are a demographic fit for your business, let’s look at the types of ads each network has to offer.

Facebook ads

Facebook ads are designed to help you achieve one of three broad types of campaign objectives:

Awareness: Build brand awareness or increase reach.

Consideration: Send traffic to your website, increase engagement, encourage app installs or video views, generate leads, or encourage people to communicate with you on Facebook Messenger.

Conversion: Create online conversions, make catalog sales, or drive foot traffic to offline stores.

Audience considerations: Facebook is popular across demographics and offers detailed targeting options. This makes it a great platform to get started with social media advertising.

Photo ads

In addition to a photo, Facebook photo ads include 125 characters of text plus a headline and link description. They can also include a call-to-action button like Shop Now or Send Message.

You can create your photo ad in Facebook Business Manager, or simply promote a post with an image from your Facebook Page.

Quick tip: Facebook photo ads work really well for showcasing new products or services. Show people using your product, rather than a simple photo of the product itself.

When you see how this hoodie is made, you'll understand why it's so awesome:

Posted by Design Crowdfunding Projects on Monday, March 18, 2019

Video ads

Facebook video ad options range from short mobile video ads up to 240-minute promoted videos designed to be watched on desktop. With so many options, it’s critical to have solid goals and understand who your target market is and where your video will reach them.

Facebook video ads can work well in conjunction with a TV ad campaign. Even if T.V. is not part of your marketing mix, video ads can be a great way to draw people in. Use compelling visuals that highlight the best parts of your brand.

Quick tip: Short videos tend to have higher completion rates. However, if you’ve got a compelling message you can go a little longer.

Rareform uses mobile Facebook video ads to highlight its unique value proposition. The company makes bags out of recycled billboards. Their video ads get a 19% higher return than ads without video.

Recycled Fashion by Rareform

We're saving the planet one bag at a time! ♻️✌️???? Over 1 million lbs of billboard repurposed so far!Use code 'FB20' for 20% off sitewide today! → https://bit.ly/2NYcbiF

Posted by RAREFORM on Tuesday, October 2, 2018

Stories ads

In this full-screen format, photos display for six seconds, and videos can last up to 15 seconds.

You can’t specifically select Facebook Stories ads on their own. They’re included as a possible placement when you select Automatic Placements when creating your ad.

Quick tip: Stories only last for 24 hours, so this is a great format for in-the-moment marketing like limited time offers. The majority of people Facebook surveyed said they wanted Stories ads to be “quick and easy to understand.” Keep things simple.

For example, the clothing brand tentree used a Facebook Stories slideshow ad with six photos to show off six different men’s hats. The campaign had a 70% lower cost per product page view than other digital ads.

Carousel ads

A carousel ad lets you include up to 10 images or videos, each with their own link, all in one ad.

Carousel ads work well to showcase different features of a product, or to explain a step-by-step process. They’re also a great way to present multiple products.

Quick tip: Use the different elements in your carousel ad together to present a compelling, effective story or message.

Pack and Go! – your lightweight and packable companion for every adventure.

Posted by Jack Wolfskin on Monday, April 8, 2019

Slideshow ads

A slideshow is an ad that creates a video from several static images—your own or stock images that Facebook provides.

Slideshows offer the compelling motion of video, but require no video-specific resources to create. If you’re not ready to try video ads but want to move beyond static photos, slideshow ads are a great option.

Happy Socks uses slideshow ads to show off their colorful product in an eye-catching way.

Easter gifts to dye for ????✨Shop now at HappySocks.com

Posted by Happy Socks on Tuesday, April 2, 2019

Collection ads

A collection ad highlights your products right in the Facebook feed. The ad includes a cover photo or video plus product images with pricing and other details. This allows people to learn more about your product without leaving Facebook. When someone clicks on the ad, they go to an Instant Experience (see below).

Quick tip: Collection ads work especially well for retail and travel brands.

Instant Experience ads

Formerly called Carousel ads, these are full-screen interactive ads for the mobile feed. An Instant Experience ad can include up to 20 images or up to two minutes of video. You can include a call-to-action button with up to 30 characters of text.

Instant Experiences also include interactive features like tilt to pan.

Quick tip: Instant Experience ads can also be used to collect customer or lead information using an instant form.

Messenger ads

Messenger ads are simply Facebook ads placed on the home screen of the Messenger app. You can use them to encourage people to connect with your business on Messenger, but they can also link to your site.

Here’s how a Messenger ad looks in the mobile interface:

Quick tip: You can use Messenger ads to restart conversations that have trailed off. Use a custom audience of people who have previously messaged your business.

Lead generation ads

Facebook lead generation ads are mobile-only ads that include pre-populated forms. This makes it easy for people to:

request a free trial

ask for a quote

They’re a great tool if you’re looking for leads to pass along to your sales team, or to build your online sales funnel.

Quick tip: Ask for the minimum amount of information you need to process leads effectively, to maximize completion. Get all the step-by-step instructions you need to set up your Facebook ads in our Facebook advertising guide.

Instagram ads

Facebook owns Instagram. So it’s not surprising that Instagram ads support the same three broad categories of campaign objectives as Facebook ads:

Awareness

Consideration

Conversion

Audience considerations: Instagram is most popular with millennials. Plenty of Generation Xers also use the platform.

The specific Instagram ad types also mirror four of the Facebook ads types:

Photo

Video

Carousel

Collection

You can create each type of ad for either the main Instagram feed, or for Instagram Stories.

Photo and video ads

Your Instagram photo or video will look like a regular Instagram post—except that it will say Sponsored in the top right. Depending on your campaign objective, you may also be able to add a call-to-action button.

Quick tip: Make sure your photo and video ads are consistent in style with the organic posts you share on Instagram. This helps viewers recognize that the ad is from your brand.

Try testing video ads against photo ads using the same content. America’s Test Kitchen found that adding motion to its ads resulted in a 45% increase in leads over the same ad using just a photo.

Carousel ads

In an Instagram carousel ad, viewers swipe to scroll through different images.

Quick tip: Make sure the images you use in your carousel ad are visually similar and tied together by a common theme. It shouldn’t be jarring to swipe between the different photos in the ad.

Look at this Carousel ad for Snag Tights. The similar images and consistent bar of text across each photo clearly connect the components of the ad and help to tell a consistent story.

Collection ads

Just like Facebook Collection ads, these feature a cover image or video plus several product shots. Clicking on the ad directs the user to an Instant Experience.

Quick tip: Instagram Collection ads don’t include a headline, but they do allow up to 90 characters of text.

Instagram Stories ads

Instagram Stories ads can use photos or videos up to 120 seconds long. These ads display in full-screen format between people’s stories.

Quick tip: Add interactive elements to Story ads for the best performance.

Dunkin’ found in an A/B test that a Story ad with a poll sticker had a 20% lower cost per video view. Plus, 20% of people who watched the video voted in the poll. (On the very important topic of which is better: donuts or fries.)

Get all the step-by-step instructions you need to set up your Instagram ads in our Instagram advertising guide.

Twitter ads

Twitter ads work towards five different business objectives:

Website clicks: Promote Tweets with Website Cards to encourage people to visit and take action on your website. You’re charged per click.

Tweet engagements: Promote Tweets with the goal of starting conversations about your brand. You pay for the initial engagement.

Followers: Promote your Twitter account and pay per follower gained.

Awareness: Promote your Tweets to a broad audience and pay for impressions (CPM).

App installs: Promote your Tweets with App Cards and pay per click to open or install your app.

Audience considerations: Nearly two-thirds of Twitter’s advertising addressable audience is male.

Twitter offers two ways for brands to create Twitter ads:

Twitter Promote automatically promotes Tweets for you.

Twitter Ads campaigns allow you to set up campaigns yourself based on your marketing objective.

Twitter Promote

With Twitter Promote, the Twitter algorithm automatically promotes Tweets to your specified audience. It promotes your first 10 daily organic Tweets that pass the Twitter quality filter. It also promotes your account to attract new followers. You can focus on up to five interests or metro locations, and let Twitter do the rest.

Quick tip: Twitter Promote mode costs $99 USD per month. Twitter says accounts will on average reach 30,000 additional people per month and gain an average of 30 new followers.

Twitter ad campaigns

With Twitter ad campaigns, you first choose a business objective that aligns with your business goals.

For example, this Chanel Twitter ad uses a video to showcase its product, combined with a website card for easy mobile shopping.

The ‘side-pack’ is a new #CHANELSpringSummer 2019 bag. Worn by two, it introduces a new way of carrying. See all the bags of the collection in boutiques and on https://t.co/rNMAuWotsI

— CHANEL (@CHANEL) March 26, 2019

You can select existing organic Tweets to promote, or create Tweets specifically as ads.

Quick tip: Run separate campaigns for mobile and desktop users to get the best conversion rates. Twitter recommends you avoid using hashtags and @ mentions in your ads so that your audience does not click away. Get all the step-by-step instructions you need to set up your Twitter ads in our Twitter advertising guide.

Bonus: Download a free guide that teaches you how to turn Facebook traffic into sales in four simple steps using Hootsuite.

Get the free guide right now!

Snapchat ads

Snapchat ads can help you achieve three types of marketing objectives:

Awareness: Reach a large audience to increase awareness of your brand.

Consideration: Drive traffic to your website or app, increase engagement, and encourage app installs, video views, and lead generation.

Conversions: Drive website conversions or catalog sales.

Audience considerations: Snapchat is overwhelmingly popular with younger users. Nearly three-quarters of 18- to 24-years olds use the app. Compare that to only 25% of 30- to 49-year-olds. About 60% of the audience you can reach with Snapchat ads is female.

Snapchat offers four types of ads to help you meet your objectives.

Snap ads

Snap ads start with an image or a video up to 10 seconds long.

The ads are full-screen, vertical format. They can include attachments for app installs, landing pages, lead forms, or long-form video.

Quick tip: Time moves quickly on Snapchat, so aim to keep your Snap ad to five to six seconds. Don’t try to do too much with a short ad: Feature one strong call-to-action and key message.

Story ads

This ad format takes the form of a branded tile in users’ Discover feed. The tile leads to a collection of three to 20 Snaps, so you can provide a detailed look at new products, special offers, and so on. You can also add attachments with a call-to-action, so that users can swipe up to watch a video, install an app, or buy a product.

Quick tip: Write a powerful headline for your Story ad to encourage Snapchatters to tap.

Collection ads

Collection ads allow you to showcase a series of products with four thumbnail images in one ad. Each thumbnail image links to its own URL.

Quick tip: Keep the snap itself simple to focus attention on the thumbnails in your collection ad.

Filters

Snapchat filters are graphic overlays that users can apply to their Snaps. Snapchatters use them hundreds of millions of times per day. You can make your filter “smart,” so it includes real-time location, countdown, or time information.

Quick tip: Snapchatters use filters to provide context to their Snaps. Make sure your filter is relevant to the time, place, and purpose of your campaign. Leave room for Snapchatters’ own images to shine. Only use the top and/or bottom quarters of the screen for your filter creative.

Get all the step-by-step instructions you need to set up your Snapchat ads in our Snapchat advertising guide.

LinkedIn ads

LinkedIn ads help your business with three types of marketing objectives:

Awareness: Create more awareness of your company or brand.

Consideration: Drive website visits, increase engagement, or encourage video views.

Conversions: Collect leads and drive website conversions.

Audience considerations: LinkedIn is much more business-oriented than the other social networks in this post. It offers targeting options based on professional qualifications like job title and seniority.

You can choose from several different types of LinkedIn ads.