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Easy Ways to Expand Your Facebook Reach

BIMSFor many businesses, generating lead is one of the biggest advantages of creating and maintaining social presence. You create content that would pique the interest of your target audience and hope that it goes out to as many people as possible. Unfortunately, the days of posting and reaching all of your fans are gone.

The last year has brought many changes to social media. We’ve heard complaints from several businesses about the drop in organic reach for Facebook pages.

Using the right tactics will give you better results. Follow these tips to ensure that your posts can reach the audience you define.

Create awesome content

Like Google, Facebook puts a lot of emphasis on content quality and relevance. Being one of the biggest social network platforms, there’s a lot of competition out there. If you want to capture the attention of your target audience, then you need to provide them with killer content.

Higher engagement can increase your reach. The more people engage with your page, the more likely are they to see your posts. But if your content is not that interesting, you suffer the consequences of losing organic visibility.

Ask questions

One of the best ways to engage your followers is by asking them a question. Your goal is to start a conversation so be sure to start with an interesting question. Now that you got people to air their opinions, it is important to keep the conversation rolling.

Asking questions does not only help increase reach, it also provides answers to questions that may be crucial for your business’ marketing and sales.

Add call-to-action

Call-to-actions are a great way to get people to engage with your posts. Believe it or not, your audience tends to respond better when they are told what to do. However, most marketers and business owners fail to include a call-to action with their status updates.

Use better visuals

We’ve all heard the saying, “a picture is worth a thousand words”. But it’s actually worth more than that in social media.

Videos and images often get more likes, shares and comments as compared to text-based status updates. ForCall  a more powerful post, consider placing your message along with the photo.

 

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Characteristics of a Great Content

office-594132_640There is a surplus of information on the internet today. In fact, about 2 million blog posts are published every day. Along with that, 70,000 hours of Youtube videos are uploaded and about 290 billion emails are sent on a daily basis. The problem is that most of these contents result in a waste of time, energy and resources.

How do you go about creating content that stands out and captures the attention of your target audience?

While there is no specific way in creating great content, there are a few characteristics that most successful content shares. Keep these things in mind when creating contents for your prospects and clients.

Relevant

When starting out with content marketing, most companies create contents that are centered on their products and services. While there is nothing wrong in wanting to showcase your products and services, you first have to focus on content that your customers care about.

Your content has to resonate with your prospects and existing clients. Otherwise, those contents will just get lost among all other noise.

Provides value

Writing great content is a choice. You can produce high quality content or you can take the easy path and produce junk.

People are searching for information that will educate them, inform them and he6lp them solve a problem. If your content is entertaining, informative and interesting enough, people will be happy to share your content. Add to that, it will get the attention of industry stakeholders and position your company as an educator or expert.

Original

Creating original content will get you great results. Google rewards sites with original, high quality content. On the other hand, it penalizes sites with duplicate content. Original content will help your site get more exposure and improve your site’s ranking.

Easily consumed            

When people use a search engine, they’re not just looking for answers – they want fast answers. In fact, one study revealed that 79% of web users scan contents rather than read them in detail.

Make your posts easier to read by keeping each paragraph short, preferably 3-4 sentences each. Bulleted lists are also very helpful. They are easily scannable and make it easier for users to find the information they need.

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4 Things We All Need to Stop Doing on Social Media

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The growth of social media continues to expand. Facebook has over 1 billion users; while Twitter and Instagram has over 280 million and 200 million active users respectively.

Many of us flock to these popular social media sites to give and receive the latest scoop on pretty much everything. We all love to post different events in our lives to let everyone know what is going on, but some people gets overboard when it comes to using social media.

Whether you’re using social media for professional or personal use, here are 4 things you should stop doing.

Oversharing

You probably have a friend who updates their status every 15 minutes or so. It can get irritating sometimes, especially since your news feeds is full of their postings. We hate to break it to you, but no one wants to be that clued in about your life.

Using more hashtags than words

Hashtags are great for giving your campaigns their own special theme, finding and jumping into conversations and categorizing your posts, but piling on the hashtags just looks desperate. Please keep your hashtag usage in check.

Automated messages

It may seem like a good idea to send a thank you message to users who follow you, but I’m willing to bet that some people consider it as spam.

While there are some people who say that sending automated messages has helped grow their follower count, it may come off as detached, lazy and out of touch for some. Remember, genuineness wins when it comes to earning the trust of your target audience.

Adding people to groups without their permission

Groups are a great place to talk to people with the same interests as yours. Just because you created a group for golfers, doesn’t give you the right to add your golfer friends to the group without their permission. If you think some of your friends would be interested to be a part of the group, consider sending them a message and tell them what it’s all about.

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Strategies to Keep Your Business One Step Ahead of the Competition

bims_8.10Every business owner wants his business to stay ahead of the competition. But if you want to remain successful, a lot of things should be done and most of them are not particularly easy.

Here are some strategies that you can use to keep your business one step ahead of the competition.

Know your competitors

Entrepreneurs can enjoy great benefits by keeping track of their competitors. While we urge you to spy on your competitors, we discourage you from duplicating their ideas. Your goal is to see what they are offering and what their unique selling point is. Figure out a way to make it work for your business and use this knowledge to your advantage. If you want to stay ahead of the competition, you need to do it better than they did.

Build a relationship with your customers

You and your competitors will be competing for the same customers. Whoever wins will receive a bigger segment of the market.

It is easier to keep a customer than it is to acquire a new one. All it takes is a better offer from a competitor or a single negative experience. Show your customers how much you value them by interacting with them through social media and improving customer service.

Never stop innovating

In order to succeed in today’s quickly developing world, you need to change more often and sooner than you think. What might be working for you today might not be effective in the future.

Innovation is the key to sustaining your company. If you want to satisfy your target audience then you need to give them what they want. But most of the time, their wants and needs change. You need to be able to keep up with the demands of the people. Follow consumer trends and try to keep up with the developments in your sector.

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How to Motivate Customers to Buy Your Product

BIMS_8.4.15If you have social media buttons on your product page, we’re guessing that you added them because you wanted people to share your products through different social channels. After all, more shares mean more publicity, and more publicity can lead to more sales. But you also have to understand that people don’t just buy things they see online. They need a reason to visit your store or website and buy your products.

Here are 3 simple ways to motivate customers to want to purchase from you rather than your competitor.

Understand your customers

To increase sales, you have to understand the psychology behind how people make their buying decision. It would be extremely difficult for you to motivate them to buy if you don’t know their wants and needs.

Identify your target market and conduct a survey to help you find out the types of products they’re interested in or if your current products meet their expectations and some products suggestions that they would like to see in you sell in the future.

Feel good products

During the times of economic stress, the sales of non-essential items decrease significantly except for one: lipstick.

While people are looking for ways to put food on the table, lipstick sales were still skyrocketing. Why? For women, these tubes of colored wax are more than just cosmetics. When they’re feeling blue, lipstick provides confidence and represents happiness, hope and opportunity. If you think of it that way, then $8 is just a small price to pay as compared to the benefits they can get out of it.

Sell the benefits

You have probably heard of this a dozen of times before. When creating a product, be sure that it solves a problem. Most customers buy a product to solve a specific problem.

After a long day at work, this man found out that his dog chewed off his favorite pair of shoes. Now, he’s looking to buy a new pair of shoes. Now that you have a potential customer, the best thing you can do is to promote the benefits of your product. Don’t just stop at describing the product; provide them with additional information such as the price, features, awards etc.

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How to Create a Great First Impression Online

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Most of you know that first impressions are a big deal. You only get one chance to make a good impression so you have to make it right.

Living in the digital world, our first encounters with other people are often via social media, blog posts or email. And once you capture the attention of the public, the first thing they’re going to do is to run a Google search on you. The pressure is on. So where do you start?

Here are 4 simple ways to make a good first impression online.

Know your audience

Successful brands start out by getting to know their audience before they try to appeal to them. Consider the interest and needs of your target audience. Focus on people who are most likely to buy your products instead of appealing to the masses. This will yield better results and end up saving a lot of money in the process.

Be informational rather than promotional

A lot of business owner think that they need to do something flashy just to capture the attention of their target audience. But in order to stand out, you need to provide them with quality content, content that will appeal to your target audience. Let’s take Wikipedia as an example. Wikipedia is one of the least flashy sites on the Web, but it is also one of the most trusted. So, if you really want to stand out, provide people with informative and quality content rather than just showcasing your products on a regular basis.

Get your personal life out of the public eye

We often use social media channels to communicate with our family and friends. But now that you’re running a business, be sure to use a separate account when talking to potential clients and customers. Remember, people will be watching you. So you might as well get your personal life out of the public eye.

Don’t forget to clean up your social media profile once in a while. While it’s normal to have fun sometimes, you don’t want people to have a negative perception of you.

Your website

Apparently, you only have 3 seconds to grab a visitor’s attention. If you want them to stay, you need to take into account the design and usability of your website. Mind you, people are going to close the window or start looking at other sites if they don’t like what they see or don’t know what to do. Make sure that your content is easy to access and your site is easy to navigate.

 

 

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Handling Negative Comments on Social Media

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Social media is a powerful tool for businesses of all types. It helps you engage and connect with your audience and eventually establish a relationship with them. In addition to that, it also helps increase traffic to your website, increase brand awareness and ultimately, increase sales. However, social media is not perfect.

We live in a world where everyone has a voice. People can talk about their experiences, whether it’s positive or negative, with your business and post them online. Unless you’re perfect, you’ll have to deal with negative comments or feedbacks sooner or later. What should you do when negative reviews come in?

Here are 4 principles to guide the way you deal with negative comments on social media.

Do not delay

Negative comments and feedbacks should be addressed as soon as possible. Mind you, words travel swiftly on social network. This can damage your reputation so be sure to act fast.

Most people post negative comments online because they believe that no one wants to listen to them. Show your customers that you care for them and you’re willing to listen by responding quickly. Also, reassure them that you are willing to set things straight and solve the issue in the soonest possible time.

Own up to your mistake

We are humans, and we all make mistakes. If someone is complaining about your products or services, do not be afraid to say you’re sorry. Recognize the complaint, apologize publicly and then settle things privately.

Offer an incentive

Sometimes, offering a discount, free merchandize or business service can help calm the situation. If your product failed, replace it and offer discount on their next purchase. If it was a dining experience, refund their check. Try to make things right, even if it costs you. This is a great way of showing your customers how much you value them.

 

 

 

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How to Increase Fan Engagement on Your Facebook Page

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Not long ago, writing a Facebook post and asking people to share, like or comment is all it took to maintain an active business page. But with Facebook’s algorithm changes, capturing the attention of your target audience becomes increasingly difficult.

If you’ve given up hope of ever reaching your target audience, then we’re here to help you out. Read on and we’ll show you how to increase fan engagement on your Facebook page.

Use visual content

Like the old adage says, “a picture is worth a thousand words”. But for a business owner like you, it’s worth more than that.

Survey revealed that visual contents get 180% more engagement as compared to other types of content on Facebook. This is because they are easy to digest, clear and concise. Post infographics, quotes, memes, tips, people, places etc.

Post more often

If your goal is to reach more people, then you have to be active on social media. We suggest that you post at least 4 times a day. This way, you’re giving your fans 4 chances to see your posts.

Feel free to post photos, talk about news, ask questions etc. Also, publish useful content with a consistent voice that your community knows.

Post interesting content

The simplest yet most effective way to capture the attention of your target audience is to publish great content and entice them to engage.

Make use of your knowledge and experiences by giving helpful tips to your fans. You can use past blogs or newsletters and turn them into quick tips. You can also share your knowledge by creating video tutorials and sharing them on Facebook.

Include call to action

Most people would browse quickly through their news feeds. Always include a call to action if you want them stop and take action. Sometimes, all you need to do is ask, but try to be as non-salesy as possible.

 

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Low Cost Ways to Market Your Business


BIMS_4.28.2“Making money costs money”. While there is some truth to it, you do not necessarily have to spend a fortune just to get the word out about your business.

Marketing your business is not all about spending money. It’s about coming up with creative ideas and implementing them properly. So the question is, how do you promote your business and get your name in front of potential customers while working on a shoestring budget?

Here are 3 low cost yet high impact methods to advertise your and promote your business.

Social media

Social media is undoubtedly the one of the most affordable and effective ways to engage with yours customers. Millions of people from all over the world are using social media on a daily basis. So, you should include that on your marketing strategies.

An effective social media marketing starts with defining who your best prospects are and creating contents that anticipates their needs. Establishing strong relationship with your customer base is also important.

Search engines

Creating a website can be comparable to building a house. Your family and friends won’t know you’re building one unless you tell them. Also, they’ll never find it unless you give them the address. The same goes with your website.

You can’t expect people to visit your website unless they know it actually exists. Submit your website to search engines. Also, use keywords and key phrases that your customers will be searching for so it will be easier for them to find you.

Content is king

Everyone knows this, but I’d be neglectful if I do not include this on the list. I cannot stress enough the importance of creating great content. If writing isn’t your strong point, you can always hire someone to do the writing for you.

Write articles that demonstrate your expertise in your field. To increase your reach, you can submit these articles to websites that accept guest posts. Be sure that your name and business name is included in the article.

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