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Content Creation, Content Marketing, In-Home Care, Social Media

Attract More Homecare Clients with These Social Media Strategies

In today’s digital age, social media has become an important tool for businesses across all industries, including homecare agencies.

Families looking for homecare agencies often turn to the internet and social media first. It’s where they connect, ask for recommendations, and research their options. This is why having a solid social media presence isn’t just “nice-to-have”; it’s essential.

This blog post aims to provide actionable tips and strategies to help homecare agencies like yours effectively leverage social media, attracting more clients and building lasting relationships.

Understanding the Benefits of Social Media for Homecare Agencies

Social media is a powerful tool for home care agencies. Here’s how it can help you:

Build Brand Awareness and Credibility

Posting informative and engaging content consistently puts your agency’s name in front of potential clients. Over time, people will see you as a trusted resource in the homecare industry.

Imagine someone searching for “best homecare in Boulder, CO” and finding your informative posts with helpful tips and heartwarming client stories. That’s the power of brand awareness!

Engage with the Community and Potential Clients

Social media allows you to connect with your local community, answer questions, and build relationships with potential clients and referral sources.

Showcase Services and Client Testimonials

Highlighting your services and sharing positive client experiences builds trust and showcases the quality of care you provide. Let your happy clients be your brand ambassadors!

Drive Traffic to Your Website

When writing social media posts, always include a link to your website. This encourages people to visit your site to learn more about your services and can even boost your website’s search engine ranking.

Choosing the Right Social Media Platforms

Not all social media platforms are created equal. Here are the most relevant ones for homecare agencies:

Facebook: With its massive user base across all age groups, Facebook is ideal for sharing diverse content, building a community, and running targeted ads. Join local community groups, participate in discussions, and use Facebook’s ad platform to reach your ideal client.

Instagram: Instagram is all about visuals. Use high-quality images and videos to showcase your home care agency’s facilities, caregivers, and happy clients (always with their consent!). You can also use Instagram Stories and Reels to provide a glimpse into the day-to-day life at your agency.
LinkedIn: LinkedIn is your professional hub. Connect with healthcare professionals, share industry insights, and position your agency as a leader in the field. Publish articles on LinkedIn Pulse about the latest trends in senior care or share your agency’s commitment to continuing education for caregivers.

While platforms like TikTok and Snapchat can be effective for other industries, they might not be the best fit for reaching your target audience.

Content Strategies for Success

To truly shine on social media, you need to offer valuable content that resonates with your audience:

Educational content: Share practical tips on senior care, healthy aging, caregiver resources, and managing common health conditions. Think specific: “5 Tips for Fall-Proofing Your Home for Seniors,” “How to Choose the Right Assisted Living Facility,” or “Creating a Dementia-Friendly Environment.”

Client stories (with permission): Let your clients do the talking! Share their positive experiences to build trust and demonstrate the impact of your services. Craft compelling stories that highlight the positive difference your caregivers have made in your clients’ lives.

Behind-the-scenes content: Humanize your brand by featuring your caregivers and staff. Talk about their skills, experiences, training, and dedication to patient care.

Infographics and Visuals: Present important information in an engaging and easily digestible format. Create infographics about the benefits of homecare, the different types of services you offer, or tips for healthy aging.

Live Q&A Sessions: You can use Facebook Live or Instagram Live. Announce the session in advance. Encourage your audience to submit questions beforehand or answer them in real time.

Engaging with Your Audience

Engagement is vital to building relationships on social media. Here are some tips to enhance your engagement:

Start a conversation

Social media is supposed to be a two-way conversation. Ask questions in your posts to get people to comment and start discussions. This interaction not only boosts engagement but also helps you understand your audience’s needs.

Respond to Comments and Messages

Show you’re listening and care about your audience by responding to comments and messages. This responsiveness builds trust and fosters a positive community.

Use Relevant Hashtags

Incorporate relevant hashtags in your posts to improve the discoverability of your content. Research popular hashtags in the homecare industry and use a mix of broad and niche hashtags.

Analyzing the Performance of Your Social Media Efforts

It’s essential to track your progress and make adjustments as needed to get the most out of your social media efforts. Here’s how to do it:

Track Key Metrics

Monitor metrics like website traffic, leads generated, and engagement rates. Pay close attention to which types of content perform best and which platforms drive the most traffic to your website.

Use Social Media Analytics Tools

Utilize tools like Facebook Insights and Instagram Analytics to gain insights into audience demographics and preferences. This data can help you tailor your content to resonate with your target audience.

For example, if you notice that most of your followers on Facebook are women aged 45-64, you can create content that addresses their specific needs and concerns.

Adjust Your Strategy Based on Data

Make an effort to review your analytics regularly to see what’s working and what’s not, and what you can do to improve. Once done, adjust your strategies based on what works best.

If you notice that your Instagram engagement is low, experiment with different types of visuals, hashtags, and posting times. Continuous optimization is a must to get the best results from your social media efforts.

Final Thoughts

Social media is a powerful tool for homecare agencies to connect with potential clients, build brand awareness, and grow their business. By implementing the strategies in this guide, you can establish a solid online presence and attract more clients.

Need help getting started or taking your social media marketing to the next level? At Social Speak Network, we specialize in helping homecare agencies like yours develop data-driven social media strategies that get results.

Book a free consultation with us today. Let’s discuss how we can help you achieve your business goals.

October 30, 2024/by Kathlyn Angeles-Timbol

Content Creation, Content Marketing

Leveraging User-Generated Content to Boost Your Brand

Ever feel stuck in a content rut? Scrambling for fresh ideas to keep your social media feeds and website buzzing? You’re not alone. Small businesses wear many hats, and creating engaging content can feel like a constant uphill battle.

But what if there is a way to tap into a constant stream of fresh, authentic content that enhances your brand’s online visibility, builds trust, and skyrockets engagement?

Enter User-Generated Content (UGC). These contents are created by your biggest fans – your customers. They can transform how potential clients see your brand, making it more relatable and trustworthy.

The Benefits of User-Generated Content

Authenticity and Trust

Customers trust other customers. Showcasing real experiences from real people helps build a deeper trust than any content you could create yourself. When potential customers see others enjoying your product or service, it reinforces their decision to choose you.

Increase Engagement

Content from users tends to generate more likes, shares, and comments compared to standard branded posts. This higher engagement helps strengthen your social media presence and increases your brand’s exposure.

Boosts Brand Awareness

When customers rave about you online, it reaches their entire network, exposing your brand to new audiences you might not have reached otherwise.

Improved SEO

Search engines love fresh and relevant content. When users mention your brand and discuss your products, it not only increases content volume but also improves your search rankings through keywords and new content, which drives more traffic to your site.

Strategies to Encourage User-Generated Content

Run social Media Campaigns

Initiate campaigns that encourage users to share their experiences. Create a specific hashtag for a campaign or hold a contest where customers post pictures with your product. The key is to make participating fun and rewarding.

Make it easy for them to share their experiences with the world. The easier it is to share, the more UGC you’ll get.

Make the process simple

Encourage your customers to leave reviews by making the process simple and direct. Offer incentives like discounts or entry into a giveaway in exchange for honest reviews. Positive testimonials can then be featured on your site and social channels.

Partner with Micro-Influencers

Team up with smaller social media personalities who resonate with your target audience. These “micro-influencers” can create authentic content featuring your brand and encourage their followers to join the UGC fun.

Engagement Tactics

Show some love to your customers. Always respond to customers who post about your brand. A simple thank you, comment, or repost can go a long way in building relationships and encouraging more content creation from users.

Leveraging UGC in Marketing Campaigns

Ready to unleash the power of UGC? Here’s how to turn that customer-created content into marketing gold:

Customer Spotlight

Regularly feature customer reviews and testimonials on your website and social media. It can be a customer photo, a video testimonial, or a written review. You can even create a dedicated section called “Customer Stories” to showcase their love for your brand.

Showing off this content not only fills your feed with authentic posts but also makes your customers feel valued.

Turn Subscribers into Customers

Emails land directly in your audience’s inboxes, offering a more personal touch than ads. They’re also perfect for sharing targeted content, special offers, and updates that keep your brand top-of-mind.

The problem: keeping them engaged can be tricky. Here’s where UGC can help.

Showcase real people using and loving your products in your emails. This relatable content cuts through the noise and reminds subscribers why they joined your list in the first place. It boosts engagement, sparks buying interest, and reminds them you’re not just a brand but a community they can connect with.

UGC Ads that Convert

Today, people have gotten good at ignoring ads. But what if your ads look less like ads and more like real people enjoying your product? That’s the power of UGC!

People trust real experiences over staged commercials. Showcase genuine customer photos and videos in your ads to grab attention, build trust, and remind viewers why your brand is amazing. Just be sure to get permission before using any UGC!

Final Thoughts

User-generated content (UGC) is a powerful marketing tool that can transform your brand strategy. By encouraging and leveraging authentic content from your customers, you can build trust, boost engagement, and skyrocket your brand awareness.

Remember, UGC is a two-way street. Show your appreciation for your customers by responding to their content and featuring their stories. By embracing the power of UGC, you can turn your customers into brand advocates and unlock a whole new level of marketing success.

April 24, 2024/by Kathlyn Angeles-Timbol

Content Marketing, Social Media

5 Strategies to Revive Your Inactive Social Media Account

More and more businesses and professionals are creating social media accounts for their brands. Some even create a profile on different platforms, only to realize how difficult it is to manage multiple accounts. Worse, people aren’t interacting with or following them. They aren’t getting much traffic either. The easy option now would be to just give up. This can lead to a lack of engagement and ultimately result in a loss of potential customers.

The good news is… Even if you’ve let your once-active social media presence go flat, there are still ways to revive it. It may be difficult to get back into the mix, but it’s possible.

Use these strategies to refresh and revitalize your social media presence.

Do a basic profile audit

The first and most important thing you need to do is to perform a social media audit. Check to see what’s working, what’s failing, and what can be improved upon your social media channels.

To conduct a social media audit, you’ll want to:

Track down all your social media accounts– Make sure each account is complete and on brand. Your brand should immediately be recognizable across all of your social channels.
Check your profile – Update your profile, bio, and images
Follow up on your goals and metrics – How do the numbers compare to where you are a year ago?
Identify your best posts – Look for 3 posts that had the most engagements
Identify your most shared content – Determine which posts are getting the most social shares and break it down per platform
Examine profiles of brands and niche influencers – Learn from those who do it best. Find ways to improve on your own social profile.
Put all the data to use – Use the data in front of you to make plans for the future.

Developing a plan of action

Once you have a clear understanding of the current state of the account, it is time to develop a plan of action. This includes setting clear and specific goals for the account, identifying the target audience and creating a buyer persona, and developing a content calendar and posting schedule. It may also be necessary to plan for paid advertising to reach a larger audience.

Post regularly and actively engage with your audience

A social media page that lacks content and lies dormant might as well not exist at all. You can’t post consistently for a week and then go silent the next week. That can make people feel distrustful of your brand. If you want to improve your social media presence, then you need to post regularly.

Create a social media calendar and stick to it. Keeping your social media updates fresh can go a long way towards generating meaningful connections and conversations with leads and potential clients. It also creates a sense of familiarity with your brand.

Social media is about engagement and connection, and that’s the only way you can foster relationship and gain the trust of your audience. Ask questions, get their opinions, respond to their comments. This will get the conversation going and potentially grow your audience at the same time.

Don’t forget to listen

Are your social media posts met with crickets? No likes, shares or comments… nothing! If so, it’s probably because you do not understand your audience’s needs, desires, and pain-points.

Social media is a two-way street. One of the easiest ways to turn your audience off is to just broadcast and not listen.

Social listening helps you:

Determine which platform your audience is most actively using
Learn what people are saying about you or your brand
Discover popular, emerging conversations and trends
Identify influencers to reach new audiences
Create content that resonates with your audience
Create meaningful conversations

If you won’t listen to your audience, then you won’t be able to connect with them. You won’t be able to help or influence them. Minimize the time you spend promoting and start listening to your audience.

Return with a vengeance

With a plan in place, it’s time to put it into action and begin executing your strategy.

Once you’re ready to return, hit the ground running and don’t look back! Rather than drawing attention to the fact that you’ve been away for a while, start out with an engaging and exciting announcement. There is no need to acknowledge or explain your absence.

Hire a social media professional

Building and maintaining a social media presence requires a lot of time and effort. We know you have a lot on your plate and you no longer have time to sit and work on your social media content. If this is you, then it might be time to think about outsourcing.

Hiring a professional to manage your social media accounts will do more than just guarantee an active social presence, it will also save you time. They’ll do the work for you so you’ll also have more time to focus on more important tasks.

A social media manager will make sure that your content is meaningful and relevant to your audience, as well as help you create a strategic plan to help you reach your audience and get the most out of your social presence.

January 25, 2023/by Kathlyn Angeles-Timbol

Instagram, Membership Only, Social Media

Which Social Media Channels Fit Your Target Audience [PLUS Tips for Writing the Perfect Instagram Caption]

You may have amazing products and provide great services. You also spend time creating good quality content. No matter how engaging or persuasive your content is, you won’t be able to achieve great results unless it reaches your target audience.

Most businesses use social media to engage with their fans and followers and even build a relationship with them. Considering there are several social media channels out there, do you ever wonder if you’re reaching the right audience?

Which social media channels fit your target audience? Keep reading to find out.

Twitter

Twitter makes use of hashtags that allows businesses to target people who are talking about and engaging with topics related to their business. This social media platform is ideal for sharing real time information, timely trends or live events, and will result in high levels share and engagement.

Use this social networking platform if your target audience is young adults. 24% of internet users log in on their Twitter account on a daily basis. Younger, more educated crowds aged 18 to 29 uses Twitter. 29% of college grads use Twitter and lots of it.

Facebook

Facebook is the biggest socal networking channel, with over 1.86 billion monthly users. Yes, Facebook is crowded, but it gives you the ability to narrow down that 1.86 billion users by gender, age, location, interests, marital status, employment, and income; thus, making it easier for you to reach the right audience.

Majority of the entire adult population is on Facebook. In fact, 88% of milennials and 62% of adults aged 65 and up use Facebook. As such, this would be a great place to start with your social media campaign.

Instagram

Instagram is geared towards younger millennial users. A hefty 38% of female internet users use Instagram. To make the most out of your social media campaign, make sure that you provide attention grabbing photos and high quality videos to your audience. Remember, content is king on Instagram.

People tend to use LinkedIn for interacting with clients, influencers and other professionals. This is a great option for business whose products or services are highly specific to professionals. It is also ideal for B2B marketers.

Just like Facebook, LinkedIn allows you to target users based on gender, location and age. In addition, it also allows you to filter based on field of study, company industry, company size, degrees, job title etc.

So let’s say you find Instagram to be the way to market your business…

Tips for Writing the Perfect Instagram Caption

Instagram may be all about compelling visuals. When it comes to gaining followers, the quality of your photos will be the differentiating factor. But if you want to capture the attention of your target audience, you need the perfect Instagram captions. It can be the key to having your posts seen by more people. This will improve engagement and lead to more likes and comments. Plus, it will help you build a strong online presence.

Here are some tips for writing the perfect Instagram caption.

ACCESS TIPS

Use a consistent brand voice

Brand voice is one of the most important parts of any good Instagram caption. If you are a small business owner, who is looking to engage with your audience on Instagram, we recommend that you develop a brand voice and use it on all your posts. Practice consistency. Your Instagram caption should sound and feel like the rest of your marketing channels.

Use hashtags

Hashtags aren’t mandatory in your Instagram captions, but they do help. They provide an effective way of connecting with your followers, gain more Instagram followers and even build a relationship with them. Proper use of hashtags will make your posts more effective.

Think outside the box when adding hashtags. Instead of just saving the hashtags for the end, try incorporating them into the body of your caption. Also, use relevant hashtags to boost your engagement and get new eyes on your Instagram content.

Consider length

Although Instagram have a caption character limit of 2,200 characters, followers will have the option to “view more” for longer captions. You should stay within 125 characters to ensure that your entire caption will display in your follower’s feeds with the image. Make sure that every word is integral to the message you’re trying to convey.

For longer tweets, make sure that the most important part of your message is at the beginning of the caption.

Always include a call-to-action

Your captions are a great way to inspire people to engage with your business. As such, we highly recommend that you include a call-to-action to your Instagram caption. You can encourage them to comment, answer questions, use your hashtags, click the link in your bio etc. Your followers will be happy to engage with your business, you just need to prompt them to do something. Inviting them to like or comment can go a long way towards driving more engagement to your posts.

August 31, 2022/by Caitlin McDonald

Social Media, Social Speak, Tiktok, Video Marketing

5 Ways to Use Tiktok to Promote Your Business

If you think of Tiktok as a platform for teens and Gen Zs sharing their dance routines, funny lip-syncing videos or cute animal videos, think again. The truth is, there is a wide variety of content niches and communities within the platform, which allows you to reach a diverse audience.

No matter what type of business you have, there’s a space for your brand to make its mark on the platform. In fact, it is now seen as one of the biggest marketing machines for businesses of all sizes.

Tiktok has over 1 billion monthly active users, and the numbers seem to be rising day by day. It looks like Tiktok is here and doesn’t seem to be going anywhere

Looking to start using Tiktok to promote your brand? Here are 5 tips to help you get started.

Have fun!

Tiktok’s nature is fun, playful, and casual. So if there’s one thing you shouldn’t do on the platform, it’s being boring.

Most people are on the app to discover new and exciting content. So show off your brand personality and have fun with your content. If people see that you’re enjoying creating your content, chances are they’ll enjoy watching your videos too.

Tiktok is a great platform to test out new ideas and a different side of you. Feel free to explore different content formats until you find one that resonates with your audience. Once you do, keep replicating it to build on your success.

Post often

Let’s face it. Growing your brand on Tiktok can be exhausting, especially when you’re just starting out. Sure, it only takes one video to go viral to make a mark on this billion-dollar platform. But most of the time, success doesn’t happen overnight.

There are millions of videos that are being published on a platform everyday, and it can be quite difficult the capture the attention of your audience. If there’s one thing successful Tiktokers have in common, it’s consistency. They post content every single day; sometimes more.

So if you find yourself getting frustrated and you’re still not seeing the results you want, be patient. Post often and consistently.

Watch out for trends

One of the best ways to get more views is to create videos on trending topics. Keep in mind, though, that trends come and go. So if you want to capture the attention of your audience, you’ll have to keep up with the trends and keep your content new and refreshing.

Most users are actually searching and watching content about trending topics, so your videos will be shown to a wider audience.

With Tiktok, you’ll never run out of ideas for your content. Just do a quick search of the most trending hashtags, watch some videos on the platform and you’ll have a long list of ideas for your content.

Social media challenges

Social media challenges are a big hit on the platform. Some videos even go viral. So if you’re looking to increase brand awareness and grow your following on Tiktok, you might want to consider joining in trending challenges.

But if you’d like to take it a step further, you can also create your own challenges and encourage people to join in on the fun. It has to be fun and easy for your target audience to complete. Otherwise, people may not be interested to participate.

It’s also a good idea to create a branded hashtag for the challenge. Be sure to do some research before creating a hashtag to make sure that it’s hasn’t been taken yet.

Run Tiktok ads

For your ads to work, your target audience must be fully engaged within the platform. And that’s one of the biggest benefits of Tiktok. Users can’t get enough of it.

In fact, the usage of Tiktok is on an upward trend, with the average users spending at least an hour a day watching, sharing, and creating videos on the platform.

The more time users spend on the platform, the higher the chance that they’ll see your ads. The more engaged they are, the better your ads will perform. This makes advertising on Tiktok more worthwhile.

Final thoughts

A lot of businesses have found success on Tiktok. It’s not just because of the fun, entertainment, and creativity it offers. But because the exposure is truly next level. In fact, it opens a whole new connection with your target audience.

If you find Tiktok intimidating or you think it’s already too late to get in, it’s not. Tiktok is new enough for you to get in, yet huge enough to ensure that you’ll be able to reach a wide audience.

April 27, 2022/by Kathlyn Angeles-Timbol

Ecommerce, Social Media

Social Media Tips for the Holiday Season

As the holiday season sneak up and the end of the year approaches once again, most business owners are thinking of ways to connect with their audience while looking for one last push to finish the year strong.

Every business owner I know has more on their plate than usual at this time of the year. They’re focused on mapping out their holiday social media strategy and pushing out online deals that would capture their audience’s attention. After all, consumers are already at their computers, with their credit cards on standby. You don’t want to get left behind.

Use these tips to get ahead of the marketing game and stand out from the competition.

Create holiday-themed content

Did you know that 64% of consumers turn to social media platforms when looking for gift ideas for their friends and loved ones? If you haven’t already, take this opportunity to share deals and special offers on your social media pages.

Of course, you shouldn’t just focus on deals. You want to offer valuable content to your fans and followers.

Take time to fill your social media calendar with holiday-themed content. Depending on what niche you’re in, you can create some gift guides, share holiday recipes, or even share some safety tips.

Host a holiday giveaway

With the competition getting tougher every year, businesses are looking for a way to stand out. Now, the only thing that’s better than a good deal is something you can get for free. Hosting a holiday giveaway gives your audience a chance to get a free give for themselves or their loved ones.

The key to a successful giveaway is high demand. That said, you need to provide a compelling incentive — something your audience wants. For best results, you can involve your audience in the planning process. Conduct a survey and ask them what they’d like you to giveaway.

But before you start planning what to give away and what the guidelines are, it is important to determine your goal. Are you looking for ways to grow your email list? Or are you hoping to get your followers involved with your brand?

Get your ads ready to go

The holiday season is a busy time for business owners. People are already in buying mode as they’re looking for the perfect gift for their loved ones. If you want to generate more sales, you’d like to get your products in front of your audience. And running ads is one of the best ways to do so.

But here’s the thing… Ad costs usually go up this time of year since there is more competition. That means you’d have to pay a bit more than you would on a regular day.

To make the most of your ad budget, we suggest that you focus on warm audiences- those already familiar with your brand. Customers with pre-existing brand affinity are easier to convert than new, unproven audiences.

Create genuine holiday messages

2021 is nearing its end. This is the perfect opportunity for you to connect with your clients and customers in an authentic, non-salesy way. Not only will it help you build a relationship with them, but it’s also a good way to cut through the noise.

Remember that most users receive dozens of “Happy Holidays” emails from brands during the holiday season, so make sure yours stand out. So if you decide to send holiday greetings via email, we suggest that you create a powerful, personal message that honestly speaks to your audience.

A video message would be a great option if you want to increase your engagement while showing your customers how much you appreciate their support. Why? Because studies suggest that 72% of consumers prefer watching videos from businesses over other types of marketing.

Practice the art of storytelling

It’s the season of joy, giving, and gratefulness once again. Use this time to share a heartwarming story with your fans and followers and practice the art of storytelling.

With more vying for the attention of online shoppers, it becomes even more challenging to cut through the noise. A nice, touching story will capture your audience’s attention and get the readers into the holiday spirit.

There are a lot of ways to tell a story. You can write a blog, conduct an interview, or create a short video. The key is to focus on brand cohesion and a story that your audience can resonate with.

Final thoughts

The holidays is a time of joy and togetherness for many of us. But for businesses, both big and small, it’s also the biggest period for online sales. All of a sudden, you’re met with a flurry of holiday advertisements and tempting shopping deals.

If you need help capturing the festive season in your social media posts and looking to separate your brand from the competition, we encourage you to book a free 30-minute call with us. We’ll help you build your social strategy and prepare for a more profitable 2022.

December 15, 2021/by Kathlyn Angeles-Timbol

Advertising, Internet Marketing, Social Media

Tips to Boost Your Online Sales

(Updated Post from 2016)

Increasing sales is undeniably the primary goal of many businesses, small and large. But the biggest challenge business owners face is how to increase traffic to their e-commerce store. Once you’ve accomplished that, your goal is to turn those visitors into paying customers.

Here are 4 simple things you can do to boost your online sales.

Post fresh content

Just because you have a website, doesn’t mean that you can relax and just wait for potential clients to visit your site. You also need to post fresh content to encourage visitors to return to your site. Having well-written content and product descriptions are important. The more they return, the more likely are they to buy your products and services.

Be honest in your sales copy

Honesty is crucial, not only in building trust in your brand; but also in improving your business’ reputation. Your goal is to show people that you are the best person to provide the products that will help solve their problems. But in order to do that, you need to add credibility to your copy. Be honest in your sales copy and include customer testimonials in your sales letter. It is through this process that people will come to trust you and feel comfortable enough to buy from you. The golden rule – Know, Like, Trust.

Go social

Social media is one of the best ways to increase brand awareness, sales, and customer satisfaction. Actively engage with prospective customers via social media. Talk to them. Answer their questions as quickly and as honestly as you can. Studies show that customers are more likely to purchase products if they receive fast and honest answers from the company.

Don’t forget about your customers once you get them to purchase your products. Send them an email, offer discounts or free shipping on their next purchase. The more attention you pay to them after they have bought something, the more likely are they to turn into repeat customers. Think relationships, not sales.

Offer fewer products

Most businesses create an extensive list of products and services, thinking they’ll get more sales if they have a little something for everyone. But the problem is that prospects will have a hard time deciding whether to buy or not when you have an exhaustive product list. Instead of trying to please everyone, you might want to streamline your products and offer one set of related products. Then, describe those products as best you can.

Also, buyers need to see the benefits of purchasing your products. Try to answer all doubts and questions your visitors may have about your products and really focus on one key set of benefits.

September 22, 2021/by Caitlin McDonald

Social Media

7 Social Media Marketing Mistakes You Need to Avoid

In today’s digital world, social media has become the go-to place for brands and businesses. It’s no longer optional. It’s an essential way to reach your audience, generate leads, and grow your business.

As someone who has worked as a digital marketer for years, it pains me to see businesses and healthcare providers who struggle to get results on social media because they keep making the same mistakes over and over again. They may seem like minor mistakes, but they can cost you reach, engagement, and even followers.

Here are seven social media marketing mistakes you need to avoid.

Buying followers

Having a massive following on social media is impressive. You might be tempted to buy followers, especially if you’re struggling to gain online traction, but please don’t. Why? Because purchased followers are likely bots and inactive accounts.

What’s the point of having 10,000 followers when no one even reads or engages with your post? Plus, Instagram recognizes and purges fake accounts. So buying followers is nothing but a waste of money.

Not having a social media marketing plan

Doing social media marketing without a plan is like driving a car without knowing where you want to go. The last thing you want to spend countless hours creating content without a clear objective.

So ask yourself, what do you want to achieve?

Is it to generate leads?
Is it to increase brand awareness?
Is it to increase the engagement rate?

Having a clear vision of what you want to accomplish will be easier for you to measure results. Thus, allowing you to create a concrete plan of action to outline what you want to achieve.

Being boring

There are more than 8.9 million posts per day on Instagram alone. With millions of posts being published every day, it can be easy to get lost in the noise.

If you want to stand out from the competition, you need to be different. Use different content types. Share videos, visually appealing images, and mix them up with plain texts.

Keep your images and videos as high quality as possible. Most importantly, try to make your captions compelling while adding value to your audience.

Being on all social media platforms

New social media platforms pop up almost every day. Most business owners try to open an account on different social media platforms, hoping it would help them reach a wider audience. Sure, it can help increase your reach, but is it worth your time?

The key is to identify which social platform your audience uses the most and then focus your time and effort into engaging your target audience. The last thing you want is to spread yourself thin across too many platforms.

Focusing on quantity over quality

Social Media Week recommends posting on social media 5-10 times a week to increase engagement. That means you need to post at least one post a day to get results.

But here’s the thing… Just because you’re posting regularly, it doesn’t mean you’ll get positive results. If you want to increase your engagement rate, focus on publishing your quality content rather than the number of posts.

It doesn’t matter if you publish posts five times a week, as long your audience finds them interesting and valuable.

Failing to engage with your followers

So you regularly post content on social media. That’s great! But the question is, do you engage with your followers?

Social media is a two-way engagement platform. You can’t just post content and then leave. We know creating high-quality posts can be time-consuming, but you also need to make time to engage with your followers.

Ask questions. If someone asks a question, answer them. Interact with people who comment on your post. Showing your followers there’s a human behind your page goes a long way in building a relationship with your audience.

Deleting negative comments

Negative comments are unavoidable. At some point, you’ll come across a dissatisfied client or someone who misunderstands your message.

It can be tempting to delete negative comments on social media, but please resist the urge to do so. Why? It can imply that you don’t care about the person’s feelings, giving them enough reason to dislike your brand.

The first step to resolving a conflict is to apologize sincerely. Then, invite the commenter to send you a private message so you can deal with their problem privately. Use this as an opportunity to make the situation right.

Final thoughts

We all make mistakes, and sometimes, we aren’t even aware of them. They may seem like minor mistakes, but they can negatively affect your business in the long run. The first step is to become aware of these mistakes.

If you need help with social media marketing, please feel free to reach out to us for a free 30-minute consultation call. We can help you create a social media strategy to help you reach your prospects online.

May 26, 2021/by Kathlyn Angeles-Timbol

Content Creation, Social Media

Social Media Plan 2021

In today’s blog, we’ll be covering six tips to create your healthcare social media plan for 2021. Yes, 2021! We are entering the fourth quarter already of 2020, and it’s really important to be proactive when it comes to your social media strategy. Because the more that you plan, the easier it is.

Social media review

You’ve heard of us talking about this a little bit throughout the year. We always like to do a quarterly check-in and just see what’s working and what’s not working.

So if you haven’t done your review yet, take the time this fourth quarter to really look at each of your social media platforms, (Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram, Pinterest, Twitter, YouTube), you need to look at their Analytics. Look at each quarter, look at the whole year, look to see what posts have gotten the most engagement, and also look at your Google Analytics to see where that social traffic is coming from.

Are you getting a lot of website traffic from Pinterest or Facebook? Are you getting a little website traffic from Instagram, but you’re getting a lot of engagement? So really looking at each platform, what is working, and what’s not working on each one. Why? It’s because each platform has its own purpose.

Like with Instagram, you may get a lot more engagement, but you’re not gonna get a lot of traffic to your website; whereas Facebook and Pinterest, maybe you get less engagement, but more traffic to your website, so looking at those and looking at them individually and seeing what’s working. So that was number one, doing your social media review.

Content

So after you do your review, make sure you write down what content works the best, and figure out new ways to implement new content for 2021.

According to Tubular, by 2021, 80% of Internet traffic will be from videos, that’s huge, 80%. And a lot of that is done by the phones.

So you have to think of what types of posts you’re putting up. Are you doing more personal posts of you and your staff, patient testimonials, and short little videos? Are you doing doctor interviews, patient interviews, educational videos where you are talking, maybe you have a weekly FAQ section?

What are the types of content that you have put out over 2020 and what’s work the best? And then make a list of the content that you want to do more of in 2021 and things you wanna try.

So maybe you’ve just been posting, repurposing content from outside sources, which is great. It’s always good to share articles from your industry, Facebook loves that. But maybe you want to have original content. Maybe you should start blogging in 2021 and have that content go out to social media and drive that traffic back to the website. Think of different types of content that you want to implement into your social media plan for 2021.

Set goals

I know sometimes it sounds so like, “Oh, it’s just social media, we don’t need to have goals.” But you do. You need to really look at how many followers and likes do you have right now, and what’s that number you wanna get to. Sometimes, it’s not always the quantity, it’s more quality.

So you may have 1500 likes, but your engagement with them is amazing. So you may say, “Okay, I’m not really worried about growing my likes on my Facebook page, but I wanna reach even more people.” And so looking at those goals, maybe you tapped into Facebook ads a little bit in 2020, but your goal is to really master Facebook ads where you can see that return on investment, “I wanna grow my email list by 200 people in 2021.”

Well, you’re gonna grow that email list by creating really successful Facebook ads, you’re not gonna grow that email list by just posting. So setting those goals and looking at how you can utilize Facebook ads, Instagram ads, and making sure, looking at the kind of, if you’re new to the Facebook ad world, okay, you may be tapped into it or you boosted a post, but you really didn’t get anything from it.

Let’s dive into that a little bit more. What post did you boost, did you create a specific audience? Sometimes we have clients that say, “Oh, I tried the ad thing, it didn’t work for me.” But they have a brick and mortar practice in one city, but their ad is going out to everyone. So if you have a brick and mortar practice, you wanna make sure that you’re only doing a 25-mile radius and you wanna utilize the tools that Facebook provides you to set that target audience, that’s really important to make sure your ad is going to the right people. So setting those goals for your social media is a really important step.

Make sure you’re reaching your target market

So there’s a couple of ways you can do this. Obviously, a lot by trial and error of what platforms you’re posting to and where that engagement is coming from. You can also do a survey. You should have a patient database or an email list, and you can ask them what social media platforms are they a part of, even if you have, like your sign-in sheet at the front desk, add a couple of columns.

Where are you most active on social media? And just have Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn or Twitter, and then ask them. If you have a good relationship with your patients, they already know, like, and trust you, and they want to help you be successful because they’re coming to you for a reason, and hopefully they’re so happy about the results that they have seen with you, that they wanna be able to share your posts and tell their friends and families.

So if you are connecting to them on social media, that’s a great way to create those posts to talk to that target audience. You could also go a step further if you already have a large client database. When you’re looking at those Facebook ads, you could upload a lookalike audience, so it will target people that have the same similarities as that list already.

If you’re putting all this time into Twitter and you’re putting up three or four tweets a day, and you’re following all these people, but you’re not getting any engagement, that may be a platform that you say, “You know what, this isn’t something that is going to work for us, we need to let Twitter go,” or “We’re only gonna post once per week, and we’re gonna focus our time on these platforms.” So just knowing where your audience is at.

If your audience is women and mothers, you need to be on Pinterest. You need to start creating those Pins, especially if you are an OB/GYN or an Endovascular Center that focuses on uterine fibroid embolization, you need to be on there because that’s where women are going.

Pinterest is a visual search engine, just like Google. The demographics on there are about equal, but women have a little bit higher presence on Pinterest, so if women are your target market, you gotta get on Pinterest and Instagram because that’s really where you’re going to reach them.

Look at your competitors

So you wanna see what are they doing. Facebook came out with page transparency about two years ago.

So if you go to a Facebook page on the right-hand side, it will say page transparency. That allows you to see what ads they have running and how they’ve been doing. You can kind of, in a way, spy on what they’re doing. This really gives you a good foundation of what’s working and what’s not working.

If you are an individual healthcare practice, like a Family Medicine Practice, you may wanna look at the larger hospitals of what they’re doing because that would help give you an idea of the content that they’re putting together, the ads they’re running, and then how you can tailor your own ads to reach your target audience.

So it’s really important that you’re always looking at those competitors, both in-state and out-of-state, nationwide, just so you can see, “Okay, well, we did a similar post, but they had a thousand likes and 15 shares and we didn’t have anything, why is that?” And so it allows you to see how things can be done as well. So that’s number five, looking at competitors.

Create your social media calendar

Once you have done all of these steps, you are now at the place, you have your notes, you’ve looked through everything, you have a good idea of what you wanna do, what you wanna implement, now it’s time to go back to that content calendar and create your social media content calendar for at least, at least the first quarter of 2021.

You are gonna create that, we will put a link to a social media content calendar that we use that you can make a copy of, and you’re going to in there put what networks you’re gonna work on, what resources you’re going to share from, what content ideas that you are going to implement, what videos you need to record, what goals you have? You wanna be able to run this many Facebook ads and put everything together.

So come January 1st, and hopefully, before that, you already have your social media posts written for January. You’ve already looked at what those national observance days are for the health and wellness industries so you know what topics you’re gonna talk about. You’ve already spoken to your doctors, your staff, your patients, and you have set up those times to interview them.

Using Zoom to do an interview call is awesome because you’re allowed to talk, they’re allowed to talk, and you can record that and then upload that directly into YouTube and use it as a social media post or as a blog post. So looking at what videos you want to implement and just having everything in that content calendar.

So come 2021, you are ready to hit the ground running and you are organized, so now, if you just do the first quarter of 2021, come February, you wanna start planning the second quarter, so you’re always about six weeks ahead.

And it’s important too because the industries are always changing, there are always new things coming up, and new news stories, so on your content calendar, you may have a place holder for an article or industry tip, and those are things that are gonna be more in the moment post. You may just schedule those a week in advance. But you wanna know your foundation, you’re gonna be able to know the National Observance days, again, the interviews, you can schedule those out, you can talk about, you put together the topics you wanna talk about, create those images in Canva, find that content that you wanna put with it. So you’re just making sure that you are ready for 2021.

Schedule a free consultation

If you need help putting this social media strategy together, we are here to help you. Head on over to socialspeaknetwork.com, and schedule a free consultation today and we can help walk you through what’s the best steps for your business to start and how we can implement a plan for you. So we are here to help you and we look forward to seeing your social media strategy.

September 30, 2020/by Amber Irwin

Instagram, Social Speak

Instagram Stories Features

On today’s blog, we are going to be talking about Instagram Stories. We’ve done a few videos in the past on Instagram Stories, but Instagram is always adding new features to the Instagram Stories, different options you have when you do a new story, and I wanted to just walk through those today so you can see why it’s so important to do Instagram Stories.

So, let me jump on out of here real quick, and let me go into our Instagram account. And as you can see our screen, the circle icons up top are the Instagram Stories. These are what people see right away when they get on to Instagram, and people tend to scroll through Instagram Stories before they scroll through their Instagram feed. With that being said, you can see the importance of having Instagram Stories a part of your Instagram strategy. Instagram Stories only stay up for 24 hours, unless you highlight them to one of your boards, and I’ll show you how to do that.

Creating an Instagram story

Let’s go back to our home page and we wanna create an Instagram story. So you’re gonna go up to the top where you see your circle icon with the blue plus sign, you’re gonna click onto that, and this is gonna bring up the different options.

So I’m gonna put this in the background instead of my computer, so this what’s called normal option. Instagram has added a few different options for you, so this one is breezy.

If you want this effect again, you can save it here, you can send that post to somebody. This is also where you’re gonna get the twinkle. So you’ll see when people take selfies or pictures of things, that you’re gonna see these twinkles, this is underneath this normal option.

Live video

You can still do a live video, which would be just like this us talking. It will automatically cut it the correct way, and this is gonna tell you right now that you have six active followers that have the potential of watching your Instagram Live and being able to engage.

So, you would hit record here on this button and being able to start that process. So that is the live option.

Create

The next option is Create. This is where you saw in the beginning slide, the welcome to Social Speak Network. Now, I can go to create and I can click onto this happy face up here, and this is all the options that Instagram gives you, so you can add a location, you can mention somebody, you can add hashtags, you can add cute little images which are called stickers. What I love this feature is really the data that you’re able to collect from an Instagram story.

Poll

So if you have an event, you can do a register link here, but if you’re wanting to find out what your audience is looking for, where do they need help?

This is really good for your content strategy if you’re trying to figure out where people are needing help at. So you can do a poll and I can say, “Do you need more help with your social media?” You say social media marketing or your SEO website marketing. Okay, they’re two different things, but just so… And you put the answers here, social media and SEO website. So this is gonna be my question.

Now, I can change that text that I want, and I can say, “Do you need help with your social media marketing or your SEO website?”

If you’re a fitness coach and you’re wanting to do a new Zoom class, this can be something along the lines of, Would you rather do a morning class or an afternoon class? And then you can add another poll, so you would add another question here on the next slide.

Quiz

So this is just a really great feature. You can also do a quiz where… True or false.

If you’re a health coach and you’re wanting to see what your audience knows about their nutritional facts of their food, that’s a great option. Also, you can ask questions. Rather than doing a poll, you can just ask a question to your audience as well, and you can do a countdown.

So, there’s a lot of different options here on this area under Create that I really like, and so we’re just gonna exit out of this real quick, we don’t need that.

Boomerang

Boomerang is those fun videos where it takes a two-second video. Again, this is great for the Monday morning coffee cup, cheers to Monday morning. This could be a happy Friday, this can be different quick little snippet videos.

Layout

Then the one new thing that they have come out with is this layout. This is an awesome feature for product, so you can have a four-picture grid up to a six-picture grid. So this is great if you wanna take a picture of new products that have come in or if you’re highlighting staff members, you can just keep taking those and then being able to have that as a story.

Super Zoom

Then Super Zoom this is good if you can go in here, and this usually has options like hearts or flame. You’ll see it as you hold your thumb on that button, and it’s gonna just slowly but surely go deeper to an object. So this is just something if you wanted to have maybe like a quote of the day or just different features that Instagram Stories has to offer.

Highlight a story

Let’s go back to Create, and I wanna show you how to highlight a story. I’m gonna go on here, and you can change your colors if you want to as well, down here on the left, or the right-hand corner.

So, I’m gonna go back to this bluish-purple, and I’m gonna click onto the icon and I’m gonna do a poll. And my question is going to be, Would you rather have a company manage your social media marketing or your SEO and website marketing?

There’s a certain character count here, so we may have to think of that question. Let’s say, “Do you need more help with your social media or SEO website?” So let’s keep it short and simple. And then in this option here, you can say website and SEO.

So, now that I have this complete, now I just want to hit… You can change this to close friends if you have a list already made. Otherwise, I just like the stories going out to everyone, and what you can do is then just click on your stories.

Now, this can link to your Facebook as well. So if you click on to your Send to, it can go to your Facebook stories or just Instagram Stories. So what I always do is I just click on the bottom here and it’s shared. So now when we click onto that icon again up top, our story’s uploading, and it’s right here.

Now, if we want to highlight that we’re gonna click on to highlight, and if you already have these boards created, you can go into tips for you, whatever board you have that you want this in particular slide to go to, you could click right on to that and then it would say it’s added to those tips.

So, this is a way that you can go from having that Instagram story only show up here for 24 hours, to now showing up here at the end. So they’ve got through, they’ll say, “Oh, this is so great.” And then they’re gonna be able to then see that story right there.

Final thoughts

So this is just, again, another way to help you get in front of your audience stay top of mind, and this is what people are going to be seeing, as they get on to Instagram, they’re going to see the stories and click on those before they go on to the feed.

So really thinking of behind the scenes photos that you can put into the Instagram story, Instagram Exclusives for just your Instagram followers, promoting webinars, new blog posts. Those are things that Instagram Stories work really well for.

If you have any questions about your Instagram strategy, please let us know.

August 5, 2020/by Amber Irwin

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