scmarketing

A great interactive campaign this Easter was from Cadbury’s utilising Facebook 360-degree. Players were invited to search for Easter Eggs in a virtual world. On finding one, players were asked to comment where it was and the first one to comment was a winner.

The campaign is a bit of fun and engaged with a large number of Australians during a one-hour period with over 70,000 comments posted.

We know Facebook works for business and it’s a great way of keeping in touch with current and potential customers but with research indicating that the use of social media such as Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp can make children feel unhappy*, did this campaign utilise the right channel?

On one hand it has taken the traditional Easter Egg hunt to the next level allowing parents to enjoy the Easter egg hunt with their children and for Cadbury’s to reach a much wider audience. But on the other-hand, we remember the fun of running around hunting for eggs in the garden or popping to a local fair with our families to enjoy the fun with family and friends. There’s certainly a place for both, and putting a time limit on the campaign was a good call to help create a campaign frenzy but curb ongoing use.

But, as a campaign running in Australia, perhaps that’s the real reason for utilising social media, to overcome the challenges of an Easter Egg hunt in a hot country!

Social media Croydon

Incorporating social media into your marketing strategy can raise brand awareness and online presence. Visit our blog for tips on how you can improve social media presence.

If you feel you need support in getting your business noticed on social media, then get in touch with Smart Cow Marketing to discuss your needs further.

Source: *www.theguardian.com

Well, Instagram doesn’t literally go shopping, but it is trialling a new shopping function.

So, if you’re a business to consumer (B2C) brand and your target audience is on Instagram then this could, at some point in the not so distance future, be an interesting avenue to explore.

Currently Instagram has the ability for businesses to place shopping-enabled adverts, as already seen on Facebook. These appear like a catalogue of images but allow the customer to buy without leaving the site.

This is in its early days with only a couple of big fashion and beauty brands utilising it, but is already an indicator of how the channel may evolve. But, the difference with this new shopping function, currently being trialled in the US, is that it allows you to tag products in a post and each of these tags carries more product detail. This is great for a retail brand giving potential buyers loads more information and quickly. While these new functions are in their early stages, why not review your channel to get it up to speed and ready for these new options.

Review your hashtags

Reach out to more potential customers and followers by reviewing the hashtags you’re using. Look at which hashtags your competitors are using. Are there any key influencers in your industry that you should be following? If so, what do they use? When you use the search function to look at hashtags don’t forget to look at those ‘related’ to your search as they could lead you to other popular hashtags.

Branding and content

Make sure your branding is consistent across all your social media channels. Your customers want to feel happy moving from one platform to the next. People like familiarity. Not only is it important to have stunning, eye-catching imagery, it is also vital to have engaging content. Getting likes and comments is good, but creating interesting comment that entices people to comment on your posts also mean that the Instagram algorithm will favour you more.

Future shopping

So, if you start to make headway now and get your Instagram channel into tip top shape, you’ll be in a great position as and when the new shopping function is available.

Social media Croydon

Incorporating social media into your marketing strategy can raise brand awareness and online presence. Visit our blog for tips on how you can improve social media presence.

If you feel you need support in getting your business noticed on social media, then get in touch with Smart Cow Marketing to discuss your needs further.

With the new year underway and plans a plenty for kick starting the year with the goal of getting your business message out there, considering a digital marketing strategy will help set you on your way. So, if you’re embarking on a social media push, we’ve got a few tips for you in our series of blogs. Here, we explore Instagram. Instagram’s a great way for businesses to raise brand awareness, while also interacting with their consumers.

Company bio

First things first, what do you do? The space for your company bio offers 150 characters to spell out what you do. With such a limited amount of words take a bit of time to think about what you should include. Think about who your target audience is? Make sure the phrases you use are relevant to them.

Contact details

Remember to add a call to action as well as a telephone number or email address so potential customers can get in touch.

It is important to include your website details in your bio too as in an Instagram post you can’t click on links, so make sure you have a link in your bio. You will often see people write ‘link in bio’ when they post, so when you have a new blog on your website simply update the web address so you have a direct link to it. Then change it when you have something new you want to highlight.

Be visual

Include emojis in your bio to make it visual, but make sure they are relevant, for example if you are a photographer use a camera emoji.

Make your page visual, from time to time check that your homepage looks consistent. If you have a couple of blurry images these will look out of place if all the other posts are pristine.

Hashtags

Research relevant hashtags to not only use in your posts but also think about creating one for your products or services. Use it in your bio to help extend reach and encourage others to share images with that hashtag. For example, Caffe Nero uses #CoffeeAndBlue in its bio. This way customers can share their lovely coffee images and Caffe Nero has a way of seeing what is posted. They can then easily choose images to repost – but don’t forget to credit the instagrammer when you repost.

Posts

Keep your posts succinct and to the point with the aim of directing traffic to your website for more detail, offers, tips and advice.

Social media agency Croydon

Drop us a line on 020 3137 1826 or email saymoo@smart-cow.com if you have any questions about social media for your business and developing a digital marketing strategy.