Share Moving Media

The #1 Reason Why People Will Follow Your Brand on Facebook

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“Facebook?” you may say. “Does anyone even use Facebook anymore?” The answer, of course, is yes, millions of people still use Facebook regularly. Perhaps the question you should be asking is if you are successfully marketing to your Facebook audience? While selfies, funny pet videos, and political rants may fill many users’ feeds, countless people also use this social media outlet to “Like” their favorite brands. But why? What exactly are they looking for when the click on that little thumbs up?

Opportunity Lost?

Facebook has faced a lot of bad press recently, but the truth remains that if you don’t have a definitive marketing strategy for this social media network, you’re missing a big opportunity. A recent MarketingCharts article found that while Facebook has experienced a decline in usage amongst younger generations, it remains the most used platform for Millennials, Gen X, and Boomers. And according to the Pew Research Center, 68% of Americans use Facebook as of 2018!

Let’s think of the “Bs” and “Cs” for a moment—that is, business to business (b2b) versus business to consumer (b2c). How you market depends heavily on to whom you are trying to market. In healthcare, we often market to other companies or to salespeople who are selling our products for us. This is a different tactic than we should use when trying to speak directly to consumers. Marketing through social media is a cost-effective and enjoyable way to engage with your customers. According to MarketingSherpa, 95% of online adults ages 18 to 34 are likely to follow a brand on social media, so if you aren’t marketing through these platforms it truly is opportunity lost.

What are the Motivators?

The question now turns to the reasoning behind the like—why someone likes a video of a golden retriever (it’s cute!) is very different to why someone likes a post from Coca-Cola.

Surely customers want to learn about your product…right? It turns out people don’t often seek out informational content through social media. The number one motivator is all about saving a buck or two! Your customers want information about upcoming sales. Saving 10% on your favorite sneakers or getting a low interest rate on that new car you’ve had your eye on is quite the motivator!

Some of the other top motivators may surprise you:

Upcoming sales
Incentives, such as promotions and coupons
Info about new products
Supporting a favorite brand
Entertainment value

The right Facebook post will help you reach specific audiences depending on your goal and should compel users to respond. The more reactions and responses your post gets, the more curious others become. In short, clicks lead to more clicks, and if users share your posts then they will introduce potential customers to your brand!

Avoiding Common Blunders

We’ve all seen it—a company posts what they think is acceptable content on a social media platform that ends up backfiring in one way or another. It’s wise to think of social media interactions like dinner with your co-workers or in-laws—avoid religion and politics! It’s safe to assume that unless you cater very specifically within those topics you won’t always understand how your customers feel about your brand’s relationship with those subjects.

If many of your customers reside in another country, brush up on their customs and beliefs. What is appropriate here many not be appropriate there! Additionally, you may feel inclined to post on some of the hundreds of holidays and “awareness” days, but ask yourself if these days really resonate with your audience? For example, it wouldn’t make a whole lot of sense for one of the top car manufacturers to try to connect with customers on Small Business Saturday.

Ultimately, remember what your customers are looking for (sales and incentives likely top the list!) and use Facebook as a tool to generate meaningful interactions that will increase your visibility and hopefully reach new audiences.

COVID-19 Support Series: New Workplace Dynamics

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A person sitting at home office desk

             
Our team here at Share Moving Media is currently working remotely and know from talking to many of you that your organizations are working remotely as well. So, we got to thinking… this is a challenging and vastly different time for all of us and we thought it would be helpful if we compiled some tips for the change in times right now, both business and personal. I would venture to say that we are currently in an unprecedented time of blurred lines between personal and business lives (I’m looking at you- working parent who is now working from home AND ensuring that your kids are maintaining their school work).

We want to tackle this transitional time from many angles and hopefully share ideas on how to make the most of the situation while we are in it together.

This week, we’re talking about our new normal of working from home and getting our offices set up. We’ve included some ideas below and Graham Garrison from our team weighs in with a little reminder for all of us.

                                       Working from Home- The new normal

1. Communication tools

We all need interaction and to stay connected. And while working from home may make that a little tougher, the technology at our fingertips can help us feel connected, while remaining socially distant.

  • Microsoft Teams -a great internal chat and screenshare tool if your company uses Microsoft office
  • Slack – designed to replace email as your primary method of communication and sharing. Its workspaces allow you to organize communications by channels for group discussions and allows for private messages to share information, files, and more all in one place.
  • Zoom– With both free and paid options, this video conferencing tool allows you to connect via phone, screenshare, and video with your customers and colleagues
  • Go to meeting– This web conference platform has options for small to large meetings and webinars and integrates easily with many calendar tools for easy scheduling
  • Marco Polo– Missing your coworkers and want to make them smile? This great video messaging app you to have an ongoing conversation via short videos in one running conversation reel. This one also doubles as a tool to use with your family and friends so that you can still stay connected during this time (and can send fun videos of your family to grandparents, friends, etc.)
  • Basecamp– this tool allows you to break work into separate projects that contain everything related to the work at hand (all the people, discussions, file, task, etc.).

2. Productivity

  • Block out your calendar- with less time traveling, we might have a little more office time to get deliberate about scheduling out our days
  • Keep a routine
  • Get dressed for the day- sometimes it really is just a mindset thing, but if you dress for the day (vs. staying in your pajamas), you might find that your mind stays more focused on business

3. Working at home with your kids

  • Try to carve your home into zones to keep a little bit of separation for people
  • Keep to a schedule

4.Setting up your home office

  • If you are staying in a bit this weekend, it could be a great time get your home office set up so that it functions really well and so that you can use video conferencing tools to still engage with your colleagues and customers while remaining professional

Over the coming weeks, we will be sending helpful tips from our team members that you might consider during this time of COVID-19 quarantine. What are some hacks or tools that you have found helpful during this time? We’d love to hear from you!

The Top 5 Types of Content

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When “Content is King” made its way into healthcare marketing the past few years, it felt like our industry was moving in the right direction with a strong focus on creating relevant content that our audience wanted.

And it sounded simple enough. Nearly all the materials that we create in marketing can be considered content and can be packaged in many different forms: articles, info-graphics, blogs, videos, white papers, case studies, podcasts – the list is endless.

We all nodded our heads in agreement and excitedly jumped on the content bandwagon. But then came the challenging task of creating a comprehensive content strategy that includes the kinds of topics that our audience wants to hear and across different media channels – all on top of our day jobs.

So, when I read, They Ask You Answer by Marcus Sheridan, I was struck by what seemed like a simplistic idea: When you’re building your content strategy, create content based on the questions that your customers ask. Sheridan suggests that there are 5 types of content that best parallel the way that people search and that yield the best traffic, conversions and overall brand perception.

Who, What, Which and How Much?

As you look through the list of content subject types below, think about the last big purchase you made, either for yourself or for your business. My guess is that you probably sought for answers to several, if not all, of these questions.

  1. Pricing and Costs

    It feels counter-intuitive to talk about costs or price in your content, but the reality is that buyers want that information and they tend to trust brands they feel are more transparent with it. This type of content also gives you the opportunity to educate customers on reasons for price differences in your industry.

  2. Problems

    Like price, this subject type sometimes feels like a danger zone, but if you identify any negative perceptions or reactions to your brands or products, you create content that helps turn weaknesses into strengths and directly addresses any concerns. This content type goes back to building trust by providing an honest answer to your customers about your industry and products.

  3. Versus and Comparisons

    I was recently considering a car purchase and like most buyers, I was researching a few different options and wanted to see how they compared. I was pleasantly surprised to see that a post from Toyota showed up in the top 5 search results when I googled one of their models versus a competitor’s model. And the content in the post blew me away. It included an overview of their model and an overview of their competitor’s model, and their conclusion didn’t name a clear winner. Instead, it reiterated a few pros of their model and a few pros of the other model. It felt like they respected the intelligence of their buyers and wanted to provide helpful and unbiased information.

  4. Reviews

    In today’s purchasing arena, it’s all about “social proof.” When shopping on Amazon, the second option to sort by (only after price) for product results is “sort by: average customer review.” Case studies, testimonials and product reviews top the list of content that we turn to for “personal” recommendations of products, services and tools. And while we love these honest endorsements of our brand (seriously, these pieces are like gold to marketers), we can also create meaningful review content that includes other players in our industry that will help our customers and bolster our position as a trusted resource.

  5. Best in Class

    This content subject could be approached as an article on the “Best in Class” manufacturers in the industry, the “best practices” to follow for your specific category or even “Top 10” lists of things that buyers should know about a particular topic in your niche.

The great news about these content subject types is you are already an expert in your field, and by creating content that answers questions for your customers, you educate them and earn their trust.



Tips for Successful Native Advertising

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Content is King (and has been for quite some time) and with that adage comes evolving marketing strategies, like native advertising.

Before we talk about best practices for native advertising, let’s quickly look at the difference between Content Marketing and Native Advertising/Sponsored Content, since they’re often confused.

Content Marketing: Content that is created by the brand and posted on a publisher’s site.

Native Advertising/Sponsored Content: Content that is created by the publisher or co-created by the publisher and the brand and posted on the publisher’s medium

In addition to helping your brand stand out, native advertising also:

*Does’t disrupt the reader since it blends in with the publisher’s content
*Builds trust with your readers through useful content and solutions
*Encourages audience engagement

To reap the benefits of native advertising, brands should:

*Be honest and transparent
*Don’t sell- tell a story!
*Use imagery to trigger emotions from your reader
*Target readers
*Test to see which content resonates best with your reader

If you can follow these best practices, you’ll be well on your way to leveraging native advertising as a way to gain trust and bolster your brand with your target audience.To find out about Native Advertising in Repertoire or JHC, email us!

Branding pitfalls to avoid

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Branding is something that all companies must focus on – regardless of size, industry, or target customer. And in an ever-changing industry like healthcare, the perception of our brand can dramatically impact our company’s success. 

While you might focus heavily on branding guidelines in your advertising materials, it can be a little harder to apply tangible brand principles when creating content marketing pieces.

So, as you set out to create your content library for the rest of 2019, here’s a short list of branding mistakes to avoid!

1.     Not simplifying your message

As Don Miller, author of one of my favorite marketing books Building a Story Brand says, “when you confuse you lose”. Companies know the ins and outs of their organization and offerings and are excited to tell our prospects all about it. The problem is, sometimes we’re sharing so much that our prospects become more confused, or worse – bored. It’s important to clarify our message and offering. That way, customers and prospects know what to expect and can more easily understand the offer.

2.     Losing focus on your brand’s mission

As you start building a content library, ask yourself, does each piece of content and advertising in your campaign promote or reinforce your brand’s mission? In this content-driven world, it’s easy to feel the pressure to produce mass amounts of text. And while you do want to release content on a regular basis, your brand will be better served by creating less content that is of the right quality.

3.     Not using visuals

First impressions are usually lasting ones, and eye-catching visuals can help bring more visitors to your content. As an extra incentive, data shows that content with relevant images gets 94% more views than content without relevant images!

Clarify your message, question the mission of your content, and include eye-catching visuals. All useful tools and ideas to make sure your branding stays on point and delivers the intended message.