Hoopla Marketing

Monday, 25 January 2016

Twitter Terrors - Top 5 Twitter mistakes you don't want to make

Every single tweet that a brand sends out can make a huge impact, because of the intrinsically viral nature of Twitter. We have put together some great tips on using Twitter for your business along with some examples of Twitter nightmares that have happened over the years.

1. FOLLOWING BACK EVERY SINGLE USER

The number of followers and people you are following is simply a numbers game. It’s all very well having 500K followers but if you are trying to build a business or increase your brand awareness, you want your followers list to be filled with quality users! Is it really worth following back people who post x-rated material, have little to no tweets, or users that have no relevance to your industry? Remember it’s all about quality, not quantity!

2. PAYING FOR FOLLOWERS

Don’t pay for followers! Quite simply it’s a scam and not only are they completely useless in growing your brand and promoting your business, it can have a detrimental effect on your account when it comes to targeted advertising but also when trying to analyse and measure your progress on Twitter. You want real users who have selected to follow you on their own as they are more likely to engage with your brand ie. read your tweets, click on your links, and re-tweet your posts.

3. #HASHTAG HORRORS

#Hashtags are there to support your message and also provide another way for users to see your tweet, however overusing them can actually disrupt the power of the message and make your tweet harder to read! Twitter is saturated with over 500 million tweets a day, so if yours is hard to read, it will be missed! Also choose your #hashtag wisely, we’ve seen some #hashtag horrors over the years, one of them being #susanalbumparty,which was used to promote Susan Boyles new album in 2012!

4. A FOUL MOUTH

Being social doesn’t mean you can lose your professionalism. Make sure that the people who are in charge of your brand’s official account can be trusted to deliver the correct tone of voice. Whoever was running Chrysler's official Twitter account made a big mistake when they tweeted out a snarky driving rant complete with an F-bomb to all its followers.

5. ITS GONE VIRAL!

If you want your brand to go viral then make sure it’s for the right reasons. It’s surprising how many big brands have got it very wrong over the years. Take Kellogg’s UK for example, they tried the ‘Retweet to feed a hungry child campaign’. Kellogg’s campaign to raise awareness of their Give a Child a Breakfast charity program famously backfired after they sent the tweet below.

One of the most popular replies was from a Twitter user was:

This tweet summed up the sentiments felt by many of Kellogg’s UK’s followers.

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If you would like to share any other Twitter Terrors with us, comment below or email info@hoopla-marketing.com. We'd love to hear them!

A Quick Guide to Marketing your Business with Instagram

Whilst most businesses realise by now that social media is vital to any marketing strategy, with so many platforms to choose from it can be difficult to settle on the ones that offer maximum exposure. One platform that has been largely overlooked in the past is Instagram.

This may be set to change, however, as brands and businesses discover the benefits of using this photo sharing platform – in fact some research suggests that users on Instagram are far more likely to engage than on other social media outlets such as Facebook or Twitter.

Get to know the platform

If you are new to Instagram then it pays to get to know the site. As with other social media platforms it has its own little quirks and online etiquette. The platform provides some clear guidelines for businesses who are looking to promote themselves (including how to advertise) and it’s a good idea to check out what other brands are doing to leverage online influence.

Hashtags are important

As with other platforms, hashtags are important on Instagram and you need to find the most relevant ones your target audience is using. This allows you to cast your net wider and reach potential customers beyond your current following. Whilst you can put up to 30 hashtags in one post, it is sensible to restrict yourself to about 3 – too many can make your descriptive text difficult to read and too sales orientated.

Interesting images with good descriptions

The core of Instagram is in its images and it’s a great opportunity to bring some personality to your business. There’s an old adage in business that has remained true over the years, even in this digital age: people buy from people. The more you can put your personality across, the more you are likely to engage current and potential customers. Mix high quality images with videos that tell the story of your business including how customers interact with it.

Don’t be selfish

It’s not just about you and that goes for all other social media platforms as well. People don’t care too much for businesses that continually push their own products and advertise themselves. Engage fully with other users and followers, respond to good content and pass on messages if you want to pump some life into your account.

Run a contest

Everyone loves to win a prize and social media, particularly Instagram, makes it easy to run a competition. Get followers and customers to share their videos of themselves using your product and offer a good prize for the winner and you could seriously boost your online visibility. It’s a cheap and effective way of getting your product out there without appearing too pushy.

Link to other social media

You can link your Instagram to platforms such as Facebook and Twitter if you are on these too. When you post something on Instagram it immediately appears on your other feeds and reaches a wider audience.

Do what works for you

Marketing on social media such as Instagram comes with its own set of rules but there will be things that work for other businesses that don’t necessarily work for you. Having the right metrics in place to show how a particular line of attack works or doesn’t is vital if you want to build the best strategy for your business and leverage the potential of this or any other platform.

If you have any questions on how to use Instagram or any other social media channels to market your business then email us at info@hoopla-marketing.com and we will be happy to assist. You can also take a look at our full range of social media services at www.hoopla-marketing.com.

Thursday, 21 January 2016

How could Facebook Reactions affect your business?

The ‘Reactions’ feature is an extension by Facebook to allow users to express emotion towards a post or advertisement beyond the already existing ‘like’ button, which will allow you to understand your audience further, or will it? Facebook Reactions launched last month in Spain and Ireland initially as a trial; users can express their feelings with the tap of a button via six new emoji’s: ‘yay’, ‘wow’, ‘haha’, ‘sad’, ‘angry’ and ‘love’. As with the existing ‘like’ button, users will only be able to add one reaction per post. Therefore users cannot ‘like’ and ‘love’ a single post, they would have to choose one reaction. It is also worth noting that the ‘Reactions’ feature is only available for use on the post itself and not the comments section below.

It is still unclear when the feature will arrive in the UK. However, it could be important for you to understand the affect it may have on businesses before the feature arrives. There’s nothing worse than being ill prepared for something which could potentially have an impact on your business! Whether the impact on a business is positive or negative may depend on the interpretation of the emoji’s used.

Where is the ‘dislike’ button?

Many Facebook users have been asking for a ‘dislike’ button for years now. So why is it that the sought for option is not a part of the new Reactions extension? The CEO, Mark Zuckerberg, feels a ‘dislike’ button could carry too much negativity for the social media platform; it’s important for an extension to be a force for good, not bad. However, research carried out by YouGov Omnibus indicates that 38% of users would still prefer a‘dislike’ button in contrast with the 30% of users who were happy with the new emoji’s displayed in ‘Reactions’.

How will Reactions be monitored?

Whilst the ‘Reactions’ feature may be useful in allowing businesses to gather feedback from their audience in order to provide better content. How easy is it going to be to decipher the audiences meaning of an emoji, which may have dual meanings? It appears from the research undertaken by YouGov Omnibus that emoji’s such as: angry could signal both anger and solidarity, love can signal both happiness and sadness and wow may signal admiration or astonishment.

Facebook analytics known as Facebook Page Insights has also been updated to ‘Reactions’ from ‘likes’. The data overview can be accessed via the ‘insights’ tab from a business admin page. However, despite the update, the Reactions have not been segmented so far and currently only display the number of Reactions as a group total, not as individual reaction totals. This is also applicable to those using either Ads Manager or Power Editor. As Reactions is still within the early stages, it is possible for further detail and segmentation to be added to ‘insights’ at a later date. There is also the question of how Facebook ads will incorporate the Reactions feature and if this will impact advertising costs? If certain Reactions will attract more worth than others is something that is not yet certain.

How will the data be analysed?

It appears the best way to analyse the ‘Reactions’ feature at this stage would be to pair comments and the reaction together to reveal the reason the reaction ws expressed. For example, a customer called Chris who expresses his anger to a post via reactions may leave a comment expressing his frustration with a feature or problem with his purchase. This data allows businesses to further analyse the reaction expressed paired with the comment. It will be interesting to see whether the Reactions feature will result in less comments, as the feature has been created to make it easier for users to express their feelings in one quick and easy tap of a button.