5 social media tips we’re also using to improve our strategy

1. Set your own goals

What does social media success look like to you? Is it conversions, engagement or leads? As long as you are hitting the mark, and continuously improving your results, then can you really say that you are not successful? If you are failing at reaching your goals, then you need to really asses your strategy and ask yourself these questions:

• Does my content match my goal (think about your images, copy, call to action and even landing page experience for the end user)?
• Is the platform I am focusing on the right fit for my goals (what are the demographics of the platform, and why do people use it)?

For example, our own social media goal is traffic. This is why we focus a lot of efforts on Facebook and Pinterest. On Instagram, we are currently working on improving our stories and link in bio experience to help direct the audience to the most appropriate areas of our page.

2. Plan to invest time

A lot of talk is going on about Facebook and Instagram demoting businesses who don’t advertise, but this is not the case. And whilst advertising is effective, there are many businesses reaching their goals without it. One of the main reasons is because they invest a lot of time engaging and (wait for it) socialising on their platform. Genuine comments, following and liking others content, and ensuring you respond are of the utmost importance. The amount of times I hear people raving about big influencers or businesses who take the time to respond to their comments is a testament to this.

An investment of time is not only relevant to the social part though. In order to be effective, ensure you are continuously analysing your content and using the insights for continuous improvement. This includes things like time and days to post, frequency and even hashtags.

This all brings us to the next point.

3. Build a tribe

Sorry for the cliche headline. But it’s true. Find a niche, hone in on your audience, and keep pumping out what they love. Again, this lesson is best-learnt by looking at your own insights, and seeing what the audience best responds too.

I don’t believe a niche should be anchored to a topic though. It could be your unique tone that emanates through your copy that attracts your audience, whether it is funny, sarcastic or informative. Or, it could be the unique styling you use for your products.

4. Use it to the fullest

Social media giants want only one thing. For you (and your audience) to spend the maximum amount of time on their platform. How do they do that? They create awesome features that have you spending hours to create content for, that your audience will lap up. Your business pages should be taking advantage of the following features and have them properly set up for maximum reach (where relevant of course).

• Instagram and Facebook stories
• IGTV & Facebook Video
• Facebook Shop
• Facebook profile CTA (call to action)
• Facebook albums (a fantastic asset when organised and re-shared)
• Private messaging, especially on Facebook
• Facebook and Instagram Live
• Facebook Groups and Pinterest Communities
• Pinned Boards on Pinterest
• Pinterest Tries
• Twitter Lists
• Twitter Chats
• Twitter Moments

If you do not do so, don’t forget to occasionally use location tagging as well. Use it more often if you rely on customers in the local area (personally I don’t believe its good to use it all the time as I feel it can restrict your wider exposure)

5. Do it with Purpose

Ensure you are not posting for the sake of it. Audiences love brands who are genuine on social media and it is easy to tell. Posting lack-lustre pictures of products with a bland description is the worst thing you can do IMHO. Tell a story, share an experience or add value with a little-known tip. Whatever you do end up doing, make sure it aligns with your brand values. Another thing I like doing is outlining what audiences can expect by following your account. On Instagram, this can be handily added to the bio.

In conclusion

We’ve slowly come to accept that social media is best done when it is non-reactive and well planned. It is also not a set and forget exercise. However, despite your best efforts, the effect of the algorithm cannot be downplayed. For example, I have long suspected that when a similar account in your niche has a new product or content that is grabbing a lot of attention, this definitely takes a toll on your engagement. This was verified to me in a group last week. But it is no reason to give up, especially when starting out. The guys at Buffer say it can take eight to twelve months to get any traction! Gary Vee himself also said that in his first year, he posted a new video EVERY DAY for a year before getting noticed.

Accept too, that sometimes, not everything will always resonate with the audience, a lesson that we recently learnt.

The bottom line is, staying true, checking insights and aiming to improve, will see you have social media success in no time.

By Maria Andriopoulos, Digital Marketing at Confetti Fair

ABOUT PARTY WORK

Occasionally, we’ll be blogging on the ups and downs of business, social media and marketing, inspiring stories from our fellow party creatives, and any party biz learnings we’ve had. We hope you, as a party business or blogger will find this content interesting! Stay tuned for more.

The post Social media blues: 5 social media tips for when your strategy is failing appeared first on Confetti Fair.

But I was wrong. Whilst it pays off to have a strategy, I’ve learnt the hard way that there are so many reasons not to agonise over every single damn post! Also, consistently posting the same type of content to ensure likes didn’t work for me in the long run because whenever I posted something else, it seriously ended up bombing.

My battle with Instagram engagement

Slowly, I started to introduce a wider range of content, including content that was traditionally less successful. In the beginning, these posts were seriously getting low engagement. However, by keeping the consistency eventually ensured I was able to reach a standard of engagement for these posts that I was happy with. Here is why I learnt to stop worrying and love those bombs!

1. TRACTION

Spending too much time over thinking whether to post something less likely to get engagement,  only to end up doubting yourself and not post at all only causes your account to lose momentum. Instagram loves consistent posting, and anything contrary (especially over a few days) sees your engagement take a huge blow when you do end up posting again.

2. UNENGAGED FOLLOWERS

This is not verified – simply just based on my observations. When you’re constantly only posting the type content that you know will attract a lot of likes, and therefore new followers, you’ll end up giving them a ‘biased’ view of your business. So when you do post other content, you’ll find they won’t resonate with it. Which leads to my next point.

3. USER EXPECTATION

Posting a variety of content will give users a more ‘holistic’ view of your business, so they know exactly what to expect when they do check out your page before pressing ‘Follow’, therefore ensuring they are more likely to like all types of posts.

4. AESTHETICS

It’s important to look at the big picture. And the truth is, it’s way easier to get a pretty looking feed when you’re not consistently trying to find the one kind of shot to post).

Thanks for reading!

By Maria Andriopoulos, Digital Marketing  Manager at Confetti Fair

ABOUT PARTY WORK

Occasionally, we’ll be blogging on the ups and downs of business, social media and marketing, inspiring stories from our fellow party creatives, and any party biz learnings we’ve had. We hope you, as a party business or blogger will find this content interesting! Stay tuned for more.

The post Instagram engagement: How I learnt to stop worrying and love those bombs appeared first on Confetti Fair.

For the next 30 days we will be eating and looking for cool donuts to post, and we want you to do the same. We’re looking for super creative and original ideas! Tag us in your donut making, eating, themed products or fantastic donut party set-ups and don’t forget our official entry hashtag #confettidonutjuly17.

At the end of the month we’ll review the hashtag and the owner of the best image will win a $100 voucher, all 6 issues of Confetti Fair magazine, as well as a copy of the Celebrate book. We’ll also give one runner up a copy of the Celebrate book as well as 3 issues of the magazine.

To keep the fun going, feel free to submit as many images as you like using #donutjuly, but ensure your official entry is hashtagged #confettidonutjuly17.

There is some opportunity to collaborate on a photo with Confetti Fair, which will count as an entry for the collaborator and will be published on our digital channels. Get in touch via donut@confettifair.com.au to find out more.

It is also Dry July, and I wanted to incorporate something that would help the cause into the competition, but couldn’t quite make it work, so I will also be making a donation to the Cancer Council this month. I’ll post it up on Instagram once it is done.

Read on for terms.

Competition Terms

1. Competition is open from now until 11:59pm 30th July 2017.
2. Entries will be reviewed based on a combination of likes and creativity, and the winner will be judged, announced and notified on the 1st Aug 2017
3. Entry is open to any residents of Australia over the age of 18
4. To enter, post a photo containing donuts to your Instagram account with the hashtag #confettidonutjuly17
5. Entry is limited to one entry per Instagram account
6. You agree that you own (or have written usage permission from the owner) any image submitted into the contest
7. Each entrant also confirms that anyone depicted in an entry has given their permission for the inclusion of their image in the entry and the use of the entry including their image by the entrant and Confetti Fair
8. Confetti Fair will not be held liable for any copyright infringement found on submitted images as per number 6
9. You will always be the image copyright holder, but you give Confetti Fair permission to republish your photo with credits for the purposes of promoting and reporting on the competition
10. All prizes are non-transferable
11. The judges decision is final

This competition is in no way sponsored, administered, or associated with Instagram.

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