Form a clear plan as to what’s your brand’s purpose, what are the brand values, who is your brand for, how it is different from other brands and your vision. This brand definition and content strategy will give you a clear idea on the Do’s and Don’ts of Social Media in order to increase and retain your followers count as well DO’s DO keep your branding consistent across all of your social media channels. DO keep your messaging consistent to keep your followers interested. DO make use of social media advertising DO share valuable content that is relevant with your business and in line with your objectives. DO set clear goals and objectives & analyze activity. MAKE sure your posts are funny and engaging. MAKE sure to include relevant hashtags to help increase post reach. MAKE sure to respond to comments and questions – spend 15 to 30 minutes after posting responding and continue the conversation. Start posting with purpose – content strategy is important. DONT’ s DON’T overdo it. 46% of social media followers will unfollow a brand for posting too many promotional messages. DON’T use engagement bait tactics. DON’T use all social media platforms for the sake of it – Know your audience. DON’T get hungry up on numbers. The real value of social media is found in the amount of engagement you’re receiving and the type of people you’re receiving it from. Focus on these figures instead. DON’T post too often or you’ll annoy your followers. DON’T post something that’s not valuable, engaging or funny. DON’T include irrelevant hashtags or too many hashtags. DON’T forget to post regularly or you’ll lose your followers’ interest. DON’T display a bad attitude online – people will not respond well. DON’T be too salesy – engagement with your potential customer before you start selling. DON’T forget to thank people – if they take the time to share your...

Are you looking for an easy and free way to create engaging social media posts? Look no further! In this blog post, we will provide a list of the best free design apps that you can use to create visually appealing posts that are sure to draw in your followers.  Photo by Merakist on Unsplash Whether you’re a beginner or a pro, these design apps will have you creating stunning social media posts in no time! Adobe Express Adobe Express is an amazing design app perfect for creating engaging social media posts. It is a free mobile app designed for creating beautiful, shareable images with ease. It comes with built-in filters and effects, as well as different design elements that you can use to personalize your images.  With Adobe Express, you can turn your photos into stunning art pieces in just a few taps. It also offers several templates to help you create unique posts faster.  Moreover, it has integration with Adobe Creative Cloud, so you can access your work across multiple devices and share your creations with ease.  Adobe Express is the perfect choice for anyone looking to create stunning social media posts quickly and easily. Snappa Snappa is a powerful design app specifically made for creating engaging social media posts. It’s easy to use and offers a wide range of features that will help you create visually appealing posts quickly. It’s an ideal tool for content creators and marketers alike. The intuitive drag-and-drop interface allows users to customize their posts with stunning visuals, eye-catching fonts, and vibrant colors.  Snappa also offers access to thousands of pre-made designs, backgrounds, and templates that make designing posts much easier. Plus, users can upload their own images or graphics for a more personalized look. Snappa has some great features that make it a great choice for creating engaging social media posts. It comes with built-in image cropping, resizing and optimization tools, making it easy to optimize your posts for different platforms. The app also includes collaboration tools, so you can easily collaborate with your team to create the perfect post.  Finally, Snappa’s analytics dashboard gives you insight into how your posts are performing so you can fine-tune them as needed. Overall, Snappa is an excellent option for anyone looking for an easy and effective way to create engaging social media posts.  With its user-friendly design tools, pre-made templates, and helpful analytics features, it’s no wonder why this app is becoming increasingly popular with content creators and marketers alike. Pablo by Buffer Pablo by Buffer is a great design app for creating engaging social media posts. It stands out from other design apps because it’s specifically created for the purpose of designing images for social media.  Pablo by Buffer comes with a range of features that make it easy to design images quickly and effectively. You can add text, images, shapes, and colors with just a few clicks.  The app also has a wide selection of preset fonts, colors, and layouts to choose from, making it easier to find the right look for your post. You can also add emojis, stickers, and quotes to your posts to make them stand out even more.  With Pablo by Buffer, you can easily create professional-looking posts that are sure to grab people’s attention. Canva Canva is an amazing design app perfect for creating stunning visuals and graphics quickly and easily. It’s a comprehensive drag-and-drop editor with millions of images, templates, fonts and illustrations. The app also offers powerful editing tools, allowing users to customize their designs in any way they like. It’s a great option for users of all skill levels, from beginners to advanced...

What Small Businesses Need to Know About Developing a Brand? If I asked you the name of your business, you could probably respond without a second thought. But what if I were to ask you about your brand? What is the story you would tell, the mission you want to achieve, and the unique characteristics that set your business apart from your competitors? You’d probably need a bit more time, but it would be time well spent. Branding is a powerful tool. It can turn first-time customers into loyal followers and long-time customers into word-of-mouth marketers. Branding, when done masterfully, is the reason we apply “Chapstick” to soothe dry lips, eat “Popsicles” to cool down on a hot day, and “Google” the answer to life’s most pressing questions. Needless to say, brand identity is an important component to your business.     Picture Courtesy : 4 Compelling Brand Stories You Should Be Telling   How Can You Grow Your Brand? Its clear brand development is important, but how do you build it into your marketing efforts? There are numerous answers to that question, but the following often represent the most common and impactful way to increase brand awareness: Content Marketing: In many circles, content is considered the leading way to do everything from improving organic search results to, as you guessed it, increase brand awareness. Through this method, well-curated articles, blog posts, videos, white papers, etc. are used to increase brand credibility. Content is then distributed through various channels, including email, social media, and on the brand’s website or blog.     Picture Courtesy: 18 Types of Content Marketing You Can Use To Grow Your Business Ultimately content works to show your brand as a source of knowledge, whether it pertains to industry trends or customer needs.   Social Media Advertising: Social media allows business owners to leverage posts, shares, stories, and comments to engage directly with existing and potential customers. While much of that interaction is free, there are additional paid advertising options that can help small business owners take advantage of social media advertising to increase reach.   Picture Courtesy: Best Social Media Management Tools – No More Social Media Babysitting Many social media platforms, including LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Snapchat offer paid advertising opportunities that base ad placement on user data. This can place your brand in front of a specific audience base or target user.   Charitable Initiatives: Companies like PetSmart, TOMs, and REI have long attracted customers through their dedication to philanthropic initiatives. By doing so, they’ve associated their brands with a specific mission – helping pets, clothing children, or saving the environment. When “giving” initiatives are leveraged correctly, they highlight your brand’s mission and show your commitment to goodwill. As such, your brand gains notoriety among audiences that share similar interests or philanthropic goals.     Picture Courtesy: Top 10 Best Free SEO Tools To instantly Improve Your Google Ranking in 2019   Search Engine Marketing (SEM): Today, SEM refers to any type of paid search efforts and has become an umbrella term used to refer to pay-per-click (PPC) and cost-per-click (CPC) marketing strategies. Through this method, you purchase ad space on search engine result pages (SERPS) on Google, Bing, etc. Instead of ranking organically for specific keywords, SEM allows your brand to show up at the top of a SERP, presenting your brand to highly targeted audiences. You Know How to Grow It, But How Do You Pay for It? While each of these methods can help you increase brand awareness, they often come at a price. Social media and SEM ads are often paid promotions that are based on the number of clicks. Content...

Social media platforms have given marketers the chance to spread brand awareness, maintain brand loyalty, and attract new customers. Using sites like Instagram and Twitter in this way requires a proper strategy, though.   As anyone advertising on Facebook or another platform knows, your primary goal is to boost revenue. By focusing on social media optimization, you can leverage these services to their full potential.   The Benefits of Social Media Optimization Optimizing your social media presence lets you establish your brand as authoritative and trustworthy. Also, social media makes it simple to reach many customers in one place. Using these platforms to target specific audiences allows your marketing team to drive more relevant traffic to your site. Therefore, you lower your risk of attracting users who may not be interested in your services. However, it’s important to understand that some myths about social media optimization can prevent you from taking full advantage of all it has to offer. For example, although anyone can create a Facebook or Instagram account and post for free, you won’t get ideal results without spending some money on advertising. You will need to invest funds, time, and additional resources when implementing a campaign.   Second, don’t make the mistake of assuming all social media platforms are equal. Each offers its own unique set of benefits. For instance, Snapchat is helpful for reaching a Millennial audience, whereas LinkedIn is more useful for B2B marketing.   Finally, don’t fall prey to the belief that simply creating strong content is enough to attract followers and grow your social media presence. Great content is just the first step. To truly succeed, you need to find ways to promote it effectively.   How to Get Your Content Noticed Social media marketers have learned to prioritize engagement over reach when determining how well a campaign performs. Reaching a large number of potential customers isn’t very helpful if those users don’t also actively engage with your content. That’s why you need to focus on understanding what type of content would best catch the attention of your target audience. Put yourself in the customer’s shoes and ask yourself what style of posts you would find valuable and interesting if you were in their position.   You should also consider what mediums you’ll rely on. For instance, video and image-based posts tend to perform well because they are more likely to capture a user’s attention than just text alone.   However, the actual content of a post remains important. It should speak to your target customer in their own language and provide a genuinely entertaining and educational experience. For instance, if you’re marketing a startup that helps users choose outfits, sharing content about fashion trends would be a smart way of appealing to your audience.   The Importance of Being Social Social media is powerful from a marketing perspective because it gives brands the chance to truly interact with customers. That’s why it’s a good idea to think of your business’ social media account the same way you do your personal account. Like other people’s posts, share others’ content, leave comments on other pages when appropriate, and generally focus on cultivating real relationships with your followers.   That’s the key distinction that makes social media unique when compared to other marketing channels. Yes, it certainly does give you the opportunity to target specific types of users and share content in a wide range of formats.   Most importantly, though, it lets you relate to customers on an equal level. The impact this has on brand loyalty is well worth the initial effort you put into designing a proper strategy....

“Don’t focus on having a great blog. Focus on producing a blog that’s great for your readers.” The benefits of blogging need not be confined to just focusing on making money but the added benefits that come with blogging in the long run. 1. You tend to become a better writer and thinker Once you start blogging, you’ll find yourself becoming a better writer and thinker. Mastering content takes creative imagination…. And in the due course of creating great pieces of content for your blog, your research skills also improve. 2. Establish yourself as an expert  Blogs are amazing tools to help people establish themselves as experts in a field or niche. We all have some kind of interest and expertise to share with others. If you’re able to produce great content on your blog and/or have a unique point of view on the topic, then be assured that your future audience will recognize it and reward you for it. This web hosting guide from Digital.com will help small businesses and startups find the best web hosting company for their business. Read on: The Best Web Hosting Providers Of 2021 3. Increase your self-confidence  The more involved you become with blogging, the more your creative juices will flow. That’s one reason why blogging is so popular. As you gain knowledge about your topic, the confidence you’ll build in your followers and most importantly, in yourself, will soar. 4. Make friends and have fun With practice and a little effort, you can easily build your base of blog fans and followers. As you become known as an expert in your niche, you can inspire, encourage and help your followers make a difference in their own lives. Along your blogging journey, you will make new friends and connections throughout the world. 5. Make money from your blog  Blogging can also have financial benefits. You can place ads and receive affiliate commissions by promoting products of established online retailers. And you can sell your own digital products and...