MARKETING
7 Tips To Win Big On Social Media
Today’s market looks much different than it did ten years ago. Ten years ago, paid ads were THE THING. People often took some interest in ads. People responded to ads, and people believed what was being presented to them.
Now, the marketplace is oversaturated, and most ads are undesired, annoying, and consist of content people don’t care about.
You can spend thousands of dollars on ads and make very little in return or lose money in the process. Typically, it’s just not profitable like it used to be.
So what’s a great alternative?
Organic marketing of course.
But we don’t just love organic because it’s free; we love it because it’s where the highest quality traffic can be found.
Organic traffic consists of people who willingly choose to engage and care about what you’re presenting. The people that stick around do so because they love the content, the offers, and the business. Ongoing organic traffic breeds raving fans who stick with you and truly benefit from what you offer.
So how do we make the most of this opportunity?
Just because billions of people are on social media and the organic traffic is out there, it doesn’t mean they automatically flock to you.
Today we’re sharing 7 tips to help you win big on social media!
(Ps. If you aren’t already implementing these into your social media strategy, you’re going to want to start today!!)
Tip #1 – Know YOUR Market
Nothing is worse than creating a bunch of content that no one cares about. Ya, that’s got to be the worst thing ever…That’s why tip #1 is the most important.
Before you start planning the types of content you’ll create, or what you’ll talk about, you must know WHO you’re talking to. You should know what’s going on in their mind. If you’ve been in business for any amount of time, then you know it’s about who your target audience is.
When you start producing content on social media it’s easy to fall into the trap of thinking you know who your audience is, but not producing the types of content they want to see. You should know what they’re thinking and feeling on the deepest levels, but also research what they’re watching and consuming on social media currently.
Do your research before you start and understand the topics your audience will love to engage with.
Tip # 2 – Have a Solid Strategy
Winning on social media is about choosing the right strategy and implementing it all the way.
First, research and decide where your audience hangs out.
Is it LinkedIn, Facebook, Youtube, Instagram, or Tiktok?
Choose the platform or multiple platforms where your audience lives and take the time to learn about the winning strategies for that specific platform. Each platform has its own rules and algorithms. If you’re overwhelmed, just start with one, and then repurpose your content later to the other platforms as you learn them.
Tip #3 – Create Value FIRST
This is all about what OTHERS find valuable (not what you think is valuable). Always ask yourself – Am I creating content my audience wants? As you develop content and test the market, pay attention to what gets the most views, comments, likes, shares etc… You’ll discover the topics that are most popular. Go make more of the good stuff. You’ll see your number of followers continue to rise!
Tip #4 – Engage with Your Audience
Delivering value is key to growing and keeping your audience around.
A fun way to engage with your audience is to create a contest that prompts them to take action and offers the chance at a big reward in return.
Think of your best product or service and give it away for free to 1 lucky winner that (insert what you want them to do here).
Giveaways and interacting with your audience is important to build a relationship with them. Always give without expecting.
Tip #5 – Don’t Always Promote Your Stuff
Do you like it when someone is trying to continually sell you on STUFF? Maybe it’s your neighbor selling tupperware down the street, or your friend on facebook that’s always posting about their promotions.
Now, of course we love to sell too, but not until we’ve given away massive value for free (first!!)
Strive for every piece of content to offer insane value and save your pitch for the end. It’s usually well received that way.
Tip #6 – Collaborate with Other Influencers
If you want powerful acceleration in growing your following, leverage the relationships you have or can cultivate.
Other influencers are serving similar audiences to yours, and together you can work to grow your influence by leveraging each others.
Always be committed to providing value and bringing all that you can to the table so you hold up your end of being a valuable partner.
Tip #7 – Make it Easy for Others to Buy Your Crap
As in “crap” we mean, your AMAZING products and services!!
Package what it is you sell and create an offer your audience won’t want to refuse.
Think of 10Xing the value in every way you can. When you overdeliver, people want to pay.
Then make it easy for them. Ensure you have a website or funnel set up where they can give you money, and you can easily deliver on your end.
In conclusion…
If you’re a business owner, an influencer, CEO, speaker, or anyone else who wants to leverage social media to further your mission, these tips are the key to making it work!
As you create and share content, you’ll be serving your audience, and as you serve and follow the steps we’ve laid out, you’ll build your own wealth in the process.
MARKETING
Google’s Surgical Strike on Reputation Abuse
These aren’t easy questions. On the one hand, many of these sites do clearly fit Google’s warning and were using their authority and reputation to rank content that is low-relevance to the main site and its visitors. With any punitive action, though, the problem is that the sites ranking below the penalized sites may not be of any higher quality. Is USA Today’s coupon section less useful than the dedicated coupon sites that will take its place from the perspective of searchers? Probably not, especially since the data comes from similar sources.
There is a legitimate question of trust here — searchers are more likely to trust this content if it’s attached to a major brand. If a site is hosting third-party content, such as a coupon marketplace, then they’re essentially lending their brand and credibility to content that they haven’t vetted. This could be seen as an abuse of trust.
In Google’s eyes, I suspect the problem is that this tactic has just spread too far, and they couldn’t continue to ignore it. Unfortunately for the sites that were hit, the penalties were severe and wiped out impacted content. Regardless of how we feel about the outcome, this was not an empty threat, and SEOs need to take Google’s new guidelines seriously.
MARKETING
18 Events and Conferences for Black Entrepreneurs in 2024
Welcome to Breaking the Blueprint — a blog series that dives into the unique business challenges and opportunities of underrepresented business owners and entrepreneurs. Learn how they’ve grown or scaled their businesses, explored entrepreneurial ventures within their companies, or created side hustles, and how their stories can inspire and inform your own success.
It can feel isolating if you’re the only one in the room who looks like you.
MARKETING
IAB Podcast Upfront highlights rebounding audiences and increased innovation
Podcasts are bouncing back from last year’s slowdown with digital audio publishers, tech partners and brands innovating to build deep relationships with listeners.
At the IAB Podcast Upfront in New York this week, hit shows and successful brand placements were lauded. In addition to the excitement generated by stars like Jon Stewart and Charlamagne tha God, the numbers gauging the industry also showed promise.
U.S. podcast revenue is expected to grow 12% to reach $2 billion — up from 5% growth last year — according to a new IAB/PwC study. Podcasts are projected to reach $2.6 billion by 2026.
The growth is fueled by engaging content and the ability to measure its impact. Adtech is stepping in to measure, prove return on spend and manage brand safety in gripping, sometimes contentious, environments.
“As audio continues to evolve and gain traction, you can expect to hear new innovations around data, measurement, attribution and, crucially, about the ability to assess podcasting’s contribution to KPIs in comparison to other channels in the media mix,” said IAB CEO David Cohen, in his opening remarks.
Comedy and sports leading the way
Podcasting’s slowed growth in 2023 was indicative of lower ad budgets overall as advertisers braced for economic headwinds, according to Matt Shapo, director, Media Center for IAB, in his keynote. The drought is largely over. Data from media analytics firm Guideline found podcast gross media spend up 21.7% in Q1 2024 over Q1 2023. Monthly U.S. podcast listeners now number 135 million, averaging 8.3 podcast episodes per week, according to Edison Research.
Comedy overtook sports and news to become the top podcast category, according to the new IAB report, “U.S. Podcast Advertising Revenue Study: 2023 Revenue & 2024-2026 Growth Projects.” Comedy podcasts gained nearly 300 new advertisers in Q4 2023.
Sports defended second place among popular genres in the report. Announcements from the stage largely followed these preferences.
Jon Stewart, who recently returned to “The Daily Show” to host Mondays, announced a new podcast, “The Weekly Show with Jon Stewart,” via video message at the Upfront. The podcast will start next month and is part of Paramount Audio’s roster, which has a strong sports lineup thanks to its association with CBS Sports.
Reaching underserved groups and tastes
IHeartMedia toasted its partnership with radio and TV host Charlamagne tha God. Charlamagne’s The Black Effect is the largest podcast network in the U.S. for and by black creators. Comedian Jess Hilarious spoke about becoming the newest co-host of the long-running “The Breakfast Club” earlier this year, and doing it while pregnant.
The company also announced a new partnership with Hello Sunshine, a media company founded by Oscar-winner Reese Witherspoon. One resulting podcast, “The Bright Side,” is hosted by journalists Danielle Robay and Simone Boyce. The inspiration for the show was to tell positive stories as a counterweight to negativity in the culture.
With such a large population listening to podcasts, advertisers can now benefit from reaching specific groups catered to by fine-tuned creators and topics. As the top U.S. audio network, iHeartMedia touted its reach of 276 million broadcast listeners.
Connecting advertisers with the right audience
Through its acquisition of technology, including audio adtech company Triton Digital in 2021, as well as data partnerships, iHeartMedia claims a targetable audience of 34 million podcast listeners through its podcast network, and a broader audio audience of 226 million for advertisers, using first- and third-party data.
“A more diverse audience is tuning in, creating more opportunities for more genres to reach consumers — from true crime to business to history to science and culture, there is content for everyone,” Cohen said.
The IAB study found that the top individual advertiser categories in 2023 were Arts, Entertainment and Media (14%), Financial Services (13%), CPG (12%) and Retail (11%). The largest segment of advertisers was Other (27%), which means many podcast advertisers have distinct products and services and are looking to connect with similarly personalized content.
Acast, the top global podcast network, founded in Stockholm a decade ago, boasts 125,000 shows and 400 million monthly listeners. The company acquired podcast database Podchaser in 2022 to gain insights on 4.5 million podcasts (at the time) with over 1.7 billion data points.
Measurement and brand safety
Technology is catching up to the sheer volume of content in the digital audio space. Measurement company Adelaide developed its standard unit of attention, the AU, to predict how effective ad placements will be in an “apples to apples” way across channels. This method is used by The Coca-Cola Company, NBA and AB InBev, among other big advertisers.
In a study with National Public Media, which includes NPR radio and popular podcasts like the “Tiny Desk” concert series, Adelaide found that NPR, on average, scored 10% higher than Adelaide’s Podcast AU Benchmarks, correlating to full-funnel outcomes. NPR listeners weren’t just clicking through to advertisers’ sites, they were considering making a purchase.
Advertisers can also get deep insights on ad effectiveness through Wondery’s premium podcasts — the company was acquired by Amazon in 2020. Ads on its podcasts can now be managed through the Amazon DSP, and measurement of purchases resulting from ads will soon be available.
The podcast landscape is growing rapidly, and advertisers are understandably concerned about involving their brands with potentially controversial content. AI company Seekr develops large language models (LLMs) to analyze online content, including the context around what’s being said on a podcast. It offers a civility rating that determines if a podcast mentioning “shootings,” for instance, is speaking responsibly and civilly about the topic. In doing so, Seekr adds a layer of confidence for advertisers who would otherwise pass over an opportunity to reach an engaged audience on a topic that means a lot to them. Seekr recently partnered with ad agency Oxford Road to bring more confidence to clients.
“When we move beyond the top 100 podcasts, it becomes infinitely more challenging for these long tails of podcasts to be discovered and monetized,” said Pat LaCroix, EVP, strategic partnerships at Seekr. “Media has a trust problem. We’re living in a time of content fragmentation, political polarization and misinformation. This is all leading to a complex and challenging environment for brands to navigate, especially in a channel where brand safety tools have been in the infancy stage.”
Dig deeper: 10 top marketing podcasts for 2024
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