Ebony Marks Ebony Marks

Ebony is the Director of Marketing Team Operations. As a child, she enjoyed watching any RomCom in which the heroine worked for major fashion labels, magazines/newsletters, or marketing firms. She didn't realize it then, but that's where her love for creativity and strategy was born! With a BA in Business Administration: Marketing and an MS in Digital Marketing, Ebony lives, breathes, and eats marketing -- software/algorithm updates, new social media features, digital marketing trends, etc. When she isn't hard at work for the team (or subconsciously brainstorming strategy), Ebony likes to sleep in late, go out to brunch with her loved ones, and take (far too frequent) trips to Disney!

Why is Social Media Important for Small Businesses?

Posted on | by Ebony Marks
Advertising, Marketing, Social Media

In the past few years, B2B marketers have been forced to change their strategy due to COVID-19. Luckily for them, social media is the perfect solution to an un-wished change in networking, communication, and growth for many B2B companies.

The top marketers of B2B companies refocused stronger on their social media strategy. Social media creates a lasting connection with your audience. It has been a phenomenal way to grow relationships with partners and potential prospects! 

B2B marketing is built on relationships, even if the end goal is to sell products or services. Social media allows marketers to unlock and ignite these relationships without in-person events. Recent studies show that 55% of consumers learn about new brands, products, and services through social media. Another 78% of consumers are willing to work with a business after a positive interaction with them on social media. That’s how powerful of a tool it is! 

Social media allows B2B marketers to connect with their audience wherever they are: Twitter, Facebook, Linked In, Youtube, Pinterest, and more. Now you know the importance and impact of social media marketing. Here are 5 ways you can use it!

Build brand awareness. Tell your story across various platforms, share customer stories, and explain why you provide the services you offer. 

Generate leads. Focus on your target audience by creating engaging and meaningful conversations.

Build a community. Listen to customers and what they have to say about your company.

Connect social media posts to opportunities.

Drive social posts to your CRM to fully understand customers.

Measure marketing efforts. Research management and social media platforms to help you track key performance metrics (KPIs).

How do I create engaging content? Why do I need it?

You may be wondering what to do with all of this information. Keep things simple, and focus on creating relevant and engaging content for your social media platforms and audience. That’s what matters the most! 

If you want your audience to listen to and engage with you on social media, you have to speak to them in a way they can understand. Your content needs to resonate with your audience. You can ensure that by:

  • Providing value
  • Solving problems
  • Being relatable and transparent

Have You Considered Employee Advocacy?

Some marketers allow their employees to speak about their company online for them. It’s a unique and effective approach to marketing. Employee advocacy is a great way to develop meaningful relationships with your audience. When consumers see that employees genuinely love and support the company they work for, they’re more likely to trust and support you!

Think about it. Word-of-mouth marketing is highly effective. When your employees share their work experiences, consumers see the authenticity. An audience is more likely to comment and engage with the content knowing they are speaking directly with an employee. Several studies show that people are three times more likely to trust a company’s employee than the company itself. 

Get Started With Your Social Media Marketing Strategy

People follow social media accounts to get more in-depth information about a particular company they are interested in. So now that you know you need to be on social media, how do you develop a strategy to achieve success?

  • Identify questions you commonly get asked by customers.
  • Research and choose a social media tool to make things easier for your team.
  • Hire or train a team to execute your social media strategy.
  • Identify your competitors and collaborate.
  • Create a content calendar to organize your ideas.

After establishing a strategy, ask yourself a few questions to ensure your strategy is adequate or if you need to adjust it. 

  • What are your goals? 
  • How do you plan on measuring these goals? 
  • What social media platforms do members of your target audience use? 

The Future of Digital Marketing

Look ahead to the future of digital marketing. It’s never too late to get started! Create, define, and implement your social media strategy to blossom beyond what you could ever imagine! Use employees to build advocacy and trust online for your company. Remember, social media can help you quickly reach a wide variety of audiences. Now is the time, so don’t miss out! Social media has never been more remarkable or accessible. Schedule a consultation today, or complete our contact form!

Writing Social Media Captions That Perform

Posted on | by Ebony Marks
Uncategorized

Writing social media captions can sometimes be challenging. We know!

While developing your copy, you may find yourself questioning whether it should be serious or lighthearted. Should you include another exclamation point? Emojis? What will you use as a call to action? 

Let’s talk about it!

 

Why Are Captions Important Anyway?

Pictures may be worth a thousand words, but words are still significant. When written correctly, captions make social media users stop scrolling. A powerful caption educates, inspires, or entertains. If you’re good at copywriting, you’ll accomplish more than one. With everything you publish on social media, it should be your goal to invoke emotion, tell stories, and ultimately drive results.

Yes, writing captions can be difficult, but it’s not unthinkable. If you’re looking for a “cheat sheet” to writing social media captions that perform, look no further. The four tips we’ll talk about today are a great place to start!

 

1. Know your audience. 

We talk about target audiences all the time, and it’s because they’re that important. Once you identify your audience, you can dive into what matters to them. What do they want to hear and see from you? Will they understand your language and references?

Once you identify your audience, you can tailor your messages to resonate with them. If someone came up to you to share information you deem irrelevant, you’d stop listening.

Don’t be that person on social media. Assess your audience’s problems and pain points and speak to them in your captions.

 

2. Place the most critical elements in the front.

Is your business offering a limited-time-only deal? Are you hosting a giveaway? Even if you’re sharing tips on solving a problem or making someone’s life easier, let your audience know right out of the gate. 

The goal is to captivate as soon as possible. You know it, and we know it: attention spans on the internet are so short! It’s an average of 1.7 seconds, so grab their attention while you have the chance, and stop their scrolling in its tracks. You’re more likely to see engagement, drive traffic to your website, and see other wonderful results when you do this!

P.S. This tip is particularly important on Instagram, as only the first few lines of a caption are available for preview while users are scrolling along the timeline.

 

3. Edit your captions.

Copywriting is an art, so don’t rush the magic. Take your time!

It’s a process, so plan, edit, and rewrite. Take the extra steps to avoid grammatical errors and misspellings to ensure you hit the mark every time.

You can utilize many online tools to help proofread – Grammarly, Ginger Proofreader, Spell Checker, and more. If you’d prefer to avoid downloading more software, have a friend read over your captions before you publish anything online. It takes a few extra minutes, but in the end, you’ll be glad you did!

 

4. Utilize a call to action.

If you want to see specific results, just ask! A call to action can be as simple as requesting users to like the post or tag a friend in the comments. You can direct your audience to click on links or fill out forms. You can even turn scrollers into buyers by encouraging them to purchase your goods and services. Your goals and desired results will dictate your call to action.

Whatever you choose, it should be simple yet creative. How many times do you see “Call 555-555-5555” on Facebook? It works, but it can be better! Try to keep it fun and fresh. Instead of “Call Now,” try something more inviting like “Start Your Journey Today!”

 

Contact The AD Leaf Marketing Firm!

These four tips serve as a mini cheat sheet for caption creation but are not an exhaustive list. That’s why we’re here. You don’t have to crack the code or reinvent the wheel. You certainly don’t have to do it alone!

Quit playing the guessing game, and eliminate the stress. Turbocharge your social media strategy with captions that perform by calling The AD Leaf Marketing Firm at 321-255-0900!

4 Keys to Building Brand Loyalty with Social Media

Posted on | by Ebony Marks
Social Media

You’ve heard it before: Social media is an excellent way for businesses to reach potential customers. It can be utilized to learn more about a target audience’s likes, pain points, and behaviors. But social media is much more than that. Since social media is easily accessible, it’s an essential tool for establishing and building brand loyalty.

In case you didn’t know, brand loyalty is a must! Why? It’s what keeps a customer coming back for more of your products or services instead of going to your competitors. Without brand loyalty, businesses would have to continuously find new customers. We all know it’s less expensive to retain customers than to acquire new ones, so let’s get into it!

Here are four ways to build brand loyalty with social media:

Show your face.
One of the biggest (and most common) mistakes brands make on social media is “selling” too often. Why would someone buy from you if they don’t know you? Your customers want and need to know who you are.

Think of it this way: Your customers want interaction, not transaction. Showing your face gives your brand authenticity. No one wants to give their time or money to a spammy, robot account. Showing who you are can also boost your credibility. The more believable and trustworthy you are, the more successful you’ll be!

Has your favorite brand ever posted a behind-the-scenes look at something in the works? Has an industry leader you follow ever shared an exclusive business or life update? When that happens, you feel important. You feel special, like a part of the family. That’s the way you want your customers to feel towards your brand!

Be transparent.
As with any relationship, transparency and vulnerability build trust between you and your audience. When you show your face, you should also show your heart. Every day, your audience is bombarded with information from every direction. The information that will stick is information that is real. Avoid being overlooked by refraining from pretentious content.

Instead, share your story. Why did you start your business? What is it that gets you out of bed every morning and motivates you each day? Information like this is more valuable than you may have realized.

Share your journey. You know it, and your audience knows it: Life isn’t all sunshine and rainbows. By sharing the struggles you’ve overcome (and are currently navigating), you become relatable. You become less of a salesperson and more of an inspiration.

Be consistent.
Brand awareness and recognition are common goals in social media marketing. Of course, you want consumers to see your content or logo and immediately make a connection. That’d be incredible! But to accomplish that, you need to be consistent.

Consistency is two-fold because you’ll want your audience to know what and when to expect to hear from you. Let’s talk about each aspect separately.

What: Your social media content and messages need to be cohesive. Everything you post and say should point to your overall business goals. This doesn’t mean every post needs to be the same. Instead, every post should guide your audience to the same outcome. To do that, establish and develop a strategy. What’s your mission? What’s your focus? If you don’t know what you’re talking about or trying to accomplish, your audience won’t either.

You also want your branding to be standardized. That means colors, fonts, and tone should be consistent, too. Rebranding happens from time to time, but you want your customer base to know who you are. When you see a McDonald’s ad, there’s no doubt in your mind. That’s the kind of consistency you want!

When: Developing and maintaining a consistent posting schedule creates a positive experience for your followers. They’ll know when to tune in for updates, videos, sales, and more. Just remember to keep your audience in mind and set realistic goals for yourself.

Do you have the content to be able to post something every day? Or should you scale back? What days of the week and during what time of day is your target audience online? Answer those questions, and you’ll be well on your way!

Respond and Engage.
In a world where everything is fast-paced, no one wants to be on hold for hours with customer service or even wait for a call-back. More and more users are treating social media as a customer service tool — asking questions, sharing reviews and user-generated content, even leaving complaints. What does that mean for you?

As a business owner, you want to be involved. Whether it’s a critique or a word of praise, responding to your audience is essential to developing brand loyalty. Social media is more than a place to talk to your audience. It’s a place to talk with them.

How can you accomplish this? Ask questions in your posts, and take note of the answers. Respond to private messages and comments whenever possible. Like and comment on user-generated content, and share that content to your stories and pages when applicable.

Remember: Your customers are people, just like you. They want to know you and develop a relationship with you. They want you to listen to them and connect with them. With social media, you can accomplish all that and more!

Contact The AD Leaf Marketing Firm!
While these four keys will set you on the right path, it can be a bit challenging and overwhelming to know where to start. You don’t have to do it on your own. If you’re looking to create a stellar social media strategy, build brand loyalty, and climb the ladder of success, call The AD Leaf Marketing Firm at 321-255-0900 or fill out our contact form!