Category: Social Media

The Power Play: Why Investing in Social Media Boosts is Essential for Content Marketers in 2024

These days, the importance of social media cannot be overstated. With billions of active users across various platforms, social media has become the epicenter of brand visibility, engagement and conversion. However, amidst the noise and competition, organic reach alone may not suffice to achieve your marketing objectives. Enter social media boosts—a strategic investment that can propel your content marketing efforts to new heights in 2024 and beyond.

Here’s why paying for social media boosts is not just a good idea but an essential component of your marketing arsenal:

  1. Amplified Reach and Visibility: In an era of algorithmic complexities and saturated news feeds, organic reach on social media has witnessed a steady decline. Paying for social media boosts allows you to amplify the reach of your content, ensuring that it’s seen by a wider and more targeted audience. With advanced targeting options, including demographics, interests and behaviors, you can precisely hone in on your ideal audience segments, maximizing the impact of your content.
  2. Enhanced Engagement and Interaction: Engagement metrics—likes, comments, shares—are the lifeblood of social media success. By investing in social media boosts, you not only expand your reach but also stimulate greater engagement and interaction with your content. As your boosted posts appear prominently in users’ feeds, they are more likely to elicit likes, comments and shares, fostering a sense of community and conversation around your brand.
  3. Strategic Content Promotion: Quality content deserves to be seen and appreciated. Social media boosts empower content marketers to strategically promote their best-performing content, whether it’s a compelling blog post, an informative video, or a product announcement. By allocating budget to boost top-performing posts, you ensure that your most valuable content receives the visibility and attention it deserves, driving traffic to your website and fostering brand awareness.
  4. Data-Driven Optimization: One of the most compelling advantages of social media boosts is the wealth of data and insights they provide. By closely monitoring the performance of your boosted posts, you gain invaluable insights into audience behavior, preferences and engagement patterns. Armed with actionable data, you can refine your targeting parameters, optimize your content strategy and make informed decisions to maximize your return on investment.
  5. Competitive Edge in a Crowded Landscape: The social media landscape is fiercely competitive, with brands vying for attention and mindshare. In such a crowded ecosystem, paying for social media boosts can provide you with a competitive edge, allowing you to cut through the noise and stand out in users’ feeds. By investing strategically in boosting your content, you position your brand front and center, elevating your visibility and relevance in the eyes of your target audience.

In conclusion, paying for social media boosts is not just a good idea—it’s a strategic imperative for content marketers looking to thrive in 2024’s dynamic digital landscape. With unparalleled reach, engagement opportunities, data-driven insights and a competitive edge, social media boosts offer a powerful mechanism to amplify your brand’s presence and drive tangible results. So, embrace the power of social media boosts and unlock the full potential of your content marketing efforts.

Why Taylor Swift is a Marketing Mastermind and What Businesses Can Learn

Taylor Swift has taken the globe by storm. Her recent Eras Tour broke Ticketmaster, shut down every city it’s been to (in a good way) and is expected to be the highest grossing tour of all time, with the Federal Reserve just crediting her tour with boosting the United States economy by nearly $5 billion. Generational talents come and go in the music industry, but Taylor has solidified herself among the greats by matching fandoms with the likes of legendary acts like The Beatles and Elvis. Whether you identify as a “Swiftie” or not, you cannot deny the power this young woman has on her fanbase and the loyalty she receives in return.

Full disclosure – I love Taylor Swift, like really love her, and there hasn’t been a joy or sorrow in my life that hasn’t been eloquently captured by one of her songs. And while she’s my number one artist on Spotify, I can’t help but commend the levels of marketing success and brand loyalty she has been able to achieve. From building trust and storytelling to social media mastery, Taylor and her team have nailed the art of marketing and here’s what brands can learn from them.

Pay attention to your audience:

Better yet, be obsessed with your audience. Most brands perform an audience analysis to sweep over their marketing campaign with a broad, tried and tested marketing strategy, but Taylor goes a step farther. Taylor is constantly watching and interacting with her fans online, so much so they’ve even coined a name for it called “taylurking.” This not only allows her to learn about her audience in the traditional sense, but also teaches her why her audience loves her; giving her material to capitalize on. Paying attention to her audience also creates a bond that every Swiftie can attest to… Taylor makes each fan feel special. Whether it’s a lyric, a nicely placed comment on a fan post, or a surprise gift to a dedicated fan, Taylor is constantly interacting with her audience to provide unique experiences. This builds a strong sense of community and trust within her audience that leads to unshakable brand loyalty. Engaging with your audience is a great way to establish brand loyalty, which is the ultimate marketing and brand achievement.

Use social media for good (and a little bit of evil):

Any brand worth anything is harnessing the power of social media. It’s a great way to connect with your audience and is the leading avenue for advertising. But Taylor’s social media strategy is a little more mysterious than a well-placed ad on Instagram. She focuses on the “Endgame” by creating a sense of urgency in every post. She is known for leaving clues about upcoming events in her posts, creating a sense of urgency that frankly leaves fans racing and drooling over every post. While most brands may not have the bandwidth to plan posts out for the next year (or three), keeping your audience on their toes and creating urgency is a great way to increase engagement and hopefully sales.

Be authentic and purpose driven:

This section is two-fold. The first being the younger generations that grew up with technology can see through a phony marketing campaign in seconds. Just check out our blog on Captivating Generation Z: Unleashing the Power of Authentic Content Marketing. Brands want to connect with their true audience and the only way to find that is to be your true self. Secondly, focus on a greater good outside of your brand. Taylor is the epitome of female empowerment and uses her voice to push for changes within her industry (and society in general). She has found her political voice and avidly supports the LGBTQIA+ community. Taylor using her platform for a greater good is not uncommon among artists, but she ensures every cause she supports aligns with who she is and what she believes. This means her philanthropic causes don’t feel forced or like a publicity stunt. They feel genuine to her and her brand, further adding to her authenticity. While we don’t recommend that every brand involves itself in politics, aligning your brand with an organization, charity or even standing for something that you believe in is a great way to build authenticity in the eyes of your audience.

Harness the power of partnerships:

One of the reasons Taylor has dominated the music industry is because she has rebranded and transformed through genres from country to pop, rock and even folk. There are many reasons she executed this so successfully, but a major reason was through partnerships. Taylor has written songs with the likes of Ed Sheeran, Chris Stapleton, Kendrick Lamar, Bon Iver, Future and more. This has allowed her to tap into fan bases that expand far beyond her traditional audience. Businesses can take advantage of partnerships in the same way through various charities, organizations, brands and influencers. While brands should stay true to their main audience, reaching outside your target demographic is a great way to grow your business.

Taylor has many superpowers ranging from songwriting to innovating, but her marketing prowess should be included in this list. Her ability to authentically connect with her audience through social media and partnerships is something out of our wildest dreams. While breaking Billboard records has become a common Tuesday for Taylor, her real genius may not lie with her lyrical mastery, but rather her marketing “mastermind”.

If you need help crafting a marketing strategy to speak to your fans, don’t be afraid to reach out to us! https://okeeffepr.com/blog/

50 Years of Content, Fact-Finding and The Internet

Dan reflects on 50 years of the internet and discusses how it has changed storytelling and news over the years.

Two amazing things happened this year that have caused me to reflect heavily on my life and career as a public relations professional, content marketer and storyteller. I turned 50, and the Internet turned 50. Why then do I just keep getting grayer and grayer every year while the Internet appears to get more and more colorful by the day?

Reflecting on 50 Years of the Internet

My self-reflection kicked off Saturday night, October 26, at an annual event held by The Mercantile Library, a historic library in downtown Cincinnati that promotes history, reading, enrichment and community engagement. The event was the Library’s 32nd annual Niehoff Lecture, which featured Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Bob Woodward (one of the two Washington Post journalists who broke the Watergate story on June 19, 1972). As the guest of my good friend and fellow former journalist Carolyn Pione Micheli, I had the great fortune to meet Mr. Woodward. That evening, a dream I never thought would come true was realized.

Back to the Beginning

Growing up, I remember studying about Watergate, which led to Richard Nixon’s resignation from office. Of course, I also was mesmerized as I watched Robert Redford portray Woodward on the silver screen in 1976’s All the President’s Men. I knew that Woodward’s and Carl Bernstein’s reporting was at the center of this national scandal, and as I grew older and began pursuing an education and career in journalism, I came to better appreciate the process the two journalists pursued to uncover the facts, apart from rumor and partisan politics. I was inspired to pursue and then obtain a degree in print Journalism.

I emphasize “print” for a reason. Because as I was making my way as a newspaper and magazine reporter, editor and eventually public relations consultant, a game-changing technology was slowly percolating within the halls of academia and government that in the mid-90s would begin to turn the world of journalism on its head. On October 29, 1969, just a few months after I entered the world, the Internet was born. And just three days after I met a bona fide living legend of journalism, the Internet celebrated its 50th anniversary.

The irony of these two occurrences happening around me within days of each other is staggering. The person who epitomizes investigative print journalism in its most ethical and objective form stands contrasted in my mind against the very platform that enables so many to share information in its most raw and unverified form, causing chaotic firestorms of misinformation and rhetoric on a daily basis.

Amidst the chaos, I believe we must look hard for meaning. Since the beginning of human existence, information has been communicated and shared as stories. Over the eons, the vehicles by which that information was shared has evolved and advanced with one consistent objective at play—to communicate facts. Yet, today, the facts are relegated to a supporting role in telling stories, and those trusted to convey the news that we trust to inform our decisions are…well…you and me. We no longer depend on newspapers and magazines or the once modern mediums of television and radio to deliver our news. We seek it out on Facebook, Twitter and YouTube, on blogs and subscription news feeds, and of course the websites belonging to those news outlets that used to only exist in print and on our air waves. And each one of these outlets and platforms is competing for clicks, impressions and unique users. The rush was always on to break a story, but never until the facts were collected and verified. Today, we’re simply in a rush to be first, as he or she who gets the most visits wins.

What Does the Future Look Like?

No telling what the future looks like, especially as technology continues to advance. My hope is that we can find a compromise between our voracious appetites for information and minute-by-minute updates to that information and the ability of professional storytellers to once again be afforded the time and resources to tell their stories with all of the facts in tow. Until that time, we must embrace one of the many pros the Internet affords us today—the ability to research for ourselves the facts, and the boundless ways in which we can tell our stories.

Looking back on this past year, especially with respect to these recent milestones I’ve just shared, I see 2019 as neither the end to my first 50 years nor a new beginning. Rather, it’s like the fold in the newspaper I still read every morning. In Journalism school, having a story appear on the front page was never enough. It had to appear “above the fold.” That was the money shot, because…in theory…that story always got read first. The funny thing is that it didn’t really matter where a story landed on the front page, because it was only the beginning, and often was only a couple of paragraphs in length. You still had to open the paper to get to the meat of the story and digest all of the details. That’s where you decided your opinion of the story and those in it.

After 50 Years of the Internet — What Now?

For my next 50 years, I will continue to follow Mr. Woodward’s example of doing the hard work, resisting the urge to be first, and focusing on getting it right…whatever “it” happens to be in my case. I’ll use the Internet as a resource for achieving my objective, not as the objective. I’ll search for the truth, and do my best to encourage those around me to do the same. And as a storyteller, I’ll strive to shed light on all sides of those stories, and hopefully encourage those after me to do the same.

Digital Marketing Taboos You Should Break

Jocelyn shares 3 digital marketing taboos you need to break.

Digital marketing is an ever-evolving and essential component of a businesses’ overall marketing and PR plan. Internet culture, search and social media algorithms, and what is considered a social custom are continuously changing, and because of this, your digital marketing approach should, too. What used to be regarded as an acceptable digital marketing approach even a few years ago may not translate in the current digital environment.

Not outlining a digital marketing ad budget

The year is 2007. The vampire fanatics are rampant, and you are super excited to post a sick new Mac Photo Booth photo as your Facebook profile pic. And speaking of Facebook, they had just launched Facebook Ads, giving your business the ability to connect to your target audience. Other social media platforms followed, MySpace offered ads around the same time and Twitter launched its Ads platform in 2010. From then on, marketers have encouraged clients and colleagues to invest money in social media.

However, some may still have a hard time understanding the value of social media ads and not setting aside a budget. Today, social media algorithms are, for the most part, a mystery and social platforms are drifting away from a chronological feed. Boosting social media posts or launching a social media ad campaign is a helpful way to break through the clutter on social media.

Forcing an inauthentic persona

Within the past three years or so, businesses have gotten attention for “roasting” users online, also known as “clapping-back” for the folks out there who need a little vocab help. And this has worked for some businesses, notably Wendy’s. Other food and beverage businesses and restaurants – who shall not be named – tried and failed to emulate this snarky attitude. But why was this approach successful for Wendy’s and not for others? One word: Authenticity.

Not everyone can be or should be Wendy’s. That seems to work for them, but it probably doesn’t work for you – and that’s okay. To build long-term success on social media, focus on the values of your business, and make sure what you post is true to those values. In other words, be authentic.

Stressing out about having new content

I’m not 100% certain how the expectation of only sharing new content came about, but I’d guess that marketers’ personal use of social media had an influence. Social media users used to share details about their lives through the day, valuing what’s happening right now over anything else. But, within the past couple of years, it is rare to see someone post everything they are doing at all times on social media. The constant flow of posts from who you follow has become unbelievably annoying to users – and will cause me to unfollow someone.

While it is important to keep your business’ social media feed updated with timely information, don’t be afraid to recycle content. Thankfully, the popularity of #ThrowBackThursday, and my personal favorite ICYMI (in case you missed it) became more popular, allowing your business to share “old” social posts and remind your audience of something cool you did.

Ready to break some digital marketing taboos with us? Let’s work together!

Feminism & Advertising

We’ve all seen “femvertising” first-hand. It’s when marketers sprinkle a feminist narrative into their client’s advertising to flavor what they’re hoping you’ll consume. It’s selling #empowerment to women and minorities as individuals when they long for systemic, political change.

A great example is the Dove “Real Beauty” campaign. Starting in 2004, this campaign was designed to inspire confidence in women of all shapes, sizes, and colors…and to sell a lot of soap. And they aren’t alone! Big brands like H&M, Secret, Nike, and more are seizing the opportunity for niche marketing through feminism and are creating their own campaigns.

On the surface, increased exposure to the feminist movement through media is exciting. We’re seeing more equal representation in the media than ever before. But here’s the question we marketers need to ask ourselves: does feminism benefit from themed marketing campaigns or are we capitalizing on feminism?

Niche marketing is highly profitable but generally isn’t successful if the brand isn’t a genuine part of the niche. There is a difference between telling a feminist story and appropriating feminist ideals for capital gain. (Fun fact: many feminists openly reject the structure of a capitalist society, but that’s a whole other blog for another time.)

When I first saw this commercial for H&M,  I loved every second of it. I was ready to share it on my social feeds and caption it #GirlPower. But then it hit me, I was their exact target audience, and H&M was not the feminist company I was waiting for. Merriam Webster defines feminism as “the theory of the political, economic, and social equality of the sexes.” So, here’s the problem: fast fashion companies like H&M employ economically vulnerable women, and children overseas to work for little money in unsafe factories to create their clothing. The collapse of H&M’s Bangladesh factory in 2013 is considered the deadliest structural failure of modern history with a death toll of over 1,100 people. That doesn’t sound very feminist in my book.

Going back to Dove, their “Real Beauty” campaign means nothing when you remember their parent company (Unilever) also makes the sexist Axe ads. Yeah, feel like you got punched in the gut? Me too. Using current trends in marketing campaigns is smart, but it’s also risky for this exact reason.

As a marketer myself, I know we take pride in promoting wholesome ideas, and we generally hope to make a difference. However, we need to consider whether the story we’re telling is genuinely aligned with that of our client and not just what’s #trending. If your message isn’t genuine, it simply won’t work.

Online Influencer or Joe Camel?

The parallels of cringe advertising and bad influencer marketing.

One of the best ways to promote a product or service is through emotional appeal. Emotional appeal can come from a personality or advocate of a brand in the form of a mascot, an influencer or customer review. We, as marketers, know that having a personality serve as an endorsement for a brand elevates brand messaging by making it more interesting and believable to customers.

Okay, my Marketing 101 spiel is over.

In the past, there have been cringe personality endorsement tactics, namely Joe Camel. We all know Old Joe, the cool cartoon camel from R. J. Reynolds Tobacco Company’s Camel cigarettes, which served as the face of the brand from 1988 until 1997

Joe wore hip wayfarer sunglasses with a sleek blazer, and drove a sporty car with a hot babe in the passenger seat. Essentially, Joe Camel was the James Bond of the cartoon animal kingdom – a real Smooth Character.

It kind of hit the fan for Joe Camel when a study was released in the Journal of the American Medical Association. The study showed that 91.3% of the 6-year-old children observed were able to connect Joe Camel to a photo of a cigarette.

For good reason, these findings were worrisome to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC). So they jumped in, too, bringing a complaint against R. J. Reynolds Tobacco Company for, “unfair practice under Section 5 of the Federal Trade Commission Act.”

Ultimately, the pressure from these players caused Joe Camel to be replaced with a featureless and less-cool camel.

Hindsight is 20/20, so it is easy to look back on Joe Camel and use it as an example of irresponsible advertising. However, people are not recognizing similar – if not the same – tactics are being used in the digital realm.

Focusing on some recent examples on YouTube for the sake of your time – and for the health of my typing fingers – it’s pretty troubling how close some YouTube influencers’ promotional tactics come to Joe Camel.

Some YouTube influencers portray a fun, relatable and cool vibe to their young audiences, and use that vibe as an emotional appeal advertising tactic to promote sponsors of videos. While the “I’m cool, I’m doing this. Be more like me.” emotional appeal is similar to that of Joe Camel, it’s not inherently bad.

I’m not saying that these YouTubers shouldn’t promote products, or brands should not have partnerships with influencers. Influencers/brands have every right to make and spend money.

The problem comes in when it is not executed responsibly.

YouTube communities have come under fire for not disclosing advertising in their videos. From the beauty community’s biased affiliate codes and perks, which typically lead to blatantly biased and misleading advertisements, to the vlogging community constantly bombarding young audience members to “Buy Dat Merch”… #LinkInBio.

Irresponsible execution of these advertisements can leave a bad taste in the consumer’s mouth, harming both the reputation of the brand and the influencer. Or, in severe cases, misleading advertisements can be seen as an unfair practice under Section 5 of the Federal Trade Commission Act. The same violation as Joe Camel – we have officially come full circle.

It is important to realize that the internet isn’t the wild west, where anything goes. There is an obligation for brands and influencers to work together to develop a responsible promotional plan and to have everything on the table for the consumer to see.

Take a lesson from 1997: make sure your influencer marketing plan isn’t a Joe Camel.

 

Why Owned Media Matters

In our business, we talk a lot about the intersection between owned, earned, and paid media. I would argue that it’s part of our fundamental perspective and drives most of our work. O’Keeffe was founded on earned media – PR, media relations, and AP style. We added owned (and paid media) later with a particular focus on content. How we define owned content changes, but it always includes things like a blog on your website, white papers, or other deliverables that you wholly own. Sometimes we throw social media in the mix, but that’s a misnomer at this point. The fact is this: social media is no longer owned media.

Before you come after me with pitchforks, let me explain.

Who Owns Social?

If you had asked me five years ago if social media was owned, I would have said yes. Mostly. But these are dark days, my marketing friends. The decline of organic reach, the lack of clarity on metrics, and the changing algorithms all present enormous problems for us. Have you tried to pull historical data on Instagram lately? Try going back further than a week without some help, and you’ll find yourself frustrated beyond measure. And may Providence help you if you didn’t connect that tracking platform yesterday because the tracking will start right now, not when you need it.

The big problem is the lack of clarity regarding those metrics. Say you dug into Facebook and pulled out one of those great CSV files. Beautiful, right? Look at all of those numbers and columns! Columns for days! But what in the world do all of those columns refer to? And once you finally stumble on the metric you need, you better make sure you write down exactly what you did and then pray that platform doesn’t change its UX tomorrow.

Who’s Down with D-A-T-A?

The ability to pull correlational historical data is imperative, and it’s one of the biggest things missing from media that isn’t owned. Take your website, for example. Google Analytics may have some updates, but, generally speaking, I’ve been able to pull the same primary data for a decade. How I use that data may have changed, but as long as my website is connected and online, I can get historical data in a platform that actually helps me get what I need.  Your website is 100% owned media. You control that journey, you control how you guide your audience, and you can completely pull the metrics you need with little help from Google. Heck, you can even get immediate, crazy-cool tracking and other marketing goodies if you start linking additional platforms like Pardot. With owned media, you’re not at the mercy of another platform.

Okay, so we know that owned and paid media are different. You might be saying, gosh, Megan, but I don’t use paid social. I’m not paying for Facebook ads, and I’m certainly not boosting posts on LinkedIn. I can’t be paid if I’m not paying, right?

Wrong.

Dollar, Dollar Bills, Y’all

These platforms don’t exist so you can reach your audience. Come on, folks. These platforms exist to make money. There’s a reason why they make their metrics so annoying to pull (I’m looking at you, Facebook), and why their organic reach is declining. Instagram didn’t update how it displays posts so you would have better experience. It updated its algorithm so that you wouldn’t be guaranteed even to be seen, so you feel compelled to sponsor posts. Even Twitter, which I would agree has the most consistent analytics tracking experience, updated its feed, so it wasn’t chronological.

The big four don’t want to make it easy for you to engage with your audience unless you spend money. It’s that simple. You may not be sponsoring posts, but the platforms are now designed to be a paid experience. Social media is not owned. Social media is paid, whether you’re paying them directly or not.

Beyond the Default

We used to talk about the difficulty of building a brand on social media, but it was always in support in creating your website or app and not ignoring the channels that you own. We always cautioned about spending all of your time on Facebook when the platform may disappear and take all of your branding with it. We’re now in a time where social is a default part of any marketing strategy, despite the declining engagement and reach. Don’t get me wrong – paid social is still a comparatively cheap way to reach your audience. But don’t kid yourself and think that posting semi-regularly is enough.

This brings us to another point. Metrics and analysis. Remember that sweet, sweet historical data I mentioned earlier? It’s getting harder and harder to pull. I used to be able to grab an apples-to-apples comparison and industry benchmarks easily. We all used to know where we stand. More is better. More engagement, more impressions, more clicks. These days I can’t promise that. I can apply all of the best practices in the book. I can build creative campaigns. I track everything to the heavens and back. But without that paid budget, your campaign is entirely at the mercy of the platform itself.

But Wendy’s!

Now, I fully realize some brands have found massive success on social platforms. And you may be saying, Megan, this isn’t optional. I need to be one of those brands. Most agencies will promise you the world and deliver an island. We’re not like that. We value honesty and an authentic relationship with our clients. I’m not going to set you up for failure. But I am going to do everything in my power to make you one of those success stories, and I’m going to use all of the analytics at my disposal to create strategies to guide you.

Now here’s the flip side.

You’ve heard the digital space is crowded. Floral for spring. Groundbreaking. And now I’ve told you that social is a wasteland without a lot of time and some spending money. What’s a company to do? Maybe your budget is tiny, and you can’t afford to boost anything. Maybe your budget is massive, but you’d rather not burn piles of cash.

Clean Your House

Your first step is to make sure that your house is in order. When is the last time you updated your website? Are you ready for voice search? Please tell me that you’re optimized for mobile. Review your copy. Does all of this content speak to who you are? Are you answering your prospect’s questions? Is your sales team aligned? Do you have a documented content marketing strategy? If any of these things aren’t there, focus on these first. Your main priority should always be owned media. Paid and earned can layer into this, but you have to be clear about who you are and why you matter.

Your driving mission should be authenticity. We’re beyond a manufactured; white bread easily approved content strategy. Don’t produce white papers because you’re supposed to. Don’t post on Twitter because you have to. Pull together your owned, earned, and paid media into one voice and get strategic about how you spend your time. Know which stories are great for PR and which stories are better as sales content. Research to discover where your audience is and what they want to know.

#Latergram

Social media was one of my first loves in the marketing world. The ability to create instant conversations was pure magic, and I loved finding ways to drive engagement. The days of live-tweeting a conference and expecting a huge return are over. Focus on your owned media and the rest will follow.

Why (Social Media) Diets Don’t Work

We have all seen it before, a friend, family member or celebrity takes to social media to say they are taking a break from social media… Yep, let that one soak in a moment. They tell a tale of no longer being able to handle the negativity, politically charged comments or Susan’s constant CrossFit updates. They sign off, meaning they don’t actively post or engage for a week or two, and then triumphantly return announcing they’re back and letting the world know that their absence has been life-changing. How do I know the stages of the social media elimination diet so well? Because I, too, have proclaimed my emancipation from social sharing and have come back realizing that “everything in moderation” really is the best advice of all.

So why do these “diets” rarely last, and why do they ultimately leave us counting down the days until we can once again indulge in our bestie’s yoga-with-a-goat grams? To get to the heart of this, we need to examine why we use various social media platforms. Earlier this year, GlobalWebIndex published a blog post that detailed the top ten reasons people use social media.

To stay in touch

To stay up-to-date with news and current events

To fill spare time

Because friends are doing it

Networking

To find fun content

To share photos or videos

To share an opinion

To meet new people

To find new products

All of these reasons seem harmless enough, so how do we go from here to the point where we need to break up with our social-selves? The answer is because social media can force us to focus too much on what is happening in other people’s lives, and not enjoying and appreciating our own. We can concentrate so much on what others are saying and doing that we forget that there are humans in our inner circle that we should be having actual conversations and interactions with. The majority of folks posting to the inter-webs only share carefully crafted and edited images, and snippets of their lives. From the outside looking in, it’s easy to assume everyone else is living the dream while you’re stuck with an alarm that doesn’t even have a snooze button.

Now that we have identified the issue, how do stop the yo-yo of social-purging and create a healthy relationship with our social platforms? Bustle gives us a few tips to get to that sweet spot.

Schedule your social time

Remove the apps from your phone (the horror!)

Call your friend (like, have an actual voice conversation)

Think before you post (ahem, nothing good is ever posted after 11 pm)

Be selective about who you follow (this is good advice online and off…)

Don’t feed the trolls (never argue with crazy; people watching might not be able to tell the difference… just sayin’)

Stop comparing yourself to others online (PREACH!)

Post latergrams (not sure if this even a thing anymore with Instagram’s new algorithm …. Happy to hear your thoughts)

Keep social media out of the bedroom

BE AUTHENTIC!

If we can learn to be present with the humans in our lives and be comfortable with moments of quiet reflection, perhaps we won’t need to make a grand overture and proclaim that online sharing networks are the root of our unhappiness. We might even be able to appreciate all the positivity that community sharing brings to our lives. I, for one, am now incredibly thankful for the burst of cuteness that The Dodo or Fluffsquad brings to me on Facebook each morning. At the end of the day, I need to remind myself that just because someone across the globe has a pet sloth, my life is still meaningful even though I do not.

Is Your Brand Utilizing Facebook Live?

As of June, 2016 Facebook reported over 1.71 billion monthly active users. As you can imagine, when the company launched Facebook Live, it peaked the interest of marketers everywhere. Whether you are a B2B or B2C company, these real-time video posts can create real opportunities for your brand to engage with your audience. If your company hasn’t tried using Facebook Live yet, it might be a good time to start.

What is Facebook Live?

Facebook Live videos are real-time video posts that show up in your followers’ Facebook news feeds. Your page can broadcast in real time for up to 90 minutes. While broadcasting, your company can keep track of how many people are viewing the video, read and monitor comments and respond to them directly. Your fans can even subscribe and get notified the next time you start a live broadcast.

Facebook Live can help your brand:

Reach a wide audience.

Video is King, and there are plenty of statistics to prove it. And, Facebook has recently tweaked its news feed algorithm to prioritize live video because of research that shows users spend three times longer watching a live video compared to a pre-recorded video. This means that your brand’s video will show up on more news feeds than a typical Facebook post, and your organic reach will be much higher.

Target the right audience.

Facebook allows you to target who your live stream will reach. You can target by age, gender, language or location, so your video will reach those who are relevant.

Be more human.

Facebook Live is just another tool for you to showcase your brand’s personality. Your audience will get to know your brand better and feel better connected with live video, which will make them more likely to come back to your pages for more.

Understand your audience.

By listening to their real-time reactions and comments, your brand can test new ideas and get immediate feedback. You are also able to see the total number of people who watched at least a portion of the video, along with how many viewers you had at different points in time during the video. This information is helpful to determine when your audience is on Facebook and what they want to see.

Should my company use Facebook Live?

Facebook live can offer plenty of benefits for both B2B and B2C companies. But, with all social networks, it is important to think about where your audience lives. If you have customers, potential customers or industry peers who are active on Facebook, then Facebook Live is a great tool to use to answer questions, hear what’s on their mind and share new information with them.

For example, if your company offers business classes or workshops, you can broadcast interviews with attendees about the best tips they received during the session. As a construction company, you might broadcast a drywall installation or a walk-through of a completed project or building. If you are a restaurant, you can broadcast a “how-to” video of your chef cooking a quick and easy dish.

Live streaming is all about connecting and engaging with your audience in real time. Facebook Live breaks down barriers and creates a connection that traditional marketing cannot. So, go ahead and give it a try!

Should Your Brand be on Snapchat?

If you’ve been paying attention to the impressive Snapchat stats lately, then you know that it continues to be the hottest social platform and an invaluable resource to a brand’s overall marketing plan. Snapchat averages over 150 million users a day, recently passing Twitter, and brands are quickly beginning to jump on board and create Snapchat strategies. While Snapchat isn’t a great fit for all brands, those with young audiences and compelling visual opportunities should be considering the platform as a way to continually engage their audience. If your brand is thinking about utilizing Snapchat, keep in mind the following tips:

Plan Content. Snapchat is just like any other form of content – it has to be planned. While a lot of posting will be real-time, time sensitive and reactive due to the 24-hour limit on Snapchat’s stories, there should always be enough content planned in advance to ensure that your brand is posting useful content throughout the day on a regular basis.

Offer Exclusivity. Unlike Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and blogs, Snapchat does not use hashtags and is less searchable. Give people a reason to follow you and to continue following you. How? By offering exclusivity to something they can’t get anywhere else – not even on your other social platforms. Previewing new products, hosting contests and giveaways and sharing behind-the-scenes content are a few ways to keep your audience coming back for more.

Abandon the Hard Sell. There’s a time and a place for hard selling, and Snapchat is neither. Rather than pushing your product or service, be authentic and engaging. Social media marketing has blurred the lines between social interaction and advertising, but Snapchat’s main user group, Millennials and Gen Y-ers, can see right through hard selling and often are turned off by it. Find a way to connect to your audience on a deeper and more genuine level.

Tell a Story. It’s called a Snapchat Story for a reason. Be sure to utilize the 24-hour limit with memorable and useful stories that truly capture your brand’s personality. With Snapchat stories, you have the opportunity to create “mini-episodes” where each post builds on the last. Use geofilters, stickers and other Snapchat features to tell your story in an entertaining way. Plan these out ahead of time and get creative!

The biggest takeaway? Humanize your business. There is plenty of opportunity on Snapchat, and brands are just beginning to scratch the surface.