How To Attract Gen Y – Are You Being The Right Kind Of Social?

Over the past year I’ve really noticed the change in social media, and how it is being used beyond personal use and being more integrated into business. And after reading this article about why social media is more important than ever before, I couldn’t help but agree. This is where businesses today should start to focus more on – their digital presence, their social media profiles. (more…)

5 Common Social Media Mistakes Brands Commit

As I was doing my daily reading this morning, I came across this article. It resonated quite well with me. Here at Branding Personality, we consult many clients that come to us with exactly these problems. ‘5 Common Social Media Mistakes Brands Commit‘ originally appeared on PR Daily. Digital marketing has come a long way in the last few years, evolving from a nice addition to your marketing strategy to a necessity for most businesses.

Thankfully, most small- and medium-size businesses (SMEs) avoid creating a social media presence just for the sake of being online, but there are other traps they fall into instead. Here are the most common problems. (more…)

How To Become A Super Achiever For Your Business

I just read an article on Forbes about how to become a super achiever for your business. All ten points that the author, Jenna Goudreau, made focused on personal attitude, smart thinking, and doing the right things.

As I was reading her advice, I realized that all of it also translates into social media success. If you apply the advice on how to be a super-achiever personally to social media, your potential of becoming a social media super-achiever is just as great. Apply it to your business, and you will probably see the results you’ve always wanted to see. (more…)

Social Media: You Get What You Give

At Branding Personality, one of the most often asked questions we hear is “How can I get more fans and followers?” I was thinking about this as I read an awesome blog post by Bryan Kramer “Social: The Best Cocktail Party Ever.”

If you go to a party, sulk in a corner, grab your food and head back to your corner, what value do you bring to the party? Conversely, if you go to the party, say hi to a few people, but never share information or conversation, what did you truly give? (Why are you at this party anyway?) (more…)

Facebook Changes its News Feed – Will Advertisers’ Engagement drop?

Facebook announced changes to the News Feed today. The updates center around the increasingly photo-driven social world, and the popularity of visuals. Mark Zuckerberg acknowledged that the way the world shares information has changed from text-based interaction to visual communication, and that the new updates will revolve around the need to de-clutter the News Feed.

The updated News Feed design was created around three principles that will help create a more visually pleasing experience.

#1 Richer Stories

As Facebook’s Director of Design, Julie Zhou, noted, the News Feed experience really comes down to stories. The update to the News Feed will enlarge photos and will place them front and center in order to immerse users directly into the visual stories shared by their friends, family, and public figures they have chosen to follow.

Facebook wants to give users a richer, simpler and more beautiful News Feed so people can find out what’s going on in the social world around them without having to dig too deeply. As a result, the new design will give more space on the News Feed to photos, article shares and check-ins.

Additionally, when friends share a photo, video or article, their face will appear alongside the shared content so you can scroll over their profile to see what exactly they are saying about the content, and what kind of comments have spawned off of their reaction to what’s being shared.

 #2 Choice of Feed

With the new update, Facebook users will now have more power over the type of content that occupies their News Feed. Instead of skimming the surface of conversation, the update positions Facebook more as a traditional newspaper, with sections, like sports, photos, music, etc., that users can choose to get content from.

With the all friends feed, you can view stories and status updates from your entire friends list. If you want to trim your News Feed down, you can choose the close friends feed in order to see content from those near and dear to you. The music feed lets you see content from the musicians you like, like concert showtimes and recent album releases. The photos feed will show users photos and photos only. And the following feed will show you content from all the pages and public figures you have chosen to give a “like” to.

However, this ability to choose the type of feed you want might pose problems for advertisers and company pages. Unless fans specifically choose the following feed, fan engagement could drop off significantly for businesses, which would require company pages to use promoted posts or spend more money on Facebook advertising.

#3 Consistency Between Interfaces

Facebook is striving to give users more consistency and material similarity across all devices- smartphones, tablets and desktops. With the update, Facebook will be more easily navigable, the News Feed will look and feel the same across all devices, and there will be a mobile-inspired web design for PC and desktop users.

Overall, the News Feed changes place a premium on visuals. Brands and companies must understand this in order to keep pace with the engagement wave that will undoubtedly change as the update continues to roll out. Text-based content will see a drastic decrease in engagement levels, so it will be advantageous to center content calendars and marketing campaigns around eye-popping visuals.

Facebook indicated that they will give the update to a small audience at first, beginning today, and will expand outwards as they continue to get feedback and fix any bugs that may occur.

The first feedback we have received is that this design looks very similar to Google Plus, and the mobile interface looks like Instagram. What do you think of the changes that Facebook has planned?

How to Use Social Media Like a Kardashian

It is no secret that the Kardashians are famous for simply that, being famous. But how did they rise from a reality TV show to American Royalty in just 7 years? Branding. Not only do they have their own personal clothing, cosmetic, and housewares lines but they also use social media to promote everything else they do.

From Instagram to Keek, the Kardashians have taken over the social media world one tweet at a time. And with Kim’s upcoming child from her beau Kanye West, another branding mogul will be born. It wouldn’t be surprising if the new Kardashian-West got their own twitter account to track how many bottles they’ve consumed in a day.

Don’t be Afraid to be a Diva
Okay, so maybe the pictures of the Kardashians in bikinis and holding $10,000 Hermes handbags are part of what bring them followers. However, they don’t just post about anything and everything.  They post about things that are true to who they are and their brand.

Before you post things to your social media accounts, ask these questions:

1. Is this post representing my business well?

2. What popular hashtags are applicable to this post?

3. Am I linking followers back to my company’s website?

Facebook

Everyone including Kim Kardashian’s cat, Mercy, knows how to use Facebook. Facebook is a great way to link people back to your website. Glam up your Facebook page and fill it with new and exciting information. Unlike other social media outlets, Facebook gives followers the opportunity to really learn about your business and website.  Make sure to include valid information in your “about” section and stay on top of Facebook posts.

To gain more Facebook traffic, advertise free giveaways to followers of your Facebook page. Being cheap never got the Kardashian sisters anywhere.  They are always using Facebook to offer followers and fans free merchandise. After all, nobody can resist some free swag.

Twitter

Twitter is the Kardashians favorite social media tool, and rightfully so.  With the ability to reach across your fan-base in just seconds, you can send a tweet anywhere.  Even when they are across the world, the Kardashians are still tweeting and maintaining a relationship with their Twitter followers.

Delegate a good 10 to 15 minutes to Twitter a day. Maybe even two minutes every hour to send a quick tweet out into the Twitter-sphere. By demonstrating an on going presence people will link back to you.

Worse comes to worse, hashtag #kardashian. That should bring you a few new followers.

Instagram

With over 6 million followers on Instagram, it is no secret that Kim Kardashian uses Instagram for just about everything. Instagram is a way to connect to fans, the world, and other businesses strictly through the means of photography. Although they Instagram pictures of nothing less than their fabulous lifestyle, the Kardashians are constantly promoting their brands. By snapping quick pics of your businesses leading product, followers can have access to your business and personal life. Much like with Twitter, Instagram utilizes hashtags to attract more users back to your Instagram page.  Use at least one hashtag with every picture you post, in order to link people back to you and attract more followers.

Start by taking pictures that are of your niche. Advertise new products, new employees, or screen shots of new posts on your blog.

Keek

Keek is the newest addition to the social media family.  Kylie and Kendall Jenner were the first in the Kardashian clan to start utilizing Keek. Keek acts similar to Instagram except you can post small videos instead of pictures. Because Keek is newer to the social media world, start getting people excited about this new tool!

Advertising

Last but not least, always promote your social media pages on your website, business cards, and anywhere in your office. Encourage people to like your Facebook page and follow you on other social media tools.

Theo Schmidt has worked as a software engineer in Los Angeles since graduating from UCLA in 2006 with a degree in computer science. He spent five summers working for an SEO Calgary company, where he developed a love for social media. He enjoys spending time in the outdoors and is an environmental activist.

3 Reasons Why Facebook Pages Are Your Most Valuable Asset

What is the value of having a company Facebook page?

This is a question that many small, medium, and large businesses still ask. There is such tremendous value of a company Facebook page that the answer is worthy of a full blog post.

A Facebook page is essentially a website, only it is uniform in appearance with respect to other Facebook pages and it asks users to subscribe to its content. Goals for a Facebook page can be very similar to a website. On its surface a Facebook page serves as an online facade for your product, service, and brand. It’s where your customers come to learn who you are, what you sell, why they should buy from you, and who else buys from you too. Facebook pages create brand awareness, facilitate online purchases, increase visits to store locations, and serve as a source of information. Basically, Facebook pages invite you to the party. (more…)

Chick-Fil-A: “Out of the Frying Pan and Into the Fire”

If you haven’t already heard, Chick-fil-a, a southern food chain known for its delicious chicken sandwiches and friendly atmosphere, has come under extreme criticism after CEO Dan Cathy stated his support for “traditional” marriage. Chick-fil-a, who closes down on Sundays in respect of its Christian principles, is now under heavy fire for their beliefs. In traditional times people would take to the street to protest companies out front of their establishments, but in today’s tech-savvy community people are taking to the likes of social media. People’s outcries on social media against Chick-fil-a have become the company’s worst nightmare. (more…)

How to Create Compelling Facebook and Twitter Promos

Promotions help to draw in more subscribers to both your Facebook and Twitter accounts. You want your promos to increase your “Likes” and “Followers” but you have to do this in a compelling way so that you don’t just get likes just to be ‘unliked’ soon after the promo is over.

There are people who join promo’s routinely without really caring for the product or the brand. You need to be able to weed out or at least minimise occurrences like that. (more…)

Facebook: What Are People Talking About?

In the past, many people would judge a Facebook page based on the number of likes that it had. This is still sort of true today, but the fact of the matter is that likes alone doesn’t make your page successful. What makes your page successful is having an engaging fan base. What constitutes an engaging fan base you ask? Don’t worry you came to the right place to learn more about it. I will go over what Facebook analyzes to come up with that pesky # of people talking about number! (more…)