5 Social Media Marketing Tips

Social media is a blessing and a half. It makes it easier to connect and stay in contact with your friends and family; it also makes it easier for companies to do marketing and public relations. Social media marketing makes it so you can do marketing on the go and in real time. Now, despite social media being an easy tool to use, there are certain tips one should know to really try and get the most out of their social media efforts.

1. Post in open windows. This is not literal, there are no windows. What I mean by this is that you should look for those times throughout the day when your social media posts will be seen the most, especially by your target market. For example, say your target market is the American businessman/business woman. For this group, your ideal time to post to social media and have them see it is between 9-5, Mon-Fri. If you want to break that down even further, then shoot for typical lunch hours and five minutes before to after the hour, for example 1:55-2:05; why that window? Meetings are scheduled on the hour or every half hour, say, 1 PM. If a meeting is at 1 PM, then it will get out around 2 PM; you want to catch people checking their social media on the way to the meeting (so just before the hour) and people heading back to their offices (so just after the hour). 
2. Pick and choose your social media. There are a lot of social media platforms out there, it can be tempting to simply pick them all! However, your target market may not use a certain social media platform. Granted, social media is becoming attractive to people of just about any age but there are still limits. For example, if your target market is grandparents (ages 60+) then there is a good chance that using Twitter or Instagram will not prove fruitful; using Facebook would be your best bet. If your target market is middle-aged men, then Pinterest would most likely not be a good platform to use. 
3. Utilize Twitter's Advanced Search. When using twitter, you have a neat little tool to help you discover people talking about things that might matter to you. For example, say you're a dentist in the Chicago area and you want to find people in that area talking about dentistry. Log into your twitter account, go into Advanced Search, and type in the necessary information. 
4. Give things away. It seems scary to think of giving something away for free, such as a product or service. People seem to think that if you give something away, then people will take it and run and never ever come back to purchase your product or service. This is a legit fear but it is not true. Think about it, giving things away for free encourages people to actually try your company since there is no commitment on their side; if the product or service is worth it, they will want to go back to your company for more! Social media is a great place to notify people of your deals and promotions! 
5. Social media is a publicity engine. If your company is on social media, then you can use it to let people know who you are and what you can offer them. The content you post on social media functions as marketing. You want your content to direct traffic to your site that will create more clients or customers. You can use your social media to put messages out there that are creative and attention-grabbing and that people can share to those who may have never heard of your company. 

Social media is a fun venture for any company to be part of. Don't be afraid of it, embrace it instead. If you have questions about social media or are looking for a social media marketing firm to handle your company's social media, then contact Integraphix - a Los Angeles creative marketing agency. 

Small Business Marketing TIps

Do you own a small business? If you do, then marketing is more important to you than ever, even if your business is not marketing related. When you have a small company, marketing has to be tip top shape to make an impact since all the large, fortune 500 companies have the ability to make a splash with their marketing even when they do next to nothing.

What can your small business do to improve its marketing? Well, there are a few things.

1. Social media. Doing social media marketing is a much bigger deal than you think. Social media enables your company to engage with consumers in a way that is immediate and personal. When you do social media, you can update your consumers with up to the minute news and promos; it is a great way to facilitate promotions and things of the like. When your consumers know that you know they exist and that you appreciate them, their brand loyalty is likely to increase. This aspect of your marketing brings a human side to your company as well. People like to see that companies have emotions, brains, and are not robotic. As a social media marketing company, we have seen the impact just a few social media accounts can have. 
2. Search engine optimization. Search engine optimization is a great way to promote your business. Why? Well, because it gets your website noticed by search engines which means the likelihood of getting your link to your website placed on the first page of search results is much better. Why does that matter? It matters because the majority of people do not go past the first page of search results when looking for a link to answer their question. 
3. Have a website. Having a website is not only encouraged in business but it is a necessity! Businesses in the 21st century cannot survive without a website, well, it's at least VERY difficult to survive without one. Hiring a web design company will greatly increase your chances of creating a magnificent website that will be optimized for SEO and be pleasant to use. 
4. Create a branding strategy. Branding is perhaps the foundation to your marketing strategy. If you do not have a branding strategy set in place, then your marketing will be scattered; nothing will flow with anything else and there will be no concentration for your marketing efforts. What do you want to focus on with your marketing? What do you want people to think of when they see your business or logo? These are some of the questions you will consider when planning your branding. 

Smart marketing is important for the success of any business but it is even more so for a small company since there is often little wiggle room in the money side of things. If you need any of these services, consider hiring Integraphix - a Los Angeles marketing company . 

DYK The Top 6 Marketing Trends for 2013?

In 2013, we saw a lot of progress made in the marketing world and there were a few things that really peaked the interest  of marketers. Some of the moves made in marketing this year have been really good and some were questionable. In this blog, we will look at the top 6 marketing moves made in 2013 and perhaps why they were good moves, according to this Los Angeles Creative Marketing firm.

1. The first major trend in 2013 was *drum roll* SOCIAL MEDIA. What, that was not a surprise? No, of course it was not a surprise that social media made a huge dent in the marketing world. But does it make it any less of an important and awesome trend? Well of course not. Social media marketing has forced its way into the hearts of everyone, everywhere but especially for companies that love their marketing. Social media has enabled so much more engagement and quick updates with consumers than was ever capable before social media. Before social media made its impact, marketing was much more one-way; companies would talk to the consumers but the consumers could not talk back to the companies. Now, with things like Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and other platforms, the conversation between company and consumer is, well, a conversation. Both sides of the equation have voices to be heard and can be heard. 
2. The second major trend for marketing in 2013 was *drum roll* MOBILITY. How many apps are there in the App Store or Google Play store? Thousands? Millions? Bottom line is that there are a lot of apps out there for you to view on your smartphone and/or tablet. The web and information is no longer confined to that computation machine you have stored in your basement but is accessible anywhere! If you want to update your status, just pull out your smartphone and type it up; we no longer have to wait to see that you are eating Chinese food, we can see it as it happens. WOOT WOOT. Outside of apps, companies have gone ahead and made mobile websites; sites that are like their traditional site but more mobile-friendly so you can easily navigate the site on such small screen. This has greatly impacted the internet marketing world. 
3. A third major trend in marketing this year was *drum roll* REAL TIME BUYING. This year, we saw the emergence of real time buying. What is this? Real time buying is the mixture of location services, social media, and mobility. What this means is that when you are nearing a store while walking downtown, if you have your location services turned on for a store's app, it will know you are near one of the store's locations and then pop up with some sort of buying incentive, like a coupon. WHOA, cool huh? 
4. A fourth trend in marketing for 2013 was the QR code, sorry, no drum roll. QR codes have been around for a year or two but they did not truly catch on until this year. They seem to have been slow to catch the eye of marketers and companies; perhaps because smartphones were still getting popular and not enough people could use QR codes yet. What is great about QR codes is that they are able to link a website or something else to the code and not have to take up much space. A lot of companies use these on things like mailers or small signs so they can just put the title of whatever they are promoting and then have the QR code with the rest of the information. 
5. A fifth trend for 2013 was GOING GREEN. As more and more people are becoming aware of the problems with weather patterns, the O-zone, etc. they are demanding that companies respect nature and become more eco-friendly. 
6. A sixth trend for 2013 was MEASURING METRICS. This year, a lot of companies hopped on the train of being able to know every click, every movement of consumers both on the web and off. Many companies realized that the ability to know all the little things can help marketing efforts because marketing reports are much more detailed and thus, allow for better forecasting. 

Marketing is an ever changing business and it is very, very exciting. The trends Integraphix saw happen this year got us excited for the future of marketing. Hopefully learning about these trends excites you too and gave you knowledge.