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With nearly everyone on social media these days, people have begun to find unique ways to increase engagement, monetize interactions, and increase their overall following. An excellent way many individuals and brands have done so is by sharing and creating content that engages viewers to act and share on their own. 

This is the unique phenomenon known as User-Generated Content (UGC). UGC is the content (videos, responses, blogs, photos, or audio) created by the users of a particular platform that follow a particular user. A great example of that is posters on youtube filming themselves talking about the most fantastic ice cream they’ve ever tasted. It’s not their ice cream but they HAVE to talk about it. 

The same goes for testimonials, reviews, and excellent feedback overall received and then shared by that specific brand. 

Who are UGC Creators?

A UGC creator is someone who creates content varying in medium specific to a brand or community they follow, purchase from, or interact with. This can take place on nearly any social media platform as well as digital forums and communities. Creators range widely in age, demographic, and occupation. They could be your next-door neighbor or the local influencer you see posting often. 

The biggest difference between them and a business posting about an item or service is that these people are posting from their own experience and are not usually paid for their opinion. This makes their posts more authentic due to the reliability and self-creation of the content. 

Benefits of Using Creators

Here are some of the top reasons we love and encourage others to leverage UGC creators: 

1. Trust and Authenticity

Creators provide content that is completely and 100% their own opinion and voice. They have taken the opportunity to generate their thoughts regarding the service or product on their own and are usually not paid, making their feedback more genuine. 

Showcasing UGC gives your potential audience a genuine view of your business. UGC creators are a relatable voice making it more likely to resonate with potential customers, thereby boosting social media following (and hopefully sales!). People want to see real results, real humans, and real emotions in the brands they follow. 

2. Increased Following 

When messages relate to people who can recognize genuine, honest opinions over sales material, they’ll listen. Not only that, if they believe it to be trustworthy information that piques their interest, they’ll follow along. Branded content is both good and necessary but it can’t be the only thing you focus your attention on when it comes to social media. Businesses will be wise to use UGC because it will increase both following AND engagement.

3. People See What They Like

Similar to what was already said before, people like seeing others support a brand in an honest way. Not only that, UGC (when you have the right people behind it) often generates images and wording that you may not have otherwise thought of yourself. This saves both time and money. Now, of course, all UGC needs to be vetted and reviewed before posting. Still, many influencers and highly interactive creatives will be some of the best resources for producing lovely and entertaining posts. Let this drive your brand. Don’t shy away from it. 

5. Diverse Voices

Real UGC creators come from all over the world with all different backgrounds. Wider perspectives drive through to a much wider audience. Sure, you need to have your target audience in place, but a UGC creator will bring many more eyes - so much so that you may tap into audiences you would have never previously considered. 

Finding Creators

There are several ways to find UGC creators to work with on social media. Here are a few methods to consider:

1. Social Media 

One of the easiest ways to find UGC creators is to search for relevant content, businesses, hashtags or keywords on social media platforms. If you see people who use these hashtags, reach out and see if they’d be interested in learning more about your brand and potentially posting an honest review. Social media also allows you to see smaller, local voices and not just influencers. Influencers have their place (as we will discuss below) but they can also be harder to secure. Don’t be afraid to talk to some that are really just passionate reviewers. 

2. Influencer Marketing Platforms

Beyond the world of social media, there are influencer marketing platforms where influencers are willing and able to connect with you and take a look at what you have to offer. These platforms are also designed to make it easy for you to find and search your industry or niche and connect with people who have large followings. Don’t forget to also leverage local influencers as well. The next time you’re headed to a local networking event or industry lunch, keep your eye out for others who are strong voices and influence reactions and decisions. 

3. Brand Ambassador Programs

A great way to find and secure UGC creators is to establish a brand ambassador program. This involves selecting a group of leaders or faithful followers who are passionate about your brand. Gather them together and provide them with discounts, VIP access, and more perks in exchange for their thoughts and voice. These ideally are already people who like what you have to offer. Incentivize them to continue doing it with ambassador programs. 

4. Customer Reviews

One of the best and most regularly used UGC generators are your existing customers. Look for regular clients or shoppers, and those that leave good reviews online or on social media. Ask if it would be ok to share their review or see if they’d be willing to write one. 

5. Event Hosting

An excellent way to control the environment and generate genuine interest in your brand is by hosting a company event. It could be for any reason or cause under the sun, but it allows you to control the setting and create your own hashtags. Give guests something to think about or share and use this to generate your own UGC. 

6. Digital Contests

What better way to collect fun and unique content than with a good ol fashion contest? It will encourage users to put forward their best work and give you some of the best images/text/videos to post about.  

To wrap it up

UGC is not only necessary, but it’s also a fun way to get others behind your brand. Ideally, these will be your ride-or-die for years to come. Let people talk freely about your brand, keep the best content, and reward those who share some of the best with you. Authentic voices are in short supply these days so any time a brand chooses to lean more openly with followers, it’s going to bode well for them. Ready to engage UGC creators to boost your following on social media? Get in touch with us at Onya today.

The temptation for businesses to want to be on all social platforms is an understandable one. However, not all are equal in nature and all serve different purposes (even though they are all under the social media definition). 

Selecting too many social platforms may seem like the best strategy in order to cover the most ground but you’re not guaranteed success or engagement on ANY of those platforms if your time is stretched and plan is thin. Not to mention, your resources should be better spent on really focusing on where your target audience spends their most time instead of burning marketing budget on all platforms. 

After all, the whole point of showing up on social media is bring you in contact with your most receptive target audience. To do that, you need to meet them where they are.  

How to Find the Right Social Platforms: 

Who’s your target audience? Where do they spend their time? 

Do your research here. Ideally, you will already have an idea of who your target audience is. Take a look at each social platform and the age groups, demographic, etc. to understand where the majority spend their time. 

Is my Industry common on this platform? 

A good indicator here is where your competitors spend their time. For instance, if you’re a B2B business focused on selling sales management services, your target audiences would be far more likely to be on a platform like LinkedIn and not Pinterest. 

What type of content are you sharing/wanting to share?

Instagram is known for photos, TikTok for videos, LinkedIn for blogs/advice...If you hate any one of those mediums, you’re better off leaning towards a platform specific to the types of content you’re willing to invest time in. Remember, social media should be sustainable and consistent. 

Top Social Platforms for Businesses

We may not know all the ins and outs of your business and all industries that exist in the world, but the platforms below are the most common and most lucrative when it comes to businesses on social media. 

LinkedIn

We’re starting here because it's the first one that comes to mind when people think of businesses online. Especially for B2B businesses, this is the place to be. It’s suitable for individual professionals connecting with past and present colleagues and partners but is an excellent resource for finding educational materials and learning about what the industry has to offer. Don’t just stop by building a business page though. Have all your key people up and active on this platform as users can read about your business and get to know the individuals who serve and create the brand. It’s a great trust-building tool!

Facebook

Not all love Facebook but it favors the local mindset, has MANY users of all ages, and has incredibly powerful advertising tools. They are constantly rolling out new features that cater to new businesses and becomes more and more enticing the longer they exist. Facebook can be used for photos, videos, and business pages making it a great starter platform. 

Youtube

YouTube boasts more than two billion users daily around the world, largely due to the simplicity of adding and managing video content. Don’t think they haven’t noticed other video platforms too like TikTok. They are always working to increase engagement with tools like Youtube Shorts. As a business who is willing and able to create video content, this is an excellent platform. Next to Facebook, they are also one of the better advertising selections as well.    

Instagram

If you've followed our journey, then you know Instagram is one of our favorites - but it’s not for everyone! People love this platform purely for its visual significance and dedication to branding. This social platform is for creatives. It highlights some of the most beautiful aspects of what a business can offer. Examples are behind-the-scenes footage and “how its made” content. It also has subtle advertising for those who aren’t all about selling directly in your face. Its usability is straightforward and uncomplicated. It’s also an excellent place to get regular feedback in the comments section and is a high-engagement platform. 

Pinterest

Pinterest is unique in that it’s not quite as “connection” heavy as the other platforms that focus on following. Pinterest’s bread and butter is identifying current trends and driving traffic to your website. It has a relatively seamless customer journey. It also allows people to save items and refer back to them months, even years after the fact. Unlike other social media platforms, this makes it an evergreen garden. Pinterest is a haven for large content libraries. This should be one of the first places you jump to if you have evergreen content. 

Tik Tok

Tik Tok doesn’t have a huge business following in comparison to the other platforms above. However, it is still one of the most popular platforms for individual users. Tik Tok is video-centric and the core hangout for Gen Z. Although, its growth is expanding for many other age groups as it grows in popularity. Considering its advertising features, they are still developing. On the other hand, if you’re a young and hip business looking to connect and drive sales, this is your place to go. 

Final Takeaways

Be realistic about your time and financial resources. Social media has HUGE potential to convert when done right but only when done regularly. If your team is small and you don’t have endless hours to post online, choose 1-2 platforms to focus on. 

Looking for a social media marketing agency? Onya is well-versed in growing your business with more time to dedicate to social media. Reach out to us today and we’ll connect with you soon!

At Onya, we cannot overstate the fact that in order to be successful on social media, you must have a clearly defined customer journey. 

If you can fully understand your customer journey, then you will know exactly what type of content to create, when to create it, and where to put it to make the maximum impact on your business.

Define “Customer Journey” 

Your customer journey is a cumulation of the interaction that customers have with your brand when making a sale. Customers often won't simply take a straight jump to the sale (although some might). They usually run through many interactions and content touchpoints before making their decision. This includes things like reading a blog, walking into your store, reading a review, etc. 

Map Your Customer Journey

When starting a journey, you need to first look at the end goal. It seems backwards (and it is) but your actions at the end will define how to best get there. What do you want your audience members to do? Most often, this will be to purchase something. Once goals are in place, you need to figure out your customers and what they’re looking for. 

This is a separate exercise that deserves more time in another post, but for the sake of the journey, be sure to build buyer personas that are as specific as possible so you know the types of people entering your journeys. 

With your known buyers, identify every stop they may have with your brand. This means physical and digital. Store front, social platforms, emails, website, etc. From there, find out what actions were taken at each stop and what their understanding is of your company. 

Here are the four levels of understanding and awareness used to help define points in your customer journey: 

1. Unaware - There are people that don’t know any problem even exists and are completely unaware of your brand altogether. Your goal here is to show them the problem. 

2. Problem aware - There are people who know they have a problem but are only just now starting to ask questions. There are early symptoms of discovering a leak in your basement or the check engine light on your car. They know something is wrong but have only just started their search. 

3. Solution aware - The people here know they have a problem, they’re collecting answers and looking actively but do not yet know what you have to offer. This is a very active stage as they’re still collecting answers they need and about to dive into their next steps. For you, try to leverage and share testimonials and case studies so you show the solution side of things. 

4. Product aware - At this stage, people know possible solutions and know the direction they’re headed in/product category to tackle (oil for the car, dehumidifier for the basement). This is your strong chance to show them why your product or service is the best option for them. 

5. Highest Awareness - People know who you are, they know your product or service exists but they need that last bit of encouragement to pull the trigger and make the sale. 

With each pitstop for potential customers, tie in these awareness levels and refine your content strategy so that it makes sense for each persona’s level of awareness. If you’ve tapped into the customer journey with the right awareness level at the right place, users will be both grateful and less annoyed when they see your brand.

Be part of the solution and speak directly to their needs. Each platform, location, and stage in the customer journey should keep everyone’s needs in mind. No one person is the same and so different persona’s journeys should include different content. Don’t make your strategy a one-size-fits-all. 

With any good strategy, be sure to watch, analyze, and refine. Your business will grow, your industry will shift, and your users will change. A customer journey should ebb and flow as time goes on. Let this be an ongoing process and never be done with it.

Need more steps and direction on how to optimize this time? Onya is here to talk. Give us a call today to get started!

For most basic users of Instagram, the goal is to gain as many followers as possible. For businesses, the goal is always sales. Unfortunately for many businesses we see, they spend countless hours and days pouring into Instagram and the content that fills it, only to find they haven’t gained any new sales and are usually short on followers and engagement. 

What we try to encourage with so many of our clients and friends is quality over quantity. Build quality content that can attach to a strong customer journey that leads to a clear sales funnel and watch the sales roll in. If the above sounds like your story, read on to learn how to better approach business with Instagram. 

1. Define your Goals 

All businesses, big and small, MUST have outlined goals in order for their business to succeed. If you’re jumping in head-first to the Instagram game without business-defined goals, you’re going to fail. 

Sans goals, your content is going to skew left and right and somewhere in between. 

We know you’re busy. We know your time is precious. But posting randomly is like throwing pasta at the wall in hopes that something will stick. Define your goals and the rest will fall into place. 

2. Give Social Proof

First, what even is social proof? Wikipedia defines social proof as “the psychological phenomenon where people assume the actions of others in an attempt to reflect correct behavior for a given situation" In other words, your audience wants to know that you can provide the results you're promising. It’s your job to help give them what they’re looking for and build trust. Here’s how: 

• User-Generated Content: UGC takes what your audience is passionate about and creates on their own and uses it for building an authentic brand image. Some businesses are scared of this tactic because it requires using others’ words, but it’s free and highlights users and their honest opinions. Get people to start talking through unique challenges or invite them to share their stories. 
• Testimonials: Similar to UGC, testimonials take honest feedback and highlight it to build trust with others who haven’t become customers just yet. Even if testimonials don’t exist yet, talk to happy customers who are willing to share their thoughts. It takes business a long way in others seeing how you’ve impacted customers. 
• Influencers: Be careful here. Influencers shouldn’t just be whoever is popular in general. They need to be specific to your niche. When users see these influencers talk positively about your business, they're encouraged to trust and buy from you. 

3. Build a Trustworthy Community

This one stands out because social media is ALL about community. That was why it was designed in the first place. It allows people from all walks of life to find and follow those they connect with on a real level. If you want to build that community, engage with your followers. Acknowledge them, answer their questions, and encourage them in their endeavors. 

Most importantly, be authentic. People can smell fake a mile away. 

4. Make it Easy to Convert

Make the buying process easy for your followers. Consumers want to engage and they want to find your information. Don’t make it hard for them to navigate to where they want to go. Your information in your bio (and again, on your website) should tell others who you are, what you do, and how to get in touch (or where they can learn more). 

Links can’t be broken. Contacts should be obvious. Your purpose should be clear. 

Let people make sales with ease and don’t be the main reason they click away to a competitor. 

5. Provide True Value

Truly valuable content will keep people coming back for more. You want posts to be informative, educational, and actionable. In other words, don’t make everything about selling your services or product. 

• Give tips and tricks. 
• Share your struggles and how you overcome them (or ask for advice). 
• What FAQs are most common in your industry?
• Share relevant fun facts. 
• Provide free downloads. 

6. Review and Pivot

Don’t just post. Review what’s working well (or not working well) and be sure to change if need be. Do metrics reflect the goals you’re trying to reach? This is also key when analyzing how everything is performing. When reviewing, dive into the details. What posts got the most likes? Which got the lowest likes? Which ones generated DM’s? Were there certain times during the day/week/year that others engaged the most?

Remember that Instagram Statistics tell a story and you need to work off of what those numbers are telling you. Use analytics to take the next steps so you can continue to give people what they need and want to see online. 

Converting Instagram followers IS possible. But it requires you to be strategic and consistent. Trying for only one week won’t get you there. Followers need to rely on what you’re posting to build trust before they buy. This takes time so be patient and be intentional. If you're struggling to convert those followers, let's have a chat. Onya can help determine a solution-based strategy that attracts potential customers and meets your goals as a business.

TikTok has quickly become a cultural phenomenon, with users flocking to create and share short-form videos that showcase their creativity, humor, and unique perspectives. For businesses, influencers, and content creators, TikTok represents a huge opportunity to reach a wide and engaged audience. Plus, all the cool kids are over there.

However, with so many videos being uploaded to the platform every day, it can be difficult to get your content noticed. That's where TikTok SEO comes in. TikTok SEO is now becoming the number #1 search engine on the internet, overtaking Google's position. With the buzz around TikTok, optimizing your videos for TikTok's search algorithm can increase your visibility, reach, and engagement on the platform's search results.

If you have been wondering how to go about your TikTok visibility strategy and get your videos placed at the top of TikTok's search engine results, this comprehensive guide to TikTok SEO is for you. This guide will give you all the interesting details on what TikTok SEO is, how it works, ranking factors, and how you can use SEO for TikTok to rank on the TikTok search engine.

What is TikTok SEO?

TikTok SEO, or TikTok search engine optimization, is optimizing your content to improve its visibility and ranking in the app's search results. To put it simply, TikTok SEO is optimizing your content on TikTok's "For You" pages so that it can easily be found by TikTok users when they use the search engine feature.

SEO for TikTok works in the same way traditional SEO (Google SEO) works. Optimizing your content with the right keywords, hashtags, and other strategies can increase the likelihood that your TikTok videos will appear at the top of search results, attracting more views, likes, and followers to your account.

Many will ask, "But TikTok isn't a search engine, so how is it possible?" Although TikTok is technically not a search engine, it still has a search bar, making SEO an integral strategy on the platform. As a result, as SEO TikTok continues to grow into an essential aspect of any TikTok marketing strategy, creators and brands need to take full advantage of it.

Ranking Factors for TikTok SEO

To understand SEO for TikTok better, you must first understand the ranking factors. These include

User Interactions

User interactions involve likes, comments, followed accounts, shares, re-watches and completions, and videos added to favorites, which affect the ranking factors on TikTok. TikTok algorithm takes notes of these and recommends such videos or content to you. This is because it has gotten the insight that interactions with such content mean "users want to see more of those." Therefore, if your content has lots of engagement, it will be recommended to users.

Video Information

Another factor that affects ranking on TikTok is the video information. Hashtags, caption keywords, effects, sound effects, content, and music determine video information on TikTok. To rank and optimize your TikTok video, TikTok checks if your videos contain relevant keywords in their titles and descriptions and hashtags, video transcripts, music, and more in their videos. Therefore, to boost your TikTok SEO for your videos, ensure these factors are included, as they can potentially increase user reach on the app.

How to Rank of TikTok Search Results in 4 Steps

With so much content on TikTok, optimizing your videos for search engine optimization (SEO) is important to ensure they reach the right audience. Here are six steps for TikTok SEO:

1. Understand your audience's search intent and needs

To optimize your TikTok videos for search engines, you need to understand what your audience is searching for and their intent. Doing this can create relevant and valuable content for your viewers. To get the most out of TikTok SEO, research the popular topics and trends in your niche and use this information to create content that meets your audience's needs. Some questions you should ask:

• Who are they?
• What are their interests?
• What do they like?
• What do they dislike?
• What kinds of problems do they have?

Once you understand the answers to these questions, you’ll already know what your audience is naturally searching for within the app - create content aligned with that and SEO will be a breeze for you! 

2. Speak the voice of your  audience

This is one strategy that many creators need to master yet find challenging to do - understanding and speaking the voice of your audience. It's important to create TikTok videos that speak the language of your audience. Use phrases that resonate with your viewers, and try to create relatable and easy-to-understand content. This will help increase engagement and attract a wider audience to your content.

3. Keywords, keywords, keywords.

Keyword research is an essential component of TikTok SEO. Start by identifying the keywords that are relevant to your niche or industry. Consider the keywords your target audience might be searching for on TikTok, and use these keywords in your video content, description, and hashtags. Using the right keywords will make it easier for users to find your content and increase your visibility on the platform. Choose keywords relevant to your content and niche, and use these keywords in your video title, description, and hashtags. 

There are three things to consider when choosing the keywords for your SEO TikTok

• Search Volume: This refers to the number of people searching for the keyword you want to use in your video or visual content.
• Relevance: This refers to the amount of relevancy your keyword has to the content.
• Keyword difficulty: This refers to how difficult it is for that keyword to rank your video. 

Therefore, it is recommended that you select a keyword with

• High search volume
• High level of relevance
• Low keyword difficulty.

IMPORTANT TIP: Don’t overstuff your content with keywords. Keep the placement natural, and don’t overwhelm your viewers. You don’t need a keyword in each place mentioned on this list. Test out your placement. Switch it up and see which videos get more views.

4. Determine your hashtag strategy:

If there is a powerful strategic tool for increasing the visibility of TikTok videos, it is hashtags. Hashtags target the width, height, and depth of TikTok. To boost your searchability, find ways to determine a hashtag strategy relevant to your content and niche. Use popular and trending hashtags related to your content to increase your reach and engagement. The key is to stay relevant and consistent with your hashtags. And PLEASE: don’t use the large trending hashtags like #fyp or large event and branded hashtags. It’s tacky. 

5. Analyze and Measure Your Progress

When you are looking to grow on any platform, you need to measure your progress. Take note of the things that are doing well and replicate them. Take note of the things you didn’t see as much TikTok Growth from and try different methods. TikTok gives creators access to various analytic data on its platform so that they can see how well their content performs. Analytics are separated into three main categories: Overview, Content, and Followers.

In the Overview tab, you can see video views, profile views, follower growth, likes, comments, and shares for custom date ranges of up to 60 days.

In the Content section, you can view data on each of your videos. This can help you identify the things that are working well based on which videos have the most engagement. Pay attention to metrics like average watch time and the percentage of users who watched the full video.

In the Followers tab, you can learn more about the users following your account and watching your videos. Learn where your audiences are from and the most popular times they view your content.

This only scratches the surface with TikTok SEO, but here’s what we really want you to take away - It’s easy to fall into the comparison trap on TikTok or wind up feeling more overwhelmed when browsing, but the BEST advice we have is to start posting. Unlike Instagram, TikTok appreciates “off the cuff” style videos - you can post whatever you want, and it really can’t hurt you. Start posting consistently, and gather the data you need to optimize as you grow!

For more information on boosting your TikTok SEO, contact us at Onya - we’d love to partner with you!

For many of you, we hope you know who your main customer base is. However, knowing where to look to find new customers is another thing. How do you find them, how do you capture their attention, and how do you secure the sale?

Or an even better question - are you even targeting the right audience? 

This is where Target Market Analysis comes into play and can make a BIG difference for your business strategy. 

What is target market analysis?

Target market analysis is a review process used to establish a specific group who collectively make up your brand’s ideal customer base.

If used correctly, TMA will create a strong base and allow you to pull and develop these individuals into regular leads (that will hopefully convert). 

What is TMA looking for?

• Who – TMA defines in detail what your audience looks like. This includes specific demographic details like gender, age, job, looks, and so much more (this will largely depend on your product or service - for instance, if you sell a shampoo for blondes with curly hair, your target audience will be blondes with curly hair).
• What – What does your audience like and dislike? This could be specific to your product or service but should also span beyond your business into their hobbies and pain points. 
• When – At what points are your audience members most likely to be online checking email, scrolling through social media, or searching on the web? Get it down to days of the week, time of day, and seasons that they are most active. Keep in mind too that time zones will play a factor as well as the frequency in which they interact online.
• Where – Where are your audience members? Do they all reside close to your business? Or are they across the country? Are they international? What does their habitation look like?
• Why – Of all the possible choices online or abroad, why might your audience choose your brand? The TMA should detail pain points, solutions, and reasons behind their decision-making. Be mindful, this shouldn’t just be assumed by your business - this should come from detailed analysis and conversation with key audience members.

What NOT to Do with TMA

• Only focusing on friends and family - This is a classic example of using what you’re most comfortable with. When running an audience question analysis, be sure to survey individuals from all walks of life that you do not know directly. This will give you more honest answers.
• Seeking the Wrong Information - TMA needs to be directly related to your brand and not just your industry. Your analysis should define an audience that is specifically centered around selling your product and service, not your competitors or otherwise.
• Using Biased Data - Many brands are prone to collecting and singling out information they think is most true which is often influenced by their own bias. To avoid getting too close to the info, try leveraging an agency as a neutral third party (Onya is happy to help with this process).
• Making Assumptions - This is very much connected to the bias you bring to the conversation but it’s worth noting this separately. Be sure to rely on the answers people provide when analyzing groups. Don’t dictate what you think the answers should be and don’t lead the witness. Sit back and listen. Assumptions can create skewed data which can lead to you having to re-run your TMA again. That’s a huge waste of time and money.
• Using only Digital Resources - Look, we are all about online analysis. It’s how we work. But when it comes to defining your target audience, you need to speak with real people, Community and have real conversations. Not to mention, the web will only give so much. Sure, you can collect keywords and basic demographics, but conversions will reveal more robust details you may have missed online.

Tools for Running TMA

• Start by outlining what your brand and its services/products seek to solve. From here, you will want to create questions around the issue being addressed and see how audience members respond.
• Define your initial target market. Who are these people and where do they come from? Refer to the above section for what TMA is looking for to help segment these individuals. 
• Create a TMA survey. These should be questions that are centered around your brand and the issues you solve. Once questions are defined, you can ask using tactics like an online survey, in-person survey, or focus groups. This will help to more articulately create the people you want to market to. 
• Study your social media. Review the analytics on your social platforms. What types of people regularly come to your business account? How long are they for? What does engagement usually look like for them? Better yet, study social platforms you’re not currently using. Are there places your audience may be spending their time at that where you aren’t located?
• Study the competition. What are your business rivals up to these days? What people are they talking to and do they differ greatly from yours? If so, you may want to assess and determine why. Their behaviors and social groups may surprise you and open new target audiences you hadn’t yet considered. 

How Onya Can Help

Target Market Analysis is necessary for your brand’s success but can also take some time. With Onya’s marketing expertise, you can count on our team to help create an audience that is sensible and successful to ensure sales! Get in touch today to discover more about our services.

With growing technology comes new and optimized social media platforms. These platforms are modified daily to keep up with the rapid technological advances we see today.

Instagram is one of the most popular social media platforms and is an exceptional app. When used correctly in alignment with its updates and trends, it can help a business grow and excel while avoiding common Instagram mistakes that can impact engagement and overall performance.

Here are our top five tips and tricks to help your business achieve impactful marketing success.

#1 Create more videos

The digital landscape is changing, and so is Instagram. What was once a place of selfies and cat memes has changed drastically. Awareness of changing trends keeps your marketing from getting left behind.

Take it from the head of Instagram himself, Adam Mosseri. He says, "We're no longer a photo-sharing app or a square photo-sharing app."

If pictures are no longer the optimal way to capture audience attention, should you post videos instead? The answer is yes.

It is now known that the most effective way to share videos is not through posts, but instead through reels and carousels. This is because reels and carousels bring the highest engagement time giving Instagram more time to push ads out to their users resulting in more sweet cash. The bottom line is, videos are the future of Instagram and aren’t going away anytime soon, so you should get out there and put your creative mind to work!

#2 Have a posting schedule

Imagine your favorite TV show, The Office, let's say, has no schedule for when its newest episode is going to air. It could air in the next hour or the next month, but there's no set arrival leading you to say, “Eh I'll just watch Friends.” This is more or less what’s happening when you post on Instagram. By not having a posting schedule, your audience could miss out on important information regarding your brand as well as company updates. Not only that but without a posting schedule, you’re more likely to have inconsistency in your posts, possibly going weeks without posting because you have no deadline or just flat-out forget. Having a schedule for everything is important and Instagram is no exception.

Optimize your bio

Think of your Instagram bio as sort of your first impression. If you do not correctly format your bio, it can potentially off-put a future client or customer just as a bad first impression could scare away a future friend.

A satisfactory Instagram bio should explain the meat of your company as well as why you’re worth following. Your bio is your sales pitch as to what you do and how you can potentially help the person reading. As we all know, these first impressions are vital in future interactions where a good first impression can result in a new client or purchase, and a bad first impression can result in that person not wanting to associate with your company due to your unprofessional demeanor. All in all, by the time the person is done reading your bio they should concisely understand what you do, who you do it for, and why you're worth following. With this information, you should be able to create the best first impression that is the catalyst for the overall growth of your business.

Have linearity in your posts

Imagine you went to watch Animal Planet, the beloved documentary series about wild animals and domestic pets, and instead of seeing a chimpanzee in the wild it was footage of a tamed pet chimpanzee playing the drums… stay with me here. Although they're still filming an animal, it doesn't follow the linearity or theme of being in the wild.

When posting on Instagram, the last thing you want to do is confuse your audience about your overall goals and purpose. Although this sounds very obvious, many companies fail to use this tip and will post things that aren’t directly related to their company’s intentions. Before posting you should ask yourself, will this post help inform my audience about the goal of my company and lead my audience to think about my business in a positive and informative light?

Utilizing trends for your Instagram reels

While using popular trends whether it be trending concepts, videos, or hashtags seems obvious, many companies tend to overlook the benefits of it. There are many great examples of companies taking advantage of trends such as Chipotle and Burger King which not only gets their reach out to more people but also a wider variety of people. These interesting and trendy videos are what people like to enjoy watching, and it adds a lot more character and liveliness to your company than a regular social media ad would. Not only that, but social media apps favor trending videos and could send yours out to more people without even having to pay for an ad!

There's much more research that goes into social media marketing than a person might originally think. Learning some tips and tricks for these platforms can be beneficial in growing your business, as well as creating a diverse audience who will want to follow and stay up to date with what's going on. It’s time to take advantage of these tips and tricks and see some real progress with your social media marketing!

Need additional strategic help when it comes to social or content strategy? We’d love to chat with you. Feel free to book a free strategy call with us now!

It’s the new year which means there are new marketing trends that you need to be made aware of. With the advancements in marketing in the past few years, marketing trends are changing and evolving all the time and if you want to take advantage of them you must catch on early. Marketing in 2023 will come down to who can attract and sustain an audience in a practical and meaningful way while taking into account the quickly changing social media trends and strategies. 

When learning these trends, you will gain a better understanding of your audience as we move into the new year and what this new generation expects from a company. By learning how your customers think and react to marketing in this new age, you will be able to take advantage and give your customer a better experience throughout the buying process. Making a seamless and easy experience for your customer is necessary in 2023 and to do that you must utilize these trends. 

Changing Consumer Behavior 

Throughout the years, it’s evident that certain things mattered most in alignment with the time. For example, in the 1930’s the priority was to survive the Great Depression while in the 1950’s a top priority was raising a family with a spouse and getting a job. Now that we’re in 2023 and we can have just about anything at the tips of our fingers, one of the most important factors that we might overlook is speed and convenience. This is so important because people today value their time and with how quickly necessities can be attained, people aren't going to wait around and waste their time with slow and confusing websites. By creating a seamless and easy-to-understand website with quick shipping, your potential customer will not have to waste time and can indulge in your business with ease. 

Video Marketing

Marketing your business in the form of a video has been, and will continue to be, one of the most beneficial marketing tools on social media. That’s because videos are more engaging than pictures and can be viewed for a longer period than a post meaning your potential customer will be viewing your content for longer. A trending form of video marketing we see a lot in 2023 is short-form video. This is a video under sixty seconds that is engaging and shares information about your company. These short videos can be posted on just about any social media platform with some of the most popular being Instagram, YouTube, Facebook, TikTok, and Twitter with some of the platforms having specific areas just for short-form content such as Instagram reels. 

Push Notifications

With all the changes occurring in 2023, push notifications are becoming more accepted by users. Push notifications are messages sent through a push notification service to a mobile app or that can appear directly in your browser. Learning that users are turning on their notifications more than ever means it would be silly not to take advantage of this. When creating more personalized notifications you can increase the rate of reactions by the user up to 400%! Push notifications are quick and easy reminders to the user about your business whether it has to do with updates, deals, reminders, and more. 

Interactive Content

Zero-party data is any data that a user voluntarily gives you whether it be through polls, quizzes, giveaways, etc. By using interactive content, which is any content that a user interacts with, your business can get helpful data from your users which can be used to update and improve your business. Interactive content not only gives you information on users but is also known to be more engaging than static content such as pictures. In 2023, social media marketing is all about keeping the user engaged, and by using interactive content, you’ll do just that. 

Understanding new trends can be tricky to find and use, but when done correctly will give your company a more up-to-date feel. When these strategies are used, you’ll have more chances to gain attention and potential customers. If you want this work done for you feel free to book a free strategy call with us now!

With the number of marketing metrics in the new age of marketing, your company would be at a major disadvantage to not utilize these amazing tools. 

These metrics will give your company important information that can potentially skyrocket your business such as who's looking at your website and how engaged they are in it. By learning these metrics you can see what works well and what needs to be tweaked to get the best results from your marketing strategy. 

Qualified leads

A qualified lead is someone who has the highest chance of purchasing your product. This ideal customer is also known as a buyer persona, and you can create this buyer persona by finding a person who is most likely to need your product. Once you have found a qualified lead you can target your business towards them to get the most engagement possible. 

Cost per mille

A super bowl advertisement or a YouTube advertisement, which one costs more? Well obviously the super bowl advertisement, but how much more? CPM refers to the cost per 1,000 impressions or people that view your advertisement. If you're trying to reach people in certain industries you’ll have to pay a higher CPM so that you can target a more particular audience. 

Clicks, calls, visits

It’s extremely important to know that your marketing campaign is being shown to people who might be interested in your product. When tracking your clicks, calls, and visits, you're able to see if your ads are targeting the desired audience. If not, then it’s a good indicator that the marketing campaign should either target a different audience or should modify the advertisement to trigger more engagement. 

Bounce rate

Someone who visits your website and then immediately leaves is known as a person who “bounces” through your website. A higher bounce rate means people are more likely to leave your website as soon as they look at it. This could be a result of your website being poorly designed or being targeted to the wrong audience. By tweaking your website design and measuring the progression or your bounce rate, you can see what works best on your website. By changing your target audience, you might find a better bounce-through rate as well.

Conversion rate

The conversion rate measures the people who end up on your landing page and become a customer by purchasing your product. The higher your conversion rate the more people on your website that are becoming customers. There are lots of ways to increase your conversion rate such as improving your website, including social proof, tracking your site's interaction, adding live chat, testing your offers, and more. These tips can help you gain lifelong customers that buy your products for years to come because you are a trustworthy and open company that makes the site convenient for the customers.

Using these marketing metrics will give you a better understanding of your business as well as its consumers. By utilizing the information found in these metrics correctly, you’ll be able to optimize your business and create the best possible experience for your customers. 

Need additional strategic help when it comes to social or content strategy? We’d love to chat with you. Feel free to book a free strategy call with us now!