What are hashtags for?

Initially, hashtags were created to allow social media users to easily find posts under a certain topic. Do you like cats? Check out all the posts under the hashtag #cats or #catsofinstagram. As Instagram continued to promote hashtags, it also allowed its users to follow certain hashtags and keep up with the topics they care about.

Tip: Check out accounts that are similar to yours and see what tags they’re using. If they are successful, get inspired!

Do hashtags really work?

In this day and age, relevant hashtags can open you up to a whole world of followers and potential customers. When used correctly, hashtags can enable the right people to find and engage with your content. The key is using the right ones. For instance, if you are in the soap-making business, using #buildabear won’t get you far.

Tip: What about your business appeals to your audience the most? Hashtag #ecofriendly or #vegan to highlight this feature of your brand and attract an audience that cares about the planet.

Instagram vs TikTok

Hashtags have proven to be very successful on Instagram. People actually conduct hashtag searches and even follow them! Not all platforms are the same. TikTok, the platform best known for its young audience and trendy dances, does not work the same way. Because of the way the algorithm is set up, the app does not promote your content based on popular ones. Adding #fyp to your video’s description does not guarantee millions of views. Your video will get its chance regardless of the tags you use.

Tip: Use popular tags on Instagram, but don’t bother with them on TikTok. Instead, post consistently. For more personalized social media advice, request a Social Media Audit!

The post The Power of Hashtags appeared first on iSocialPR.

Social Media Strategy

This package includes a social media content plan. You will receive a comprehensive plan full of individual posts and ads that will help you reach your goals. The strategy is broken down into simple steps that will make it easier to understand and follow.

Social Media Management

Want to take it a step further? Let us run your social media accounts! If you don’t have the time for it and don’t want to hire another person just to create posts and reply to comments, this is the perfect solution. We can implement the social media strategy and create daily posts tailored to your audience and brand voice. We also take over all client communication, with your help, of course. Finally, we send you a progress report every month to make sure everything is going according to plan.

Social Media Advertisement

The best way to reach your target audience is through targeted ads on Instagram and Facebook. We can create an elegant social media ad campaign that will allow you to reach your perfect client. It’s easy!

Find out more about our three stages of content marketing here. If you’re not ready to commit to a whole new social media marketing strategy just yet, no worries. Check out our official website and learn more about our services. Reach out to us via email to learn more about what we can do for your brand.

And when you’re ready, we can get started with your half-day strategy session for all three services. Yes, you heard us right, all three! So, book your strategy session today at iSocial VR.

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Instagram continues to add features for its users, making it hard to keep up. Here are some features you can master and use to draw attention to your profile and engage with your followers.

Reels

Reels are Instagram’s version of TikToks. Most Reels you see are recycled TikToks and very few actually originated on Instagram. The reason many users choose to stay on Instagram instead of migrating to TikTok is habit. You can use it to your advantage and speak to your audience through these short videos.

Reels follow the structure of TikTok, meaning they rely on trends. Spend some time every day browsing through Reels to figure out what’s trending this week and what trends you can hop on. The purpose of Reels is to attract attention with fun, 15-second videos rather than share important information. Have fun with it!

Boomerangs

While Reels are a relatively new invention, boomerangs gained popularity a few years ago. This feature allows you to create short video loops. Years later, boomerangs are not only meant for jumping videos or clinking glasses with your friends. You can use these short captivating videos to showcase your products and/or services.

If you want to take it a step further, you can download the Boomerang from Instagram app and create professional boomerangs. This format is especially appealing to millennials. You will rarely see boomerangs as actual posts; they work better with Stories!

Going live

In the age of instant gratification, people want everything now. It all started with Instagram posts. You can make a video and post it immediately, though most people take some time to edit and come up with a witty caption. Stories managed to get closer to real time videos, though they only show a short fragment of your day. With the opportunity to go live on Instagram, you can finally interact with your followers in real time.

Going live can be challenging, as it requires a constant stream of entertainment for a certain amount of time. You have to be quick on your feet and be able to react to comments in seconds. We recommend you to go live when you have a specific topic in mind. You can also use this feature for direct interaction with your followers, like a Q&A session. Be sure to never start your live unprepared!

IGTV

What is IGTV and how is it different from Reels and Stories? There is a clear distinction between Reels and IGTV. Reels focus on shorter videos that are made for entertainment purposes. IGTV, on the other hand, favors longer videos. If you’re going to use Reels to attract your viewers’ attention, you can then use IGTV to talk about your product and offer value to the viewers.

Since IGTV provides a longer viewing experience, it makes sense to invest a bit more into the video and create a high-quality product. You have to catch the attention of the viewer and keep it throughout the whole video, so make sure it’s worth it!

Highlights

We all know Stories; they are little pictures and videos you post that can only be viewed for 24 hours after posting. Sometimes throwing these pieces of multimedia away after a day is a real shame. That’s why Instagram created Highlights! You can add any story you’ve ever posted to Highlights and keep it there forever (or until you feel like deleting it from your Highlights).

Your Highlights will be visible in a line above your posts. You can create different Highlights based on themes, events, dates, or any other criteria. Add as many as 100 photos or videos to one Highlight. Use Highlights for Stories that deserve to be viewed again and again. For instance, you can create a Highlight for an event that you organized or a new product that you’ve been advertising. Make a separate Highlight for all the customer reviews you’ve reposted.

To make your Highlight reel look more organized, choose a cover image for each Highlight. You can do that by selecting the Highlight, clicking on the three dots in the bottom right corner, and selecting Edit Highlight. If you click on Edit Cover, you can choose an image from the Highlight to be on the cover, or go to your phone’s gallery and choose an image from there. If you want to take it a step further and stay consistent with your brand, keep all the Highlight covers in the same design and/or color scheme.

Have you been getting full use out of these Instagram features? If not, you are missing out! Your audience would love to be entertained and simple pictures are not cutting it anymore. Have a look at our services and contact us today if you would like to add these elements to your toolbox!

The post Instagram and Its Many Tricks and Gadgets appeared first on iSocialPR.

Social Media is Time Consuming 

If you are not a natural social media marketer, someone who is instinctively able to create the kind of aesthetically appealing content that breaks through the noise of the internet and garners appreciation, then you will have to employ someone to manage your social media pages for you and generate content that is likely to be successful. 

Rule Changes Are Out of Your Control 

Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram often change their rules and update their algorithms in ways that can unexpectedly undermine even the most well-planned social media advertising campaign. People have had their Facebook ad accounts shut down by the platform, often without an explanation for how their account may have violated Facebook’s terms and conditions. Imagine that you’ve invested a ton of money in a new Facebook ad campaign, and in boosting your Facebook page, only to have your account taken away from you for a couple of weeks while you struggle to get it back. Eventually, Facebook finds that it was wrongfully suspended, and they return it to you. But in the time you didn’t have access to your account, you could have lost a big slice of profit in sales as well as seeing your ad campaign completely derailed! 

The Solution is Hybrid Marketing 

By using other forms of marketing, such as email newsletters, Google Ads, and interviews with newspapers, blogs, and podcasts, you can make sure that your business is visible all over the internet, rather than just on social media. You can still suffer damage if something goes wrong with one of your social media accounts, but it will be less severe if other avenues of marketing can pick up the slack until you get the social media side of your business sorted out. 

So, why should you diversify your marketing strategy? Because it will help you reach a wider range of customers and prevent you from running into problems in the future. You should be working with different mediums in order to expand your reach and content. This will allow your marketing strategy to become better and stronger. 

The post Why You Should Diversify Your Marketing Strategy appeared first on iSocialPR.

Set Your Intentions

What do you want to accomplish in 2021, and what steps do you need to take in the next three months to make your goals a reality? Maybe you want to launch a blog for your business, so you could dedicate these next few months to gathering ideas for posts, making a consistent posting schedule, or talking to professionals about content strategy.

Try choosing a word, such as “inspire”, “courage”, or “balance” to guide your personal or professional decisions these next few months. Whatever your goals may be, try to be as clear, consistent, and concise as possible. Don’t overwhelm yourself with a list of to-do’s before the end of the year. Instead, focus on a handful of goals that are challenging yet doable. 

Take Stock of Your Accomplishments

You have likely already achieved a few goals this year, even if they’ve been small. We tend to underestimate our own achievements and get discouraged by what lies ahead, so make list of a few things you’ve done this year and reflect on how far you’ve come! Has your business reached a wider audience? Have you made a positive change to your diet? Accomplishments can even be as small as finishing a book that’s been on your reading list forever.

While it’s important to look ahead to what we’d like to do, it’s just as crucial to recognize the challenges we’ve conquered so that we can be encouraged to move forward and have a better understanding of what next steps to take. 

Get A Social Media Audit

Getting a social media audit for your business’s page is the perfect way to see what you are doing well and what you could improve in your content marketing. iSocialPR offers audits for Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, and sponsored posts on Facebook and Instagram, providing detailed outlines that give you strategies to increase engagement, followers, and sales. Check out our packages to see which option is best for what you need to accomplish before the end of the year!

Contact us today if you have questions about our services.

The post It’s The Fourth Quarter of 2020! Are You Set For The Win? appeared first on iSocialPR.

be a bit challenging to get the right picture when you are going to post on social media. As a novice, you might be shy about using your phone for social media pictures, but you absolutely can do it successfully without hiring a professional. I was able to take photos with my client, and they came out great! Here are a few tips we learned that can help you take quality pictures with your phone for social media. 

Use Props

Props can be a way for you to make your brand stand out. What does your brand represent?  Find ways to incorporate the colors of your company’s brand or logo into the picture. You might be able to photograph flowers or other peaceful images that have the same colors as the logo, which can appeal to people on social media. Walking through my client’s garden really helped us find flowers and rocks that had beautiful colors, which stood out on social media.

Take advantage of natural lighting

Light can have more of an effect on your photograph than any other element. If you have the chance, it is always easier to take quality pictures using natural sunlight than it is with the flash on your phone. Consider taking the picture by placing your object between yourself and the sun. Or, if you are taking pictures of a building or something in nature, you could take the photograph while the sun shines off of your object, creating a nice reflection. If the sun is bright and it’s difficult to get the right photo, consider finding a shady spot, which will be out of the direct light but still provide enough natural light to create a great photograph.

Use different layouts

You will want all words and motifs to be clearly seen in your photograph. If the photos come out blurry, that could look sloppy and negatively affect your brand. Make sure everything is crisp and clear. You want your brand to be seen as professional, so just by making sure your images are crisp, clean, and sharp could go a long way towards making your brand stand out from the crowd.

With all the filters and gadgets available to upgrade photos, there is no reason you cannot take social media pictures from your phone! Start where you are by creating great content with your iPhone! Don’t wait for a professional!

The post Start Where You’re At With Creating Great Content With Your iPhone appeared first on iSocialPR.

Lean In: How To Build Engagement on Social Media

1.  Analytics: Find out what people want and when they want it
2. A/B Testing: Finding the right content to post
3. Fun and Games: Using Contests to Build Engagement
4. Post Consistently: Showing Up is Half The Job
5. Generating Awareness: Building Awareness Online and Offline

Need help? Contact iSocial PR, the best content and digital marketing agency in the Detroit Area.

The post Lean In: How To Build Engagement on Social Media appeared first on iSocialPR.

The post How to be Fun, Sexy and Authentic to Promote Your Business appeared first on iSocialPR.

Has your business grown to the point that you need extra help? Trying to decide whether to hire a freelancer or agency to fulfill your needs? Several businesses are facing a similar dilemma.  Many business owners don’t necessarily understand the difference between a freelancer and agency, but the difference can be crucial. There are three main differences that set agencies apart from freelancers. iSocialPR will help you learn why you should fire your freelancer and hire an agency.

Expect the Unexpected (Consistency)

Hiring an individual does not protect your investment from the unexpected. Many freelancers take on projects with the intention of completing them to your satisfaction. Unfortunately, the unexpected occurs. Sometimes the problems are avoidable, such as taking on too many projects. Sometimes they are unavoidable, such as a death in the family. A freelancer can suddenly become sidetracked, turning your dream into a nightmare. You are left with the hassle of having to figure out where the freelancer left off on the project, and what else needs to be done. Freelancers can also be really distant and busy, lacking the communication and availability agencies provide. This can be avoided by hiring a digital marketing agency. Agencies have different teams that focus on specific accounts. The best part about having teams that is that your investment is protected, if someone is unavailable or sick, there are 4 or 5 other people watching your project to make sure you are satisfied and that your Key Performance Indicators are being met.  Agencies also have account managers that are assigned to your account to answer any questions and to make sure that you are happy.

Strength in Numbers (Creativity)

Freelancers may be seasoned professionals with senior level experience in leading digital strategy for companies, but often that is not the case. While with an agency, teams are composed of multiple members with different talents, capabilities, and years of experience. What makes an agency most attractive over an individual freelancer, is the amount of experience and strength. Our team at iSocialPR is made up of digital marketing rock stars that have a variety experiences and strengths. Some have worked with large brands, while others have the small business touch. Their unique work experiences come together to deliver a creative blend, producing only the best results for our clientele.

You Get What You Pay For (Quality)

Freelancers can render their services for lower prices because they don’t have the overhead and added expenses that an agency does. Cheaper is not necessarily better.  While agencies tend to cost more, the cost is accompanied with quality. A little known secret is that your money will go farther with an agency. Often agencies have relationships with other vendors that will benefit you and get you discounts. Due to the amount that an agency spends in advertising, they have special representatives from companies that they work with to get the best results at the best price, getting more bang for your buck.

Greater consistency, creativity, and quality are the three biggest reasons small business owners should use agencies over freelancers. At the end of the day, it is all up to personal preferences, but agencies prove to be a safer bet. iSocialPR is a digital marketing company that specializes in delivering results to caterers, florists, event venues and event planners. We have an amazing track record of supplying nothing but consistency, creativity, and quality. We would love to add your company to our clientele list.

Work with us.

The post 3 Reasons to Fire Your Freelancer and Hire A Digital Marketing Agency appeared first on iSocialPR.

There are so many different components of running a business that you don’t want to get caught up spending a ton of time on a task that should be fairly simple. Finding stock images is one of those tasks that should only take a couple minutes, but for business owners who want to make their brands stand out from others, it can take up a large amount of time. On websites that offer free stock images, there are a lot of great options for stock images and you don’t’ have to pay for them. While that can be great, it means a lot of people are doing that and there is a limited number of images to choose from. This means multiple businesses are using the same stock images and users might not be able to identify these businesses easily because they use the same photos. That’s why She Bold Stock Photography is a great place to get stock images.

She Bold Stock Photography started as Jasmine Hunt’s Etsy shop in October 2016. As time went on, her stock photo business grew into the amazing business that it is today. With She Bold Stock Photography, members can easily get wonderful stock images without worrying about how many other businesses have used them. Memberships start at $29 a month and She Bold Stock Photography offers a collection of over 3,000 stock images. Becoming a member with She Bold Stock Photography will save you a lot of time and energy and it will make your brand stand out!

Visit SheBoldStock.com for stylish flatlays that will make you stand out.

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