Bad Blood: Great Marketing or Great Flop?

After what seemed like weeks of hype building, teasers, and endless promotions, Taylor Swift's latest music video "Bad Blood" was finally released at the 2015 Billboard Music Awards on Sunday. Hundreds of fans had been eagerly anticipating the video, however, it was met with strongly mixed reactions.

This begs the question: what kind of marketing message did Taylor send? And was it even what she was going for?

No matter your position on the quality of angsty teenager music that Taylor Swift produces, no one can deny that the multi-million dollar singer knows how to leverage her fans. She began tweeting hints about the video days before its release and built anticipation for the video to ensure that she had a large base of people viewing and sharing it seconds after it premiered. And you can bet fans did; the video was propelled to the top of the Billboard Real Time charts and Social 50 overnight.   

Since over 93 percent of marketers are using social media to promote their products this is certainly a great strategy on Swift's part. Add in an all-star lineup of ridiculously famous females from all areas of entertainment, give them bad-ass alter egos, and promote them using powerful movie-poster-like images and Taylor hit marketing gold. Even people that don't traditionally listen to her music were enticed to watch.

Taylor Swift hit the ball out of the park with her marketing strategy for "Bad Blood,"  but that is about as far as it goes. Although, the video had no lack of guns, explosions, and star power that certainly made viewers admire the lethal capabilities of the female characters, none of the awesome power or collaboration was used to fight corrupt government, unfortunate human conditions, or even discrimination by the opposite sex. They were used to fight each other.

Jessica Chou puts it best in her article reviewing the music video when she describes it as, "a montage of hot chicks duking it out against a backdrop of explosions — essentially, a Michael Bay trailer cut with Mean Girls."

It is no secret that the song and video is largely about Taylor's reported falling out with fellow pop superstar Katy Perry. Some reports have even suggested that the entire video was built around the idea that Taylor could round up a network powerful women on her side should she need to defend herself. The video seemed to send the message that she is not a woman in Hollywood to be messed with— she's won this popularity contest.  

Perhaps the most ironic part of the entire video is the fact that Taylor has openly spoken out about the negativity of girl fights on Canadian television show Tout le monde en parle: "One thing I do believe as a feminist is that in order for us to have gender equality we have to stop making it a girl fight, and we have to stop being so interested in seeing girls trying to tear each other down. It has to be more about cheering each other on, as women."

In the case of "Bad Blood" one has to wonder if the message Swift is trying to send is actually the one received by her viewers. If her goal is portray herself as a feminist who rebuffs 'catfighting' in favor of cheering on fellow women, she has most assuredly missed her mark. If her goal is to promote gender equality by refuting ideas of female celebrities as sex symbols, again, she has failed through her choice of scanty leather outfits.    

Although Taylor promoted the video impressively by using nearly every technique in her marketing tool kit, her message is exceptionally murky which ultimately is where her strategy fails. It seems as though the one and only clear message here is: do not get on the bad side of Taylor Swift unless you want to be the focus of one of her passive aggressive songs.

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Original source: Bad Blood: Great Marketing or Great Flop?.
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Facebook Carousel Ads for Mobile: This Week in Social Media

By Cindy King
Published May 16, 2015

Welcome to our weekly edition of what's hot in social media news.

To help you stay up to date with social media, here are some of the news items that caught our attention.

Facebook Carousel Ad Format is Now Available for Mobile: "Given the success of carousel link ads", Facebook is extending the format to mobile app ads as well.

Since being introducing on Facebook,"advertisers have seen carousel link ads drive 30-50% lower cost-per-conversion and 20-30% lower cost-per-click than single-image link ads"

Facebook Introduces Instant Articles: Facebook's Instant Articles is "a fast and interactive experience for reading articles in News Feed."

"Instant Articles load as much as ten times faster than standard mobile web articles, so you get to the stories you want to read instantly."

Facebook Adds Call Now Button to Local Awareness Ads: "By adding a 'Call Now' button, customers can call you right from your ad in the News Feed."

"The Call Now button is available for local awareness ads in Australia, Brazil, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, the U.K. and the U.S."

LinkedIn Begins Announced Changes to Developer Program: LinkedIn is rolling out "some significant changes to [their] Developer Program, with the aim of ensuring the highest quality LinkedIn experience."

Other social media news worth following:

Tumblr Improves Search Feature: Tumblr announces "three massive improvements to the way you search for posts on a blog."

To search a Tumblr blog, users can "click a blog's name or avatar to open it up."

Here's a cool social media tool worth checking out:

Supermetrics Uploader: A tool that imports your advertising cost and ROI data into your Google Analytics reports.

Spotter: An app that brings you essential business news based on your interests.

"Spotter was designed for one-handed use on the busy train. The most important features are within thumbs reach."

How to Target the Fans of Another Facebook Page with a Facebook Ad

2015 Facebook Industry Report: According to Simply Measured's 2015 Facebook Industry Report, overall engagement on video content posted on Facebook went up 8% during Q1 2015 while the number of videos posted by the Interbrand 100 only increased by 2%. The bulk of this engagement came from shares of Facebook videos, which increased by 43% in the first three months of 2015.

How-to Video Searches Increases in 2015: New data released from Google shows that there are more searches for how-to videos on YouTube in 2015 and the amount of how-to content viewed has grown as well. More than 100 million hours of how-to videos have been viewed by North American users since January and searches are up by 70% year-over-year. Google reports that the most popular "how-to" searches include home-improvement, beauty and cooking related videos.

Compliance Analysis of Fortune 100 Social Media Infrastructure: A year-long study from Nextgate's security-as-a-service provider, Proofpoint, reveals that the average Fortune 100 firm has 320 social media accounts and 1,159 employees creating more than 500,000 posts on their behalf. On average, firms suffered from a total of 69 unmoderated compliance incidents on social media. Financial services companies accounted for the largest number of incidents with over 250 per firm. Based on the report, employees were responsible for 12 of the average 69 unmoderated social compliance incidents per firm, while public commenters were responsible for the other 57.

What do you think? Have you tried Facebook Carousel Ads? Please share your comments below.

(function(d, s, id) { var js, fjs = d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0]; if (d.getElementById(id)) return; js = d.createElement(s); js.id = id; js.src = "//connect.facebook.net/en_US/sdk.js#xfbml=1&appId=167506593384213&version=v2.0″; fjs.parentNode.insertBefore(js, fjs);}(document, 'script', 'facebook-jssdk'));About the Author, Cindy King

Cindy King is the director of editorial for Social Media Examiner. She spent 25 years abroad in international business development and then built her own international business from scratch by using social business networking. Other posts by Cindy King »

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Original source: Facebook Carousel Ads for Mobile: This Week in Social Media.
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How to Improve the Visibility of Your LinkedIn Profile

By Lisa Larter
Published May 21, 2015

Do you use LinkedIn to market yourself?

Want to make it easier for people to find you in Internet searches?

With a few tweaks, you can improve the chances of the right people finding your LinkedIn public profile.

In this article you'll discover how to create visibility for your LinkedIn public profile.

Your LinkedIn profile has two components: the profile that LinkedIn users can see, and the public profile anyone can see with a simple Internet search for your area of expertise, even if they're not a LinkedIn user.

Discover how to improve visibility for your LinkedIn profile.

This article shows you the steps to improve your profile's public page, which includes assessing your regular LinkedIn account. The goal of having a stellar public page is to entice people to view your full profile, so both pages need to be in great shape.

Here are some ways you can improve the visibility of your LinkedIn public profile.

First, you want to ensure that people can find your profile when they do a public search.

Locate the Privacy & Settings option on your LinkedIn homepage and click Manage.

To access your public profile settings, click your profile image and select the Privacy & Settings option.

On the next page, click Edit Your Public Profile.

Click Edit Your Public Profile to see what items are displayed on your public profile.

The right side of the page shows a list of items that are displayed on your private profile. You can choose which items to show on your public profile.

You can choose to share only a few sections of your profile with public viewers, or be fully transparent and show all sections. Make sure that you enable the setting that allows anyone to see your public profile.

Select which items you want to appear on your public profile.

If key information isn't showing up on your public profile, such as your publications or awards, go ahead and check those boxes. You want to show public viewers as much as possible to convince them to view your full profile and make a connection.

You may be wondering why you've checked the box to show your entire profile.

Your public profile will never display rich-text media like videos or full-text recommendations. Therefore, your description of your job experience is the most important part of your profile. Make sure that this information is in top-notch shape by using the tips discussed next.

Now, you want to take a look at your public profile, so sign out from LinkedIn. Otherwise, you'll see your full LinkedIn profile and not the public version of it.

Next, type your name into the Google search box. One of the first search results that appears is your LinkedIn profile. Click on your profile.

Do an Internet search to find your LinkedIn public profile.

You'll see the version of your profile that is available for anyone to see.

Assess your LinkedIn public profile to identify areas that you can improve.

When you're viewing this profile, ask yourself these questions:

1. What critical information is missing?

2. What important messages am I not communicating about my work and experience?

3. What do I want people to view on my public profile that isn't there right now?

4. What is shown on my private profile that would be beneficial to show on my public profile?

Write down the answers to these questions so you can make changes when you log into the full profile. By answering these questions, you'll have a small database of words and phrases you can use to improve your profile.

Visit your LinkedIn account and update the content. Make sure that all of your skills are listed, your job descriptions reflect what you're doing and everything is up to date. Spend some time updating all of the content based on your answers to the four questions above.

It's important to optimize your profile for keyword searches so more people can find you.

Search for your keywords with LinkedIn's search feature to create a list of keywords that are relevant to you and your business. For example, you may list the word "sales" as one of your keywords because it's one of your areas of expertise.

Search for your main keywords to see where your profile shows up in search results.

Look at the results to see where you show up and which users are ahead of you. View their profiles and take note of how often they use the keyword and how they've strengthened their profile around that term.

If you visit a user's profile, the keyword you searched is highlighted in yellow throughout his or her page.

Then go into your own profile and add the keywords strategically. You can include keywords in your summary, job descriptions or headings. Keywords help people see your expertise and find you more easily. They also increase your exposure on the platform.

Now that the content of your public profile represents you accurately, it's time to update your URL.

Creating a public profile URL boosts your profile ranking in search engines.

With a custom URL, your profile will rank higher in Google so more people can find it. It's also easy to remember a custom URL so you can hand it out to people.

By taking the steps above, you have a greater chance of people visiting your profile who are looking for your expertise. Your ultimate goal is to make a connection with them on LinkedIn. Make sure that when people click View Full Profile on your public page, they'll be able to see even more high-quality information about you.

What can private viewers see that public viewers can't? This is a chance to differentiate your profile and optimize features that can't be shown in the public profile, like recommendations and rich-text media.

For example, if you regularly post videos on YouTube, share that content with your LinkedIn connections in the Experience section of your profile.

Andy Crestodina enhances his profile by sharing video in his Experience section.

Public viewers can see the number of recommendations you have, but they can't see what's written or who made the recommendations. Ask others to write recommendations for you, and reciprocate by giving recommendations to others.

Recommendations are a great way to stand out from other LinkedIn users.

Recommendations are your social proof for people who have already seen your public profile and are looking for more information about you. It's akin to the testimonial page on your website.

Consider Upgrading Your LinkedIn Account

The goal of improving your public image on LinkedIn is to get high-quality connections. With a premium plan, you gain access to additional features such as seeing people who viewed your profile, requesting and making introductions and mailing other users from within LinkedIn.

Conclusion

By following the tips in this article, your LinkedIn public profile will accurately reflect the best of who you are and what you do, improving your chance that the right connections will come your way.

What do you think? Have you tried any of these tactics to improve your LinkedIn public profile? Have you gained any new connections? Please share your thoughts in the comments below.

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Business Consultant and Social Media Strategist, Lisa Larter of lisalarter.com, works with businesses to maximize their profits using social media, relationship marketing, and dead-simple, eye-opening systems for getting results. Other posts by Lisa Larter »

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Original source: How to Improve the Visibility of Your LinkedIn Profile.
http://www.jretechnology.com

See Ya, Dave: The Internet Says Goodbye to Letterman

It seems that the whole world has been saying a long goodbye to David Letterman, who ends his 33-year run as host of the Late Show tonight. The veritable king of late-night has given us plenty of moments to talk about over the years, from Dave dunking himself in a suit made of Alka-Seltzers, to Drew Barrymore's revealing intervew, to Joaquin Phoenix using the Late Show as an opportunity to try on an interesting new persona. Before viral was viral, the Late Show was creating moments to watch. Over the last few weeks, Dave and Co. have packed the episodes with visits from favorite guests and friends. See below for a few handpicked moments from Dave's long farewell that have gained traction as the show builds up to a close.

Tina Fey's #LastDressEver. Fey isn't comfy in the Spanx she's wearing beneath her fancy dress, and she wants the world to know. Fey's baring it all on the Late Show stage has become one of the most-watched moments of the goodbye series and has even inspired a hashtag – #LastDressEver. Watch Fey's tribute to Dave, and also, as she says, "the last time I'm wearing a fancy dress on a talk show, ever."

Adam Sandler's Goodbye Song. Sandler, known for penning the "The Chanukah Song" for Saturday Night Live, lends his musical gifts for a tearful farewell ode to David Letterman. "He's leaving after thirty years, and he will be missed," he sings. "If gap-toothed men in double-breasted suits are your thing, he's number one on your list."

Norm MacDonald Chokes Up. MacDonald's wry humor can't quite cover up the tears. Hear him retell a joke from the first time he saw Letterman do stand-up (around the 5:50 mark) and offer one of the most heartfelt farewells of all the guests so far.

Tom Hanks Whips Out the Selfie Stick. Lovable Tom Hanks convinces Dave to take a selfie using one of those ubiquitous, newfangled selfie sticks. "You know what, Dave? They sell these all over Florence, which was the birthplace of the Renaissance!"

Bill Murray Pops Out of a Cake. Bill Murray was one of the Late Show's first guests in 1982. And he's always up to something. Now see him give Dave a big, gooey hug after jumping (with some difficulty) out of an enormous cake.

Click here to see other clips from Letterman's long goodbye. And tune in this evening (May 20th, 11:30 EST) for the last episode. And let us know if you have any favorite viral moments from Letterman past.

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Original source: See Ya, Dave: The Internet Says Goodbye to Letterman.
http://www.jretechnology.com

The Content Marketing Challenges Sinking Your Ship

Failure is an option. In content marketing, the fails outnumber the successes 2:1.

I'll assume you want to be on the right side of this ratio. But recent history suggests it's more likely you'll go left and meet the fate of the majority.

There are a number of reasons content marketers fail. If you want to summarize them all in one swoop for the sake of simplicity, it'd go something like this:

Content marketers want shortcuts to success, but there are none.

Content marketing expert John Miller of ScribeWise broke the problem down into six content marketing challenges. I got excited when I read his post about how the majority of content marketers fail because I've offered extensive advice (which I'm going to share again) for addressing each of the problems, which are:

No content marketing planIll-equipped teamLow priorityLack of content ideasSelf-centered contentPoor reach

If you want shortcuts, I don't recommend you spend another second with this article. If you want insights on how to become a successful content marketer for the long haul, read on. I'll be showing you resources that detail the solutions for each problem, so your reading list will be substantial.

Ready? Here are the problems—and the solutions.

In recent years, Content Marketing Institute's studies reveal approximately one-third of marketers have documented a content strategy.

They wing it.

No objectives. No mission statement. No personas. And it follows, they seldom have content mapped to the buyer's journey—or an editorial calendar.

Markers must think, "Who needs a strategy?" The answer is: effective content marketers. I realized marketers feel overwhelmed by the process, so I simplified content marketing planning to its most essential elements.

Here's the article, The Content Marketing Plan that Quadruples Your Leads.

Here's the bulk of the content in a slide deck, which provides you a template.

Here's me presenting this lesson in a webinar.

A party of one can seldom get it done. Achieving success in content marketing takes a strategist, managing editor, writers, and more. As you expand into media beyond written works, you need to hire or contract additional specialists.

The skills that are useful in a traditional marketing department don't always translate perfectly to a content-oriented team.

I don't want to say you need to field a large team or toss in the towel, but you do need to tool your team to align with your needs. You must understand where to begin and a employ a smart approach for onboarding more talent as you scale.

I've written the perfect thing and it was designed to address the needs of companies large or small.

Here's the guide, Tool Your Marketing Team with the Right Talent, published by Demand Media.

Here's advice for hiring freelance writers from a post I wrote for Content Marketing Institute, How to Hire Freelance Writers Who Make Your Content Better.

The best intentioned marketers often say they have people focused on content creation. But client work comes first and pre-empts production.

If content marketing isn't a priority, it simple doesn't get done. It's not good enough to have the planners, people, and processes unless they're focused on setting schedules and abiding by them. Not for a month. Or a quarter. Or a year.

You have to commit to devoting resources to executing content marketing forever more.

Here's an article explaining the chasm between success and failure.

Here's why content marketing isn't for everybody.

And here's Marcus Sheridan, The Sales Lion, explaining how your content needs to come from people inside your company, but outside the marketing department.

I feel this is only a short-term dilemma. You catch on after swimming in the content marketing waters for six to twelve months.

You get a feel for which topics resonate with your customers and create leads. You find sources of inspiration to draw from. You create conversations that inspire new ideas and marketing assets worthy of repurposing.

It's coming out of the gate where you're bound to struggle for subject matter and (with the help of Marcus) I can tell you exactly what to create content about: the questions prospects ask. It's not the least bit complicated.

Read this, the most effective content marketing tip ever. You'll be busy creating content for a good spell.

This problem is older than time. The self-centered marketer failed miserably in advertising dominated era and continues to chase away buyers today with online content.

Smart content strategy is not promotional. Get it? So many nod their heads and say they understand, but prove they do not by publishing the "we, we, we" and "me, me, me" garbage that bombs.

This article uncovers the hard truth, like it or not, The Most Effective Online Marketers Focus on One Thing.

People love blogs. And infographics. And YouTube videos. And so on.

Why don't they love yours? Isn't the key to content marketing creating great content? It's not. It's the table stakes, as they say.

I know you've read the frightening facts about the volume of content available in the information age. We've come a long way from the age of three TV networks. Or a leading source of news.

The "channels" are now as infinite as the creators. The webosphere can now be divided (though sometimes subtlety) between owner, earned and paid media. And your content marketing success will depend on you making strides in all three.

I wrote an eBook on this subject—content distribution—in collaboration with my friends at CoSchedule.

I want you to read "Amplify Content, Turn Up Demand, which you can get here. It's a deep and valuable study on content distribution, if I do say so myself.

Here's me presenting much of the advice in a webinar.

Much of your reach with earned media is dependent on your social media chops, so if you need  help getting started with social media, here's a resource you'll benefit from. It's one of the most well-received pieces I've created, so I hope you'll enjoy it.

Content marketing is challenging. I'm on a mission to help you nail it.

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Original source: The Content Marketing Challenges Sinking Your Ship.
http://www.jretechnology.com

Nostalgia Marketing: What is it?

Lately, I've noticed a marketing trend that isn't necessarily a new phenomena, but seems to be gaining some steam. As a person who was born and grew up in the '90s, I constantly reminisce about the glory days of my youth–when Surge was the greatest soda in the world and Nickelodeon still revolved around slime. Suddenly, I began seeing ads for the return of Surge, which is when I realized I wasn't the only one who yearned for its return to the shelves. What I also realized is that marketers are very aware of consumer nostalgia, and often leverage it to elicit an emotional response from consumers, especially Millennials like me. As Millennials become increasingly important as customers, brands have started to incorporate nostalgia into their campaigns to win them over. Used correctly, nostalgia can be an incredibly powerful marketing tool, but what makes today's nostalgia marketing unique compared to the past?

Millennials now account for 21-25% of consumer discretionary purchases, according to Entrepreneur.com. This percentage will only increase as they get more earning power. From a business perspective, it makes sense that nostalgia is effective at influencing purchase decisions. A study by professor and nostalgia specialist Jannine LaSaleta referenced in the Entrepreneur article found that the feelings of social connectedness that arise from nostalgia make people value money less, which ultimately leads them to spend more freely. As I mentioned above, nostalgia marketing is nothing new, but its current incarnation is unique in a few different ways.

Probably given the sheer size of the Millennial demographic, there is an unmistakable trend among modern marketers to capitalize on customers' nostalgia for the '90s. Yes, doing so allows them to cater to a wider and younger audience, however the most effective forms of nostalgia marketing appeal to multiple generations. For example, a Coca-Cola ad might remind 20-somethings of their youth, but could also remind their parents and even grandparents of when they were young. By targeting Millennials, then, marketers are able to persuade two or more target demographics to buy Coke products.

In the past, marketers had to convey nostalgia to their audience in a broader sense by painting a universal picture of an era. However, today it is possible to bring individual customers back to their memories from earlier years. For example, the band Arcade Fire created a personalized music video that asked viewers to enter the address of their childhood homes. Next, Using Google Maps, the video appeared to be set in their hometown. The result was a genuinely personalized consumer experience instead of generic imagery that attempts to create nostalgia.

Using social media as a thermometer, marketers can easily determine the exact moment when something switches from dated to retro. At the same time, they must be careful because pushing a product that consumers don't want to see can lead to alienation. Fortunately, social media acts as a direct, real-time window into the minds of consumers that can be used to find out which products they're most nostalgic for. If you're interested in incorporating nostalgia into your brand's messaging, the best way is to keep your finger on the pulse and then quickly take advantage of opportunities as they arise. With social media, this has never been easier to accomplish.

Nostalgia offers marketers an opportunity to deeply connect with consumers' emotions to bring out happy memories. If your brand's messaging attempts to bring out happy memories from the past, it can help your audience feel better about the present, the future, and your product. If you can build a connection with your customer that leaves him or her with a positive connection to your brand, they're that much more likely to make a purchase and trust your brand moving forward.

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Original source: Nostalgia Marketing: What is it?.
http://www.jretechnology.com

Hacker-For-Hire Website Owner Unmasked

In November 2014, a hackers-for-hire site called Hacker's List starting offering their services to the public. "Need to break the law, but lack the technology chops to do it yourself?" asked tech writer Lisa Vaas. "Now, as they say, there's an app for that."

The site matches hackers with clients anonymously. Think Task Rabbit for your more unseemly online activities. It's Craigslist for private espionage. As you might imagine, it became very popular very fast. 

Need to find someone? Want to steal an email password or break into a Facebook account? Need someone to hack into your college's website to change a grade. Users on Hacker's List are looking for all these kinds of services.

The owner of the site was also anonymous. Some wondered if the website was a sting operation set up by the authorities. Other wondered if it was joke.

Now, Charles Tendell, who also owns a cybersecurity consulting firm in Denver, has stepped forward as the man behind the screen.

According to the New York Times, Tendell considers himself a "an ethical hacker who helps companies and individuals fight back against the bad guys operating online."

"I never expected it to turn into what it is," Tendell told the New York Times. "I was testing the waters and wanted to see if it works."

The website collects a fee for every completed assignment, but it is unclear if Hacker's List will work as a business. About 4,000 potential jobs have been posted on the site, but only 250 completed, according to Tendell. The New York Times reporter Matthew Goldstein points out that "the propensity is for people to use it as a way to search for hackers willing to break the law as opposed to doing legitimate online investigations and surveillance."

The site has been criticized for condoning illegal activity. Twitter suspended its account, which tweeted out new request for jobs. As well, hackers have tried to take down the website itself.

Erik Solomonson, a blogger who played a role in unmasking Tendell, says that Tendell's claim to be a "white hat hacker" while owning a service that may profit from illegal activity is not appropriate.

Tendell defends Hacker's List. "No one is going to complete an illegal project through my website," he told the New York Times.

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Original source: Hacker-For-Hire Website Owner Unmasked.
http://www.jretechnology.com

8 Experts Share Their Favorite Strategies for Facebook Ads

When 2015 started, there were two predictions swirling around in the social media world: this will be the year of native video and paid social media advertising. As I'm witnessing businesses get a better handle on both, so far I believe those predictions are accurate.

Nevertheless, there's still a major disconnect for many marketers and businesses trying to integrate paid social media advertising into their strategy. The potential is enormous when done right but on the flip side, it's a painfully expensive endeavor when it doesn't go as planned.

I talked with a few respected experts in the field about their favorite strategy for paid social media. Here's what they came up with…

When boosting on Facebook, I choose the post with the best organic reach.  If the Facebook post already has good organic karma, it tends to push the boost pricing down and some of the organic snowball effect remains.

Facebook tends to like these too because they feel less sale-y to the fan and get more interaction as a post vs. an ad. Oftentimes the number reached by the boost is on the high side of the range initially given.

Holly Homer

Founder, Kids Activities Blog

http://kidsactivitiesblog.com/

Boosted posts have gotten a bad rap by some "experts" but I'm crushing it with them as they are simple to run and, if you're a small business, you don't have to pay some "guru" to run the ads for you.

Here's an example of a boosted post I did on one of my local business pages where I rent out inflatables.

I reached nearly double my total page count, got close to 100 likes on the post and gained 13 new page likes for only $20.

I then boosted another post about the same inflatable and spent $40 this time. Here's what happened:

Once again, my reach was huge. I got 27 new page likes and nearly 100 likes on the post itself…but did that result in money? That's why we run ads, right?

The answer is YES!

Within 5 days of running this post — the only one on Facebook that I have even shown anyone this brand new slide — I have 10 reservations of this unit, as seen below:

This equals $3200 in gross revenue off $65 in Facebook ads! If that doesn't excite you then you're brain dead!

BONUS TIP: Wait at least 2 hours before you boost a post as you want it to get the maximum organic exposure first.

SUPER BONUS TIP: Boost posts by targeting an area, don't simply boost to fans and friends of fans.

Scott Ayres

Co-author, Facebook Marketing All-In-One For Dummies

http://FacebookAnswerman.com

Running paid ads on social media is a great way to increase your reach and leverage your content to get seen by your target audience. When running social ads, try split testing or A/B testing. This allows for a much more personalized and targeted ad campaign that will lead to increased clicks, downloads, signups or purchases and will ultimately improve your ROI.

Start by setting up at least two separate campaigns with different headlines. Focus on capturing the attention of your audience by asking a question, stating the benefit of your product and then using action words. Don't forget to keep your headline simple and direct for optimum results.

By simply testing two or more headlines, you will quickly be able to determine which one is resonating with your target market and driving more results. You can also do this with other variables of the ad, such as graphics, ad copy, etc. The key is to change only one thing at a time so that you can determine what combination of variables works best.

Kim Garst

Founder, Boom! Social

http://kimgarst.com/

First, create a laser-focused landing page. When someone hits your ad's landing page, deliver on your ad's promise — nothing else. Don't distract your landing page visitors with unnecessary outbound links or fancy graphics that don't support your ad's messaging. Stay on message and don't waste your visitors' time.

Second, don't overwhelm your visitors with too much information — if you do, they'll bounce. It's better to have a landing page that has a few strong selling points listed that get your visitors interested and/or excited to receive more information from you plus an email capture field for you to collect valuable data. Once you've collected email addresses, start sending emails that share or link to more long-form selling content.

Last, don't waste your time building your ads' landing pages from scratch. There are plenty of landing-page-builder tools out there, like ShortStack, that provide well-designed templates for you to use and are free.

Chelsea Hejny

Head of Advertising @ ShortStack

http://shortstack.com

I used to be very disappointed with the ROI of my Facebook ads. The main reason for that disappointment was that I was only seeing the tip of the iceberg by solely relying on Facebook conversion pixels to measure the number of conversions I was getting from the ads.

What I do now is target a small enough region so I can later measure the evolution of my revenues in that specific region compared to others that I didn't run ads on. I look at the impact on my bottom line and whether or not that impact is attributed directly to the ad.

If I run an ad in a specific region and that region shows an increase in revenue others are not showing, I can precisely measure the ROI of that ad. This includes all the indirect ROI generated by increased brand awareness, word of mouth, etc. This is a much more accurate way to measure the impact of my advertising efforts. For me, the impact has been much bigger and changed the way I measure.

Remember, Facebook conversion pixels only tell you a part of the story.

 Emeric Ernoult

Founder, AgoraPulse

http://agorapulse.com

Facebook is a powerhouse of potential for businesses. The vast data that Facebook has on users allow for incredible targeting. I like to say that you can get in front of ANYONE you want on Facebook with a properly targeted ad. The problem is that most business marketers on Facebook are not using some of the key tools available to do this. I'm not even talking about the need for advanced tools like Power Editor, just simple tools that go far to powerfully target your Facebook ad.

For example, in the Ad Manager, I recommend using the "More Demographics" section in the Ad Manager when working in your ad set. This is a tool with a drop down menu and options like Education, Work, Financial and more. Use it!  This lets you target by job title under "Work" or by those with a Master's degree in the Education section.

By using the "More Demographics" option and drilling down deeper into who you want to reach, you can get in front of the exact audience and wisely use your ad dollars.

Mike Gingerich, Co-founder

TabSite

www.TabSite.com

If you are going to use Facebook ads to sell something, I recommend only directing those ads to your warm market: people who already know, like and trust you. Your ads will convert much better.

With Facebook Custom Audiences, you can target your website visitors, e-mail subscribers and your Facebook fans.

To setup Website Custom Audiences (also known as Website Remarketing), all you need to do is install a bit of code that you get from the Facebook Ads Manager area onto your website.  The audience starts building from there so it's a good idea to install this code well before you need it. For more help with this, check out this guide on how to setup website retargeting in Facebook.

To target your email subscribers, you need to upload your email list into the Facebook custom audiences area via the Ads Manager and then Facebook will match those e-mail addresses to their login addresses. They use a hashing technique that keeps this process secure and anonymous. Go here for a more detailed guide on how that's done.

Facebook ads work really well to grow your audience with leads but selling directly from ads is a little more challenging. Selling to your warm market will help you get better results.

Andrea Vahl

Co-author, Facebook All-In-One For Dummies

http://andreavahl.com

I love running retargeting ads where I retarget visitors to my website.   When you set up retargeting ads in Facebook you need to put a piece of code on your website.  Every time a visitors goes to parts of the website with this code installed the person is tracked.

Facebook records this person on a list and this is called a custom audience.  When your website visitor goes to Facebook, Facebook will look up the custom audience list to see if they are part of this and if they are then it will display your advertisement.

Ian Cleary

Founder, Razor Social

http://razorsocial.com

If you run ads for your business on any social media platform, I want to know which tactics you find most effective. Let me know in the comments and be sure to mention your industry.

View the original article here

Original source: 8 Experts Share Their Favorite Strategies for Facebook Ads.
http://www.jretechnology.com

7 Ways to Create an Effective Facebook Ad Campaign

By Rocco Alberto Baldassarre
Published May 7, 2015

Are you using Facebook ads?

Want tips to step up your game?

Facebook ads can be highly profitable, and there are countless ways to make them more effective.

In this article, you'll find seven ways to create an effective Facebook ad campaign.

Discover seven ways to create effective Facebook ad campaigns.

Use Audience Insights to find new potential customers to target based on characteristics and interests of people who already like your page.

First, click on Audience Insights in the Ad Manager.

Use Audience Insights to target your ads.

In the pop-up window, select People Connected to Your Page.

Next, click on People Connected to Your Page.

You will now see your Audience Insights. Demographics is the default on the horizontal menu.

When you get to Audience Insights, you'll see your demographics.

Scroll down the page until you see a drop-down menu on the bottom left of the page that says People Connected To. Although you are using Audience Insights for your page, you still need to select your page name in that field.

Select your page name under People Connected To.

You will now see a variety of metrics, including age and gender distribution among your current page likes, lifestyle, relationship status, education level and job title.

Use what you know about your audience demographics to create targeted audiences for your Facebook ads.

Based on the insights Facebook provides, put together new target audiences to split test against or add to your current audiences. Use what you know about your audience demographics to create meaningful, directed ads.

The content of the Facebook post should be aligned with the content of the landing page for two reasons.

First, you get a higher Ad Relevance score, and as a result you'll pay less per click. Over the last couple of years, Facebook ads have become more competitive and consequently more expensive, so it makes a lot of sense to do this.

Second, alignment among ads and landing pages increases your conversion rate. Once people click the ad, they expect to get exactly what the post promised. If they do, your website and brand gain credibility, and potential customers are more likely to trust the company as a whole.

Trust is particularly important if you are running Facebook ads to increase sales of a product or service, because customers are more willing to insert their payment information and complete the purchase if the brand looks trustworthy. Plus, a high degree of alignment among the ads and landing pages typically lowers shopping cart drop-off rates and increases conversion rates.

Instead of creating different ads and split testing them, create variations of whichever ad currently performs best, and change one element at a time.

For example, take your best ad, make copies of it and change the headline of each version. You now have multiple ads that are identical except for the headline that you can test.

Take your best Facebook ad and duplicate it except for the headline to see which gets the best response.

After you determine which ad gets the best response, make copies of it and test another element like description or image.

Remember, also test combinations of different split tests. For example, take the winning headline and put it with various descriptions to determine the winning description. Now put the winning description with one of the other tested headlines to see how it does. It might even outperform the winning headline/description combination.

Once you determine your most effective ad, test each element separately to see if that gets an even better response.

Instead of just choosing news feed right-column ads or going for all news feed ads, split test the different ad placements. If you have one campaign with news feed right-column ads, as well as desktop and mobile ads, run a placement report to find out how they perform.

Ideally, you would have three campaigns or ad sets: one for news feed right-column ads, one for news feed desktop ads and one for news feed mobile ads. This allows you to control the budget to a much higher degree than if all ad formats were in one campaign or ad set.

When you set up a like campaign with the Power Editor or in the live Facebook account, you are allowed to exclude audiences such as people who already like your page. Here's how.

Login and click Create Ad in the top right corner. You then see the regular campaign setup. Next, scroll down to Connections. Click Add a Connection Type and choose Facebook Pages. Then select the last option, Exclude People Who Like Your Page.

Go to the Connections section to exclude people who already like your page.

It is a common best practice to exclude people who already like your page, because the whole point of the campaign is to get additional likes, not to get irrelevant impressions by showing your ads to people who already like your page.

If you have installed the conversion pixel, you can exclude people who already converted to prevent irrelevant impressions and clicks.

Go to your campaign settings and edit the Targeting & Placement section.

Edit the Targeting & Placement section to exclude people who already converted from your ads.

A window will pop up to allow you to edit your ad set. Click in the Custom Audiences field.

Click in the Custom Audiences field in the Targeting tab.

Once you click, the word "Include" will appear. Click the arrow next to "Include" to open up the drop-down menu. Select Exclude.

After you click on the drop-down menu, select Exclude.

Facebook will automatically provide audiences to choose from for this field, such as Exclude People Who Like [your page name]. After you select this custom audience to exclude from your targeting, double-check the change in the overview of the settings.

After you exclude a custom audience, double-check your settings.

To save money on bidding, set up ad sets according to geographic target areas. Ideally, each ad set should just target one geographic area because the cost per click can vary greatly.

By separating different geographic targets from the start, you can adjust your bids accordingly. Bid higher where it makes sense and use other geographic areas on a seasonal basis or exclude them entirely.

If you are targeting just one country, keep in mind that ad sets can also target cities or zip codes.

Over to You

There are a variety of ways to optimize your Facebook ads. Experiment with audiences, placement, split testing and more to get better results from your Facebook advertising.

What do you think? What do you do to improve your Facebook ads? Have you tried any of these suggestions? Leave your comments and questions in the box below.

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View the original article here

Original source: 7 Ways to Create an Effective Facebook Ad Campaign.
http://www.jretechnology.com