Jan Zimmerman

Article / Updated 07-18-2022

Snapchat allows snappers to use different lenses and filters to add whimsy and personality to snaps. Lenses can illustrate a mood, show holiday spirit, or add life and color to an image. Filters can display causes, show attendance at events, and promote a business. Lenses A lens adds special effects to your face, such as cat ears or a Santa hat. You set the lens in place before taking your selfie snap: In the main Snap screen, just before taking your selfie snap, press the middle of the screen (not the camera button).You’ll see a series of bubbles containing pictures. Each bubble contains a lens. Select the lens you’d like to use. You may have to drag the image around to position the filter to fit a face or head.For example, you might need to raise your eyebrows — or in the case of the vomiting rainbow, open your mouth. Follow instructions and adjust your position as needed. Take your snap and share as you normally would. Filters Unlike lenses, filters are added after you take your snap. For example, you can add the temperature, or a holiday garland to frame your snaps, or use a special geofilter to add your location. Many filters are available for a limited amount of time. If you love a certain filter, make sure to snap a screenshot or save it to your Memories. You might not be able to find it again later! To use a filter, do the following: Make sure location services is enabled on your smartphone.You can’t use filters without it. Take your snap as usual. Swipe right or left to see the different filters. Select the filter you’d like to use. Tap Send To to share as usual. To jazz up your snaps, try using both a lens and a filter. But be careful about over embellishing. You don’t want your snap to look so busy that it loses its essence. Geofilters In the past, people could create on demand geofilters for special events, such as weddings and milestone parties, with the caveat that no business-related logos or branding could be used. However, Snapchat now offers brands the capability to create their own branded on-demand geofilters. Unlike the geofilters used for weddings and parties, businesses must disclose that they are behind the on-demand geofilter they created. The benefit of an on-demand geofilter is that everyone in your community can use them to commemorate an event. For example, if 1,000 people use your geofilter during your event, your branding might be seen by tens of thousands of people, if not more. Geofilters are a form of advertising that will reach Snapchat’s demographic. Businesses must follow Terms of Use when creating geofilters. For example, brands can use logos or other branded content but can't use emails, phone numbers, personal information, or images of people. Also, it should go without saying that brands can’t use illegal drugs or illegal activities in geofilters. Take some time to familiarize yourself with Snapchat's rules regarding on-demand geofilters at its Submissions Guidelines page. To create an on-demand geofilter for your brand, you have to use Snapchat’s website — not the app. You have to pay to create an on-demand geofilter. Filters start at $5 but prices can go much, much higher (think $400+), depending on how much space your geofilter will encompass and how much time you want it to be available. Take these steps to upload an on-demand geofilter: Go to Snapchat’s on-demand link and click Create Now. Log into your Snapchat account. Download a template.Your design team much create the geofilter according to Snapchat’s specifications. Images should be 1080 px by 1920 px and saved as a PNG file. To upload your geofilter to Snapchat, click Choose File. Select the date range in which people can use your on-demand geofilter.For example, if you are marketing for a convention, you want to select dates coinciding with that event. Select the location in which your geofilter will be used. Confirm your geofilter, and select whether it’s for personal or business use. Add payment information. Snapchat will review your on-demand geofilter to ensure that it follows their submission guidelines. You can check on orders at the Snapchat website’s My Orders page. Snapchat will also send you an email confirmation.

Article / Updated 03-15-2022

There are good marketing reasons to have a Facebook profile with the Follow button activated. If you already have lots of Facebook friends who are more like potential customers or clients, and you haven’t taken the time to create a business page (and probably won’t), this approach is for you! Here’s how to turn on the Follow button on your personal profile: Click the down arrow in the upper-right corner of Facebook. A drop-down menu appears. Select Settings. Click Followers on the left sidebar. Select Everybody from the drop-down menu next to the Who Can Follow Me section. Adjust the settings to your liking for Follower Comments and Notifications. Enabling the Follow button is optional. You can enjoy a profile and share with only friends and family; you don’t have to turn on the Follow button. But a profile’s Follow system offers these benefits: After someone follows you, that person sees your Public updates in their News Feed. People may also discover your profile through the People to Follow box on the right side of their News Feed or through their friends’ News Feed stories. Followers can share your Public posts, which broadcasts your post and profile to a larger audience. You can have an unlimited number of followers (no more 5,000-friend limit). You're still able to block potential followers by adjusting your Privacy Settings Block List. You can connect with people on Facebook who prefer subscribing to a business page to liking it. When your Follow button is open, anyone who requests to be your friend automatically becomes a follower unless you block them. You know they’re getting your public updates; you don’t have to friend them unless you want to also get their updates. When you unfriend someone, they remain a follower unless you block them. You can unfollow a friend. You are still friends, but you do not receive their updates in your News Feed. Personal profiles get more exposure in the News Feed due to Facebook’s News Feed algorithm. You have a better chance of being seen if you’re also using your personal profile to post about your business. For more information about the Follow features, see Facebook’s Help section.

Cheat Sheet / Updated 03-26-2021

The number of outlets for social media marketing is staggering. Blogs are just the beginning. Now you can choose from social networks (such as Facebook and Twitter), social bookmarks sites (such as Mix), social pinning sites (such as Pinterest), social curating sites (such as Tumblr), social media sharing sites (such as YouTube), and even social resume sites (such as LinkedIn).

Article / Updated 06-15-2017

Whether you’re marketing B2B (business-to-business) or B2C (business-to-consumer), you can find dozens of industry- or interest-specific social networks. Search online for communities in your industry. As long as the social network is large enough to support your time investment and continues to attract new users, you should enjoy enough of payback to make your effort worthwhile. Vertical industry sites, other than shopping, are particularly appealing for B2B marketers. If you use some adroit maneuvering, you can intersect with the sales cycle, reaching the appropriate decision-maker with the right message. For the retail community, the growth of social shopping sites is a new avenue to reach consumers who want to spend after they see what everyone else is buying. Users flock to these sites for the latest product reviews, real-time deals, and news about the hottest items. Track results so that you can decide which sites work best for you. If a site doesn’t produce leads or sales after a few months, find another. If you want to promote your products or services to more than one online community, customize your profiles and messages accordingly. For instance, a sporting goods store might promote camping gear on a social network for backpackers and running gear on one for joggers. The list of vertical market social networks seems endless and ever changing. This table provides a sample of some of these networks just to give you an idea of the range. This list does not include blogs, bookmarking sites, or news aggregators. Vertical Market Social Networks Website Description ArtSlant Contemporary art network with profiles for artists, art professionals, art organizations, and art lovers DeviantArt Post and share original artwork CarGurus Automobile community with reviews, photos, and opinions Motortopia Community for lovers of cars, motorbikes, planes, and boats Goodreads Book recommendations to share LibraryThing Book recommendations and online catalog Design Float web design-related content sharing, advertising, digital art, and branding Care2 Eco-friendly lifestyle site Make Me Sustainable Environmental community TreeHugger Environmental topics at interactive community CreateSpace Creation, collaboration, and distribution for writers, musicians, and filmmakers Fanpop Network of fan clubs for television, movies, music, and more Flixster Movie lovers community Last.fm Music community Mediabistro Careers and community for media professionals Myspace Social networking site for music entertainment Pandora Music community Spotify Music community PatientsLikeMe Patients, healthcare professionals, and industry organizations making connections Sermo Physician community Lawyrs.net International social networking community for lawyers and law students Care2 Online community for people passionate about making a difference ChangingThePresent Nonprofit giving community Uniteddogs Social networking for dogs and their owners WellPaw Social pet community Curiobot Collection of the most interesting items for sale on the Internet Gilt Flash sales on women’s apparel Polyvore Product mixing and matching from any online store Rue La La Flash sales Stylehive Stylish people connecting ThisNext Product discovery, recommendations, and sharing Wanelo Discover and bookmark products Athlinks Database with all types of sports race results and athlete community BeRecruited Connecting high school athletes and college coaches ResearchGate Social network for scientists to connect and make their work more visible As always, include a link to your primary website and use some of your preferred search terms in your postings and profiles. If these sites have blogs or accept photos, video, or music, you can syndicate that type of content to many sites simultaneously.

Article / Updated 06-15-2017

Mobile analytics is a bit different than web-based analytics. Because almost every social media service has a mobile application, it’s helpful to compare the effectiveness of social media in mobile versus web-based environments. You can most easily compare these platforms by segmenting social visitors. In Google Analytics, follow these steps: Choose Acquisition→ Social→ Network Referrals. Select Source from the Secondary Dimension drop-down list below the line graph. A list appears displaying social source referral URLs that may or may not include an m. to identify it as a mobile address. You might want to set up a separate conversion funnel for social mobile users so you can track mobile results independently. Facebook uses the internal redirects l.facebook.com and lm.facebook.com to distinguish access via http versus https protocol. Subdomain identifier l.facebook corresponds to web-based Facebook access, and lm.facebook corresponds to mobile-based access. Like with all analytics, which elements you decide to measure and compare depend on your goals and objectives. Are you measuring the success of your own mobile site, the use of your social media pages on mobile devices, the number of visitors from social mobile pages to your primary website, or the level of foot traffic to a brick-and-mortar store? Standard site parameters, such as amount of social mobile traffic, click-through rate (CTR), number of impressions, number of page views, visit duration, and number of new versus repeat visitors still apply, of course. Watch for variations between mobile visitors and web visitors to your social media sites on conversion rates, newsletter subscriptions, and brand recall. Naturally, you should watch for metrics specific to mobile use, such as the following: Mobile phone versus tablet. Use by operating system (iOS versus Android, primarily). You can see these details in Google Analytics by choosing Audience →   Mobile →   Devices. (This approach doesn’t necessarily distinguish mobile social networks from other mobile users.) Mobile payment methods, codes, and coupons. Click-throughs from a social mobile site to your regular, tablet, or mobile site. Click-to-call rate versus clicks to your primary, mobile, or tablet-specific site. Behavioral differences between users of your social media pages on the web versus on a mobile platform. Here are some third-party resources for mobile analytics. Mobile Analytics Resources Name What You Can Find Cost Apsalar: Free version, Paid version Mobile app analytics including real-time daily cohorts and user-centric conversion funnels, cross-app analytics, and revenue and engagement data Free for in-app versions; business levels start at $999/month Flurry from Yahoo! Mobile app analytics for usage, category benchmarks, and audience segmentation Free Mixpanel Mobile app analytics Free for small data sets Netbiscuits Mobile analytics Free

Article / Updated 06-15-2017

Periscope is a live streaming app that enables the user to broadcast from anywhere. This can be a good tool to add to your social media marketing arsenal. Like Instagram and Snapchat, Periscope is only available as a mobile app. Thus, you live stream directly from your smartphone. Your customers don’t have to be members of Periscope to watch a live stream, so you can link to your Periscopes from your Twitter and Facebook accounts so anyone can watch. However, live Periscope videos aren’t permanent. After 24 hours, the video expires and is removed from your account. You still have the option to save the video to your mobile device, after which you can upload it to YouTube or another platform for viewing forever. Periscope also offers live viewers the ability to interact with the person doing the livestream. They can comment, ask questions, and share feedback and reactions. Currently, Periscope has more than 100 million active users. Some of the benefits of Periscope follow: Share an event as it happens. You can livestream a keynote address, a musical performance, or the office holiday party. Make sure you have permission, though, because copyright laws are still in effect. Use different methods to take video. Use a drone, a digital camera, or GoPro to livestream video. Take your audience to new heights, and don't rely solely on your smartphone. Draw on the screen. Periscope Sketch enables the user to draw onscreen as the livestream is taking place to better highlight an area or illustrate a point. Sketches are a temporary part of the video, lasting only a few seconds. Save and upload your video to another platform. Although video lasts for only 24 hours on Periscope, you can save the video to upload it to a more permanent platform, such as YouTube. Engage with your customers and community. You can see community reactions as they happen and respond in kind. Enjoy an unlimited video length. Livestream for as little or as long as you like. The only thing that’s stopping you is your smartphone’s battery life. Reach a new demographic on a new platform. Attract new customers from the Periscope community. Intrigued? Here’s how to get started with Periscope: Download the Periscope app from the App or Google Play store. Sign in to Periscope using your Twitter account or phone number. (Optional) Choose up to 14 people to follow. Tap Next. If you don't want to follow anyone at this time, tap Skip. (Optional) Set up notifications. Toggle the buttons to determine which notifications to keep on or turn off. Or tap the Skip button. You’re ready to go live! Take these steps to livestream your first video: Tap the camera icon, at the bottom of your screen. Tap the screen where it says Enable the Camera, Microphone, and Location. You have to do all three to take your first video. Periscope must know your broadcasting location, but that location won't appear on your livestream. Enter a title for your livestream. Select your privacy options, and then tap the check icon. For example, you’ll be asked if you want to tweet your location, set limits for chat, set privacy options for livestreams, and add your location to your stream. You can also choose Leave as Public or tap the drop-down to create a group of followers to show the video to. Tap Go Live. You’re now live! When you swipe right during your broadcast, you can turn your camera angle between front facing and rear facing.

Article / Updated 06-15-2017

LivingSocial and Groupon reach fairly similar US audiences demographically, and both have expanded into the international market. If you plan on using either service for your social media marketing strategy, check out this table for details. Comparing Groupon and Living Social Groupon LivingSocial 74% are female. 66% are female. 61% have a college education; 14% have a graduate degree. 76% have a college degree. 68% are 18 to 34 years old. 77% are between ages 25 and 54. 73% say Groupon is the reason they visited a particular merchant. 87% bought something online in the last six months. 79% of customers have referred someone to the business. 51% are loyal to brands they love. Sources: file:///Users/deborahng/Downloads/LivingSocial_Media_Kit_Online.pdf Digging into Groupon Like Don Vito Corleone in The Godfather, Groupon makes “an offer you can’t refuse” to 133 million daily app users. Groupon is far and away the largest of the group coupon sites, claiming that more than 50 million unique customers purchased at least one Groupon offer in 2016. By comparison, LivingSocial, its closest competitor, claims 14.5 million members worldwide. In addition to its featured deals in seven topical categories, Groupon classifies deals in sections called Goods for products and Getaways for travel. In its “Best of Groupon” section, you’ll find a collection of Kids & Family deals. Groupon also offers an affiliate program and in-house credits for referring deals to friends. After your offer appears, you can promote the deal in your own newsletter, blog, social media outlets, and elsewhere, although you may not have much notice. The share-this-deal functionality encourages people who receive your daily Groupon email, or those who visit your site, to tell their friends about the deal on Facebook, Pinterest, and Twitter, and by email. Groupon contends that its merchants are more than satisfied, with more than 79 percent of merchants saying they had increased brand perception and awareness among consumers. According to Groupon, 84 percent of businesses reported getting new customers and 65 percent claimed customers spent more than the face value of their coupon. Independent studies, which are hard to find, don’t always concur with this rosy assessment. Speak with your accountant about how to handle revenue from Groupon and similar deals. Prepaid income is usually treated as a liability on your balance sheet until you fulfill the obligation or until the time expires to exercise the offer. (Think gift cards.) You may also encounter state-by-state issues regarding sales tax. LivingSocial Although a competitor, LivingSocial is now owned by Groupon. It offers enticing coupon deals, with a focus on local travel and events. Launched in August 2009, LivingSocial says it now reaches more than 14.5 million subscribers around the world. The benefits are the same as with other deal sites: brand awareness, direct appeal to locally targeted markets, word-of-mouth advertising, high visibility to a new customer stream, and easy results tracking. LivingSocial, which has long offered travel deals under LivingSocial Escapes, also has categories for family deals, nationwide deals, at-home deals, online shopping, coupons, and gifts. Like Groupon, LivingSocial is trying to get out of the daily deal grind. Instead of relying on random deals delivered by email, it’s trying to shift to a website and mobile app that allow shoppers to browse for offers from local businesses. LivingSocial integrates with Facebook, Twitter, and email, and has apps for both the iPhone and Android. Like Groupon, it offers an affiliate program and in-house rewards for referrals.

Article / Updated 06-15-2017

You might consider using Instagram stories as part of your social media marketing strategy. Instagram has a stories feature that enables users to share rapid-fire images and video. stories give a place to add a sequence of photos or a video to illustrate a story. In this way, prolific Instagram posters can share a group of photos without hogging their friends’ feeds. Take these steps to use Instagram stories: On your home screen, tap the Your Story button, at the top right below the camera icon. Take a photo by tapping the round button at the bottom, or take a video by holding down the button for up to 10 seconds. (Optional) Enhance your photo or video: Add a sticker: Tap the square button with the smiley face. Add a doodle: Tap the paintbrush. Add text: Tap the Aa button. For more on enhancements, see Instagram’s Help Center. Save the photo, add it to your story, or click the arrow button to share to your story or with specific users. Tap Send, at the bottom of the screen. Instagram and Snapchat stories share many of the same features. For example, video and photos uploaded to Instagram stories are temporary, unlike photos posted to Instagram on your regular feed. You can also see who viewed your Instagram stories. If you’re using Instagram to share stunning one-off images rather than a story, don’t feel you need to use the additional features. Use Instagram in a manner that best suits you and your community.

Article / Updated 06-15-2017

Hashtags help to make a photo searchable and can be a helpful element of your social media marketing strategy. For example, if you post a photo of shoes on Instagram and use the hashtag #shoes, #style, or #fashion (or a combination), that photo will show up in the streams of others who are looking for items by using the same hashtag. When someone clicks the hashtag, public images labeled with that hashtag will appear. Hashtagged content has a limited shelf life, especially content with a popular hashtag. If the topic is trending or popular, your content may be visible at the top of the search for only a few minutes or hours. Play around with both popular and less trendy hashtags to see where you receive the most engagement. Here are some hashtag best practices: Use two or three hashtags at most. Using too many hashtags makes a post too busy. Sure, your post appears on many different searches now, but most people prefer to look at photos with less clutter. Make up your own hashtag. Create a hashtag that suits your brand and share it with your community. Now when they use your product or take part in a related activity, they use your brand’s hashtag, giving you more visibility and prompting others to try the same. Keep an eye out for trending hashtags. Hashtags don’t have to be brand related. Plenty of hashtags relate to holidays, current events, and television shows. Don’t spam a hashtag with irrelevant content, but if you have an image appropriate for trending hashtags, don’t be afraid to use it. Think of popular things people like to do or buy. Some popular hashtags on Instagram are #food, #shoes, and #cats. Familiarize yourself with popular hashtags but keep in mind that content with a popular hashtag won’t stay at the top for long. Take part in hashtag memes. Try having fun with your Instagram account by taking part in a meme. For example, you can use #ThrowbackThursday or #TBT to share photos of your business in its early stages or #outfitoftheday to show what your staff is wearing. Hashtags work best with public accounts. Brands shouldn’t have private accounts because it limits the brand’s audience: Hashtags are seen only by people who have access to the account. If yours is a private account with 50 followers, it has the potential to be seen by only 50 people. If your account is public, your image has the potential to be seen by hundreds, if not thousands. If you want to make your account private so only people you choose to be friends with can see your photos, follow these steps: On your profile screen, select Edit Profile. Click the gear icon at the top right and then select Private Account. Scroll down to the bottom of the page to the area where it says Posts Are Private. Flip the little toggle switch to the right. Keep in mind that with a private account, you have to manually approve any friend request. With a public account, anyone can follow and view your photos. People come to Instagram for the visuals. Although you should give the photo a brief caption or description, you'll lose people if you write an essay.

Article / Updated 06-15-2017

You can see who is viewing your stories. This capability gives you a good indication of how well people are responding to your content, and whether certain types of content receive more views than others. You can also see which time of day gets you the most or least amount of views. Knowing who is viewing your stories (and how many are doing so) helps you create a better content strategy and target your community. Moreover, it enables you to reward the people who view your snaps the most. Take these steps to see who is viewing your stories: Go to your story. Under each image or video under your story, you’ll see an eye icon. Tap the eye icon for a list of everyone who viewed your story. When you share several snaps to your story, you might notice that certain people stop viewing your snaps after a while. Knowing where viewership drops off can help you determine when people get bored or when you're sharing too much. For example, if your story features ten snaps, people don’t have to view them all. Then can swipe away at any time. The beauty of Snapchat is that users don’t have to commit a lot of time for snaps. If your story is too long, people begin swiping away. If you’re planning a call to action, make sure you place it where your viewers are least likely to swipe away.