Influencer Marketing Archives

Content Marketing, Email Marketing, Featured, Influencer Marketing, Social Media

2020 Calendar of Social Media and Tentpole Holidays

Touching on silly social media holidays to major tentpole holidays are easy wins for your digital marketing, social media, email marketing, and more. We have compiled a robust calendar of these events and the dates that they will occur in 2020! Be sure to bookmark this page for reference throughout the year

January 2020

Monthly Observances

National Blood Donor Month
National Thank You Month
National Hobby Month
National Tea Month
Girl Scout Cookie Season Begins

Weekly Observances

January 14-20 – Hunt For Happiness Week
January 15-19 – Sugar Awareness Week
January 22-26 – Clean Out Your Inbox Week
January 22-26 – National School Choice Week
January 28-February 2 – Meat Week

January 1. New Year’s Day #NewYearsDay

January 2. Science Fiction Day #ScienceFictionDay

January 4. National Trivia Day #NationalTriviaDay

January 5. Golden Globe Awards #GoldenGlobes

January 9. Bubble Bath Day #BubbleBathDay

January 14. Clean Off Your Desk Day #CleanOffYourDeskDay

January 15. Hat Day #HatDay

January 16. Get To Know Your Customers Day

January 18. Winnie The Poo Day #WinnieThePooDay

January 20. Cheese Lovers Day #CheeseLoversDay

January 20. Martin Luther King, Jr. Day #MLKDay

January 20. Blue Monday, Jr. Day #BlueMonday

January 23. National Pie Day #PieDay

January 24. National Compliment Day #NationalComplimentDay

January 25. Year Of The Rat #YearOfTheRat

January 28. Data Privacy Day #PrivacyAware

January 31. Backwards Day #BackwardsDay

January 31. Hot Chocolate Day #HotChocolateDay

February 2020

Monthly Observances

Black History Month
American Heart Month
National Heart Month
National Weddings Month
National Cherry Month

Weekly Observances

February 1-7 Eating Disorder Awareness Week
February 6-13 – New York Fashion Week
February 10-16 – Freelance Writers Appreciation Week
February 13-19 – International Flirting Week
February 14-21 – Condom Week
February 14-20 – Random Acts of Kindness Week
February 14-18 – London Fashion Week
February 18-24 – Milan Fashion Week
February 24-March 4 – Paris Fashion Week

February 1. Eat Ice Cream For Breakfast Day #IceCreamForBreakfastDay

February 1. Bubblegum Day #BubblegumDay

February 2. Groundhog Day #GroundhogDay

February 2. Super Bowl LIII #SBLIII

February 4. World Cancer Day #WorldCancerDay

February 5. National Singing Day #SingingDay

February 5. World Nutella Day

February 5. National Weather Persons Day

February 7. Wear Red Day #WearRed

February 6. Chopsticks Day #ChopsticksDay

February 9. Oscars Ceremony

February 9. National Pizza Day #NationalPizzaDay

February 11. Make A Friend Day #MakeAFriendDay

February 14. Valentine’s Day #ValentinesDay

February 17. Random Acts Of Kindness Day #RandomActsOfKindnessDay

February 17. Presidents Day #PresidentsDay

February 18. Drink Wine Day #DrinkWineDay

February 20. Love Your Pet Day #LoveYourPetDay

February 21. Sticky Bun Day #StickyBunDay

February 22. Be Humble Day #BeHumbleDay

February 24. 91st Academy Awards #AcademyAwards

February 26. Pistachio Day #PistachioDay

February 27. No Brainer Day #NoBrainerDay

March 2020

Monthly Observances

Women’s History Month
Nutrition Month
Peanut Month
Music in Our Schools Month
Craft Month
Irish Heritage Month
American Red Cross Month
March for Meals
The Great American Cleanup

Weekly Observances

March 23-28 – National Sleep Awareness Week
March 12-17 – Girl Scout Week
March 12-17 – Campfire Birthday Week
March 26-31 – National Cleaning Week

March 2. Peanut Butter Lovers Day #ILovePeanutButter #PeanutButterLover

March 2. Old Stuff Day #OldStuffDay

March 3. World Wildlife Day #WorldWildlifeDay

March 4. Grammar Day #GrammarDay

March 6. National Employee Appreciation Day #EmployeeAppreciationDay

March 7. National Be Heard Day #NationalBeHeardDay

March 8. International Women’s Day #BeBoldForChange

March 8. Daylight Saving Time begins #DaylightSaving

March 10. Pack Your Lunch Day #PackYourLunchDay

March 12. Girl Scouts Day #GirlScoutsDay

March 14.Popcorn Lover’s Day #PopcornLoversDay

March 15. World Consumer Rights Day #WCRD2020

March 16. Freedom Of Information Day #FreedomOfInformationDay

March 17. St. Patrick’s Day #StPatricksDay

March 18. Awkward Moments Day #NationalAwkwardMomentsDay

March 19. Spring Equinox -First Day of Spring #FirstDayofSpring #SpringEquinox

March 20. Proposal Day #ProposalDay

March 21. World Poetry Day #WorldPoetryDay

March 23. Puppy Day #PuppyDay

March 28. Weed Appreciation Day

March 31. World Back Up Day #WorldBackupDay

April 2020

Monthly Observances

Earth Month
National Volunteer Month
National Autism Awareness Month
Keep America Beautiful Month
National Garden Month
Stress Awareness Month
National Poetry Month

Weekly Observances

April 15-22 – National Volunteer Week
April 16-22- Animal Cruelty/Human Violence Awareness Week
April 23-29 – Administrative Professionals Week
April 22-28 – Every Kid Healthy Week
April 22-28 – National Princess Week

April 1. April Fools Day #AprilFools

April 2. World Autism Awareness Day #WAAD

April 3. National Walking Day #NationalWalkingDay

April 4. Hug a Newsperson Day #HugANewsperson

April 10. National Siblings Day #NationalSiblingsDay

April 11. National Pet Day #NationalPetDay

April 16. National Wear Your Pajamas to Work Day #PJDay

April 18. National High-Five Day #NH5D

April 19. Good Friday #GoodFriday

April 20. National Look-Alike Day #NationalLookAlikeDay

April 21. Easter #HappyEaster

April 22. Earth Day #EarthDay2019

April 24. Denim Day #DenimDay

April 25. World Malaria Day #EndMalariaForGood

April 26. Arbor Day #ArborDay

April 28. Pay It Forward Day #PayItForward

April 29. International Dance Day #InternationalDanceDay

April 30. National Honesty Day #NationalHonestyDay

May 2020

Monthly Observances

ALS Awareness
Asthma Awareness
National Celiac Disease Awareness Month
Clean Air Month
Global Employee Health and Fitness Month
National Barbecue Month
National Bike Month
National Hamburger Month
National Salad Month
National Photograph Month
Gifts from the Garden Month
Lupus Awareness Month
Military Family Appreciation Month

Weekly Observances

Food Allergy Awareness Week (second full week of May)
April 30-May 4 – National Tourism Week
April 30-May 4 – Drinking Water Week
April 30-May 4 – National Pet Week
May 7-11 – Teacher Appreciation Week
May 6- 12 – Nurse’s Week

May 1. May Day #MayDay

May 2. World Password Day #WorldPasswordDay

May 3. Space Day #SpaceDay

May 4. Star Wars Day #StarWarsDay & #Maythe4thBeWithYou

May 5. Cinco de Mayo #CincoDeMayo

May 6. National Nurses Day #NursesDay

May 7. Thank a Teacher Day #ThankATeacher

May 10. Mother’s Day #MothersDay

May 12. National Limerick Day #NationalLimerickDay

May 13. Mother’s Day #MothersDay

May 15. International Day of Families #FamilyDay

May 17.National Bike to Work Day #BTWD

May 21. National Memo Day #NationalMemoDay

May 24. National Scavenger Hunt Day #NationalScavengerHuntDay

May 25. Memorial Day #MemorialDay #MDW

May 28. Hamburger Day #NationalHamburgerDay

May 29. Paperclip Day #PaperclipDay

May 31. World No-Tobacco Day #NoTobacco

June 2020

Monthly Observances

Men’s Health Month
National Safety Month
Acne Awareness Month
LGBTQ Pride Month
National Adopt a Cat Month
Aquarium Month
Candy Month

Weekly Observances

June 4-10 – Pet Appreciation Week
June 12-18 – Men’s Health Week

June 1. National Say Something Nice Day #SaySomethingNice

June 1. International Children’s Day #ChildrensDay

June 2. National Cancer Survivor’s Day #NCSD2019

June 3. Leave The Office Early Day #LeaveTheOfficeEarlyDay

June 5. World Environment Day #WorldEnvironmentDay

June 5. National Donut Day #NationalDonutDay

June 6. Higher Education Day #HigherEducationDay

June 7. National Donut Day #NationalDonutDay

June 8. Best Friends Day #BestFriendsDay

June 14. World Blood Donor Day #GiveBlood

June 16. Father’s Day #FathersDay

June 20. First Day of Summer #SummerSolstice

June 20. World Refugee Day #WithRefugees

June 21. National Selfie Day #NationalSelfieDay

June 21. Father’s Day #FathersDay

June 27. National Sunglasses Day #NationalSunglassesDay

June 30. Social Media Day #SMDay

July 2020

Monthly Observances

Ice Cream Month
National Grilling Month
National Picnic Month
National Independent Retailer Month
National Blueberry Month

Weekly Observances

July 15-21 – Capture the Sunset Week
July 16-22 – Independent Retailers Week

July 1. National Postal Worker Day #NationalPostalWorkerDay

July 2. World UFO Day #WorldUFODay

July 4. Independence Day (United States)

July 7. World Chocolate Day #WorldChocolateDay

July 11. Cheer Up the Lonely Day #CheerUpTheLonelyDay

July 12. Malala Day #MalalaDay

July 15. Give Something Away Day #GiveSomethingAwayDay

July 17. World Emoji Day #WorldEmojiDay

July 18. Nelson Mandela International Day #MandelaDay

July 26. Talk in an Elevator Day #TalkInAnElevatorDay

July 30. International Day of Friendship #DayOfFriendship

August 2020

Monthly Observances

Back to School Month
National Golf Month
National Breastfeeding Month
Family Fun Month
Peach Month

Weekly Observances

August 6-12 – National Farmers’ Market Week
August 13-19 – National Motorcycle Week
August 13-19 – Feeding Pets of the Homeless Week

August 1. Respect for Parents Day #RespectForParentsDay

August 2. National Coloring Book Day #NationalColoringBookDay

August 8. International Cat Day #InternationalCatDay

August 9. National Book Lovers Day #NationalBookLoversDay

August 10. National Lazy Day #LazyDay

August 11. National Sons and Daughters Day #SonsAndDaughtersDay

August 12. International Youth Day #YouthDay

August 13. International Lefthanders Day #LefthandersDay

August 15. National Relaxation Day #NationalRelaxationDay

August 16. National Tell a Joke Day #NationalTellAJokeDay

August 19. World Photo Day #WorldPhotoDay

August 20. National Lemonade Day #NationalLemonadeDay

August 26. National Dog Day #NationalDogDay

August 26. National Women’s Equality Day #WomensEqualityDay

September 2020

Monthly Observances

Wilderness Month
National Preparedness Month
National Food Safety Education Month
Fruit and Veggies—More Matters Month
National Yoga Awareness Month
Whole Grains Month
Hispanic Heritage Month
Little League Month
Better Breakfast Month

Weekly Observances

September 9-15 – National Suicide Prevention Week
September 18-24 – Pollution Prevention Week
September 17-23 – National Indoor Plant Week
September 24-30 – National Dog Week

September 2. Labor Day #LaborDay

September 4. National Wildlife Day #NationalWildlifeDay

September 5. International Day of Charity #CharityDay

September 6. Read a Book Day #ReadABookDay

September 8. International Literacy Day #LiteracyDay

September 11. National Day of Service and Remembrance #911Day

September 12. National Video Games Day #NationalVideoGamesDay

September 13. Stand Up To Cancer Day #KissCancerGoodbye

September 19. Talk Like a Pirate Day #TalkLikeAPirateDay

September 21. International Day of Peace #PeaceDay

September 22. Car-Free Day #CarFreeDay

September 23. First Day of Fall

September 25. National Women’s Health and Fitness Day #FitnessDay

September 26. European Day of Languages #EDL2019

September 27. World Tourism Day #WTD2019

September 28. World Rabies Day #WorldRabiesDay

September 30. International Podcast Day #InternationalPodcastDay

October 2020

Monthly Observances

Breast Cancer Awareness Month
AIDS Awareness Month
Bully Prevention Month
Adopt a Shelter Dog Month
Celiac Disease Awareness Month
Financial Planning Month
National Pizza Month
Allergy Appreciation Month

Weekly Observances

October 1-7 – Great Books Week
October 1-7 – National Work From Home Week
October 15-21 – Mediation Week
October 15-21 – National Business Women’s Week
October 22-28 – National Red Ribbon Week

October 1. World Vegetarian Day #WorldVegetarianDay

October 2. International Day of Nonviolence #InternationalDayOfNonviolence

October 3. National Techies Day #TechiesDay

October 4. World Smile Day #WorldSmileDay

October 5. World Teachers Day #WorldTeachersDay

October 7. World Habitat Day #WorldHabitatDay

October 10. World Mental Health Day #WorldMentalHeathDay

October 11. International Day of the Girl #DayOfTheGirl

October 13. National Train Your Brain Day #TrainYourBrainDay

October 14. National Dessert Day #DessertDay

October 15. Global Handwashing Day #GlobalHandwashingDay

October 16. World Food Day #FoodDay

October 17. International Day for Eradication of Poverty #EndPoverty

October 20. World Statistics Day #StatisticsDay

October 21. Reptile Awareness Day #ReptileAwarenessDay

October 24. United Nations Day #UNDay

October 25. Greasy Foods Day #GreasyFoodsDay

October 30. Checklist Day #ChecklistDay

October 31. Halloween #Halloween

November 2020

Monthly Observances

Movember
National Healthy Skin Month
Gluten-Free Diet Awareness Month
National Adoption Month
National Gratitude Month
Peanut Butter Lovers’ Month
National Diabetes Awareness Month

Weekly Observances

November 13-19 – World Kindness Week
November 13-17 – American Education Week

November 1. World Vegan Day #WorldVeganDay

November 3.National Sandwich Day #NationalSandwichDay

November 4. National Candy Day #NationalCandyDay

November 8. National Cappuccino Day #CappuccinoDay

November 11. Veterans Day #VeteransDay

November 13. World Kindness Day #WKD

November 14. World Diabetes Day #WDD

November 15. America Recycles Day #BeRecycled

November 16. International Day for Tolerance #ToleranceDay

November 17. International Students Day #InternationalStudentsDay

November 19. International Men’s Day #InternationalMensDay

November 20. Universal Children’s Day #UNChildrensDay

November 21. World Hello Day #WorldHelloDay

November 26. National Cake Day #NationalCakeDay

November 28. Thanksgiving Day #Thanksgiving

November 29. Black Friday #BlackFriday

November 30. Computer Security Day #ComputerSecurityDay

December 2020

Monthly Observances

National Human Rights Month
Operation Santa Paws
Bingo Month

Weekly Observances

December 2-10 – Chanukah
December 26-January 1 – Kwanzaa

December 1. World AIDS Day #WAD2019

December 2. Cyber Monday #CyberMonday

December 3. International Day of Persons with Disabilities #IDPWD

December 4. National Cookie Day #NationalCookieDay

December 5. World Soil Day #WorldSoilDay

December 6. Microwave Oven Day #MicrowaveOvenDay

December 8. Pretend to Be a Time Traveler Day #PretendToBeATimeTravelerDay

December 10. Human Rights Day #HumanRightsDay

December 11. International Mountain Day #InternationalMountainDay

December 13. National Salesperson Day #SalespersonDay

December 21. First Day of Winter #WinterSolstice

December 24. Christmas Eve #ChristmasEve

December 25. Christmas Day #ChristmasDay

December 26. Boxing Day #BoxingDay

December 30. No Interruptions Day – Last Work Day of the Year

#NoInterruptionsDay

December 31. New Year’s Eve #NYE

January 31, 2020/0 Comments/by Lyz Zurn

Content Marketing, Influencer Marketing, Social Media, Uncategorized, Work Tips

10 Tools for Social Media Marketing

October 25, 2019/0 Comments/by Alyssa

Content Marketing, Influencer Marketing, Social Media, Uncategorized

How to Get a Month’s Worth of Social Media Content in 3 Days

Do you need to put together a social media calendar for your business and don’t know where to start? Perhaps you’ve tried generating content before or maybe it’s your first time giving it a go. Either way, we have a quick and simple 3 day method to help you get your social media content drafted and scheduled.

Day 1: Map Out Your Content

Content planning may seem overwhelming at first, but it’s easier than you think! Here are a list of questions to help you get started.

What is your desired post frequency? In other words, how often do you post (or would like to post) to your social media accounts? Is it 3x per week? 5x per week? As long as you’re able to post on a consistent basis, you’ll be able to establish social proof and maintain a steady social presence.
What types of content do you need for each social media platform? Generally photos and videos perform great on Instagram and SnapChat. Article links and YouTube videos tend to perform better on Facebook and Twitter. Figuring out which types of content you’ll need for each platform can help you determine the rest of your content criteria necessities for content planning.
What are your content themes for the month? Depending on your business or brand, you’ll want to source a variety of themes such as lifestyle, product, news, UGC (user generated content), social media holidays, etc.

By the end of day 1, you should have a content plan that resembles something like this:

Let’s say we have a post frequency of 3x posts per week, which totals 12 posts per month. Of those 12 hypothetical posts, the types of content we can select per platform could be a mix of 3 articles for Facebook, 1 blog post for Pinterest, 3 photos for Twitter, 2 videos and 3 photos for Instagram. Then you can apply your content themes to each of those types of content. Perhaps you’d like 1 lifestyle photo and 2 product photos for Instagram and so forth. Voilà! Now you have created a theme for each type of post for your content plan!

Day 2: Establish Your Process

Day 2 is all about spending time researching content and finding your groove. Finding quality content that your users will resonate with is the key to a successful social media strategy. A quick brainstorm of websites and social media accounts that you can source content from can go a long way.

In most social media schedulers, there is a section dedicated to sourcing content. In Sprout Social, there is a “Find Content” section where you can sort through suggested content provided by the scheduler. In Buffer, they offer a customizable “Buffer Feed” where you can add your go-to websites to generate a big feed of useable content.

Using your scheduler’s content feature can be a huge time saver, but make sure to add a good ole’ Google Search to your research method! Google News and Trends can help you find topical and recent content to keep your social media accounts fresh and relevant.

The next step of Day 2 will be to establish a research and drafting process that works best for you! Maybe you like to read your content and draft captions right after you read them so you don’t forget. Or maybe you’d like to read your content that you deem worthy and add it to your drafts section to caption it later. Whichever order works best for you, remember to do a combination of the following:

Make a checklist of each post you need from your content plan (how many posts, types, and themes) then check them off once you find them.
When researching content, read the full articles, watch the full videos, and inspect the quality of your photos. This will help you determine if the content aligns with your branding efforts and will allow you to write a wholesome caption.
Upload your content to the drafts section, draft your captions, and add hashtags.

Day 3: Review and Schedule

After doing most of the heavy lifting on the first couple of days, day 3 is all about reviewing and scheduling your content. When scheduling your content to the publisher section of your scheduling platform, make sure to review the following:

Read your captions out loud and make sure that each message is clear, concise, and easy to read.
Look for grammar, spelling, and spacing errors.
Review your content plan and make sure the content reflects the exact type of post and theme you planned for.
Reevaluate your video quality, double check your links, and make sure photos upload correctly. Select an aesthetically pleasing thumbnail cover for your videos.

Lastly, schedule your perfected drafts based on your post frequency from your plan. Now sit back, relax, and let your scheduler handle the rest!

September 30, 2019/0 Comments/by Alyssa

Content Marketing, Influencer Marketing

Macro or Micro? How to Determine the Right Size Influencer for Your Campaign

Using influencers to help share your product and messaging has proven to be a valuable method for marketing! But you may be asking yourself, which influencers should you be using? Let’s start by defining micro and macro influencers.

Micro Influencers

On a very basic level, micro influencers are a social media presence who has 10,000 to 100,000 followers. They are also usually defined as having higher audience engagement rates than macro-influencers.

Because of their smaller following, this means that micro influencers are still able to develop personal relationships with their followers, and their followers are genuinely interested in and trust their content.

Some benefits of collaborating with micro influencers are:

Smaller investment, which makes it accessible to most brands.
Because of the smaller investment, there is a possibility of working with multiple influencers at the same time
Able to generate an increase in sales
Reaching an invested audience

Using these influencers has its drawbacks as well. A lower following means lower visibility and reach compared to macro influencers. Often, these influencers will also have a less curated page, meaning brands may have less control over a micros content (ie: consistency and quality)

Macro Influencers

Macro influencers are generally characterized as having a large number of followers (100,000 or more). Campaigns with macro influencers will very likely involve a significant investment, but this investment will also potentially come with a significant return on investment.

Advantages of working with macro influencers are:

With a wider audience range, you will get more reach for each post
Spend less time micromanaging multiple smaller influencers
A higher level of professionalism

However, using a macro influencer also has its drawbacks. Using a large influencer will come at a higher price. The price ultimately depends on the status of the influencer, but Social Media Today reports it can cost anywhere between US $2,000 to US $50,000. Also, though the reach is high, engagement will very likely be decidedly lower.

Which to Choose?

This will ultimately come down to your goals. If your goal is to provide authenticity to a group of devoted potential customers, or if you’re limited to a modest budget, then micro influencers are the way to go. If it’s a matter of gaining reach, macro influencers are right for you.

August 29, 2019/0 Comments/by Erin Harting

Content Marketing, Influencer Marketing, Social Media

8 Ways to Maximize Instagram Stories

Are you making the most out of your Instagram Stories? Stories have exceeded over 500 million active users and one-third of the most viewed Stories come from businesses. With countless success stories driving boastful results, it’s no wonder why Instagram continually releases impressive new updates on a monthly basis.

Now let’s be real, when you tap that top left camera button and start weighing this Giphy or that Sticker, your “quick” post turns into 5 minutes… 10 minutes, then 25 minutes and so forth. So how do you curate custom food Stories specific to your brand while also trimming down your post flow?

Answer: Know your food brand’s strengths and Stories potential.

Determining which features, approach or capabilities that work best for your brand requires a ton of exploration and time. That’s where we happily step in. ChuckJoe is here to save you the time and research by bringing forth 8 of the best ways to maximize your Stories and the reasons why they’ll make a difference!

#1 GO BEHIND THE SCENES

There are a few places within the app where you can really show off your photos and videos–IGTV, Stories, Live, and Feed. It seems as though Feed has become the place where brands publish their highest quality and polished content. Some profiles follow color patterns, themes, and schedules all while maintaining beautifully constructed professional grids.

However, a perfect-looking profile can only show so much and may lack a personable connection. Stories are the perfect place to let your digital guard down by adding some flavor to your brand’s personality through capturing unscripted moments. Pair the content in your Feed with ‘behind the scenes’ Stories, including daily routines and shareable moments, but be sure to keep it real by being yourself throughout the process. Being personable in your Stories will help you achieve the Branded Content 1,2,3’s: being transparent, relevant and authentic.

#2 SHARE THE INSIDE SCOOP

Tease your audiences with exclusive insights on upcoming announcements, events, time-sensitive promotions, and sneak peeks! This will give your following a feeling of exclusivity and will make them want to check back for more revealing posts.

For example, a restaurant could share the dish of the day, conversations with the chefs while cooking with fresh ingredients or capture the atmosphere on a busy afternoon. On the other hand, D2C brands like Imperfect Produce who manage their business solely online can make the most of their Stories by sharing tips and tricks for cooking, deals on their products, or by giving a glimpse into their company culture.

#3 CONSISTENCY IS KEY

Posting consistently on your Stories will keep your followers interested and engaged with your brand. Consistency is the key to maintaining the followers that you’ve worked so hard to gain and will continuously contribute to your growth potential.

Some of the best scheduling tools such as Later and Sprout Social recommend posting on Stories 1-10 times per day, yet other schedulers suggest 1-3 times per week. So with all of these conflicting suggestions, how do you know what frequency is going to work best for you?

Here’s our two cents: post at a frequency that’s realistic for you and stick to that pace! If you get busy and are unable to post for a week or two, you risk the chance of losing your followers and their business. Posting regularly signals to the Instagram algorithm that you have a quality account which can increase your exposure and brand awareness.

#4 REPOST USER GENERATED CONTENT

Having trouble generating enough creative content for your Stories? We’ve got an easy solution for that. Have your customers do the work for you! Not only will you shine light on your followers, but you’ll also build trust through genuine content.

Adweek reports, 93% of consumers find UGC to be helpful when making a purchase decision. When potential consumers experience ZMOT (Zero Moment of Truth), they browse the Internet and social media to research and find social proof through testimonials before buying products and services.

By creating clever branded hashtags for your business, you’ll be able to create a bank of content from your customers. Ask your followers to tag your profile, use a branded hashtag, and tag your location to be able to find UGC associated with your brand. It’s easy for customers to tune out overly branded content so having authentic and voluntary content can really support your branding and sales efforts.

#5 USE FEATURES FOR BRAND AWARENESS

Instagram Stories offers an arenol of tools to create custom content in a way that can emphasize your brand’s personality. Below are some essential tools and necessities that will boost your brand awareness.

Use a Filter – With over 70 face filters to choose from, have some fun and don’t be afraid to be a little quirky. Use camera modes such as Super Zoom, Rewind and Boomerang to help keep your content fresh and up to speed.
Add a Giphy – Grab your follower’s attention with a GIF or two. Whichever GIFs you choose to use, make sure that they align with your branding’s aesthetic goals.
Play Music with Lyrics – It’s no secret that music can set a mood or tone. Select a song to play over your Stories and keep your followers’ eyes on your post by adding Lyrics too!
Mentions – Tag other accounts when appropriate. This notifies those accounts that you’ve mentioned them allowing them the opportunity to repost to their audiences.
Hashtag – As a general rule of thumb, use a relatable and trending Hashtag to increase your reach (unique accounts that have seen your post) and gain potential followers.
Swipe Up – If you have over 10,000 followers on Instagram, congratulations because it’s a pretty big deal! For those who reach the count, they have the option to directly link a website, online store or blog to their Stories. Leverage the “Swipe Up” feature to drive traffic to your website or make your blogs more easily accessible.
Location – When you can, use the Location Sticker! Posts with locations result in 79% higher engagement than posts without a location. When you tag your location, not only do you put your account on Instagram’s map, but your post will also show up in that location’s Feed. Users who browse locations are likely to stumble across your post giving you the opportunity to capture a new follow, like, or comment.

#6 USE STICKERS FOR ENGAGEMENT

One of the coolest advantages that Stories has to offer is that it allows businesses to interact with their audience in a unique way that traditional businesses have never been able to do before! What’s especially ingenious is having the option to build a new food brand by leaning on business advice from your audience and vice versa!

Poll – Debating on serving Crispy Potato and Cabbage Tacos or a Spicy Baba Ganoush Veggie Burger for your restaurant’s lunch special? You don’t have to wonder anymore, take a Poll and count your votes in real-time.
Questions – Whether you’re thinking about making a business move like discontinuing a flavor or just simply want to see how your audience feels about a topic, post a question. You can also tap a response and share the results for more topical engagement.
Quiz – What’s a safe temperature to cook and serve fish? Teach your audience something new by using the Quiz Sticker. (If you’re curious about the answer, the temperature is between 130–135 degrees).
Chat – Build a community for your brand by starting a conversation. The ‘Join Chat’ sticker allows up to 32 users to come together in a group thread. Bring your selected users together where they can meet, converse and collectively provide feedback on product releases, upcoming events, promotions, and more!

#7 ADVERTISE

According to Instagram, 75% of Instagrammers take action after being inspired by a post, like visiting a website, searching, shopping or telling a friend. If you have the budget, Stories Ads could be an efficient way to increase brand awareness, brand recall, drive purchase lift and sales.

#8 PARTNER UP WITH AN INFLUENCER

Generate some momentum and spice up your Stories with occasional influencers. By collaborating with other people, you can tap into their audiences which can give a surge of exposure to your brand!

Influencers can promote your brand by running exclusive offers with influencer discount codes, hosting contests, giveaways or Stories takeovers. They can also help announce a new product, record an unboxing video, etc. When looking for influencers, try searching for ones in relatable industries like in the food, health, or fitness space. That way you can reach followers most similar to your target audience.

Now that you’re more familiar with ways to maximize your Stories, get out there, start recording, and post with confidence! For Stories that had great results or Stories that you simply just love, use the ‘Highlight’ tool on your profile to showcase and categorize your favorite memories to make them last for more than 24 hours.

Photo Credits:

@imperfectproduce. “Ever wonder what it’s like working at Imperfect?” Instagram Stories. (July 11, 2019). Retrieved from: https://www.instagram.com/imperfectproduce/

@bentgo “No wrong way to eat a lunch” Instagram Stories. (July 23, 2019). Retrieved from: https://www.instagram.com/stories/bentgo/

@eatpastry “Treat Yourself” Instagram Stories. (July 23, 2019). Retrieved from https://www.instagram.com/eatpastry/

Culbertson, Kelsey. (2019, July 11). 8 Tips to Create Share-Worthy Instagram Stories. Retrieved July 11, 2019, from https://www.kimptonhotels.com/blog/8-tips-create-share-worthy-instagram-stories/

July 29, 2019/0 Comments/by Erin Harting

Blog, Influencer Marketing

9 Tips for Running Giveaways with Influencers

Running a product giveaway with a social media Influencer is a simple and very effective way to increase your social followers, email list, website traffic, establish a relationship with your community, and so much more. 10 years ago, Social Media Influencers weren’t even a thing. The word “Influencer” is still flagged as misspelled by spell check. So let’s start with what an Influencer is.

What is an influencer?

According to Influencer Marketing Hub, an Influencer is an individual who has the power to affect decisions of others because of their authority, knowledge, position, or relationship with their audience. They tend to have a following in a particular niche, with whom they actively engage. Basically, they can be a positive voice for your brand, and a link to potential customers.

There are many ways to utilize a relationship with an influencer. These include, but are not limited to:

Social posts
Blog articles
Videos
Product Discounts
Product Giveaways

As the title of this article alludes, we’re here to talk about running giveaways with influencers!

Tip #1: Identify your brands’ goals for a giveaway

Before you do anything at all, decide what is the purpose for wanting to run a giveaway? Are you looking to expand name recognition? Are you wanting to collect new contacts for an email marketing campaign? Are you looking to increase your social following? How will you measure your results to know if it worked or not?

Starting with the end in mind is always a good idea!

Tip #2: Identify what you need from an influencer

This step is to make sure you understand your needs and expectations. Decide what type of service you would like from the influencer. What kind of budget do you have to pay for an influencer? Does their location matter? What type of content do you want? How do you want to use that content (on your social, website, in ads, etc.)?

Tip #3: Decide how to run the giveaway

There are a few ways to go about running your giveaway. Do you want to use a giveaway program, like Gleam or RaffleCopter, where you can collect emails from the entrants and leverage other entry options? Or would you rather this be a strictly social based giveaway, where entrants have to follow, like, comment, and/or share the post to enter to win?

Depending on your goal you should select the type of giveaway that will directly tie back into that objective. Using a giveaway platform also gives you the added benefit of easier reporting and picking winners.

Tip #4: Find the right influencer(s) for your brand

Each influencer has their own style and type of audience. You want to connect with an influencer who would be sure to help you reach your target customers, and who fits the style and voice of your brand. If you are promoting a vegan product, it wouldn’t make much sense to connect with a “meat-loving grill master” influencer. Their audience is not who you’re trying to reach.

Tip #5: Research your influencer

This is a step that is regularly passed over. It’s very easy to see that someone has 65k followers on Instagram, but the real question needs to be how engaged those 65k followers are. Post engagement is a really big deal. They can have all the followers in the world, but if no one likes or comments on their posts, then no one cares about what they’re posting!

Some other questions to ask:

What other brands have they worked with in the past?
Are they regularly posting on their page?
What social platforms are they on? You might want them to post on all platforms.
What past giveaways have they run? If their past giveaways have had good engagement, odds are your giveaway will do well too!

Tip #6: Communicate, communicate, communicate

And when you think you’ve communicated enough – communicate one more time. It all begins with your initial outreach. Your first contact with the influencer should be clear, friendly, and intimate. No need to be overly formal, but be sure to show them that you’ve looked into who they are, and you think they’d be a great match for your company.

Then, once you’ve established a relationship with them, be ABUNDANTLY clear with what you want. Some things you’ll want to establish are:

Which products you would like them to give away
How many posts you would like from them (before or after the giveaway)
The platforms you would like them to use for the giveaway
How to reference your brand
Hashtags and key speaking points to include in the post
How many images they will provide
What will the images include
Product packaging
Preparation of the product
Product in use
The specific entry requirements (US only, or must be 18 to enter, etc.)

Come to an agreement, and set very clear dates for when you need things to be done. Be sure to give yourself a couple days buffer for edits and unexpected issues.

Tip #7: Stay Flexible

As important as it is to know what you want/need from your influencer, it’s equally important to stay flexible. If you’re paying your influencer for their work, then you can be a bit more rigid in what you want and when you want it. However, if you’re partnering with an influencer and trading product or collected emails (non-monetary goods), you may need to relax a little on the specifics. Things may need to change or be moved last minute, and that’s okay – your influencer is going to know what works best for their audience. And that brings us to tip #8…

Tip #8: Trust your influencer

The influencer is going to know their audience better than anyone else. They’ll know what things work and what doesn’t. And remember that their followers are there because they enjoy this specific style. It is usually a good idea to tell them the message you’d like them to get across, but to let them run with it in their own voice.

Tip #9: Evaluate the results of the giveaway.

This step is crucial to your future success. Did the giveaway go well? Did it have the reach and engagement you were hoping for? Would it be worth it to partner with this influencer again? Once you establish what worked and what didn’t, you will able to further the success of future giveaways.

With a little strategic thinking, these giveaways can have a huge impact. The people who follow influencers trust their thoughts and opinions and are very likely to be interested in a product they have endorsed.

So go out there, find yourself a like-minded influencer, and run a giveaway!

June 5, 2018/2 Comments/by Erin Harting