Read on to find out about:

• Basic strategies on how to write a bio for social media.
• How to write a bio for Instagram.
• Writing a bio for Twitter.
• Creating a bio for Pinterest.
• How to write a bio for Facebook.

How to write a bio for social media: the basics

Your bio is the perfect opportunity to promote your brand and attract new customers and followers. By creating an interesting and inspiring bio for each social media channel, you will be able to connect with your target audience and help your company achieve its goals.

The key elements of a successful bio differ depending on the social platform and the type of business you have. However, there are a couple of basic strategies that you should take into consideration, whatever social channel you are composing your company bio for.

What are you about?

Most bios are limited by word count. And even if they aren’t, no one will stick around to read a waffling bio. So make sure your bio is concise and tells your audience immediately what you are about.

Your business type and the social media channel you are writing for will determine what is included in your bio. But here are some ideas:

• Niche, products or services – Explain what it is you do, what you are offering, or what niche you specialize in, so you can immediately connect with your target audience.
• Qualifications and experience – Recommend yourself to your readers by explaining who you are and why you are an expert in your field.
• Values and beliefs – For some brands, sharing values and beliefs is crucial if you want to engage with your audience and build a relationship.

Your bio will represent your business and should reflect your brand’s tone of voice. However, you will need to adapt your bio to work on the many different social media channels. As you make these adaptations, make sure your tone of voice stays consistent, and your brand’s voice can be heard in each bio. A touch of humor, especially on certain social media channels, can also help your audience relate to your brand.

Add relevant ‘extras’

Successful bios will appeal to different audiences, and make use of the different ‘extra’ engagement features that each social platform promote. These extras include hashtags, emojis, links, and calls-to-action, to name a few, and should only be used in a bio if relevant to the particular social channel you are writing the bio for.

For example, when writing a bio for Instagram, you should include emojis and hashtags. A bio on Twitter may see you using @ and hashtags. And on Facebook, as part of your About summary, you may want to include a map of how to find your business.

By adding ‘extras’ to each bio that relate specifically to each social platform, you will ensure you are catering to the needs of each social channel and audience.

Include important info

Each social media channel will let you provide a plethora of information via your bio. However, you don’t want to overwhelm your social media followers with excess info. Your bio should always be punchy and to the point, quickly enabling users to take in the most important aspects of your bio in just a glance.

Choose the information you display based on social media goals for the business. If your goal is to drive more traffic to your website, display a URL, and a call-to-action encouraging people to click through. However, if your goal is lead generation, display an email address, or link to a landing page.

So now you have a good idea of some general points to bear in mind when you are creating bios for the different social media channels. Let’s next look in depth at the specifics of how to write a bio for each individual social platform.

Instagram

There are a number of elements that you can utilize to ensure your Instagram bio and profile engages with your audience and converts against your goals.

Open your Instagram profile account and select Edit Profile.

Here you will see numerous options for editing your profile. So let’s start by looking at what your Instagram bio should contain.

An Instagram bio should include not just text but also a combination of emojis and hashtags:

• Text – Instagram allows you 150 characters for your bio (which includes emojis and hashtags) So keep sentences short and punchy.
• Emojis – Emojis are an effective way to grab Instagrammers’ attention and make a point. Use them instead of words to save on characters, break up content, and to give your bio a fun, fresh feel.
• Branded hashtag – Using your brand’s hashtag in your bio is a must. A hashtag specific to your brand will enable your followers to share content with you, and create an Insta-community around your business.
• Call-to-action – As part of your bio text you should add a call-to-action. Try and link the call-to-action to one of your current goals. (For example, pushing sales on your eCommerce store, increasing lead generation, or driving traffic to your website).

Instagram profile

There are also a few very important Profile extras that will add value to your Instagram bio:

• Website URL – Separate from your 150 characters, Instagram allows you to display one clickable link at the bottom of your bio. Again, this link should be related to business goals, so depending on what these are you could display a link to your newest blog content, most popular product, or a contact page.
• Name field – Different from your Username, the Name field is 30 characters long and is used in Instagram SEO. Add relevant keywords in the Name field, as well as emojis (which can also be searched for) to help your brand rank well in Instagram searches.
• Profile picture – This should be your company logo or an image that is easily identifiable to your followers. Use this image across social media, on your website, and in marketing campaigns, to consequently help make your brand immediately recognizable.

By converting to Instagram Business, which is a quick and free process, you can also add and display contact information underneath your Instagram bio. This includes an email address, telephone number, or physical address of a store. This is a great way to free up space within your bio and still have clear contact information available to your followers.

As you can see, there are numerous elements to creating a successful Instagram bio. Remember, your Instagram bio isn’t set in stone.  In-line with your business goals and the response of your audience, you can regularly change the URL, call-to-action, and more.

Twitter

The Twitter bio is made up of only 160 characters. So what should you include?

• Keywords – For those trying to build a following, use industry-specific keywords that your audience will be searching for. This will help your Twitter bio appear in search results and your target audience easily find you.
• Use @ – If your brand has multiple Twitter accounts, or sister businesses then link to them within your bio.
• Hashtags – Again help your audience easily find you by using appropriate hashtags relevant to your niche. You can also promote your branded hashtag here to help grow an interactive community.

Make sure your bio isn’t too spammy, consisting of just links and hashtags. A Twitter bio is a quick summary of who you are, what you are offering, and/or what you have achieved. Make it short, snappy, and relevant to your target audience.

Twitter profile

Extra information about your business can be added alongside your bio. On your Twitter profile page, select Edit Profile. Here you should:

• Add your business name and location to help your followers immediately identify you.
• Change your profile photo to your company logo to create a consistent image across your website and social media channels.
• Add your website, or an appropriate URL that you want to drive traffic to.

You can also pin a tweet to the top of your profile page. This helps provide further details about your company and extra attention-grabbing visuals.

Pinterest

To edit your Pinterest profile and bio, select Settings > Profile from the top right-hand corner of the screen.

Let’s take a look at a few aspects to consider when deciding how to write a bio for Pinterest:

• Text – Like Twitter, Pinterest also only provides 160 characters for your bio. So play around with your sentences and get creative, summarizing your business and what it stands for in a quick, brief statement.
• Keywords – Include keywords within your bio that your target audience will be searching for.
• Call-to-action – Many Pinterest bios contain a call-to-action. As mentioned earlier, link your call-to-action to business goals, for example growing your Pinterest following or driving traffic to your website.

When adding keywords and a call-to-action into your Pinterest bio, make sure they don’t affect the readability of your bio. You want your bio to engage with your audience. Therefore, ensure the keywords integrate fluently with the rest of the text.

Pinterest profile

Within the Pinterest profile there are some extra elements that will add value to your bio.

• Business name – Add your business name and your tagline or the industry you specialize in.
• Profile picture – Use your company logo or a recognizable brand image.
• Website link – Under Settings > Claim add your web address to help drive traffic to your site.
• Social media links – Under Settings > Social Networks you can connect your Pinterest account to your Facebook and Google accounts.

By upgrading to Pinterest Business, a free tool, you will be able to view your profile’s analytics. One of these metrics is Clicks, which shares the amount of traffic that your Pinterest profile is driving to your website. Test out different sentence variations and call-to-actions to see what language most appeals to your audience and earns you the most click-throughs.

Facebook

Facebook allows for a much more extensive profile experience, letting you add numerous contact details, information and history about your business, a map of your premises, and much more. However, the actual bio box is constrained to 160 characters.

Open your Facebook business page and from the left-hand side menu select About. Scroll down and under More Info > About you can add your bio. As the About section enables you to add so much extra information about your business, your bio can be as simple as your company tagline. Equally, you can use it to grab your readers attention and explain what your business is about and why your followers need it. The choice of how to write a bio for Facebook is all yours.

Facebook ‘About’ section

The About section contains numerous fields, consequently enabling you to enter a range of information about your business. This includes:

• General – Here you need to add your business name, and your Facebook username. These will both be displayed on the left-hand side of your Facebook page, underneath your profile picture.
• Business info – You can add your website URL, email address, phone number, and links to a number of social media accounts, to enable your followers to easily contact you.
• Find us – Select Edit Page info, and under Location you can add your businesses address and opt to display a map, helping followers to find you.
• Milestones – Select Settings > Milestones to add extra information about important dated events.
• Add a button – Add a button linking to your website, a landing page, shop, or somewhere else.

Don’t feel you need to fill in all the About page fields. Just complete the ones that are relevant to your business and that your audience will find useful.

Final thoughts on how to write a bio

Have you got any top tips on how to write a bio? If so, please share them in the comments below!

The post How to Write a Bio for Business Profiles on Social Media appeared first on Revive Social.

In this article, we will explore top tips for creating successful click to tweet content. We will then discuss a number of ways to add Click-to-Tweet functionality to your website. This will include how to:

Top tips for creating successful click to tweet content

Everyone wants their blog’s content shared on social media. But adding a Click to Tweet quote box or button is often not enough. Here are some top tips for creating successful tweetable content:

One attention grabbing sentence – Click to Tweet content should be just one sentence that will grab people’s attention and make an impact. Twitter recommends that you should keep your message short and to the point, focusing on one specific message rather than multiple ideas.

Make it stand out from the rest of the copy – Clickable content should stand out from the rest of your article. Highlight the text, enclose the sentence in a box, add speech marks, or use any other tactics to ensure it catches the eye.

Summarize key points – Twitter writes that “For businesses, Twitter is the best place to have conversations that support and educate people.” Choose a key point you have made in an article and then sum it up in one clear phrase. This will help emphasize and convey the main idea from the text, and create an interesting statement for your readers to share and discuss.

Share statistics – If you have important stats that will shock your audience or support their point of view, then turn them into clickable content.

Use inspirational quotes – Tweets with quotes are 53% more likely to be retweeted. So share your inspirational or insightful thoughts and opinions in a click to tweet quote.

Useful info – People are more likely to share something they deem useful to their Twitter followers. Announce a new product, discount, trial membership, free eBook, upcoming event, or any other promotion.

Add a call to action – Your content has a 12x higher chance of being tweeted if you ask people to tweet it. Tell your audience what to do by adding the text ‘Click to Tweet’.

So, now we have a good idea how to create tweetable content. Let’s next look at how to add click to tweet functionality to your WordPress website. We will start with how to add tweetable quote boxes your content.

How to add tweetable quote boxes to your content

Better Click to Tweet is one of the best click-to-tweet plugins, and it is completely free. Using a simple shortcode, you can highlight specific sentences, quotes, or chunks of text, so they can quickly and easily be shared on Twitter by your readers. Here’s an example of what you can do with this plugin:

Let’s look at how to set this useful plugin up on your WordPress site.

Install Better Click to Tweet

The first step is to install the Better Click to Tweet plugin on your website. Simply open your WordPress dashboard and select Plugins > Add New.

Type Better Click to Tweet into the search function. Then, when the plugin has been called up, click Install > Activate.

You will now find Better Click to Tweet has been added to your WordPress menu.

Set up Better Click to Tweet

Once the Better Click to Tweet plugin is installed and activated, you will next need to navigate to the plugin’s Instructions and Settings page. To do so, select Better Click to Tweet from your WordPress menu, and then scroll down the page to Settings.

Here, next to Your Twitter Handle, add your Twitter username, minus the @ symbol. You can then choose to Use a Short URL if appropriate for your site. This is a useful option for those using a service like Bit.ly that customizes WordPress short links.

Lastly, here you can also opt to purchase the premium add-on Premium Styles. This extra feature will give you the ability to restyle the tweetable quote boxes without needing to touch a line of code.

Once you have added the necessary information, click Save Changes at the bottom of the page.

Add tweetable quote boxes in the WordPress editor

Tweetable quote boxes can be added to any post or page on your WordPress website. You can do so, either by adding shortcode in the text editor or using the pre-generated shortcode in the Visual Editor.

Select the page or article where you would like to display tweetable content. Then, in the visual editor click into the content area, positioning the cursor where you would like to add the tweetable quote box. Now click on the Better Click to Tweet Shortcode Generator icon.

When the Shortcode Generator appears, add your tweetable sentence to the Tweetable Quote box. As you have already added your Twitter handle on the Settings page, your Twitter username will be present. However, here you can change the username displayed if you wish, or opt to not show it at all. Once finished, select OK.

You will now find your tweetable quote, wrapped up in the pre-generated shortcode, added in the Visual Editor. Preview your content, and if you are happy with your tweetable quote box, select Publish.

If you would rather work in the Text Editor, simply add your tweetable quote in the appropriate place using the code [ bctt tweet=”Your tweetable content.” ]

On the live side of your site, remember to click on the tweetable quote box to check it is working and showing the right information.

As you can see, adding tweetable quote boxes to your WordPress content is quick and easy with the Better Click to Tweet plugin. However, there are other ways to display tweetable content on your site. Let’s next find out how to add tweetable links to your posts and pages.

How to add click to tweet links to your WordPress website

Using click to tweet links on your WordPress website can be an effective way to get content shared. Here’s an example:

“Add tweetable links to your website using ClicktoTweet.” – Click to

Create tweetable links with ClicktoTweet

ClicktoTweet.com is a free and premium web tool that will enable you to generate tweetable links. (You can generate up to five free links per day, for any more you will need to pay).

Sign in with Twitter to get started, then type in the sentence or message you would like your audience to tweet. Don’t forget to add the URL you would like displayed in the tweet and your Twitter username.

Once finished select Generate Basic Link.

Click on this link to check what your tweetable content will look like.

Then copy the tweetable link and return to your WordPress website.

Insert the tweetable link into your content

To insert the tweetable link into your content, in your WordPress dashboard open appropriate page or post. Find or write the tweetable sentence and then help it stand out from the rest of the copy by changing the color or size, making the text bold, and/or adding speech marks. So people know it is tweetable it is a good idea to add the call to action Click to Tweet.

To add the tweetable link highlight the text (this can be the whole sentence or just the Click to Tweet call to action). Then add it as you would with any link by clicking on the Insert/Edit Link icon.

Preview your tweetable quote and check that it works. Then Publish the page.

How to add Click-to-Tweet buttons to your website

Another effective way to add Click-to-Tweet functionality to your website is to use Click-to-Tweet buttons. Here’s an example:

To get started, firstly create the tweetable link using ClicktoTweet as we have previously discussed. Then you will need to create a button. You can do so using the free WordPress plugin Forget About Shortcode Buttons. This is a great plugin that enables you to create and add the actual button into the WordPress Editor (instead of the shortcode, hence the name!)

To use Forget About Shortcode Buttons, first open your WordPress dashboard and install the plugin (in the same way as discussed above for the plugin Better Click to Tweet).

Next, open the page or post where you want to add a click to tweet button. Click into the Editor content area, where you would like the button positioned. Ideally, you will position the button next to or under the tweetable quote or sentence. Then select the Forget About Shortcode Buttons icon from the Editor toolbar.

A pop-up will now appear on your screen where you can edit the button. Here you can add the text and an icon for your button, change the shape, size, and color, and much more.

Importantly, it is in the Button Editor where you can add the URL to your button. Paste the tweetable ClicktoTweet link that you generated earlier into the URL field.

After you have finished customizing your button, click Update. You will now find the button has been added to the content area of your WordPress Editor.

Make sure you Preview the page and click on the button to check it is working. Then, if you are happy with your new Click-to-Tweet button, Publish the page.

Final thoughts on the right click to tweet plugin for your WordPress website

What click to tweet plugin, or other methods, do you plan to use on your WordPress site? Share your thoughts in the comments below!

The post 3 Free Ways to Add Click-to-Tweet Links to Your WordPress Blog for More Shares appeared first on Revive Social.

In this article, we will:

Shopping on Instagram: An introduction

Shopping on Instagram has been around for the last year or so, but only available to select US-based companies. In March, Instagram announced they were launching Shopping on Instagram for eCommerce businesses of all sizes and in numerous countries.

So far Shopping on Instagram is now available in over 45 countries, including the UK, Canada, Australia, France, Germany, Brazil, and many more. This is an extremely exciting development for businesses and brands that promote their products on Instagram.

What is Shopping on Instagram?

Shopping on Instagram is a new feature that will allow you to add shoppable tags to your Instagram posts. (See the example in the image above). When someone views an Instagram post that contains shoppable tags, they will initially see a shopping bag in the corner of the image. Once they hover over the image, shoppable tags will appear, sharing the name and price of a product.

However, there is much more to selling on Instagram than just the shoppable tags. If an Instagrammer likes what they see, they can click on a shoppable tag. They will then be shown extra information about the product as well as a Visit on Website button. If clicked, the button will take users directly to the product’s page or checkout page on the businesses eCommerce website. This enables products to be quickly and easily purchased by Instagrammers.

Why use Shopping on Instagram?

Up until recently, the only organic way to add a link to your Instagram account was via your Instagram bio. And if you wanted to add a link to an eCommerce store directly from a post, then you had to pay to promote the post.

Shopping on Instagram has totally changed this. By allowing eCommerce stores to add links directly from posts to product pages, people can easily find their way from your Instagram posts to your online store. This will help increase traffic, and ultimately improve sales.

Shopping on Instagram will also allow you to display extra information about each tagged product. This extra info will help turn your Instagram account into an immersive visual storefront and encourage people to click through to your eCommerce shop. Therefore, people can easily jump between inspirational images, and actual purchases, creating happy shoppers and even happier sellers.

Does Shopping on Instagram work?

On paper, Shopping on Instagram has massive potential. But how successful has it actually been so far? Let’s take a look at some case studies of businesses that have already been selling on Instagram:

Spearmint Love

Children’s clothing company, Spearmint Love, has seen a 25% increase in traffic from Instagram since implementing the Shopping on Instagram feature. They have also seen an 8% increase in revenue that they attribute to shoppable posts.

Lulus

Lulus, a ladies clothing company, has been using shoppable posts since the testing stages of Shopping on Instagram. Since its launch, Instagram can be directly attributed to over 12,000 orders, and over 100,000 sessions.

Tyme

Hair company Tyme has also been selling on Instagram since shoppable posts launched in the USA last year. Tyme have found that since using the Shopping on Instagram feature, traffic from Instagram has increased by 44%.

As you can see, Shopping on Instagram can have an impressive impact on traffic and sales, making this feature a must for eCommerce stores. So let’s take a look at how to set up Shopping on Instagram and create shoppable posts:

How to set up Shopping on Instagram

There are a couple of stages to setting up Shopping on Instagram. However, once you have been approved to use this feature, the creation of shoppable posts is very easy.

Importantly, to be eligible to use the Shopping on Instagram feature, you will need to first create a Facebook business page. For more information on how to do this, check out our article How to Create a Facebook Business Page.

Once your Facebook business page has been created, you will then need to connect this page to your Instagram account. During this process, your Instagram account will be converted into a business account, which is necessary to access the Shopping on Instagram feature. Let’s find out how to do this…

Upgrade to Instagram Business

There are a number of ways to upgrade your Instagram account to Business and connect it to your Facebook page. For this article, we will look at how to do so via Facebook.

To get started, log into your Facebook account and open your Facebook business page. Select Settings > Instagram. Then click Log In, to connect to Instagram and sync the two accounts.

You will now need to follow the instructions, adding contact info, to finish the process and upgrade your Instagram account to Business.

Create a Facebook catalog

Next, you will need to create a catalog of your products on Facebook. Any products that you wish to promote on Instagram with shoppable tags will need to be added to the catalog. There are a number of ways to create a catalog with Facebook, including using Facebook Business Manager and Facebook Catalog Manager. However, for this post, we will look at how to create a catalog via your Facebook business page.

To create a Facebook catalog, make sure you are using the Facebook Shop template on your Facebook business page. To check or change your page template, open your Facebook page and select Settings > Edit Page. Under Templates, click Edit to browse templates and find the Shopping option.

Back on your Facebook page, select Shop from the drop-down menu on the left-hand side of the page. Then click on Add Product. You can now add the first product to your Facebook catalog.

Upload images, add a product name and price and write a description. This is the information that will be displayed on Instagram when viewers click on the shoppable tags to learn more about a product. Therefore, take your time writing a good description, and use images that showcase the product at its best.

Once you have finished, select Save and then repeat the process until you have added all of your products to your Facebook page. You will now need to wait for Facebook to authorize your account for Shopping on Instagram, which can take up to a couple of days.

Creating shoppable posts

Once you have been approved for Shopping on Instagram, you can start creating shoppable posts. To do so, open your Instagram app and select Get Started > Business Settings > Shopping. You will now need to select the Facebook catalog you have created and then click Done.

To add shoppable tags to a post, either create a new post or select an existing one. Then simply click on the image where you would like to add a tag, and enter the name of the product until it appears in the search box, just as you would tag a person into a post.

Once you have finished tagging, select Done. Then Preview the post, and if you are happy with it, click Share.

Top tips for successfully selling on Instagram

As you can see, once you have set up your Facebook catalog, creating shoppable posts is relatively straightforward.

Here are some of the top tips to help ensure your shoppable posts are successful:

• Try using shoppable tags on both single image and carousel posts to ensure a varied Instagram content strategy.
• Make the most of the Shopping on Instagram feature by tagging up to five products per post and up to 20 in carousel posts.
• Shoppable tags can be drag and dropped around an image to ensure they don’t block too much of the photo and that the post still looks visually appealing.
• Check that each tag displayed on an image touches the right product so viewers can easily see which product each tag refers to.
• Once you have added shoppable tags and published the post, click through to check that the URL for each product takes Instagrammers to the correct page on your eCommerce store.

After you have launched shoppable posts it is also important to track their performance. Instagram Insights allows you to track the engagement and click through data of shoppable posts, and there are also a variety of Instagram analytics tools available. This will enable you to monitor how successful your posts are at driving traffic to your site, as well as help you to understand which posts your audience best respond too. You can then use this data to help you inform your future Instagram strategy for shoppable posts.

Final thoughts on selling on Instagram

Any questions about selling on Instagram with shoppable posts? Feel free to ask in the comments below!

The post Selling on Instagram: How to Create Shoppable Posts on Instagram appeared first on Revive Social.

Instagram ad success stories

Over 500 million people worldwide are accessing their Instagram accounts daily. This makes Instagram a key platform to advertise on. But don’t take our word for it. Here are just a few of the recent Instagram ad success stories:

• Maybelline – Using Instagram ads, Maybelline reached over two million people during a four-month campaign, which had a 86% lower cost per reach compared to TV ads.
• Gymshark – UK company Gymshark ran a two-week campaign that reached 16.4 million people. During this campaign, 40% of their total online purchases came from Instagram.
• Tiket.com – This travel company used Instagram Stories to reach over 26 million, and drive over 239,000 app installs.
• Samsung – Tech giant Samsung used Instagram ads to create awareness of the new Samsung Galaxy A 2017. The results showed 22.8 million people were reached through this campaign, with a 7-point lift in brand preference.

Evidently, Instagram ads can prove very successful. So let’s look now at how to advertise on Instagram, and create ads that can make an impact:

Getting started with Instagram ads

To advertise on Instagram, you will need to turn your Instagram profile into an Instagram business account. You will also need to connect that account to your Facebook business page. There are two main ways to do this:

1. Convert an Instagram profile into a business account using the Instagram app

• Log into Instagram on a mobile device.
• Click on the Settings icon and then select Switch to Business Profile from the drop-down options.

• You will now be asked to connect your Instagram account with your Facebook page.

• Provide a contact email, phone number or address, enabling your followers to contact you directly.

Once you have completed the process, your Instagram account will have been automatically transferred to a business account. Your contact information will be displayed on your profile page, and you will have the option of promoting posts, creating ads, and viewing follower insights.

2. Convert your Instagram profile into a business account via your Facebook page:

• Log into Facebook and open your Facebook page.
• Select Settings from the top right corner.
• Then click on Instagram from the menu on the left-hand side of the page.

• Select Log In to connect your Instagram profile to your facebook page.

• As before, you will be asked to provide contact information, which will be displayed on your Instagram profile.
• Your Instagram account will now be upgraded to business and connected with Facebook.

Apart from being able to create and run Instagram ads, other benefits of having a business Instagram account include a range of business features and Instagram Insights. Next, we will consider how to use the Facebook Ads Manager to advertise on Instagram.

Facebook Ads Manager

Instagram adverts can be created in the Facebook Ads Manager, or on the Instagram app (covered later on in this article). Facebook Ads Manager is a powerful tool and enables you to create Instagram ads from scratch in the same way as you would create Facebook ads. It also provides many more customization and design options than the Instagram app and is an all-around more thorough tool.

To open the Facebook Ads Manager, log into Facebook, and select Create Ads from the drop-down menu.

Once the Ads Manager has opened, select Create New Campaign. You can then choose to either create your ad via Guided Creation or Quick Creation. In this article, we will discuss the Guided Creation route, which is best for those who are new to Facebook and Instagram ad creation.

Let’s take a look at the Guided Creation process.

1. Choose an objective

The first step in creating an Instagram ad in Facebook Ad Manager is to choose an objective. Objectives are grouped into three categories:

• Awareness – These are objectives that generate interest in your business, product, app, or service. Objectives include Brand Awareness and Reach.
• Consideration – Get people thinking about your business, and make potential customers more aware of what you offer. Objectives include Website Clicks and Video Views.
• Conversion – Encourage people who have shown an interest in your business to visit your shop, make a purchase, or install an app. Objectives include Website Conversions and Mobile App Installs.

The objective you select will depend on what you want your ads to achieve. Therefore, think carefully about your ad aims, and then choose the objective that will help you achieve these results. For this article, I have chosen the objective Brand Awareness.

2. Set up an ad account

After choosing an objective, the next step is to set up an ad account. This is a quick and easy process where you will need to select the correct country, currency and time zone for your account.

3. Select your audience

Selecting the right audience for your Instagram ads is an important step in the ad creation process. Facebook provides numerous targeting options. Consequently, you can engineer your ads to be shown to a defined target audience – those who are most likely to convert against your ad goals. So, let’s take a look at the targeting options:

• Custom Audiences – Create a specific audience to display your ads too, based on email addresses or phone numbers of customers or collected leads.
• Locations – Target people based on their location, from whole countries to local towns.
• Demographics – Select your audience based on age, gender or language.
• Detailed Targeting – Sort your audience based on demographics, behaviors, and interests. This will help you reach new individuals who already have an interest in your niche. You can also exclude groups of people based on the same criteria, ensuring you aren’t wasting money by displaying ads to people who aren’t your target audience.
• Connections – You can select to reach people who have a connection to a Facebook page, app, or event. Remarking in this way will help you reach your key audience and keep your brand at the forefront of their mind.

Once you are happy with your targeting settings, click Save Audience.

4. Customize ad placement

Ad Placement provides two options – Automatic Placements and Edit Placements. Although automatic placements are recommended, if you only want to display your ads on Instagram, you will need to select Edit Placements.

Now, scroll down and under Platforms, deselect Facebook, Audience Network, and Messenger. Here you can also decide whether you want your ads shown in Instagram Stories or just in Instagram News Feeds.

5. Determine your budget and schedule

Under Budget and Schedule, you can select a Daily or Lifetime budget. This allows you to choose how much you would like to pay per day, or over the lifetime of your ad campaign.

You can also select a start and end date for your campaign (recommended) or just run it continuously.

6. Create your ad

It is now time to create your ad. First of all, choose to Create a New Ad, or use an Existing Ad. (For this article, we have selected to create a new ad). You will then need to complete the Ad Identity, where you need to choose the appropriate Facebook page and Instagram account. (If you are yet to connect your Instagram account to your Facebook page you can also do it here).

Next, you will need to select the Format of your ad. Let’s take a look at the choices…

• Single Image Ad – Make an impact with one clear, eye-catching photo.
• Single Video Ad – Grab viewers attention with an immersive video. Videos can be up to 60 seconds long in a landscape or square format.
• Carousel Ad – Display two or more scrollable images or videos in your ad, giving your campaign an extra layer of depth.
• Slideshow Ad – Create a looping video with up to 10 images to help your ad stand out from the crowd.

Choose the format that will best represent your advert goals, and appeal to your target audience. It is also important to note that different ad formats support different call-to-action buttons. (A call-to-action button can be added to your Instagram ad and is discussed next).

7. Customize your ad

After you have selected the appropriate ad format (for this article I have chosen Single Image) you will need to further customize your ad. You can do this in a variety of ways.

(Depending on which ad objective and format you select, the customization options displayed may slightly differ).

• Upload an Image – Select an image from your Facebook or Instagram accounts, upload an image, or choose from the stock images provided.
• Write the Text – Think carefully about the message you would like displayed on your ad. Make sure it represents your brand and supports the objective of the ad.
• Add a Website URL – Add your website’s URL, or a link to the web page you would like viewers to visit.
• Select a Call-to-Action – Choose the appropriate call-to-action that best supports your ad goals.

You can preview your ad as you make the customizations on the right side of the screen under Ad Preview. Here you can also select whether you want your ad displayed in Instagram Feeds or Instagram Stories.

Once you are happy with your ad, select Review to check your campaign settings. Then, when you are ready, click Confirm to run your ad.

How to advertise on Instagram using the Instagram app

Another way to advertise on Instagram is to use the Instagram app. This app provides an easier, however a less advanced, way to set up and run Instagram ads. Through the Instagram app, you have the option of promoting an existing post, but you cannot create new ads. Let’s find out how to do this:

• Sign into the Instagram app and select the post you would like to promote.
• Click on Promote, found below the post’s image.
• Customize the settings for your promoted post – these include Audience, Budget, and Duration.
• Once you have completed the ad details, click Promote.

Your ad will start running after it has been reviewed and then approved. Keep in mind that although his process generally takes about 60 minutes, it can take longer.

Monitor your ad’s performance

Tracking the performance of your Instagram ad is a crucial task. Monitoring ad analytics will tell you if your ad is achieving its goals, and therefore, whether you are receiving a return on investment (ROI).

If you created your ad in Facebook Ads Manager, shortly after your ads begin running performance metrics will be available within the Manager. Here you will be able to view metrics at campaign, ad set, and ad level, which will help you to understand how all aspects of your ad are performing.

For promoted posts, metrics can be viewed through the Instagram app. Simply open the app and then select View Insights. Here you can track results like reach, impressions, and conversions, as well as viewing how much of your budget has been spent.

Final thoughts on how to advertise on Instagram

Have you got any questions on how to advertise on Instagram? If so, please ask away in the comments below!

The post How to Advertise on Instagram: A Step-by-Step Guide appeared first on Revive Social.

Points we will cover include:

• What is Facebook Live? (And why you should use it)
• The importance of rehearsing your live video content
• Tips on promoting your broadcast
• How to customize your live video settings
• How to go live on Facebook
• Best practises during a broadcast
• What to do after a broadcast
• Other Facebook Live tips

So get ready to find out how to go live on Facebook!

Going live on #Facebook: A beginner's guide

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What is Facebook Live? (And why should you use it?)

Facebook has recently stated that ‘live video on average gets six times as many interactions as regular video’. And with the Facebook algorithm now ‘prioritizing posts that spark conversations and meaningful interactions’, live video has become an important medium. But what exactly is Facebook Live?

Facebook Live allows you to broadcast live videos on your Facebook page. Live is available to all Facebook profiles and pages, on iOS, Android, or via the Facebook Creator app. Live recordings can last up to 4 hours and will appear in news feeds and on the broadcaster’s profile or page. Once finished, videos will display on the page or profile of the broadcaster until they choose to remove it.

Here are some examples of types of Facebook Live broadcasts:

• Cover hot topics and comment on breaking news
• Tell your story
• Answer questions
• Share a performance or experience
• Teach a lesson
• Show a ‘Behind the Scenes’ situation

Used correctly, Facebook Live provides a powerful way to connect with your followers, grow your audience, and promote your business. Live video lets you share your thoughts and feelings with your audience, and build relationships with your viewers through real-time moments.

So now you know WHY you should be using Facebook Live. Let’s next look at some top tips on HOW to go live on Facebook:

Rehearse your content

If you are new to Facebook Live, then before going live you will need to first rehearse. Talking on live video doesn’t come easily to many, but the more you practice the easier it will get.

Here are some points to consider when rehearsing:

• What type of broadcast it will be – Look at the previous list; will your live video be a lesson, a question and answer session, a discussion on recent news in your niche, or something else?
• Write notes and practice using them – To keep your broadcast flowing and to stop you getting tongue-tied, create notes that you can follow if you need to.
• Practice live without an audience – Facebook allows you to select an audience of Only Me, so you can record yourself live and then watch it back to help critique your performance. (We will show how to choose this preference further on in the article).
• Remember, it is called Facebook Live for a reason – No one is expecting a perfectly presented video, and in fact, the more natural the performance the more your audience will respond to you.

Once you are confident with your rehearsed live video, then you are ready to promote your broadcast.

Promote your broadcast

It is important to tell your fans, ahead of time, when you will be broadcasting. This helps build anticipation and gives people time to make sure they are free and available to watch during the scheduled period.

Facebook has found that one day’s notice is the ideal time frame to give people notice of your upcoming broadcast. Let’s take a look at a few promotion ideas…

• Post status updates telling people when you will be live, and what you will be talking about.
• Change your Facebook cover photo to display an image promoting your broadcast, with text overlay declaring the time and subject of your live broadcast.
• Promote your live video session on other social media channels, on your WordPress website, and via your email list.

Make sure you take the time to effectively promote your broadcast. The more you get the message out there, the higher the number of viewers you will receive.

Customize your live broadcast settings

Before you are ready to broadcast, you will need to customize your live video’s settings. To do this, you will need to select Live Video from the top of your Facebook news feed.

Facebook will then ask you to authorize its use of your computer’s camera and microphone.

Your camera will now be turned on, and the settings for your broadcast will be displayed. Let’s have a look at what you need to customize…

• Choose where to post your live broadcast – Here you can choose whether to share your broadcast on your timeline, in a group, in an event, or on a page you manage.
• Write a description for your broadcast – A catchy description will grab people’s attention, help them to understand what your broadcast is about, and compel them to watch you.
• Select who should see the broadcast – Pick your audience, with choices ranging from Public, to Friends, Specific Friends, and Only Me. (The last option is perfect for those wanting to practice live video without an audience).
• Title – Give your broadcast a title that reflects the topic you will discuss.
• Tags – If you are broadcasting on a page you can add tags to help make the video more discoverable.

Under Settings, you can also change the camera and microphone you are using, as well as select the option of going live with a video game, or sharing your screen with another presenter (discussed further on in this article).

Let’s now figure out how to go live on Facebook:

How to go live on Facebook

Once you have completed the live broadcast settings, you are ready to go live. To do so, simply select the Go Live button at the bottom of the settings tab.

Always make sure you have a strong internet connection before going live so the quality of the broadcast isn’t compromised. Wifi works best, but 4G is also a good option. If your internet signal isn’t strong enough you will find the Go Live button is grayed out.

After clicking the Go Live button, you will receive a countdown from 3 to 1. A red Live button will then be displayed in the top left-hand corner of the screen, telling you that you are live.

Best practice during a broadcast

During the live broadcast, there are some very easy actionable strategies you can use to ensure you connect with your audience and boost engagement rates. Let’s take a look…

• Once you have gone live, wait a couple of minutes or so before you start your chat. This will give your audience time to find you.
• Say Hi to commenters by name, and thank them for commenting.
• Try and answer questions as you go, or run a specific question and answer session at the end where you can encourage people to ask any questions that they may have.
• Ask people to like your video if they are enjoying the broadcast.
• Encourage people to click on the Follow button, so they can get notifications when you next go live.
• Use a closing line like ‘thanks for watching’ or ‘see you next time’. This will help bring the broadcast to a natural end and avoid an abrupt finish.

Facebook recommends that live videos last a minimum of 10 minutes. However, you actually can broadcast for up to 4 hours, so run the video for as long as is appropriate for the subject.

After a broadcast

To finish a broadcast, simply select the End Live Video button. Facebook will now ask you whether you would like to Save or Delete your video. Unless deleted, your video will appear on your timeline, page, or group.

Once published, you can click on your video’s Settings icon, found at the top right of the video post, to find some further configuration options. Here you can…

• • Pin the video to the top of the page – Make it easy for your followers who missed your live broadcast to find and watch the video.
  • Edit the post – Change the description or title, upload a custom image to use for the video’s thumbnail image, post the video to another page, and much more.
  • Schedule an expiry date / Hide from timeline / Delete from page – Take control of how long your content is displayed for, ensuring your audience views interesting and varied content when they scroll down your page.

If you didn’t answer questions during the live broadcast, you may also want to go back through and reply to the comments. This personal touch will go a long way to building relationships with your viewers and help create loyal followers.

Other Facebook Live tips

There are many other live strategies and tools available that we haven’t got time to discuss in this article. However, here are a few that definitely deserve a mention:

• Run a live video for a select audience – As discussed earlier, in the live video Settings you can choose the audience you broadcast to. One of these options is to post in a Facebook group. This can be extremely useful to share news or messages with your group members and help build an interactive community.
• Share screens – Also in the Settings options, you can select to share a screen with another presenter. As you start to broadcast more regularly, having guests present with you can be an effective way of adding an extra dimension to your videos, turning them into discussions or interviews.
• Live Gaming – You can go live with your gameplay on Facebook live, enabling your followers to watch as you play. To do so, in the Settings, tag the game you want to play.
• Live 360 – Facebook has recently introduced Live 360 video. This immersive video experience will help you share your reality with your audience. To utilize this feature you will need a 360 camera.

Final thoughts on how to go live on Facebook

For more business tips on how to go live on Facebook, check out this article 5 Ways to Use Facebook Live for Business.

Do you have any tips for our readers on how to go live on Facebook? Please share your thoughts in the comments below!

The post How to Go Live on Facebook and Boost Community Engagement – A Beginner’s Guide appeared first on Revive Social.

In this article we discuss:

• How to create a Facebook business page
• Top tips for producing content to post on your page
• How to grow your Facebook following
• The importance of tracking your metrics using Facebook Insights

How to create a Facebook business page

To create a Facebook business page, navigate to https://www.facebook.com/pages/creation. Then select Business or Brand.

Next, give your new page a name, choose a category for your page, and add an address.

Now upload a profile picture and a cover photo. Depending on your business, your profile picture may be an image of you if you are the face of your brand, or it can be your company logo.

Facebook now suggests a number of tips to help you optimize your page. Let’s take a look at some of the most important…

• Add a Short Description – Help visitors to your page immediately see what you are about with short description of your business. These couple of sentences also appear in search results when people search for your business.

• Create a Username for Your Business Page – By creating a username, your page will be given its own custom URL (eg www.facebook.com/jonesblogs), helping people to quickly find your page.

• Add Your Website Address – Drive traffic to your website by displaying your website address in a prominent position on your page.

• Add a Button – Facebook lets you display a call-to-action button near the top of your business page. You can choose the action that you would like your audience to make on your page. The options vary from driving traffic to your site, phoning your shop, or downloading your app. This button is then visible in search results relating to your page.

After completing the above tasks, you will have a basic Facebook page that is ready to go. Next, you need to start considering what content you are going to post.

Content for your Facebook business page

In January, Facebook announced a change to the Facebook algorithm, with a new emphasis on friends and family. Whilst this is great for all individuals using Facebook, it isn’t so good for brands. As there is limited space on news feeds, Facebook has said they will ‘show more posts from friends and family… and less public content, including posts from publishers or businesses’.

This doesn’t mean that your Facebook page posts will never reach your followers. Just that it may be harder to achieve. The advice Facebook has given is that they will ‘prioritize posts that spark conversations and meaningful interactions between people’.

Therefore, the new emphasis for all businesses and brands on Facebook should be quality content over quantity. Producing relevant content that will engage your audience and create those interactions that the Facebook algorithm is looking for is a must. Let’s look at how to do this:

Use video

There has been an explosion in video over the last few years across all social media platforms, and Facebook is no exception. If you want to connect with your audience and get your followers commenting and sharing your content, then using video is key.

However, to keep your content fresh, you should consider using a variety of video formats. Let’s take a look at a few options…

• Facebook Live – Talk to your audience through live video, answer questions as they are asked, and enable followers to build that much needed personal relationship with your brand.
• Facebook 360 – Share immersive stories, places and experiences through captivating 360-degree videos.
• Live 360 – Let your audience feel like they are right there, living moments and experiences with you through 360-degree live videos.
• GIFs – Have fun with your audience and boost engagement by sharing GIFs on your Facebook page.
• Looping Videos – If your video is under 30 seconds long, Facebook will make it automatically loop continuously. This is a great way to grab users’ attention and drive home the point you are making in the video.

By posting content via a number of different video formats you can help ensure your content stays interesting but still achieves those ‘meaningful social interactions’ that the Facebook algorithm is said to favor.

Don’t use engagement bait

Engagement bait is an easy way to encourage your audience to comment and share your content. However, Facebook has now stated that it is clamping down on this behavior. And you could even find your Facebook page penalised for posting this type of content. So what is engagement bait?

Examples of engagement bait are posts that ask people to…

• ‘LIKE this if you have that Friday feeling’.
• ‘SHARE this post to win a free holiday’.
• ‘COMMENT ‘yes’ if you love dogs’.

In the past this type of content has been a great way to boost engagement and reach a wider audience. But Facebook pages that continue down this line will now see a ‘significant drop in reach’ for these posts. Therefore, creating authentic content that focuses on relevant and meaningful stories is the way forward for businesses and brands on Facebook.

Grow your Facebook page following

For those wanting to create a Facebook business page that is truly successful (who doesn’t?!) then you need to concentrate on growing your following. Let’s take a look at how to do that…

Turn on Facebook Messenger

Facebook Messenger is integrated with your Facebook page, and with more than one billion people using this service every month, it is an important tool. By turning on Facebook Messenger, your audience can easily connect with you on a one-to-one.

Through Messenger, people can ask questions, give feedback and discuss any issues relevant to your business or service. This will help you develop personal relationships with your audience, and produce loyal followers.

Cross promote your Facebook Page on other social media channels

It is important to cross promote your Facebook page on other social media channels. By making it easy for those that engage with your business on different social platforms to find you, your Facebook following will quickly increase. Here are a couple of top tips on cross promotion…

• YouTube – On your YouTube channel you can add a link to your Facebook page, which will be overlayed on your YouTube channel art (the featured image). You can also add calls-to-action in your channel’s description, and on video descriptions. So make sure you take advantage of this and ask your viewers to follow you on Facebook.
• Instagram – The only place you can add a link on Instagram is in your Instagram bio. If you are having a big push to try and grow your Facebook following, change the Instagram bio link to your Facebook page URL, and add a call-to-action promoting your page.
• Twitter – Tweet out about your Facebook page, share the link, and make it quick and easy for people on Twitter to find you on Facebook.

Remember that cross promotion does not mean cross-posting. Make sure the content you use on each of your social media channels is unique and relevant to that specific channel and audience.

Use a conversion tool on your WordPress website

Getting your website visitors to follow you on Facebook will help you to keep in contact with your target audience once they have left your site. Using a conversion popup on your WordPress website is an effective way to achieve this goal.

Sumo is an impressive lead generation tool that will enable you to add a Facebook follow popup to your WordPress website. Simply sign up with Sumo and install their plugin. You can then use the Sumo List Builder to select from a number of attractive popups, customize the design and message, and choose when and where the popup will be displayed.

Again, by making it easy for your website visitors to find your Facebook page, you will increase the number of follows you receive, quickly growing your Facebook audience.

Monitor what is happening on your page through Facebook Insights

It is not enough to just create a Facebook business page and keep adding content. You need to know what content is resonating with your audience, who your audience is, and what actions are being taken on your page. By being well informed about how your audience is engaging with your business on Facebook, you can create a content strategy to further grow your Facebook followers and increase interaction on your page.

Facebook Insights will enable you to understand your Facebook metrics and make informed decisions about the content you post on your business page. Here are some of the key areas Facebook Insights reports on…

• Reach – See how many people saw your posts, as well as liked, shared and commented on them.
• Page Views – Find out how many people are viewing your page and what sections they are engaging with.
• Posts – View a breakdown of how each of your posts are performing over time.
• Actions on Page – Discover what actions people are taking on your page. This includes whether they are visiting your website and if they are clicking on the call-to-action button.
• People – Learn about your audience with information on their age, gender and location. You can also see when people are viewing your page and how they are finding it.

As you can see, Facebook Insights contains some extremely useful data. To access this information simply click on Insights, found at the top of your Facebook page.

Final Thoughts on How to Create a Facebook Business Page

For more tips on how to create a Facebook business page check out our article 6 Facebook Business Page Tips You Don’t Want to Miss Out On.

The post How to Create a Facebook Business Page that Encourages Engagement appeared first on Revive Social.

In this article, we discuss how to promote an eCommerce store on Instagram. We cover how to:

Create an Instagram business account

Creating an Instagram business account for your eCommerce store gives you access to advanced Instagram features. There are currently over 25+ million business accounts, with 200+ million Instagrammers visiting at least one business profile daily.

Here’s what you can do with an Instagram business account:

• Display your contact info – add email, phone number, location and opening times (if applicable) to your Instagram bio so your audience can quickly get in contact with you.
• Easily share posts from Instagram to Facebook.
• View analytic insights on how your posts and ads are performing, learn who your audience is, and find out how they are interacting and behaving on your Instagram profile.

An Instagram business account will give you more control over your Instagram profile, and help you better connect and engage with your audience. Upgrading to ‘business’ is a must if you are serious about promoting your eCommerce store on Instagram.

Add a call-to-action and URL in your Instagram bio

An Instagram bio should promote your brand and encourage your audience to visit your shop, a specific product page, or landing page. It is here you should display a compelling call-to-action, telling your audience what to do and where to go.

There is only one place where you can share your eCommerce store’s URL on Instagram, and that is in your bio. Write an effective call-to-action that is linked to driving people to the URL on display. And use emojis to help highlight your URL and make it stand out from the rest of the text.

Here you can see the UK brand’ Marks and Spencers’ displaying their call-to-action ‘SHOP NOW’ in capitals, with a finger emoji pointing to their URL, that will take users straight to their online shop:

Ensure your content gets noticed

Your Instagram content must stand out and engage with your target audience. Display beautiful, colorful, and inspirational photos of your products. Telling a story through your images can be a great way to help your audience connect with your brand and products. And make sure your content isn’t too promotional. A combination of images with your products in the background as well as displaying them center stage will help will prevent your channel becoming too salesy.

Here is a post from Puma, with their products subtly displayed, not as the main focus of the image…

Every image you create should be consistent and identifiable as your brand. Consider using the same filters and effects on each photo, so your visuals are always recognizable to your audience. Using an app like PicLab to display a watermark on your images is also worth considering. By adding a creative text overlay sharing your store name or domain name, you will help remind Instagrammers how to find your store, and increase site traffic.

For more info on how to create a successful Instagram content strategy, check out our article How to craft an Effective Instagram Marketing Strategy.

Use Instagram Live

Instagram Live is an extremely effective way of connecting with potential customers on Instagram and promoting your products. This tool will enable you to share a live video with your audience, allowing them to see and hear in detail about the product/s you are selling.

Often customers hold back from making a purchase if the images or information provided about a product are lacking. Instagram Live gives you the perfect opportunity to discuss every aspect of your product. Try and display a product from every angle, as well as showing it in use.

Instagram Live also has a comments section at the bottom of the screen. This enables you to converse with your potential customers and answer questions in your live recording as they arise. Therefore, using Instagram Live is not only a great way to promote an eCommerce store on Instagram, it also helps to build a community around your brand.

Take advantage of Instagram ads

Another option for those wanting to promote an eCommerce store on Instagram is to use Instagram ads. This feature helps improve the chances of your Instagram content being seen by the right audience, increasing conversion rates for your online shop.

eCommerce footwear company Fizzy Gobblet, ran an ad campaign on Instagram and saw impressive results. Targetting ads at old and new potential customers, in just over a month Fizzy Gobblet saw a 40% increase in website traffic and a 50% increase in sales.

There are a number of important aspects to consider when creating an Instagram ad for eCommerce stores. Let’s take a look…

Choosing a goal

When creating an ad campaign you should be clear on what you want your ads to achieve. Possible goals for your ads could be:

• Brand awareness – reach new potential customers, or people that have already shown an interest in your brand, or made a purchase from your eCommerce store.
• Increase Instagram followers – a large Instagram following gives you a platform and audience to whom you can showcase your products.
• Conversion – increase product sales by sending users to your online shop.

All of the above are appropriate goals for an eCommerce store. So the objectives you choose should represent the aims for your individual brand.

Select an ad type

There are four different Instagram ad types to pick from.

• Photo ads – use a creative canvas to showcase one or more products from your eCommerce store.
• Video ads – create inspirational videos up to 60 seconds long to grab the attention of your audience.
• Carousel ads – display a product from different angles or a number of products form the same range in a carousel form.
• Stories ads – ads on Instagram Stories can compliment your Instagram feed and appeal to the 300 million who are using Stories daily.

For those new to Instagram ads, it may be worth trialing each ad type to see what works best for your products and audience.

When creating the content for your Instagram ads, you should bear in mind the points made earlier (under Ensure Your Content Gets Noticed). Keep ad content relevant to your brand whilst ensuring it stands out from the crowd and inspires your audience.

Target the right audience

Instagram provides a variety of targeting options for your ads that will enable you to connect with the right audience. Targeting options include:

• Location – Show ads to people living in a specific country, region, or city.
• Interests – Narrow your audience based on their interests, such as the apps they use and the accounts they follow.
• Demographics – Reach people based on age, gender and language.
• Behaviors – Display ads to people based on activities they do on and off Instagram and Facebook.

These options are extremely useful. For example, if you are a US based company selling sports clothes, you can target people who live in the US, who have an interest in sports, and who already follow other sports apparel brands.

There are also two other types of audience that you can create that are worth noting…

Custom Audiences – Create a Custom Audience based on data you have collected, such as email addresses. By showing ads to a Custom Audience, that is made up of people who have already expressed an interest in your brand or products, your ads are more likely to convert against their goals.

Lookalike Audiences – Lookalike Audiences are created based on your pre-existing customers. Instagram will find people who have similar backgrounds and interests as your target audience and display ads to them. This will help you to target a new audience that has been picked especially to help increase your ad conversions.

Instagram provides analytics on your ads so you can see how they are performing, how your audiences are interacting with them, and if they are achieving their goals. (Analytics is covered in more detail further on in the article).

Offer discounts and coupons

Driving traffic from Instagram to your eCommerce store can be difficult. So offering a discount, coupon, or free shipping for your online shop can be a good way to entice your followers to your website.

Try displaying coupons as images, or add a discount code as text overlay on particular photos. This could be the incentive your Instagram followers need to visit your site and make a purchase.

Track your analytics

If you want to successfully promote an eCommerce store on Instagram then you need to know what is working and what isn’t. Instagram Insights (available with a business account) enables you to dissect your Instagram performance and help you understand how your audience is interacting with your content.

So what can Instagram Insights tell you? Here are just a few of the of the reports you can access…

• Posts – Find out which posts perform well, and how many likes, comments and saves they receive.
• Audience – Learn who your audience are with information about their age, gender, and location.
• Actions – View how many profile visits, follows, and website clicks you receive.
• Discovery – Understand post Reach (the number of unique accounts that saw your posts) and Impressions (the number of times a post was viewed).

Final thoughts on how to promote an eCommerce store on Instagram

Have you got any advice on how to promote an eCommerce store on Instagram? If so, please share in the comments below…

The post How to Promote an eCommerce Store on Instagram and Boost Sales appeared first on Revive Social.

Keep reading to learn how to:

Ready to promote your videos and get subscribers on YouTube? Let’s go!

What you should already be doing

There are a number of important strategies that will help you get subscribers for YouTube that you should already be doing. Here are a few of the most basic yet often most overlooked:

Pick a niche

300 hours of videos are uploaded to YouTube every minute. So, to try and stand out from the crowd, you will need to pick a video niche to specialize in. Depending on your reason for posting on YouTube, your niche will either be driven by your brand, website, or just your own personal interests. Once chosen, you can then begin targeting your videos at the audience of that specific niche.

Create interesting content

If your content isn’t up to scratch then viewers won’t follow your YouTube channel. It’s as simple as that. However, authentic videos that people relate to will be shared and recommended. Therefore, before your record a video, always take time to consider the subject, content, and delivery. Some popular video types include:

• How-to videos
• Vlogs
• Comedy/sketches
• Educational videos
• Product reviews

But don’t assume that you know which videos will resonate most with your audience. Research what’s already resonating with them using a tool like TubeBuddy. Plan your video topics based on their suggested keywords or videos that are already successful in your niche.

When you create your videos, get to the point immediately. Whether you’re sharing practical advice or an emotion-inducing story, do it in the shortest amount of time possible. But don’t skimp out either – your videos should still be more useful or entertaining than your competitors’. The most successful YouTubers script part or all of every video to ensure this level of quality.

Use high-quality video equipment

It is crucial that your videos are high quality. If the sound is too low, or the picture is too dark, then viewers won’t bother to watch your videos and you won’t get subscribers for YouTube. Invest in a good video camera, a microphone, and if necessary some extra lighting equipment.

Edit your videos

Taking the time to edit your video can make all the difference between a successful video and one that is barely watched. Using advanced editing software will make a big impact on the quality of your videos.

Here are a few options:

• Movie Maker – A free and comprehensive movie maker for Windows.
• iMovie – Another free and intuitive video editing software but this time for Mac users.
• Wondershare Filmora – A powerful premium solution with extensive features that integrates with Windows, Mac, Android, iOS, and more.

Complete your YouTube channel info

To optimize your YouTube channel, and engage with your visitors, it is important that you add as much info as possible to the About section on your channel’s page.

• Description – Add a description of you or your business, so people know who you are and what you do. Keywords are also important here, so viewers can find your channel easily through searches. This also is a key place to add a call to action, so ask people to follow you on YouTube, visit your site, or join you on other social media channels.
• Email – Display your email so people can easily contact you (this is especially useful for service industries).
• Links – Add links to your website, landing pages, and social media channels. Your first five links will be overlayed on your YouTube Channel Art (main featured image).
• Channel art – This is your main image for your channel and should be bright and eye-catching to help grab viewers attention.
• Channel icon – This has to be changed via your Google account. Try and display a logo here, or a familiar image that is already used to represent your business on your website and/or across your other social media channels.

Your YouTube channel should reflect your brand, so use similar branding and tone of voice as you would on your website. This will help your audience recognize and identify with you.

If you have mastered all the above tips, your YouTube channel should be fully optimized and your videos created to a high standard. However, you aren’t finished yet. Let’s now look at some further strategies to help promote your videos and get subscribers for YouTube…

Create attention-grabbing thumbnails

Creating custom thumbnails for each of your videos is a must if you want to get subscribers for YouTube. A video’s thumbnail will grab viewers’ attention, give them a snapshot of what your video is about, and encourage people to watch it, share it, and subscribe to your channel.

To create a custom thumbnail, select Creator Studio > Video Manager.

Then, next to the video you want to add a custom thumbnail to, select Edit.

You will see that YouTube has provided three possible thumbnail images for you to choose from. However, if you would rather add a custom image, select Customized Thumbnail.

You can now upload an image to YouTube from your computer files. Once you are happy with your thumbnail, select Save Changes.

When creating a custom thumbnail, bare in mind it needs to…

• Stand out from the crowd
• Reflect the subject of your video
• Display easy to read text overlay
• Be viewable on mobile and desktop devices

Once you have uploaded a custom thumbnail for your video, next you need to write the title. So let’s find out how to write appropriate video titles:

Use keywords in video titles

Writing catchy titles for your videos can help entice your viewers to stop scrolling, and start watching. However, there is more to a successful title than just a phrase.

Using keywords in your titles is a must. This will help your videos rank for corresponding keywords and enable viewers to find your videos more easily through searches. You should also make sure your title accurately describes your video so that viewers aren’t disappointed with the content and they continue watching until the end.

Add metadata to each video you upload

Under each video you upload is a Description area, where you can explain to your audience what your video is about. YouTube gives you 5000 characters. By filling this space out you are adding metadata to each video, which is important for a number of reasons:

• Engage with your audience – Describe what the video is about and why people will like it. This will help your viewers decide if they’d like to watch your video.
• SEO – Use keywords in your description to improve your video’s SEO and help them rank for the right keywords in searches. A unique description, optimized with keywords, will help your videos stand out from similar posts and get seen.
• Use hashtags – Use hashtags in your description (or title) to help visitors find your video when they search a specific hashtag. Make sure you add related hashtags, as this will ensure that you are attracting the right target audience.
• Promote your YouTube channel – Tell your audience about your channel, what you post on it and why they should subscribe.
• Other calls-to-action – The description area is a great place to add different calls-to-action that will help your YouTube channel convert against its goals. Effective calls-to-action include asking people to follow your YouTube channel, like and share your video, follow you on social media, or visit your website or a landing page.

As you can see, there is a lot to add to a Description to ensure it adds value to a video and helps you get subscribers on YouTube. So don’t rush the job – take your time and make sure each description ticks all the boxes.

Display end screens

An impressive feature offered by YouTube is End Screens, which allows you to add interactivity to the end of your videos. An end screen can display links to your YouTube channel, videos, and playlists, as well as URLs for other sites, calls to action, and more. This can be a great way to engage with your audience and ask them to subscribe to your YouTube channel.

To add an end screen to your video, select Creator Studio > Video Manager. Find the video you want to add an end screen too (you can only add end screens to videos longer than 25 seconds) and then click Edit.

Select End Screen and Annotations from the tab bar at the top of the page. Here you will need to choose from a range of options:

• Add element – There are four elements to choose from, Video or Playlist, Subscribe, Channel, and  Link. You can add up to four elements but one of them has to be Video or Playlist. To get subscribers for YouTube you should select Subscribe, to encourage viewers to follow your channel.
• Use template – You can choose one of YouTube’s many predefined templates to easily and quickly display a combination of elements.
• Timeline – Select when you would like the end screen to appear by adjusting the timeline at the bottom of the page.

Once you have chosen the elements, template, and timing for your end screen, Preview the video and then select Save. Your end screen is now complete and will play on the video when watched by your audience.

Other strategies to get subscribers for YouTube

There are many other strategies to help you get subscribers for YouTube. Here are some other top tips…

• Create playlists – This will help keep your viewers on your channel and show them what to watch next. It will also enable you to group your videos according to topic, enabling you to appeal to different target audiences.
• Add a channel trailer – Create a captivating channel trailer that hooks in viewers, gets them excited about your channel, and helps increase your followers.
• Promote your YouTube channel on other social media channels – Share your videos and YouTube channel URL on your other social platforms to help you grow your YouTube audience.
• WordPress plugin – Use a WordPress plugin such as YouTube Embed to embed videos, playlists and even live stream events on your website. This will advertise your channel to your website visitors and encourage them to follow you on YouTube.

Final thoughts on growing your YouTube following

Which strategies will you implement to help you gain subscribers on your YouTube channel? Share your thoughts in the comments below!

The post How to Promote Your Videos and Get Subscribers for YouTube appeared first on Revive Social.

In this article we will cover:

• Why you should create infographics
• The benefits of using Canva’s infographic maker
• Step-by-step instructions on how to make infographics with Canva
• How to share your infographics with the world
• Top tips for creating successful infographics

Why create infographics?

Before we discuss how to make infographics with Canva, firstly let’s consider the benefits of using infographics.

Engage with your audience

Help your readers understand the data

By displaying complex information in a visual, easy to read infographic, your audience will find it easier to digest the material. It has been found that 40% of people respond better to visual information than to plain text. So, if you want your data to make an impact on its audience, and really be understood and remembered, creating an infographic will help you achieve this goal.

Drive traffic to your website

An infographic can display data and statistics in a fun and interesting way, appealing visually to your readers. Consequently, this can increase your social shares and help your brand reach a wider audience. The knock-on effect of this engagement is the expansion of your social following, and an increase in traffic visiting your site. Reseach shared by Visually shows that marketers who use infographics grow traffic 12% faster than those who don’t.

So now we know the pros of creating infographics. Let’s next discuss why you should make infographics with Canva.

Canva – an overview

Canva is an online graphic design tool used by everyone from beginners all the way up to professional designers to create stunning content. This design platform provides a range of powerful features, as well as a vast library of photos, graphics, and fonts. So whatever your design project, the outcome will look professional and sleek.

Infographic maker from Canva

One of Canva’s key assets is the easy to use drag and drop infographic maker. Here’s a roundup of its best features:

• Free to use – Although you can purchase premium design elements, Canva offers plenty of free options to choose from.
• Drag and drop page builder – Simply move elements around the page by dragging and dropping them into place.
• Pre-made infographic templates – Choose from a variety of free and premium pre-made layouts built for a wide range of different projects.
• Photos and Design Elements – Access thousands of photos, and graphic design elements to help you create beautiful infographics.
• Share your infographics – Post your infographics on Facebook and Twitter directly from Canva.

So now we know a little about Canva. Next, let’s find out how to make infographics with Canva.

How to make infographics with Canva

To get started, you will need to create an account with Canva. You can log in through Facebook, Gmail, or another email address.

Once in, follow the setup instructions and then under Create a Design select Infographic.

The Canva dashboard will now open, and you can begin to design your infographic.

So let’s now have a look at the different design tools available here, and how to use them to create your first infographic:

Step One: Browse the layouts

Canva provides a variety of pre-designed free and premium infographic templates. These differ in layout, design, and subject. So, it is more than likely that you will find a template to fit with your project.  (To create your infographic from scratch, skip to step two and select your background).

If you want to use a pre-built layout, firstly, select Layout from the left-hand side menu bar. Then, scroll down to find a layout that suits your needs. After that, simply click on your chosen layout to move it into the center of the page.

To customize a pre-built layout, you can simply click on each individual element. Then alter or replace the background, text, images, or any other element, as you need (covered in more detail in steps 2 – 4).

Step Two: Choose a background

Canva provides a variety of free and premium backgrounds for your infographic that you can select from. Whether you are looking for a block color, pattern, or image, there will be a something here for you.

Changing your infographic background is extremely easy with Canva. Firstly, select Background from the menu, and then browse the numerous backgrounds. If you are finding it hard to make a choice, click on a background to view it on the infographic.

Once you have chosen your background, you can customize its appearance from the editor menu bar above. Change the color, add filters, alter the transparency and more.

Step Three: Add the text

After the background of your infographic has been chosen, you can start fleshing out the content by adding the text.

Click on Text and then drag and drop heading types, or any of the example font types. Write directly into the text boxes, then resize and adjust the position of the text on your infographic as you see fit. Extra customization options are also available in the editor menu at the top of the page.

Step Four: Select the appropriate graphic elements

Elements is one of the most important sections to get to know. The graphics provided here will help you add fun and interesting visual aspects to your infographic, whilst supporting the key points you have made in the text.

Elements is broken down into a number of categories:

• Free Photos
• Grids and Frames
• Shapes and Lines
• Illustrations and Icons
• Charts

To select a graphic element to use on your infographic, select your chosen category and then double-click or drag and drop the element you want to use onto the screen. Below, I have added white squares from Shapes, graphics from Illustrations, and a table from Charts. I have also uploaded a couple of my own images (uploading images covered next).

Again, you can drag your graphic elements to resize them and move them around the infographic. Further settings can also be found at the top of the page in the editor menu, including the option of adding a URL link to individual elements.

Extra graphic elements

There are a couple of other features you may like to make use of, depending on the type of images and graphics you want to add to your infographic.

• Search – Use the Search function to browse the Canva library for free and premium photos and illustrations.
• Uploads – If you would like to use specific images or graphics that are not from Canva then you can Upload them from your desktop or Facebook account.

Once you have added and arranged all the necessary visual elements, and any extra text you may need, your infographic should be finished and ready to publish.

Step five – share your infographic with the world

The last step in the process of designing an infographic in Canva is to share it with the world. Click on the Share button displayed in the menu at the top of the page. Then choose from one of four sharing options:

• Social– Share your infographic on Facebook or Twitter.
• People – Invite people to share or view your infographic.
• Link – Send a link to individuals to view or edit your design.
• Embed – Embed your infographic anywhere on the web using a simple link or line of code.

You can also select Download, to download your infographic and use it as you wish.

Top tips for creating a successful infographic

As you can see, Canva is a very easy tool to use. However, throwing elements onto a page doesn’t always end in a successful infographic. Here are some top tips to help with your design process:

Create an infographic that flows

A successful infographic will use a layout that flows. This means that when your reader’s browse your infographic, it is immediately obvious where to start, and where to look next.

To create flow, consider using:

• Subheadings or bold text to divide stats.
• Lines or dots to help your audience follow the path of the infographic.
• Numbers to order your data.

If there is no organization to your infographic, and the flow isn’t obvious, you may quickly lose the attention of your audience.

Use the right ‘type’ of infographic for your project

How you present your information in an infographic is important. There are numerous styles of infographics, so try and choose one that best represents your topic. Here are a few of the most widely used types of infographics…

• Compare and Contrast – highlight similarities and differences between two products or ideas.
• Timelines – display info in a timeline to help explain a process, or show how a particular subject has evolved.
• Alphabetic Order – present data alphabetically to help add structure to a general topic and provide a clear reading order.

Use relevant and eye-catching visual elements

Final thoughts on how to make infographics with Canva

Canva is an extremely easy tool to use and will enable you to create stylish, professional and beautiful infographics. Once you have taken the time to design an infographic, make sure you share, share, share! By getting your infographics out there on social media, you can:

• Engage with your audience
• Increase brand awareness
• Grow social followers
• Drive traffic to your website

The post How to Make Infographics With Canva in 5 Simple Steps appeared first on Revive Social.

In this article, we look at what exactly Buyable Pins are, and consider a number of case studies to see if this type of Pin is actually driving results. We then discuss the pros and cons of using Buyable Pins, and finish by sharing some tips on how to ensure your Buyable Pins are successful.

Pinterest Buyable Pins – what are they?

Buyable Pins enable Pinterest users to buy products without ever leaving Pinterest.

Once you have set up Buyable Pins, every one of your products displayed as a Buyable Pin can be purchased directly from Pinterest.

Products displayed as Buyable Pins can be purchased directly from #Pinterest #socialmediamarketing

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To buy one of your pinned products, visitors can select the “Add to Bag” button on a Buyable Pin. To make the payment, buyers then click “Check Out” from their Pinterest shopping bag. Payments are taken on the Pinterest website either via credit card or Apple Pay. You are then in charge of shipping and customer service, just as if you had made the sale on your own eCommerce store.

Buyable Pins are a win-win for Pinterest. Firstly they keep the Pinterest sellers happy, as Buyable Pins allow them to sell their products to the vast Pinterest audience. And secondly, it prevents Pinterest losing their visitors, as people won’t be leaving to make purchases on other sites.

But if you have your own eCommerce store, is it really worth your while selling products on Pinterest? Let’s find out how effective Pinterest Buyable Pins really are.

How effective are Buyable Pins?

At the end of 2017, Pinterest had 200 million active monthly users. This had grown from 100 million at the end of 2015. So there is no doubt that Pinterest can help your products reach a wider audience.

Research from Pinterest has found that 93% of Pinners use Pinterest to plan purchases. And 87% have made a purchase after seeing something they liked on Pinterest.

These are all great stats, and help us draw the conclusion that Pinterest Pins drive sales. But, is there a direct correlation between using Pinterest Buyable Pins and increased sales for businesses? Let’s take a look at some case studies…

FlyAway BlueJay

FlyAway BlueJay is an online shop that sells artisan products from all over the world. This eCommerce store used Buyable Pins to reach potential customers on Pinterest who were shopping for gifts but were unfamiliar with their brand.

The results showed that Buyable Pins generated new sales and leads. Let’s take a look…

• 20% of sales were driven by Pinterest.
• 100% of these sales were from new customers.
• 28% of web traffic to their site was also driven by Pinterest.

As you can see, Buyable Pins improved both traffic and sales for FlyAway BlueJay, and helped them reach a new customer base.

Shophearts

Shophearts is a boutique online clothing store that, with 4700 pins, already had a strong Pinterest presence and following before they started using Buyable Pins. Their aims for Buyable Pins were to reach new customers and increase brand awareness.

During a targeted time period, Shopheart found that Buyable Pins helped them successfully increase sales and exceed new customer acquisition goals. Buyable Pins drove 15% of sales and 20% of website traffic. They also found that Pinterest customers spent 30% more than their average order value. And 90% of Buyable Pin customers were new to Shopheart. These are some great results for Buyable Pins.

Gardener’s Supply Company

Gardener’s Supply Company sell a variety of garden and outdoor products. Using Buyable Pins saw a…

• 2x increase in traffic to their site per year.
• 3x increase in sales per year.
• 22x more mobile referrals from Pinterest than any other platform.

But this isn’t all. Gardener’s also found that 95% of customers that purchased products via Buyable Pins were new customers. And the strongest conversions from Pinterest came from 18 – 24 years olds. This was a much younger crowd than their usual core demographic of 45 – 64 year olds.

Modern Citizen

Modern Citizen is a relatively new brand that sells women’s fashion and home goods. By setting up Buyable Pins for their entire product inventory they received some interesting and promising results.

Firstly, Modern Citizen found their sales increased, as orders from Pinterest went up by 73%. Secondly, many Pinterest orders that came from across the US were outside Modern Citizens’ usual urban demographic. And lastly, Modern Citizen found Buyable Pins helped them expand sales in every product category they offer, with a particular increase in jewelry.

Evidently, Buyable Pins have had an extremely positive impact on the businesses mentioned above. Next, we will discuss Buyable Pin best practices to help your eCommerce business attain similar results.

Buyable Pins best practices

Pinterest provides extremely useful guidelines on how to set up Buyable Pins and help ensure they are effective. Let’s take a look at how to get started with Buyable Pins, and consider some of Pinterest’s best top tips for using them…

How to get started

To get started with Pinterest Buyable Pins you will first need to set up a Pinterest Business Account.

Next, your site needs to be integrated with one of the five eCommerce platforms that link with Pinterest. These include the following platforms:

• Shopify
• BigCommerce
• Magento
• IBM Commerce
• SalesForce Commerce Cloud

Unfortunately, at the moment Pinterest doesn’t offer integration with WooCommerce, or any other WordPress eCommerce solution. Therefore, if you want to connect your WordPress store with the Buyable Pins service, you will need to do so through Shopify.

Once you have applied to connect your site with Pinterest Buyable Pins and been approved, you are ready to start pinning your products on Pinterest. (Note: It may take between 3 – 5 days for your buyable pins to show up in the search results).

Use secret boards to prepare

When creating pins, it is sensible to create secret boards that no one else can see. This will enable you to try out different ideas, images, text overlay, and descriptions for your Buyable Pins, and see what works best.

Pin attention-grabbing images

To sell products online, your images have to be top rate. This couldn’t be truer than on Pinterest. Always ensure your images are high quality. Focus on capturing products at their best angle. And consider the background and text overlay you are going to use. Here are a few other helpful hints:

• If you sell clothes or accessories, model the products on real people in real life settings.

• For home goods, display the items in home surroundings so viewers can imagine how the product will enhance their life.

• For crafts and DIY products, create collages that show step-by-step instructions.

Also, consider adding a subtle call to action or logo to each Pin. This will help people recognize your brand and encourage them to buy your products.

Take your time writing the descriptions

Always include keywords that your target audience may be searching for in your Pin title and description. When writing the description, think carefully about what your customers might want to know about a product before they make a purchase. And try and adopt a tone of voice that reflects your brand and appeals to, and connects with, your consumers.

Save your Pins to public boards

By saving your Buyable Pins to public boards they will become more accessible to the Pinterest audience. Not only will your followers see these Pins on their home feed, pinning to public boards is an effective way to reach and engage with new potential customers.

You can also create a public group board where your entire team can share relevant and inspiring pins. Just be sure to set out some strict guidelines about what can and cannot be posted on this group board. You don’t want to post pins that are going to confuse or alienate potential customers.

Promote your Pins

You can make it easier for your target audience to discover your Buyable Pins by promoting them. Promoted Pins are premium pins that are displayed in key positions and to specific demographics to help you reach the right people. By promoting your Buyable Pins, you are more likely to connect with your target audience and therefore increase your sales.

Track Your Pinterest Analytics

Pinterest provides useful analytics on your Pins and audience. Find out how your potential customers are engaging with your Pins, what content is working, and how your Buyable Pins and products are performing. You can then use these insights to help inform your Pinterest strategy.

Pros and cons of using Buyable Pins

Still not sure on whether Buyable Pins are for you? Let’s summarize by going over the pros and cons of this service.

Pros of Buyable Pins

As we have seen from the case studies above, using Buyable Pins has the potential to help your business…

• Increase Sales
• Reach New Customers
• Increase Brand Awareness
• Drive Traffic to Your eCommerce Store

Here are a few other pros of Buyable Pins:

• Buyable Pins work seamlessly on all devices including mobile – so no matter how your customers access Pinterest they can still make a purchase.
• Pinterest doesn’t take any commission – this means you keep all the profits.
• Pinterest lets you take care of all the customer service – this enables you to keep in contact with your customers, send follow up emails to promote further products and encourage buyers back to your store.

Cons of Buyable Pins

As with everything, there are some cons to consider before using Buyable Pins. Let’s take a look…

• Buyable Pins are only available in the USA.
• There is currently no WooCommerce integration. To use Buyable Pins alongside your WordPress eCommerce store, you will need to do so via Shopify.
• There are no guarantees your Buyable Pins will be seen by your target audience. To increase your chances of making sales, you should consider paying to promote your Pins.

As you can see, the pros of using Buyable Pins far outweigh the cons. The research has shown us that Buyable Pins can make a real difference to your online store sales, generating impressive results.

Final thoughts on Pinterest Buyable Pins

Pinterest Buyable Pins will help your eCommerce business increase conversions and achieve its goals. Buyable Pins create a seamless eCommerce experience for your customers, enable you to reach a wider audience and increase brand awareness. So are you ready to give them a go?

The post Pinterest Buyable Pins: Do They Actually Work? Plus How to Use Them appeared first on Revive Social.

In this article, we will…

What are Facebook custom audiences?

Facebook custom audiences allow you to reach out and reconnect with customers you already know via adverts on Facebook. A custom audience is a list, or group, that Facebook creates, based on people that have previously shown an interest in your website, business, product, app, or services. These people are your website visitors, customers, leads and followers; the target market with whom you want to share your adverts.

You can also select to exclude people who have already completed a specific action from a custom audience. For example, you can exclude people who have already made a purchase of a particular product on your site. This ensures you aren’t advertising to the ‘wrong’ people and wasting your ad budget.

There are four different ways to create Facebook Custom Audiences. Let’s have a look at each of them…

Custom audiences from your customer list

Facebook enables you to use pre-collected customer data to reach out and connect with your target market through advertising. Simply upload a list of contact information, like phone numbers or email addresses into your Facebook Ads Manager. Facebook will then create a custom audience using this info, and display your ads to this audience.

Custom audiences from your website

Another option is to display adverts to those who have already visited your website and shown an interest in your content, products, or services. Add a Facebook Pixel to your website so Facebook can track your website data. Then create custom audiences consisting of people who have visited your website, or specific pages or posts. Target ads at these groups of potential customers to remind them of the content on your site they were browsing.

Custom audiences from your mobile app

A third possibility is to create custom audiences from your mobile app users. Using the Facebook SDK, you can pass data from your app to Facebook. You can then specify who you want to include or exclude from your custom audiences. Ads could target those who have installed your app but haven’t engaged with it yet, or people who are yet to upgrade to the premium version of your app.

Engagement custom audiences

Lastly, Facebook custom audiences can be made up from people who have previously engaged with your content across the Facebook family of apps and services. This could be people who have watched your videos on Facebook, followed you on Instagram, opened a lead form or joined an event you have organised. Once you have created these custom audiences, you can target ads at people who have taken these actions.

Once these custom audiences have been created, if people in these groups are present on Facebook, your Facebook ads will then be displayed to them when they log on to Facebook.

Why you should use custom audiences

So now we know what Facebook custom audiences are. But how can they benefit your ad campaign and business and do they really get results?

Let’s next have a look at the different ways Facebook Custom Audiences can be used to help businesses achieve their goals. Here we will examine a variety of case studies, using the data provided to help us to understand how Custom Audiences can be effective.

Generate leads

Using Facebook custom audiences is a great way to re-connect and collect leads from those who have already shown an interest in your website. A great example of this is the case study of Sinpas GYO.

Sinpas GYO is a well known Turkish real estate agency. They used custom audiences as part of their advertising campaign to target potential buyers. After running an initial advertising campaign on Instagram, they then created custom audiences based on those who had already interacted with their brand through the Instagram ads.

Their second ad campaign on Facebook, targeting only the custom audiences, contained two click ads with self-populating lead generation forms. This approach saw the number of leads collected increase dramatically. During November  2016, they had a 29% increase in leads compared to their previous campaign, which did not use custom audiences.

Sinpas GYO also found that the cost per lead fell. This was because those they were reaching already knew of, and had shown enthusiasm for, the business. The ad campaign actually had a 37% lower cost per lead compared to previous campaigns. As you can see, Facebook custom audience played a significant role in improving the outcomes for this real estate agent.

Drive traffic to your website

As well as increasing leads, you can also use Facebook custom audiences to increase brand awareness and drive your current followers and customers to your website. Favi, a Czech-based online furniture and accessories store, has seen this theory work in practice.

Favi created an ad campaign focused on boosting brand awareness, driving traffic to its website, and ultimately increasing online sales and conversions. The ad campaign consisted of Facebook custom audiences based on customer data, such as email or newsletter lists. They also built lookalike audiences based on these existing customer groups. (A lookalike audience is a group that is created by Facebook, and is based on similar demographics, likes and other attributes, of a custom audience).

The results of their ad campaign were impressive. By targeting existing customers, and new customers with matching characteristics, the ads reached and engaged with 600,000 individuals every day. This saw a 2.1x increase in people reached, and a 2.6x increase in web traffic from Facebook, compared to their previous ad campaign.

Increase mobile app installs

If you are looking to create an ad campaign aimed at increasing your mobile app installs then using custom audiences can help you achieve this goal. This is shown through the results accomplished by the mobile games studio Treasure Hunt.

Treasure Hunt created a custom audience consisting of its most active players. Then they built lookalike audiences based on the custom audience, at whom they targeted their ads. Compared to their previous campaign, when they had not used custom or lookalike audiences, they achieved a 9% higher conversion rate. They also had a 21% lower ad cost per app install.

Increase online sales

If you are running an eCommerce store then an ad campaign using custom audiences can help increase your sales. It is far easier to sell a product or a service to those who are already customers. Or to people who have already shown an interest in your niche. So re-connecting through ads with your established and prospective customers will encourage people back to your store, and ultimately help increase sales. Let’s look at the evidence for this with a case study of Wasted Heroes.

Wasted Heroes is a streetwear brand from the UK. Their case study shows how they used Facebook custom audiences to increase their sales and break into the US fashion scene. Firstly, they created custom audiences using their existing customer’s data, to retarget their UK audience. They then created lookalike audiences, based on their custom audiences, but tweaked specifically to reach people in the US.

During their campaign period, from September to November 2016, data showed a 2x increase in web traffic. And a 150% return on ad spend. Thanks to the lookalike audiences, Wasted Heroes also saw a 3x increase in sales in the US.

Increase in-store visits

Research from the Danish supermarket Bilka, shows how it used Facebook custom audiences to increase the number of customers their physical stores received. Firstly, Bilka ran a series of ads targeting a broad audience of men and women aged 24 – 65. Next, during the second round of the ad campaign, they created custom audiences. Bilka included anyone who had engaged with the initial ads in these audiences, as well as those who had visited a store after seeing an ad. Bilka then retargeted these custom audiences with further ads.

Between August and October 2017, Bilka stores saw a significant increase in footfall. During this time there were 45,000 store visits. 7.8% of people who saw an ad visited the store. And 15% of people who visited the store, revisited the store after being added to a custom audience and retargeted with an ad.

Promote a service

Using Facebook custom audiences to promoting a service can also be effective. Evidence for this can be found in the AKBank case study.

AKBank used custom audiences to target consumers who had already expressed an interest in taking out a loan. During their ad campaign, they saw, on average, over 500 conversions a day.

AKBank created their custom audiences by re-targeting people who had already visited their personal loan pages on their website. They instructed the custom audiences to exclude those who had already been assessed for a loan. And then used Facebook’s Core Audience Targeting to pinpoint those with high credit scores.

During their campaign in April 2017, AKBank saw 15% of loan approvals originate from Facebook advertising. Importantly, compared to other marketing channels who don’t offer a custom audiences service, AKBank’s Facebook ad costs per loan were 70% lower.

Final thoughts on using Facebook custom audiences

Want more help with marketing your band on Facebook? Check out these other Revive.Social Facebook guides:

• Facebook Ads vs. Boosted Posts: Which Should You Choose?
• How to Use Facebook Advertising Campaigns to Boost Your Business
• Grow Your Reach Today With These Facebook Video Marketing Tips
• 5 Ways to Use Facebook Live For Business + 5 Things to Do Before You Go Live
• 6 Facebook Business Page Tips You Don’t Want to Miss Out On

Are you ready to implement custom audiences into your Facebook ad campaigns? Please share your thoughts in the comments below…

The post What Are Facebook Custom Audiences? (And Why You Should Be Using Them) appeared first on Revive Social.