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Creating and managing a Discord server can be an exciting venture, but it’s essential to have a solid foundation of rules to maintain order and facilitate a pleasant experience for all users. Establishing rules might feel overwhelming for new server owners, but there are options for rules templates that can be easily copied and pasted […]
Originally posted on June 27, 2023 @ 3:40 am
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Can you buy from Amazon without an account? Amazon, the world’s largest online retailer, offers a vast selection of products and services, but understanding their account requirements is crucial before you dive into your shopping experience. In short, you cannot complete a purchase on Amazon without an account. While browsing the extensive catalog of products […]
Originally posted on June 27, 2023 @ 4:41 am
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On TikTok, visibility begets visibility, helping your brand increase organically. You’re on the right page to achieve that goal. This article discusses: Why you may not be getting enough views 23 actionable tactics to increase your TikTok views, with steps and pro tips Inspiring examples Keep reading below. Why You’re Not Getting TikTok Views You […]
Originally posted on June 28, 2023 @ 7:41 am
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Social selling — maybe you’ve heard of it, but you aren’t entirely sure what it means.
Think it’s the same as social media marketing? (Spoiler: It’s not.)
Or maybe you think it’s basically just social media advertising? (Second spoiler: Also no. That’s something else altogether.)
In short, social selling allows your business to zero in on business prospects on social media, build rapport with a network of potential leads, and generate social media sales. Done right, social selling can replace the dreaded practice of cold calling.
If you have not yet incorporated social selling into your funnel, you’re likely losing business to more social media savvy competitors. But once you’re done reading this guide, you will have all the information you need to change that.
In this post, we:
Answer the question: What is social selling?
Explain what a social selling index is.
Share 4 reasons your business should care about social selling.
Outline social selling tips and best practices.
List 3 essential social selling tools.
Let’s get to it.
Bonus: Get the free social selling guide for financial services. Learn how to generate and nurture leads and win business using social media.
Social selling is the practice of using a brand’s social media channels to connect with prospects, develop a connection with them and engage with potential leads. The tactic can help businesses reach their sales targets.
Think of social selling as modern relationship-building. Actively connecting with potential customers on social media can help you be the first brand a prospect considers when they’re ready to make a purchase. And it can replace outdated relationship-building and sales strategies like cold calling!
Social selling is certainly not about bombarding strangers with unsolicited Tweets and DMs. That’s spam. Don’t do it.
Social selling is not just about adding new contacts to your list. It’s about making those interactions meaningful and presenting your brand as having a solution to a problem. When you do that, you’re more likely to build trust and loyalty.
For example, natural skin-care company SoKind is using basic social selling principles in this Facebook post. They clearly outline how their product solves a problem for moms. Highlighting the value of the products helps the brand naturally attract the right target audience and encourages sales:
An intensely nourishing body lotion packed with potent antioxidants, vitamin E and active botanical extracts to protect…
Posted by Sokind on Tuesday, August 25, 2020
Probably! If your brand has a Facebook Business Page, a LinkedIn page or Twitter profile, or is active on any other platform, you’re already engaged in the basics of social selling.
If you’d like to learn more about social selling, take Hootsuite Academy’s Social Selling Certification Course:
The social selling index (SSI) is a metric used to measure the impact of a brand’s social selling efforts.
LinkedIn first introduced the concept of the SSI back in 2014. The LinkedIn SSI combines four components to establish a score. It looks at whether you are:
Establishing a professional brand with a well-managed LinkedIn profile.
Finding the right people on the platform.
Sharing relevant, conversation-inspiring content.
Building and strengthening relationships.
To find your LinkedIn SSI score, sign in to your account and navigate to your Social Selling Index dashboard. Treat your score as a starting point to begin improving your social selling performance.
If you’re still not sold (see what we did there?) on social selling, here are 4 reasons why you should give it a try.
Don’t just take our word for it. According to LinkedIn Sales Solutions’ internal data:
Businesses that are leaders in the social selling space create 45% more sales opportunities than brands with a low social selling index.
Businesses that prioritize social selling are 51% more likely to reach their sales quotas.
78% of businesses that use social selling outsell businesses that don’t use social media.
A recent Forbes article states: “87% of business event professionals have canceled events because of the pandemic, and 66% postponed events.”
Networking and relationship-building have shifted online due to the COVID-19 pandemic — and now is the perfect time to prioritize social selling.
Social selling creates opportunities to build brand awareness and connect with new potential customers on social media, where they’re already active and engaging in conversations. Using social listening tools allows your sales reps to go a step further and identify leads who are already talking about your business, your competitors or your industry.
That means you can reach out to an audience who already have an interest in what you’re offering and authentically connect with them, offering useful information when the time is right. Authenticity builds trust — and that, in turn, can become customer loyalty.
In the last six months of 2020, 25% of Americans ages 18 to 34 made a purchase via social media. India, the UK, Australia and New Zealand all saw approximately a third of people ages 18 to 34 make a purchase via social media in that same timeframe.
Source: Statista
Considering the sheer volume of people currently using social media, the potential for brands to make social sales is huge:
4.2 billion people worldwide are active on social media.
Social media platforms gained 490 million users in 2020 alone.
That’s a 13.2% increase — 2019 saw a growth rate of 7.2%.
Source: The Global State of Digital 2021
Plus, a lot of those users are using social platforms for brand research. Simply speaking, these users are getting ready to buy.
Source: The Global State of Digital 2021
Using social selling means staying competitive. Other brands are active on social media interacting with potential customers on popular social platforms. According to data from Statista: “In 2020, an estimated 25% of e-commerce enterprises worldwide were planning to sell their goods on social media.”
Now, consider the numbers:
200 million Instagram users visit a profile at least once a day and 81% of Instagram users are researching products and services on the platform.
18.3% of American Facebook users made a purchase via Facebook in 2020.
Source: eMarketer
70% of YouTube users have bought a brand’s product after seeing it on YouTube.
96% of B2B content marketers use LinkedIn for organic marketing. Facebook is the next most popular platform, used by 82% of B2B content marketers.
(There’s more where this came from! We’ve compiled a post with more than 140 social media statistics that matter to marketers in 2021.)
In short, it depends.
Your choice should depend on your target audience and your approach to social selling.
Twitter and Instagram are great platforms for interacting with customers. They offer tools for responding to customer queries, and they’re casual virtual spaces where communication comes naturally. Simply speaking, they’re great for building relationships.
For example, Destination BC creates new connections with users and forges relationships by proactively commenting on users’ posts:
And Left On Friday replies to users’ and influencers’ comments to continue established relationships:
LinkedIn, on the other hand, is a more formal business platform ideal for B2B companies looking to identify and reach business decision-makers. Here, businesses can connect with potential customers directly to try and build a professional relationship:
In fact, according to LinkedIn:
89% of B2B marketers turn to LinkedIn to generate leads.
62% of B2B marketers say LinkedIn generates leads at twice the rate of the next-best performing social channel.
In other words, use whichever social platform your audience prefers — and whichever platform your brand will be able to use consistently!
Here’s how to get started on three popular platforms:
If you have a good relationship with your connections, ask them for endorsements or recommendations. These are posted on your profile and can help give you instant credibility with new contacts.
Here’s an example of numerous endorsements on researcher and storyteller Brené Brown’s profile:
As a brand, be sure your profile highlights expertise relevant to a potential customer or client by highlighting how you’ve helped previous customers achieve their goals.
You should also only share information and content from credible sources, and make sure to maintain a professional tone across all of your LinkedIn activity.
Use LinkedIn’s search feature to extend your network by seeking out mutual connections with your existing contacts.
You can also join LinkedIn Groups relevant to your industry to network with peers and prospects.
Sales Navigator, LinkedIn’s professional social selling tool, can help you improve sales prospecting with personalized communications and better understand your performance with in-depth analytics.
Twitter is a great network for social listening. You can create Twitter Lists to monitor content from specific groups of people. Here are three key Twitter lists you can use to start social selling on the network.
Use this list to keep close tabs on your existing customers and watch for opportunities to reply to — or like — their Tweets. This will help you keep your brand on their radar.
Don’t overdo it, though. Be sure that your interactions with clients are meaningful: only like Tweets that you genuinely like and only comment when you have something valuable to say. And make sure to stay relevant — your customers don’t need your brand interacting with personal updates.
As you identify potential customers, add them to a private list. But don’t engage with them with the same sense of familiarity as you do with existing customers. Instead, keep an eye out for requests for help or grievances about your competitors. That way, you can reply with a helpful comment (and the exchange can serve as an organic piece of social proof for other prospects).
Adding competitors to a private list lets you keep tabs on them without actually following them. This could help spark ideas for your own social selling efforts.
Be sure to create a Facebook Page, then use these strategies to start social selling.
It’s easy to reach out through likes comments, and shares. But take it one step further: if you create thoughtfu, valuable content, it’s likely to be shared, increasing your brand’s reach. Your Facebook Page could be exposed to a whole new audience as other businesses share and like your content.
Always respond to your follower’s comments and mentions of your brand. Also, when putting together your own social media posts, include questions to spark conversations with your audience — they don’t need to be directly related to your product or service to be effective!
This tourism operator asks a question and follows it with trivia about sea lions, before connecting the post to its business:
Did you know that some male Steller sea lions can weigh over 1 ton?!Despite being the largest of all sea lions, on our…
Posted by Spirit of the West Adventures on Tuesday, May 11, 2021
This strategy allows you to interact directly with followers, builds rapport and helps you build your image as an expert.
Whichever platform you use to reach your unique audience, make sure you’re following tried social selling tips. Here are 4 to keep in mind.
When interacting with prospects and customers through social networks, it’s important not to get too salesy. And if your brand is new to a social media platform, don’t dive into social selling right away. Before you jump to sales pitches, establish your position as an expert in your industry.
One way to build your brand on social media for social selling is by sharing interesting, valuable and shareable content. For B2B brands and business influencers using LinkedIn, this could mean sharing content written by others that aligns with your brand:
Or it might mean writing and sharing interesting content that others will find useful to establish your brand (or personal brand) as an industry thought leader. For example, Destination BC shares business-specific content that their professional network may find interesting:
Basically, show your prospects that you’re not just out to get something. You’re there to give something, too.
Effective social selling means paying attention. In other words, make sure you’re social listening.
Use social lists and Hootsuite streams to monitor what people are saying about you, your company, your industry and your competitors. Watch for pain points and requests, both of which provide natural opportunities for you to provide solutions.
You should also leverage your existing network whenever possible. Before reaching out to any of the leads you identify, check their following and follower lists to see if you have any mutual connections. If you do, ask your shared contact for an introduction.
Instead of writing one note and sending it to countless potential buyers, take the time to personalize your social selling messaging. This means you could:
Acknowledge your mutual professional contacts.
Refer to a piece of content you both shared or reacted to.
Highlight a shared interest or something else you have in common.
In other words, be yourself. Form a connection by starting a real, genuine conversation!
Sure, you could use automated liking and commenting tools, but these do nothing to build rapport. In fact, they can do serious damage to your personal and professional brand. When it comes to selling, nothing beats interacting with an actual human.
Finally, don’t expect immediate results. If your relationship building efforts don’t yield immediate results, don’t give up. Some contacts may not be ready to purchase whatever you’re offering quite yet — keep in touch.
Follow-up with new leads. Reach out to contacts you’ve previously connected with, but haven’t heard from in a while. Maintain meaningful relationships by offering congratulations when they move to new positions or companies or engaging with the content they share over social media. Be ready to offer advice or help, even if it doesn’t directly promote your product.
To increase your odds of landing new clients on social media, leverage social selling software. Here are 3 to help you get started:
Regardless of whether your brand’s social selling techniques involve private messages, public messages (like comments), or both, Hootsuite Inbox will keep all of them organized.
Think of this social selling tool as a convenient way to keep all of your brand’s social media conversations in one place. Using the Hootsuite Inbox, you can monitor, organize and respond to any private and public messages your brand receives across many social platforms.
Keeping your social media communications organized is a way to ensure no messages fall through the cracks and that everyone who connects with you gets a response.
Other useful features include:
Handy filters you can apply to quickly and easily find the communication thread you’re looking for, even if you’re handling high volumes of messages and comments.
Teamwork and collaboration solutions that allow you to assign messages to team members as tasks so that each query receives a response from the best possible person at your company.
Saved replies that you can re-use to quickly reply to common queries.
Here’s more info on how to make the most of Hootsuite Inbox:
This app integrates with Hootsuite and is an effective way for your brand to extend its social reach. In a nutshell, Amplify helps your brand increase its online visibility by making it easy for team members to share company updates, campaigns or announcements.
An employee advocacy app like Amplify can help employees feel engaged and compelled to share company content — which is a great, organic way for your brand to reach new potential customers. That’s because tapping into your employees’ personal networks extends the reach of your content.
Source: Hootsuite
This app also integrates with Hootsuite and is an easy way to search, edit and monitor new business leads.
With Salesforce, you can fetch new customer or prospect records into the app directly from Hootsuite streams. Plus, Salesforce streamlines reaching out to potential leads and qualifying them. You can also add more details to existing Salesforce records to inform future conversations around social selling.
Here’s more info on how to get the most out of Salesforce with Hootsuite:
Sales has always been about building relationships, establishing credibility and providing the right solutions to the right prospects at the right time. Social selling is like that too. It simply leverages social media to help you build relationships, expand your network, streamline lead generation and meet your sales goals!
Save time managing your social media presence with Hootsuite. From a single dashboard, you can publish and schedule posts, find relevant conversions, engage the audience, measure results, and more. Try it free today.
Do it better with Hootsuite, the all-in-one social media tool. Stay on top of things, grow, and beat the competition.
The post Social Selling Explained: A 2023 Guide to Social Media Sales appeared first on Social Media Marketing & Management Dashboard.
Originally posted on March 28, 2023 @ 7:40 pm
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Your YouTube banner is a billboard for your brand at the top of your YouTube channel page. It’s the first thing people see when they visit your channel, and, as such, it’s great real estate for promoting your brand. It needs to be attractive and engaging enough to capture your audience’s attention.
But what makes an eye-catching banner image? Keep reading to learn more about how to craft the perfect custom banner. We’ve even included free YouTube banner templates to help you get started!
Get your free pack of 5 customizable YouTube banner templates now. Save time and look professional while promoting your brand in style.
A YouTube banner is the large image across the top of a channel page. It’s one of the first elements a viewer sees when they view a channel. On top of the image (that can include text in the design), YouTube banners also include website and social media links in the bottom right corner.
A YouTube banner serves a similar function as Facebook cover photos, and its main purpose is to visually introduce your channel—and brand.
But it can do more than just look cute. Some ways you can strategically use a YouTube banner include:
Promoting new products or services in the image
Adding text that describes what viewers can expect from your channel, how often you upload new videos, and why they should subscribe
Making sure your YouTube banner is consistent with your brand across other social media platforms
Including a call-to-action (CTA) in the design
YouTube banners can effectively and efficiently share your brand’s message with newcomers to your channel, with minimal effort on your end.
Before you start creating a YouTube banner, you need to be aware of what size it should be. An incorrectly sized banner can lead to issues like unreadable text or an important part of your image getting cut off.
Keep in mind that people will see your YouTube channel art on desktop computers, mobile devices, and even smart TVs. Use the following YouTube banner dimensions to ensure your image shows up correctly on all devices:
Minimum dimension for upload: 2,048 x 1152 px with an aspect ratio of 16:9
Minimum safe area for text and logos: 1,235 x 338 px
Maximum width: 2,560 x 423 px
File size: 6MB or smaller
If you’re not sure about the width and height of an image, don’t worry. You can always start by customizing one of our YouTube banner templates, which are pre-populated with the correct dimensions.
And we’ve broken down the process into eight easy steps. Read on to start creating your own designer YouTube banner.
Get your free pack of 5 customizable YouTube banner templates now. Save time and look professional while promoting your brand in style.
Once you’ve created your new YouTube banner, it’s time to upload it to your channel page. If you used Hootsuite’s YouTube banner templates, there won’t be any need to resize the banner to ensure it fits perfectly.
Here’s how to upload or change the banner on your YouTube channel page on desktop.
Step 1: Go to YouTube Studio and sign in to your account.
Step 2: Select Customization on the left menu. Then, choose Branding.
Step 3: Click Upload under Banner Image, and then select an image to upload as your YouTube banner.
Step 4: If necessary, select the preview mode and crop the image. Select Done.
Step 5: Choose Publish.
If you want to upload your YouTube banner with your mobile device, here’s what you need to do:
Step 1: Open the YouTube app or YouTube Studio app.
Step 2: Tap your profile picture in the top right corner.
Step 3: Select Edit channel. (If you are using the YouTube app, you’ll need to tap Your Channel first and then Edit channel or click on the pencil icon).
Step 4: Edit your banner image by clicking on the camera icon in the upper right corner of the banner.
Step 5: Choose an image to upload as your new YouTube banner.
Step 6: Select Save.
And that’s all there is to it. Now you have a beautiful, branded graphic prominently displayed on your channel.
Your YouTube banner should be designed with your overall YouTube marketing strategy in mind. Do you need to include a specific CTA to support your social media goals? Should you encourage viewers to subscribe to your channel? You may simply create a YouTube banner around your brand’s personality, and that’s a great option too.
Popsugar Fitness uses its YouTube banner to promote the video series Dance Fitsugar and Class Fitsugar.
You can also use your YouTube banner to promote products. @1bike1world uses its YouTube banner to share a children’s book about Nala the cat and her travel adventures.
A YouTube banner can also be used to encourage viewers to become subscribers by telling them what to expect. Chad and Claire’s channel banner clearly state what their YouTube videos will be about and how often to expect new videos.
Whatever you decide, make sure you create a YouTube banner that supports your goal.
22% of YouTube viewers are watching from a mobile device. That means that, although your YouTube banner is technically 2,560 x 1,440 px, most people will see an area much smaller than this.
Make sure to include the most important information in the “safe area” of your YouTube banner, i.e., within an area of 1,546 x 423 px. This ensures your text or important graphics are shown no matter what device is used to view your profile.
You’ll also want to double-check that your text is readable on smaller devices like a phone.
First things first. Who are you? Make sure that’s clear right off the bat. New visitors to your page will want to know.
Place your logo in an obvious, visible spot against a color that makes it pop. Also, make sure it’s within the “safe area”.
Take the Elle YouTube channel, for example. Its logo is black and placed against a lighter-shaded background ensuring that it stands out. It also pulls double-duty by featuring Elle’s 2022 Women in Hollywood Honorees to promote new content from the magazine.
Not sure where to put your logo? Our templates offer suggestions.
This almost goes without saying, but make sure your YouTube banner is consistent with the way you present your brand across your online presence. Viewers can easily recognize your brand when you have a clear trend with your branding.
This rule stands even if your YouTube presence is more laid back or wackier than your other social channels. People who are looking to specifically follow your brand are more likely to click that follow button if they know they’ve got the “right” version of you on YouTube.
Like any billboard ad, the simpler the message, the easier it will be received. Don’t try to do too much with your YouTube channel art.
Instead, use this small space wisely on what you want viewers to focus on about your brand. Make your message obvious. You can do this simply by sticking to one image and a logo against a simple background.
Blogilates, a fitness channel, has a simple but impactful YouTube banner. It has a clear focus while also making it obvious what the channel is about by adding a tagline “Find the joy in fitness”.
Your YouTube banner includes the option to link to your other social platforms and website. If you do, those links will appear in the bottom right corner.
This is great! Because chances are if someone has taken the time to visit your YouTube page, they’re also interested in the rest of your online presence.
It’ll be important to design your YouTube channel art with nothing important in the bottom right corner—except for a background color that helps your icons stand out.
Known as a channel trailer video, YouTubers can permanently exhibit a video at the top of their channel page right underneath the YouTube banner. This pinned video can highlight your best work, latest video, or most viewed video.
You can take this an extra mile by creating an actual trailer. Similar to movie trailers, you can create a trailer for your channel content and share what you cover in your videos and pique a viewer’s interest.
Shopify chose to feature an explainer video covering the basics of how the eCommerce platform works. By sharing helpful content, viewers are more likely to come back or subscribe for more tips on how to use Shopify.
Whichever direction you choose to go in, remember: the rest of your YouTube page already has a lot going on. If you want people to take an action—subscribe, follow you on another social channel, or watch one of your videos—don’t let your banner overwhelm them.
You can add a CTA directly to your YouTube banner. But you can also edit your site links on the bottom right corner to include a CTA.
After creating a branded YouTube banner, the next step in your YouTube journey is making sure your content is equally compelling. Check out our complete guide to crafting a winning YouTube strategy for more on that.
Grow your YouTube channel and audience faster with Hootsuite. It’s simple to manage and schedule YouTube videos as well as quickly publish your videos to Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, LinkedIn, and Twitter—all from one dashboard. Try it free today.
Grow your YouTube channel faster with Hootsuite. Easily moderate comments, schedule video, and publish to Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.
The post Free YouTube Banner Templates for 2023 [+ 8 Best Practices] appeared first on Social Media Marketing & Management Dashboard.
Originally posted on March 27, 2023 @ 1:41 pm
