Facebook is our happy, never-changing friend, right? We wish. Thanks to Facebook’s tweaking and algorithm changing, many pages are struggling to get attention. It’s hard to keep up with all of the changes, but there is one thing that can get you noticed: Graphics.

Designing a graphic for an article or as a promotion for your page can be the best thing that you can do to gain traffic. The right graphic can draw interest, intrigue, and maybe even a smile. Is it hard to make? It depends. Some of us are techier than others, and yes, that can matter when coming up with a graphic. But, with a little tenacity and time, you can graphics that help build your fan base.

Tip #1: The More Recognizable, The Better

If you have a page about Canadian TV, having graphics featuring Yannick Bisson from “Murdoch Mysteries” would be great. For a US audience, maybe not so much. To draw attention, you need to use images that are recognizable to your audience. Memes like this are great because they allow the viewer to understand the product or purpose without spending too much time doing so. We all love instant gratification – and using a recognizable image can do just that.

To those in the know, Detectives Murdoch and Watts. For those not in the know… two winos in period clothing.

Likewise, an unfamiliar image – or an image that has nothing to do with the product – can potentially cause harm (see tip #5 below). If you don’t, or can’t, use a recognizable image in your graphic, use bright, contrasting colors.

And that leads up to…

Tip #2: The Right (or Wrong) Colors Can Make (or Break) a Graphic

What’s your favorite color? Do you use it often in your graphics? I love blue, but since Facebook’s background is blue, that does me zero good when making Facebook graphics. It will just fade into the background, and all of my time and effort is wasted.

Instead, study color charts. Use highly contrasting colors and designs to get attention. Make your graphics tacky and noticeable.

See how the brighter colors look amazing with the black background? Studies have shown that a darker background – with the right contrasting colors – does wonders for a Facebook graphic. Try it – and be amazed at how well your graphics perform.

Likewise, bright colors work too. Just make sure that the colors contrast nicely (like the above graphic), because colors that are too similar fade together and cause confusion. No one wants to struggle to read a graphic.

Tip #3: Graphics Rule

Do  you need to use a recognizable character for every single graphic? Absolutely not – in fact, it’s good to mix it up. Another graphic type that does well in studies is the graphic that contains a chart. We all love visualization, and reading a chart versus reading the written outcome is preferred by nearly every living humanoid (my sarcasm here – not an actual fact).

You don’t have to use such a color-saturated graph – simple graphs work too. Try it out on your page. See what works. Line graphs, pie graphs, scatter graphs… try a few out, and see what gets the best response.

Tip #4: Use GREAT Graphics!

If you have scrolled social media today, you have came across many graphics. Think of the most memorable: Good coloring, clear, crisp, sharp. You need – heck, you must have clear graphics. Crystal freaking clear graphics. A fuzzy image doesn’t look professional. Generic images that are used over and over don’t look professional. Use PowerPoint to create awesome graphics – it’s easy and there are hundreds of tutorials online.

Don’t fall into the meme trap of reusing someone else’s graphics. Use your own. Be original. Be clear. Be awesome.

Tip #5: Rep Your Product – and Rep it Well

Regardless of how cool and clear and catchy your graphics are, if they do not correlate with your content, you’re screwed. You must have relevant graphics! This is a huge reason why some of your generic graphics and memes aren’t doing well. You need on-topic, fresh, relevant content. It isn’t hard to do, and by using Canva or PowerPoint, you can save a template and reuse it – albeit with new photos and colors.

What are they trying to sell? A TV, of course.

Where’s the lard? Nowhere. This ad is confusing, even though “lard” is in all caps.

If your words and your graphics do not correlate, you have another problem. The young lard-lovers above could really love their lard, but the ad doesn’t show it. They look happy(ish), but what are the selling?

Let’s try it again without the wording:

What are these two trying to sell? Toothpaste? Wine? Sparkling cider? Without the words, we haven’t a clue. With the words, it’s still iffy, because the image doesn’t have anything to do with the subject: LARD.

Tip #6: Use “Actionable” Phrases

One of the best things that anyone can do when making a graphic is adding an “actionable” phrase. Actionable phrases can range from:

• Click here to learn more!
• Message us for more info!
• Let us know in the comments!

The more contact you get from your audience, the better. You not only show up more often in their Facebook feed, but you will show up more often on all of your audiences Facebook feeds. The more contact, comments, likes, share, the more organic traffic your graphic will garner.

Sometimes people need that not-so-subtle nudge to go through with the action. Don’t be afraid to ask them to do something.

So, what now?

Get to work! Or better yet – start playing around with PowerPoint, Canva, or whatever your favorite graphics program is. There is nothing wrong with playing around with graphics until you get it right; few of us master it on the first try. Try out different graphics, and see what works best with your audience. We all know there is no harm in trying, and if you don’t try, you’ll never know the results.

So you need content for your business. It can’t be that hard to right a few paragraphs, right? Technically it isn’t, but if you are trying to market this content on Facebook, LinkedIn, Google – heck, anywhere – you need to make sure you have good content. Great content. The best damn content for your business.

Can you do that? I’m sure that you can with enough practice, time and research, but do you honestly have the time?

Below are the top 5 reasons you need a content writer.

Reason #1 – You Need a Constant Flow of Original Ideas

If you don’t have a constant flow of original ideas to write about to create your content marketing, at some point you will get stuck and may get discouraged from moving forward with your promotional content altogether.

Trends change, even in the steadiest of industries. You need to keep atop of these changes to avoid looking dated. Best-in-class content writers keep up with these trends, ensuring that you are always a step ahead.

Since content marketing is so crucial for the promotion of your business, hiring a professional writer will assure you to have an ever going content flow of original ideas turned into content that is going to promote your business 24/7 and as result, your business will stay profitable.

A “constant flow” doesn’t mean just staying a day or two ahead, either. The best content writers schedule weeks ahead of time. This takes a lot of time, organization, and dedication, so it is best to invest in a professional (it isn’t that pricey, really!) if you cannot dedicate the time needed to do so.

Reason #2 – You Need to Know how to Create Persuasive Content

It’s amazing what we were able to get away with content marketing 10 years ago, but things have changed big time since then.

Today, not only search engines have become smarter ranking quality content better than non-quality content, but the competition is 50 times fiercer too.

What this means for you and your business it’s that you need to find a way to create informative, entertaining and yet persuasive content that is going to get you noticed by your market.

Why does your target market should be interested in reading your content more than that of any of your competitors?

Being able to answer that question can really make a huge difference for the success of your business.

If you are not able to answer this question yourself, though, a professional writer will be able to answer it for you and create persuasive content that will attract your target market.

Reason #3 – You Need to Write Content on Schedule

If you can’t keep up with your content schedule, then hiring a professional freelance writer is definitely a must for you.

Writing content on schedule for your blog, if your blog is where your potential clients find you the most is crucial. It’s also crucial if you are posting this content to  your social media pages.

Your reader is more likely to be returning to your blog if they know you post the same day of every day or week.

In my experience, the same time everyday works best for a website – and when using social media, consult your insights and analytics to see the best times to publish based on the best audience times.

Reason #4 – AN UNBIASED LOOK

You know how great your company is. You know how amazing your products and services are. And you know exactly what you mean when you say something. But does your audience have any clue what you mean?

A content writer doesn’t have the personal attachment to your business that will blind him or her from seeing the real meaning of your content. Sometimes that “great” content you wrote doesn’t mean anything to anyone but you. Other times it sends the completely wrong message. It’s the old case of, “Well, I know what I meant.” But what you mean doesn’t matter at all. It’s what your customer gets out of your content that matters.

A content writer will take the message you want to share and make it come to life.

Reason #5 – The Algorithms Always Change!

Facebook is our steady, never-changing friend, right? Wrong! Facebook’s algorithms are always changing, and unless you stay up on these trends, you will miss out on important changes. Remember the catchy headlines from a year ago, like “You’ll Be Amazed At What This Flight Attendant Did!”?

Yeah, those are clickbait, and Facebook doesn’t play with that. Clickbait headlines, vague headlines, off-topic headlines, and headlines that have absolutely nothing to do with your brand are not organically promoted by Facebook. Clickbait is the death nail when you are looking to capitalize on written content.

SEO also matters – even for written content. In the quest for SEO, quality content reigns supreme. Search engines prioritize high-quality content over curated, unoriginal copy. Your best shot at SEO comes with a team of first-class writers.

But Wait – CONTENT WRITERS DON’T KNOW MY BUSINESS OR MY INDUSTRY!

The most obvious concern with hiring a content writer is that he or she isn’t an expert in your field. How can someone who doesn’t know all the inner workings of your services accurately convey what you do to your potential customers?

Well, in many cases, a content writer will actually convey those details much better than you could. A content writer’s unbiased opinion and view of your industry can actually help you create more diverse (yet applicable) content that you may have not even realized you needed.

A website content writer is trained to write for the right audience. Any good writer can do the research necessary to create your content. And he or she can do it a lot faster and more effectively than you can.

Content writing is an essential part of the web design process. By hiring a content writer, you can ensure a fluid process and a seamless final product. Don’t let bad copy ruin a great website.  

Facebook’s newest revelations have screwed up most (if not all) of our paid marketing campaigns. You’re spending your hard-earned money to get fewer results than ever. You’ve tried everything…

So, what can you do? Allow me to break it down for you, and then I’ll elaborate below.

First, stop your campaigns that suck. That expensive stuff? Turn. It. off.

Second, start focusing on your organic traffic. Organic traffic is free – so why not take advantage?

Yes, it takes a bit more work than just paying for the likes, shares, and comments, but it is well worth it.

And third – Use the tools online (and on Facebook) to help you gain the most organic traffic possible. Really, it’s possible – and we know from first-hand experience.

Tip #1: Do Only What Works & Do It Well.

Hey, if it works, it works. If featured photos of half-naked women on motorcycles work for your page, keep using them. Just don’t tell anyone we told you to do that…

Just kidding, but seriously – if a certain topic draws more interactions, keep posting it. It’s natural to want to branch out, but when it comes to drawing organic traffic, you need to stick to what works for your page – as boring as it may seem to you at times.

How to Find the Organic Content That’s Working

In order to post more organic posts that work, you’ll need to assess what’s working. To do that properly, you’ll want to understand which content your audience responds best to. That will help you decide what kind of content to create and share, maximizing your chances to get traffic from Facebook. This should be done for ALL posts, organic, paid… always do your research!

To find this information, navigate to the Insights tab from the main Facebook page.

This will tell you how many people saw your posts and how many reacted, clicked, commented or shared.

Pay attention to post clicks, as this will tell you how many people are following links back to your site, and which posts successfully achieve this.

Factors that affect clicks might include:

• Post topic
• Length of your description
• Content type (image, video, blog post, etc.)
• Day of the week
• Time of day

Try putting together a basic spreadsheet (or folder – whichever works best for you) to list your most-clicked posts and the details listed above. You might be surprised at what you find!

Once you identify what your top-performing posts have in common, you’ll know what works best to get your audience clicking.

How to Work Out When to Share for Maximum Traffic

One of the secrets of success with social media content is sharing it at the right time. There’s a lot of research around on the best time to post on Facebook.

According to Hubspot and Coschedule, Thursday to Sunday at 9am, 1pm and 3pm are the best times.

Of course, that doesn’t mean those are the right time for your fans. To get maximum traffic and engagement, you’ll need to post when YOUR actual fans are online.

You can find this information easily on Facebook. Go to Insights » Posts » When Your Fans are Online. You’ll see the days and times your fans are most active. Make a note of these and check it  (it can change), then use this information to schedule your Facebook posts for those exact times.

Tip #2: Use The Experts

Wouldn’t it be great to learn how to get traffic from Facebook by optimizing your page? That’s exactly what Likealyzer offers.

While Facebook provides tips on improving page performance, these can often get lost in the wash of other notifications. Likealyzer analyzes your Facebook page and provides concrete recommendations for improvement that’ll make your Facebook content more visible, and therefore drive more traffic. Here’s how it works.

There are two ways to use Likealyzer. First, you can search for a page using the onscreen search box.

You’ll be able to figure out:

• How your Facebook page compares with others in the niche
• What the mix of content is (presented in a much more user-friendly way than Facebook itself)
• What’s working well and what needs improvement

The beauty of Likealyzer is the simple recommendations for making your Facebook page even better. Not only will you learn how to drive traffic to your Facebook page, but how you can get more engagement on Facebook and traffic to your site from that page.

Tip #3: Buzzsumo

Yes, that name is a tip itself. If you are running written or graphic content and are not using Buzzsumo, start doing so now! It’ll keep you updated with the LATEST things that are trending. Which should be a constant goal for any marketer, on any platform.

Content that gets widely shared on Facebook will attract more web traffic. The question to ask is: how can you find out what Facebook users like AND use that information to tweak your own content strategy?

Buzzsumo is the perfect tool to help answer this. It collects and tracks social sharing information and is a great way to figure out what Facebook audiences are into right now, this very moment.

How to Find the Most Shared Content with Buzzsumo

And to get the most from Buzzsumo all you need is a free account. Once you’re logged in, click on Content Research » Most Shared, then enter your topic. We’re using “makeup”.

Use the filters on the left to select types of content and time frames. If you’re not happy with the results, you can click a link to search content only with your search phrase in the title.

By default, the results list is sorted by Total Engagements, but you can click the Facebook Engagements link to see which content is most popular on Facebook.

How to Use Buzzsumo’s Facebook Analyzer

You can also use Buzzsumo’s Facebook Analyzer for more detail on Facebook content performance. To use it, click on Content Research » Facebook Analyzer, then type in your topic. We chose “email marketing”.

I also recommend checking the Search Headline Only menu item to avoid getting results for content that wasn’t about your topic.

The results appear on the same page and you can sort them by likes, comments and shares, depending on which metric is most important to you.

Tip #4: Try Interactive Content

Research from the Content Marketing Institute shows that quizzes, games, and contests are two of the most effective tools used to raise awareness about a company.

How to Drive Traffic with a Facebook Contest

If you want to run a Facebook contest, you’ll need to make sure it complies with the guidelines for promotions. In particular, you’ll need to:

• Make it clear that Facebook isn’t in anyway responsible for the contest.
• Avoid asking people to share on their timelines or tag friends to gain entries.

The good news is that you don’t need special applications (apps) or complicated software to run a Facebook contest. One of the simplest ways to run a Facebook contest is to ask people to like your page or comment on a post to gain entry into the contest. It’s that simple: Ask for a comment, and you shall (normally) receive! This will help to build your audience, which is part of increasing traffic. And it helps to offer a prize that will really interest your Facebook fans.

Alternatively, you can run a contest on your blog, and encourage people to share it on Facebook and like your page for entries. Many people use software like Rafflecopter to do this, as it includes a free plan.

Using contests boosts engagement, which will send more people to your page. PostPlanner runs one Facebook contest a month, and has seen an increase in page exposure, engagement, and leads as a result.

How to Drive Traffic with a Facebook Quiz

You can also use Facebook quizzes and polls as traffic drivers. Facebook has a quizzes and polls app for pages that lets you quickly create this interactive content.

However, a better option when thinking about how to get traffic from Facebook is to use an external app. As Heyo explains, if you embed a quiz on your own site and encourage people to share it on Facebook, everyone who wants to complete the quiz has to come back to your site. Heyo calls this a closed loop system.

One travel company, Afar, uses quizzes as part of its marketing.

Not only did the results link back to site content, but 25% of those who completed the quiz left their emails with the company. Score!

Tip #5: Make Sure Your Likers & Commenters Are Fans

Let’s face it: if they already like what they see, liking your page isn’t a big step. Sometimes all you have to do is ask – and asking is absolutely free.

Here’s where you find that information.

Go to the bottom of any post and see where the reactions to the post are listed.

Click on the names and you’ll see a list of everyone who’s reacted to the post. Anyone who doesn’t already like your page will have an Invite link next to their name. Click the Invite link to ask them to like your page.

Over time, this will increase your audience and traffic as more people take this offer.

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Are you ready to get massive amounts of organic traffic? Are you afraid? Excited? Let us know!

Oh, Facebook Live. It’s such an awesome tool that many utilize. But, why is it that some pull in a ton of views and others do not?  The process is rather simple, and many of us over-complicate our Facebook Live videos. The simpler, the better, and the more authentic the attractive figure, the better the response.

So, what do we suggest to our clients, and to you?

Be Alert and Alive!

Nothing is worse for a viewer than a Facebook Live where the attractive character is not interested in what he’s talking about. It’s a major turnoff – and it makes your page (and business) look less than attractive. Find someone who is dedicated to your cause, and in the meantime, don’t be afraid to hop on Facebook Live yourself.

Show Them How It’s Done

If you are marketing a product or service, why not show it off? Whether it’s a superfood powder, a car jack, or accounting software, a demo can do wonders. It allows the viewer to become familiar with the product and it allows you to show WHY they need it – whatever “it” is.

This is great for those who are camera shy! It allows you to focus on something other than the camera… and we all know how nerve-wrecking that can be.

This is also good to piggyback off of a Q&A session, or vice versa. Few will blindly buy a product, but by showing off the real, live thing, it gets more interest and marketability.

Be Relevant

What’s the oddest Facebook Live video you have seen? For me, the ones that stick out are the oddball videos; videos that have nothing at all to do with the page or product itself.

If you have a healthcare page, a video focusing on the perfect pair of jeans probably will not garner the organic traffic that it would if it were healthcare-focused. Videos that are in your niche get the best viewership and gain the most organic traffic, so stick to what you (hopefully) know.

Also, know your facts. Know updated facts, more specifically. It doesn’t help if you mention a law, a study, or a nutritional fact that has since been overruled by a more recent study.

Interview Relevant Guests

This is where is get fun for many: interviewing! Okay, so maybe not for everyone, but when you are interviewing a relevant guest, you gain clout. It also takes the focus off you, so if you are camera shy this is a big plus.

Interviews do not have to be on Facebook Live; they can be pre-recorded easily and uploaded at the time of your choosing. You can also add a funnel to this content, in order to get more views to your product page or campaign. The more views and shares, the more who have your funnel and product in their hands.

Giveaway Time!

This may be one of the most overthought aspects of going live. A giveaway doesn’t have to be huge – it just needs to be relevant to your cause or brand. Amazon has a ton of wishlist ideas for different subjects here.  It doesn’t have to be an expensive prize, either.

A giveaway done via Facebook Live is great! It gets you viewers, shares, like, comments… everything you need to have a bigger reach. You can announce the giveaway via the live video, or announce the winner. It’s totally up to you – but our research shows that this is a great way to get traffic.

Listen & Respond

On the topic of being alert and alive, host a Q&A sesh! It doesn’t have to be off the cuff; in fact, post a day or two in advance a graphic asking your audience to submit questions for you. Because

It gets you the questions you need

It gets your audience involved

It tells them when to tune in!

This also helps you prepare your answers. However, don’t sound too scripted! Facebook Live videos have questions that pop up from viewers, and the attractive character ignores them. Why? It’s another turn off for viewers. Always do your best to answer questions, and if you aren’t the greatest at off the cuff answers, respond on the video that you will get back to them ASAP, and type the answer as a reply to their comment after the video is published.

Stay Steady

Reoccurring shows are great. Not only do you get a devoted viewership base that knows when you are on, but it also helps you look dedicated to your cause or brand. You can choose the best time to schedule your reoccuring broadcasts by looking at your Facebook Insights to see the best viewership time. Times vary per page, so just because a competition page does live every Friday at 3pm EST doesn’t mean that you will have the same viewership.

Use these shows to host giveaways, Q&A sessions, product demos, or just sit and chat for a while. Promote your sponsors, and if you have any page fans that are always commenting and are just plain awesome, give him or her a shout out!

Facebook will also let you turn your reoccurring videos into events, and those fans who have notifications set will be alerted to the upcoming lives.

Live From New York… 

Okay, so maybe not from New York, but you can do a live broadcast from nearly anywhere (as long as the event or location allows it). This is great for creating buzz around an event, or even a new product that you’ve found and want to share it live. A live broadcast doesn’t have to be glossy; it needs to be real. Background noise will happen, so don’t worry! Go live at industry events you attend, or even if you see a cool new product in store. If you see your cool new product in store, even better!

What’s your Facebook Live strategy? How often do you go live? Let us know! 

So 15, heck, maybe even 10 years ago, you were probably one of the many skeptics who didn’t quite see the value in having a website.

Pay lots of money to someone that hibernates all year in a dark basement behind their computer, developing a site for you in some hieroglyphic coding, so you (and your site visitors) can be frustrated when the needle didn’t move? No thanks.

Things sure do change fast.

Today your business probably doesn’t exist, or at least turn a profit, if you are not online in some form.

Okay, let’s assume you bit the bullet and have a website. Now that you’re online profits are soaring….right?

Wrong.

Just because you are online today – have a website, Facebook page, and maybe threw some spaghetti at Google AdWords and SEO to see what stuck, does NOT mean you are marketing your business effectively.

But we’re not telling you anything new, that’s how life is for most small businesses online. Actually, many of them don’t even know how to gauge the “effectiveness” of their online presence. And this is a very fundamental problem, that when corrected, changes everything.

But first let me throw one more metaphor at you:

You want to get healthy and fit so you pay for a bunch of books on exercise and buy a gym membership but you never read the books and never go to the gym.

Sounds pretty stupid, right?

Well, that’s exactly what some small business owners are doing by creating themselves a nifty little website and praying that people land on it. If only the internet gods had a 1-800 number we could all dial and just put our requests in: “Hi internet gods! I have a request for next month. I need about 400 middle aged women to find my website and buy my new yoga line that makes them feel young and beautiful. Thanks!”

Okay, I went a little far with that one but I kid you not – this type of insanity is running budding businesses, full of potential, straight into the ground.

So, what’s my point?

There are a lot of factors that go into achieving a successful marketing campaign. And they don’t need to remain a mystery. In fact, let’s get the first one super clear:

Market Research. Say that three times. Market research, market research, market research. You have no business selling anything online before you do your market research.

At D4Y, we NEVER touch a project before completing our market research. Meaning, we head out onto the world wide web and see what’s happening in our clients’ space, see what’s being sold effectively, when it’s selling, who it’s selling to, and how they’re selling it. This is all so we can better develop a campaign that will produce results!

However, during this market research, we come across a lot of websites and brands that, for lack of better words, could use some help…

Simply put, many businesses are not making the best use of their website and marketing efforts.

So what are they doing wrong, you may ask?

We consistently see businesses making the same three, killer mistakes. Mistakes that in 2016, you simply cannot afford to make… because by 2017 you will be out of business.

If you want to not only keep up with the times but also keep more money in your pocket, heck, even create more money to put in your pocket, keep reading…

Mistake #1: Not establishing who you are

One of the most common and detrimental mistakes we see from businesses today is a lack of establishing and communicating who they are. This would seem kind of obvious, right?

Well, you would be surprised how many companies don’t mention who they are, why they exist and what their mission is on their website.

In essence, they’ve lost before they even started.

These also tend to be the same companies that claim they are doing online marketing but nothing is working…go figure!

Why is stating who you are and what your mission is, so important?

That is the easiest way for your audience (another bone to pick that we’ll get to later) to resonate with you and quickly determine if their values align with your brand’s values.

When someone learns who you are, it immediately creates trust and rapport. Now that website visitor, is closer to becoming  a customer or client.

If you lack this content on your website, it becomes harder for visitors to resonate with you and your message, deterring them from ever doing business with you.

In a digital world where there is competition everywhere you look, it is vital that you stand out. Being clear about who you are is what makes you stand out! No one can be you.

If you are hoping that random traffic from the internet happens to stumble upon your website, enjoy the little logo design in the top left corner, navigate their way through the clutter of information that tells them nothing about who you really are, and instantly pull out their wallets to buy something from you, you’re dreaming.

The entrepreneur’s guide, Start With Why, written by the highly sought after thought leader, Simon Sinek, illustrates the importance for not only businesses, but everyone, to start with WHY.

Why do you wake up every morning?

Why are you in business?

Why do you do what you do?

In his book, Sinek states: “People don’t buy what you do, they buy why you do it.” Think about it; the best selling brands in the world don’t merely exist to make money. Of course, they are in business for a profit, but their legacy is what drives them to be great.

Steve Jobs, Apple’s late CEO, lead the company with this vision for their why: “To make a contribution to the world by making tools for the mind that advance humankind.” Today, Apple sells the #2 smartphone on the market, is one of biggest producers of computers, remains the biggest online music hub and has recently broken into the TV scene. As you can see, Jobs’ mission and vision, and his why for Apple, has lead them to change the game in multiple industries.

Every product they produce is in alignment with this why; from design, to use to marketing.

Apple has a purpose and a mission that people want to be a part.

Isn’t it easy to see when a company leads with a driving mission, purpose and vision, they can come to not only dominate but influence change amongst multiple industries, and attract millions of loyal households worldwide?

Mistake #2: Jack-of-All Trades, Master of None

This one can be bad, really bad.

Way too many businesses want to be everything to everyone, rather than mastering their own craft and appealing to a specified audience.

When you know that you are damn good at one thing, you don’t need to reinvent the wheel to try to win over everyone.

There are so many companies in the marketplace today that focus a mile wide and an inch deep, instead of an inch wide and a mile deep.

What I mean by this, is that real success comes from depth. You cannot win a championship without a bench. One hit wonders in the entertainment biz never get remembered. Top chefs never own a fleet of mediocre restaurants. The same goes for entrepreneurs.

You get the point. Find YOUR niche and dig deep in the trenches to strike gold! Create value, build your portfolio, establish customers for life and not customers for a paycheck.

Once you’ve established yourself as an expert or authority in a specific niche, it is critical that you define your audience.

If you are in the food industry, you can’t say that your target market is “everyone” simply because everyone has to eat. Is your focus on organic? Italian? Fast food? Etc.

If you’re creating an online marketing course, who are you speaking to? The beginners? Advanced marketers? Do you focus on Facebook marketing? Brand messaging?

The more defined and specific your avatar, the higher quality client you will attract.

Why is this?

If you know exactly the type of person you want to sell your products or services to, it makes it a heck of alot easier to not only find them, but for them to find you. If you’re offering them exactly what they want then you’re already speaking to them in ways that they will respond.

I come across a lot of business and life coaches on the internet regularly. It appears everyone out there today is a business and life guru, but I digress…

Most of these coaches seem to have no idea who their ideal client is, so instead of speaking to a specific niche, they speak to the masses, and attract no one. Are you a high-level business coach or a struggling single-parent life-coach? Are you a weight-loss coach or a bodybuilding competition coach? Do you coach people on building businesses or closing sales?

There are major differences amongst all of these!

People are extremely picky about where they spend their disposable income, so if you speak to everyone in your messaging, chances are you are going to speak too broadly for your ideal customer to hear you and miss the opportunity to work for them.

Ever heard of Bulletproof?

Most well known for their addition of butter to coffee and popularizing the term “biohacking”?

Founder Dave Asprey understood that there were successful systems in place for sports franchises to win championships, real estate professionals to sell eight-figures worth of homes in a year, why not develop a health formula for people to work, think and live more productively?

Bulletproof sticks to biohacking and biohacking only.

They don’t wander off into manufacturing technology products or even bringing soda into your home. They know what they are best at and they stick to that. Making their name, and the Bulletproof lifestyle trend, spread virally.

So, want a quick fix to mastering your trade while avoiding becoming the jack of all of them?

Find your favorite hat, wear it damn well and become the hero business for your defined audience.

Mistake #3: Not Tracking Customers

This one’s pretty straight forward. In laymen terms, if you are not tracking your customer statistics in 2016, you simply cannot expect to ever “crush it” in your business online.

For those who are keeping up with the times, technology enables you to track every action taken by your clients. From the second someone lands on your site to the time they, well, leave, you must be tracking what your client is doing.

What kind of power would you have with your business if you knew:

• How long your average visitor was staying on your website?
• Where they clicked on the most on your site?
• The email address of every potential lead?
• The percentage of people purchasing something when they visited your site?
• How long leads were staying on your site without buying what they put in their cart?
• Whether a lead ever returned to your site ever again?

Knowing all of this and more, can mean the difference between a successful business and a shop that has to close it’s virtual doors… for good.

So, why aren’t you doing it?!

I cannot tell you the number of websites that I visit who don’t really care what I want or ever really care to get to know me, let alone even ask me for my email address to stay in touch. It’s like ending a date without ever asking when you can see the person again. Basically, I’ve lost interest before I even click off that site.

Like I mentioned earlier, there is a science to it all. If you’re not implementing the systems that work, it’s most likely because you didn’t even know there were systems… nevermind how to implement them.

I want to convey to you the importance of doing all of this.

First off, obtaining their email address is the minimum you should be doing when someone lands on your page – for a multitude of reasons. 

The main reason you’ll want to catch their email is so you can deliver a free gift to them. People like, I mean love, free stuff.

If you are a weight-loss coach, and someone lands on your site and sees a free eBook showing them “5 things you can do today to lose weight”, you’re in! They will undoubtedly give you their email in exchange for that freebie.

Once you have their email, you can communicate with them a bit differently. You can send them a series talking a little bit about who you are and what you have accomplished (to build trust and rapport) but more importantly, share why you do what you do. Get them relating to you.

Second, tracking conversions and cart abandonment means knowing the numbers in your business in a whole new level.

Having the ability to contact someone after they abandon their cart can drive sales through the roof!

I was speaking to a business owner the other day and they said by merely beginning to track this number, they were able to increase sales by 34% in 1 month!

They had a lot of traffic to their site, a lot of people adding things to the shopping cart, but a large percentage of people not finalizing the purchase.

With a simple email and $10 off coupon for first-time customers if they completed the purchase within 24 hours, sales came pouring in over the next month.

These are just two examples of tracking your customers and what they can do to your business. Imagine if you only implemented these two things?

What if you implemented five more?

What would that do to your bottom line?

Let’s take a quick look at Amazing. I mean Amazon.

Amazon as we all (or at least should) know, is the largest online retailer on the planet and is expected to reach $100+ billion, with a “B”, in revenue for 2016. I think the proof is in the pudding but those numbers show that they’re definitely doing something right.

One of the greatest and revenue-generating tools on Amazon’s site is the “people who’ve purchased this item also liked…”.

Boom!

They learn your buying habits, present to you what they know you will like, you click a button and next thing you know it’s at your doorstep in two days thanks to Prime.

Can you imagine what this has done to their revenue?

They also track you, your buying habits and your searches quite closely, which you would realize if you ever saw an Amazon ad following you around the web with an item you recently looked at.

These are the little nuances of tracking which, over time can create a massive shift in your bottom line numbers.

The saying goes, “What is not tracked, is not done.” In this case meaning, if you’re not tracking your customers, you can’t capitalize or monetize all of the information at your disposal

It’s amazing what can happen to your business when you begin to make tiny shifts little by little. Whether it’s gathering your team and establishing your core mission, defining who your audience is or maybe even adding a tracking tool or two to your site, you can probably see the compound effect of doing so.

Finally, with technological resources at your disposal like never before, it’s crucial that you employ these techniques ASAP, unless of course you struggle mightily from mistake #1, in which case you should get a move on it yesterday!

If your business struggles from any of these common mistakes, maybe you can use some help. We’d be happy to offer you a FREE 15-minute strategy session and assist you with implementing these tactics properly into your business. At D4Y, our mission is to help you help yourself impact more people with your products and services!

Sign up for your FREE strategy session HERE.

We all know how hot social media is. Facebook reports more than 1.55 billion active users monthly. What’s happening is that marketers are finding themselves struggling for visibility and to be able to grab the attention of users who they consider to be in their target audience.

Even though there are more than a billion active Facebook users, it does not mean selling your product online is not as simple as promoting and selling. You are going to need to have a solid strategy!

Facebook has reduced the number of organic views your posts receive in the newsfeeds of those users that ‘like’ you. They have done this in an effort to increase their advertising dollars. Yes, you can still have a solid following that lets you market and promote your products and content with no charge to you, but unless you have a good strategy that will not happen.

Let’s face it. There are an incredible number of Facebook groups, pages, and marketers that you have to try to come out on top of. It’s difficult to be seen among the millions. You need to plan your moves out long before you make them if you have any hope of achieving your goal. This step by step guide will help you to create a social media marketing strategy that converts.

Step #1: Goal Identification

Whatever you goals are make sure they are realistic. Sure we’d all like to have 1 million Instagram followers but for most of us that’s not very realistic. Start to plan your social media strategy campaign make realistic goals. More realistic goals might be to grow your brand or to increase your sales using Facebook to promote your products. Those are very realistic goals.

When you define goals that are realistic, it makes them obtainable, which in turn helps to keep you motivated, and it gives your social media strategy a good place to start from.

Sure, you may one day get a million Facebook likes, but begin slowly and build – walk before you run!

Once you identify what your goals are, you can move to Step #2.

Step #2: Create Measurable Objectives

You need to have in place ways to measure the performance of your strategy. After all, if continue doing what you are doing and it’s not working then that’s a waste of time, effort, and sometimes money. If you can’t measure whether or not your strategy meets your objectives then you don’t know if you made a wise decision.

After you set your goal you need to be able to determine what you need to measure to determine whether you are successful. These are what business owners refer to key performance indicators.

There are a number of statistics to measure, like visitors, shares, followers, revenue, likes, etc. What you have to do in order to understand if you are heading towards your goal is to set objectives along the way.

Begin with simple objectives, such as get 50 shares for one post, grow followers by 100, or get 100 new likes. There are a number of options, but they are all easy to determine. If you want to generate traffic then measure the visitors that you gain from the social media accounts that you use.

One of the most popular tools for measuring objectives is Google Analytics. There are others, but Google Analytics is free and easy to use.

Step #3: Conduct a Social Media Audit

A social media audit will let you work out how well it is working with your social media accounts and the best way that you could improve things in the future. The easiest way to do your audit is to create a spreadsheet. A spreadsheet is an easy way to keep track of data from your audit and then later you can use it to compare the next audit you run. Hootsuite also offers a free template that you can use.

To start your audit, list all of your social media accounts you are currently using. Determine which channels are successful and which have not seen that success. Once you have the groundwork for your audit in place, you can begin to evaluate the various social media accounts, how well they are performing based on your goals and what you could do to improve your results.

Keep in mind that Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook each have a common user type that is easiest to reach on that particular platform. Take notice of these particular demographics and then align your goals for each platform based on where you can get maximum effect and efficiency. These demographics can easily be found online.

You need to identify your target audience from these demographics and then you need to adjust your social media marketing plan.

Step #4: Select Your Channels

It is impossible to reach everyone with all the platforms, and it is important that you do not spread yourself too thin. If your target audience does not use Instagram then don’t use it, or if only a few potential customers can be found on Twitter don’t use it. Maximize your benefits in the social media channels where you are going to get the maximum benefits.

Time is money, so don’t spend it on something that you will not see results or where you will see minimal results.

Step #5: Learn by Watching Others

There is a lot to learn by watching how others are handling their social media marketing, good or bad.

Avoid the mistakes that others have made, and find influencers in your own niche who have figured it out and then learn from them. After all, if they can be successful, so can you. Also keep a close eye on your competition, as they are more than likely on social media too. You can learn from your competition as well. Keep them close so you know what they are up to.

Keep a list of your competition and what their campaigns look like, what moves they are making, how they were able to execute these moves, etc.

Step #6: Decide What Your Content Will Be and Create Your Editorial Calendar

You must have a well thought out content plan for your social media campaign(s). In fact, it is key to establishing your brand identity. There needs to be a consistency across all the social media channels you are going to use. For example if tweet out hilarious pictures of your dog on Twitter, but on Facebook you are professional in both tone and voice, your audience is going to be confused and uncertain about your brand.

You can stay on track by creating your content plan along with your editorial calendar. This will also help you maintain your brand identity. There are different times for you to post with people living in various time zones and acting differently throughout their day. It’s important for you to know these and take advantage of them.

For example, according to BuildingSocialProof.com:

– Facebook peak time – 1pm – 4pm
– Twitter peak time – 1pm – 3pm
– Google+ peak time – 9am – 11am
– Instagram peak time – 7am – 9am and 5pm – 6pm

Step #7: Test, Analyze, & Adjust

You are not going to create the perfect plan first time round – nobody does. That’s why you need to track your strategies, and then analyze what you find, and adjust accordingly. When you react to your social media marketing campaign, adjust, and test, you will have the ability to achieve significant improvements in performance with minimal work.

Step #8: Keep Your Audience Engaged by Automating Your Marketing

You want some help running your campaign(s) and while you can hire someone to do it, your best option is to implement the right automation tools. You can save a bundle of money, keep your audience engaged, and reduce the time it takes to do that. There are a number of tools available that will allow you to automate your marketing. Do your research and find the one that feels like it’s a good fit for you.

Those individuals that you reach with your social media marketing are all potential customers, so always treat them well, including on social media. Keep them engaged, and answer their questions promptly.

You are Ready!

By implementing these 8 steps, you are as ready as anyone to make your social media campaign successful.