Friday, 16 February 2018

Marketing with Periscope



Periscope is a great tool to use to grow your customer base and business. Even though the application interconnects with Twitter, it provides innovative ways to connect with potential customers and followers.
Live streaming is slowly becoming a player in the social media market, and while it hasn’t experienced the explosion Instagram and other social media platforms have, it has shown steady incremental increases.
Let’s discuss some of the ways your company can use live streaming for marketing purposes.
Unveiling New Products
When it comes to unveiling new products, there are many options from which to choose. You can do a live product release with a clever unboxing. Another option would be to talk about key points and features of your product.
You could also do a reveal with a beta or prototype device, providing a firsthand peek at your newest offering. Answer questions and interact with your customers to show them you’re connected and engaged with them.
Go Behind the Scenes
Another way to connect with followers is to take them on a trip behind the scenes. Whether it’s a quick tour of your personal life, or a sneak peek into what goes on behind the curtain, followers are always eager to know more.
A great way to kick off a behind the scenes tour is with a quick Q&A session. Letting followers ask the questions they’ve always wanted answered allows you to engage with them. You can also provide immediate insights into upcoming items and request feedback for them.
Real-Time Customer Support
Periscope is a fantastic tool to leverage a customer support strategy. Use this media platform to change the way your customers view their support experience. One key feature to focus on is the ability for Periscope to record content. This allows your customers to play a video back at a later time, which is extremely helpful when correcting an issue takes multiple steps.
Brand Decisions
To boost customer loyalty, let them have a decision in the development or design of your product. Including followers in the decision-making is a great way to make them feel invested in your products.
Involve followers by allowing them to vote on a particular feature, or start a brainstorming session around a new product. By being a part of the creation process, customers are more likely to turn to you for other options for their future needs.
Create Tutorials
In addition to live-streaming new products and services, or going behind the scenes, you can use Periscope to offer a real-time tutorial or training session. When you teach someone something for free, you are viewed as an expert in your field and gain instant credibility.
This has a twofold impact. First, you’re showing that you know your industry, which will create more follows and brand loyalty. Second, you’re showing what it’s like to work with you and your business, which will result in inquiries from other clients or companies.
Live Events
We’ve mentioned that you can use Periscope to live stream product launches and released, but you can also use it to showcase live events. This can be something as simple as an impromptu question and answer session, or a planned panel discussion with industry leaders.
When used correctly, Periscope is a useful tool for driving both customer growth and consumer loyalty. But don’t just stick with what you’ve seen or heard. Find new and innovative ways for Periscope to work for you and your business.
Periscope isn’t as popular as Facebook, Twitter or Instagram…yet. This is your opportunity to create unique and different content for your customers. Pioneer new relationships with your followers and show them something they’ve never seen before. Check out DFY’s lead generation system for additional tools.

Thursday, 15 February 2018

Manage Your Audience with MailChimp


The foundation of every great marketing campaign is a clean, reliable list of contacts who are engaged and have permitted you to contact them. MailChimp allows you to store and manage these lists and gives you the tools you need to grow your audience.
You can create as many lists as you want, but the easiest way to maintain the information is to create one list and then use segments and groups to keep them organized based on the criteria you choose.
Managing Lists
Each contact you enter into MailChimp has their own profile containing social data, location, history, and other information that may be useful for segmenting or targeting. Maintaining one manageable list of all of your contacts is far more accessible than creating multiple lists based on specific criteria because people are continually changing and evolving. Your list will do the same as your contacts become more familiar with your product, grow their own business, or create a history of using your product.
MailChimp provides list performance metrics as well, and maintaining one list allows you performance metrics across all of your contacts, regardless of segmentation, so that you can easily see at a glance subscriber activity, click rate, open rate, growth, and campaign performance.
MailChimp’s segmentation tools allow you to create targeted campaigns based on a number of factors, including interest, location, demographic information, activity, purchase history, and more. By doing this, you increase the relevance of your emails and drastically improve your open and click rates.
MailChimp allows for three different kinds of segments: auto-update, static, and pre-built.
Auto-update lists automatically update as new users meet the criteria you’ve selected for the list.
A static segment contains users that met a certain quality at the time you created the list. It does not auto update or move users in and out of the list based on whether they meet that criteria today.
Pre-built lists allow you to automatically generate a list based on information you select in advance. MailChimp will move subscribers in and out of the list as they meet or no longer meet the criteria, enabling you to target these customers with just one click.
Groups
You can also set up groups to categorize people by their interests or preferences. For example, if you own a software as a service company, and you have a list of customers who have requested specific feature updates, you can categorize them as such, and then update them as these things become available at the click of a button, without having to remember which customers requested which features.
Sign Up Forms
Sign up forms help to improve your target marketing by allowing potential subscribers to opt-in and easily enter their information and preferences from a number of devices. Automating the signup process gives you more time to create your campaigns while it works to build your lists with the appropriate subscribers.
MailChimp will also allow you to set up Facebook Custom Audiences, letting you target your MailChimp subscribers with Facebook ads that are relevant to them. The Facebook Custom Audiences feature syncs directly with your MailChimp lists and is available to any business advertising on Facebook.
Automate Your Marketing
With all of these features at your disposal, MailChimp is the perfect way to build and grow your email marketing campaign. It’s easy to use, dynamic when you need it to be and allows for customization that other platforms don’t. You’ll find managing your lists fast and straightforward, and it will give you more time to focus on the content of your campaigns rather than who you’re sending them to. For more information, check out DFY’s lead generation system.

Tuesday, 13 February 2018

Business Marketing with an Instagram Photo Contest


An Instagram photo contest is a great way to promote your business while having some fun. A photo contest can lead to new followers while your company is giving back to the Instagram community.
But running an Instagram photo contest isn’t always easy, and can be a bit confusing. Here is a short guide on getting the most out of a photo contest, should you choose to do so.
Target Your Market
Define your target market before kicking off your photo contest. A contest for families who enjoy camping is going to look a lot different than couples who look for new and exciting places to visit in the city. Determine who you intend to engage with, and gear your contest toward them.
Team Up
Finding a partner for your Instagram photo contest can be a benefit for both businesses. Not only can you gain more followers through this method, but you’ll also receive additional exposure. Most of these types of partnerships require participants to be followers of both accounts before they can enter. Keep things simple though. There’s no need to team up with more than one business per contest.
Avoid Confusion
Make sure your rules for entering and participating in your photo contest are clear and concise. Include an ending date and time, and offer step-by-step instructions for participants, including limitations on number of entries.
Call to Action
Provide your followers a clear call to action, so that they are fully aware of the necessary steps required to enter the contest. The primary purpose of your photo contest is to gain followers or increase your exposure (but make sure you have fun too!). The two most common ways to go about doing this is to have contestants tag a friend or post a picture.
Tag a Friend – For this type of call to action, have participants tag a friend to enter the contest. When the friend sees your post and competition, they will join and tag more friends.
Post a Photo – Contestants with this type of call to action post a photo and use a specific hashtag to enter. This will allow you to track the entries, and pick a winner when the time comes.
Keep an Eye on Submissions
This is your contest, so it would behoove you to be aware of how it’s progressing. Decide how you’ll monitor your contest, whether manually or by using one of the many tools available for just such an occasion. Decide beforehand how you plan on following your contest, so you’re not scrambling to decide while submissions are rolling in.
Declare a Winner
When your contest comes to a close, it’s time to pick a winner. Some contests use a poll, while others may use a group of judges. No matter what method you choose, select a winner and notify them through Instagram.
Promote the winner on your Instagram page, but don’t forget to give credit where credit is due. Cross-promote on other platforms. Announce the results on your Twitter, Facebook, and web pages as well.
Repeat as Needed
Running an Instagram photo contest doesn’t have to be a one-time occurrence. You can have a weekly or monthly contest. Explore your options, find what works best for your company and adjust as needed. Discover a way to build habits with your followers while creating momentum with your contests.
Instagram photo contests are an excellent opportunity to have fun with the platform while building up a following. Be creative and engaging with your contests to have the most success. Not only will you expand your audience, but you’ll also have fresh content that may inspire your next photo contest. For more tips, check out DFY’s lead generation system