Online Marketing – Rocket Fuel Design https://rocketfueldesign.co.nz New Zealand based creative marketing and graphic design support for your business Thu, 28 May 2020 12:06:38 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=5.5.3 https://rocketfueldesign.co.nz/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/cropped-Rocket_Fuel_Design_Favicon-2-32x32.png Online Marketing – Rocket Fuel Design https://rocketfueldesign.co.nz 32 32 133817884 Social Media Image Sizing Guide 2020 https://rocketfueldesign.co.nz/social-media-image-sizing-guide-2020/ https://rocketfueldesign.co.nz/social-media-image-sizing-guide-2020/#comments Thu, 28 May 2020 12:06:38 +0000 https://rocketfueldesign.co.nz/?p=4316 2020 Image Sizing Guide: Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, Twitter & Pinterest Some might say size doesn’t matter, but it totally does, especially when it comes to social media images. The size of your images on your social media can make a huge difference in the performance of your posts. Unfortunately, every social media platform; Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, Twitter and Pinterest is a wee bit different! Sizing images wrong is one of the many common mistakes we see businesses make all the time. If there is one thing that makes us and social media managers all over the world squirm in our seats, it’s incorrectly sized images. Today we will explore the current ‘correct sizes’ in 2020 for Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, Twitter and Pinterest. So here’s what Rocket Fuel Design and the social media sites themselves suggest when sizing your images: Facebook: Lucky and unlucky for you, Facebook has a whole range of image sizes. Which allows for a lot of flexibility when posting in the feed, but, requires you to be a bit more precise when it comes to sizing images for your profile picture and cover photo. Profile Pictures: Your profile picture on Facebook is one the first things people will see when they search for your business on Facebook, so making sure you display it correctly is super important. According to Facebook, profile pictures are displayed at: 170 x 170 pixels on computers 128 x 128 pixels on smartphones 36 x 36 pixels on most feature phones Don’t forget when your scrolling in your newsfeed your Facebook profile picture appears even smaller again. That’s why we suggest that you use less text-heavy profile pictures and more image-based profile pictures! Your logo and just your logo is a great way to make sure your business looks smart and identifiable. Here at...

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2020 Image Sizing Guide:
Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, Twitter & Pinterest

Some might say size doesn’t matter, but it totally does, especially when it comes to social media images.

The size of your images on your social media can make a huge difference in the performance of your posts. Unfortunately, every social media platform; Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, Twitter and Pinterest is a wee bit different!

Sizing images wrong is one of the many common mistakes we see businesses make all the time. If there is one thing that makes us and social media managers all over the world squirm in our seats, it’s incorrectly sized images.

Today we will explore the current ‘correct sizes’ in 2020 for Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, Twitter and Pinterest. So here’s what Rocket Fuel Design and the social media sites themselves suggest when sizing your images:

Facebook:

Lucky and unlucky for you, Facebook has a whole range of image sizes. Which allows for a lot of flexibility when posting in the feed, but, requires you to be a bit more precise when it comes to sizing images for your profile picture and cover photo.

Profile Pictures:

Your profile picture on Facebook is one the first things people will see when they search for your business on Facebook, so making sure you display it correctly is super important.

According to Facebook, profile pictures are displayed at:

  • 170 x 170 pixels on computers
  • 128 x 128 pixels on smartphones
  • 36 x 36 pixels on most feature phones

Don’t forget when your scrolling in your newsfeed your Facebook profile picture appears even smaller again. That’s why we suggest that you use less text-heavy profile pictures and more image-based profile pictures!

Your logo and just your logo is a great way to make sure your business looks smart and identifiable.

Here at Rocket Fuel Design, we don’t include the text – RFD – from our logo in our Facebook profile picture, why? Because on mobile it would be much too hard to see.

With the ‘RFD’ text included, you can hardly read it in any of the profile pictures. Showing the ‘RFD’ in our logo isn’t needed, since where ever our profile picture is, so our business name.

Profile pictures are cropped to a circular shape. Make sure to adjust your logo sizing to fit snuggly into the circle – there is nothing worst that an oversized logo in a profile picture.

As there is a huge variance in the sizes between devices,180 x 180 pixel images will size perfectly in every place a profile is displayed.

Cover Photos:

A cover photo should be branded and represent your business. They can promote the most important aspect of your organization – your products, services, offers, career opportunities, etc. Make sure to align the theme of your cover photo with your featured Call to Action [CTA] button.

What size should you use for your Facebook cover photo? Well, that’s a tricky one because your Facebook cover displays differently on mobile devices.

Facebook displays cover photos at:

  • 820 x 312 pixels on computers
  • 640 x 360 pixels on smartphones

The safe option that we recommend to fit both displays on computers and smartphones is using the dimensions 820 x 360 pixels.

Rocket Fuel Design Facebook Cover Sizing

Remember that the end and tops of your images will be cropped depending on where they are being viewed. Display any important information in the safe zone.

Canva has loads of ‘Facebook Cover Temples’ if you don’t already have one.

Posts/Images:

When it comes to posting on Facebook feeds, Facebook expects all different sized images. Certain sized images are superior in Facebook feeds. Optimizing your images to Facebook’s image size guide will get the most out of your businesses posts.

For Facebook image posts, both 1200 x 900 pixels and 1080 x 1080 pixels work well in the news feed.

Linked Facebook posts need 1200 x 628 pixel images, with event images sized at 1920 x 1080 pixels.

So what about Instagram image sizing?

Instagram:

Instagram is an image-centric application, it is essential to size images correct to optimise the benefits of the social media platform.

Profile Picture:

The ideal sizing for Instagram profile photos is  180 x 180 pixels.

Make sure that your Instagram profile photo is image-heavy, not text-heavy. Because Instagram is mobile-centric your business profile will hardly ever feature on a large enough screen to see text. If you head to Rocket Fuel Designs Instagram page you will see we have used the same concept as our Facebook profile, as it is super easy to see no matter the size.

Posts/Images:

Instagram will always post your images at the best possible resolution and it automatically changes the sizing of your images to their supported aspect ratio.

To avoid cutting the most important aspects of your images, make sure to follow the rules from the start.

Sizing options for Instagram posts are:

  • 1080 x 1080 pixels – Square sized posts
  • 1080 x 556 pixels – Landscape sized posts
  • 1080 x 1350 pixels – Portrait sized posts
Instagram Stories:

Stories are a great way to connect with your audience. 1080 x 1920 pixels is the perfect image sizing for Instagram stories and Instagram highlight covers

To optimise Instagram highlight covers use imagery, not text and display important aspects in the centre in the middle of the page.

Rocket Fuel Design Instagram Story Highlights feature all images not text

LinkedIn:

LinkedIn has all sorts of funny sizing when it comes to images. Because LinkedIn is a business-focused application, it is super important to have a professional-looking page.

You wouldn’t have terrible sized images on your website so why would you on LinkedIn?

LinkedIn Page Sizing:
  • 300 x 300 pixels – Logo image
  • 1536 x 768 pixels – Cover image
  • 1128 x 376 pixels – Main image
  • 502 x 282 pixels – Custom modules
  • 900 x 600 pixels – Company photo

By now we trust you understand that text-heavy profile photos are a no-no.

Kate’s Profile image on LinkedIn isn’t too text-heavy and the most important text is large and bold so it’s easy to read.

 

Rocket Fuel Design's LinkedIn Profile - the logo (rocket) is cut off at the top

See how the same concept doesn’t work with Rocket Fuel Design’s business cover photo. The top of the rocket is cut off and the text feels like it doesn’t have space.

 

Seeing that your LinkedIn cover and image sizes are skinny it’s important to ensure that you only have the most important information conveyed via text. So what image sizes are ideal for LinkedIn post images?

LinkedIn Post Photos Sizes:
  • 1200 x 628 pixels – Link Images
  • 1200 x 628 pixels – Linked Post
  • 1200 x 628 pixels – Moblie Image Post
  • 1200 x 900 pixels – Desktop Image Post

And last but not least, Twitter.

Twitter:

Even though Twitter seemingly is all about the talk, research shows that tweets with images get 150% more retweets than tweets without images. So you better get it right!

Here’s what Twitter suggest when it comes to sizing images for profiles, headers and images:

  • 400 x 400 pixels – Profile Images
  • 500 x 500 pixels – Header Image [60 pixels on the top and bottom could be cropped].
  • 520 x 254 pixels – Shared Link
  • 1024 x 254 pixels – Shared images [the image is reduced to 440 x 220 pixels when in the timeline so make sure to have any important information centred in the middle].
Rocket Fuel Design Twitter profile shows that teh cover photo's text is much too small

We are using our own Twitter account as an example of what not to do with your header photos! In general, the text is not big enough to see easily, our brand name is tinier yet [even with my glasses on I’m squinting]. So keep this in mind sizing when designing your cover picture!

Pinterest:

Pinterest is another image-based application and because multiple images displayed all at once, the quality and sizing of your images are so, so important!

It is suggested by Pinterest to ‘pin’ images that are compelling and tell a story, this will increase the likely hood of someone clicking on your post and make them want to learn more. Use images that have context and bring your topic to life, including important text/copy over your images can help to do this.

Your brand should be the focal point, so make sure to include your logo [avoid placing your logo in the lower right corner]!

Pinterest Photos Sizes:

Something different about Pinterest is that it asks you to think vertical, so pinning a Facebook size image here would look bad and will most likely be cut down to fit in the feed. Pinterest recommends using a 2:3 aspect ratio for pins, so intend to create pins where your image’s width is ⅔ its height.

Here are some example of sizes you can use for your pins:

  • 600 x 900 pixels
  • 1000 x 1500 pixels 
  • 1200 x 1800 pixels
  • 2000 x 3000 pixels

Square sized images 180 x 180 pixels can also be used,  but they may not perform as well. You can also extend the length of your Pins, to make them as tall as you like, but be aware they will be cropped in the feed.

Pinterest Video Sizes:

For videos, it is suggested to use either vertical or square sizing. For best results pin video’s that teaches how to do something and that is around 6-15 seconds of length. Instead of relying on audio use text overlays of captions to describe your video as most people scroll through Pinterest without sound on.

  • 1920 x 1080 pixels – Vertical
  • 280 x 720 pixels – Vertical
  • 180 x 180 pixels – Square
  • MOV or MP4 – Files
  • Up To 2GB – File Size
  • 5 minutes – Max Length

Rocket Fuel Design's Pinterest Profile Page

Pinterest Profile Sizes:
  • 180 x 180 pixels Minimum – Profile Picture
  • 340 x 3 40 pixels – Board Cover

And as we have said throughout – don’t go too text-heavy on profile and cover board images. It is important to be able to see text and images clearly on desktop and mobile devices.

 

Understanding and posting content in all the different social media sites can be a long and tedious task. But it does make a massive difference to the performance of your posts. Hopefully, we have helped you to understand the difference images sizes to the best preform on; Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, Twitter and Pinterest.

Keep in mind social media platforms are updating and changing their best practises around images all the time. So make sure to check up on each social media applications recommended sizes often and update your profile, cover and post sizes when they do!

Sometimes when it comes to crucial parts of your businesses social media pages, it’s best to leave it to someone with a good eye.
We would love to help in the process of creating your businesses social media cover designs and more.

Let us know below if you found this information useful.

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5 things I learnt about marketing that every business owner needs to know. https://rocketfueldesign.co.nz/5-things-i-learnt-about-marketing-that-every-business-owner-needs-to-know/ https://rocketfueldesign.co.nz/5-things-i-learnt-about-marketing-that-every-business-owner-needs-to-know/#respond Wed, 20 May 2020 12:37:12 +0000 https://rocketfueldesign.co.nz/?p=4416 5 things I learnt about marketing that every business owner needs to know. Every business needs to understand the 5 main areas of marketing to truly become successful. Marketing can be a daunting subject for anyone to understand, let alone a new business owner. With so many areas to cover and an ever-changing environment, it can be tough to know where to begin. To help new, and existing, business owners understand the main themes that they need to know to use marketing successfully I have compiled a simple blog explaining the “5 things I learnt about marketing that every business owner needs to know.” Many of these areas were learnt at business school and with the help of amazing online resources each of these 5 things are explained, simply, below for ease of developing an understanding of marketing, to aid your business’s success. 1. Understand the 6 main types of business marketing Direct Response Marketing Direct response marketing is described by Smarty Ads as a sales technique designed to evoke an on-the-spot response and encourage a prospective customer to take action by opting into the advertiser’s offer. Unlike other marketing types, the direct response method requires very minimal waiting time to see measurable results. Marketers are able to view performance from the moment the campaign is launched.  Inbound Marketing  Marketo describes Inbound marketing is a strategy that utilizes many forms of pull marketing such as content marketing, blogs, events, SEO, social media and more. This is to create brand awareness and help to attract new consumers. This is in contrast to outbound marketing, where marketers attempt to find customers, inbound marketing gains the attention of consumers and makes the business easy to be located. Outbound Marketing  As described by Wordstream, outbound marketing refers to any kind of marketing where a...

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5 things I learnt about marketing that every business owner needs to know.

Every business needs to understand the 5 main areas of marketing to truly become successful.

Marketing can be a daunting subject for anyone to understand, let alone a new business owner. With so many areas to cover and an ever-changing environment, it can be tough to know where to begin. To help new, and existing, business owners understand the main themes that they need to know to use marketing successfully I have compiled a simple blog explaining the “5 things I learnt about marketing that every business owner needs to know.” Many of these areas were learnt at business school and with the help of amazing online resources each of these 5 things are explained, simply, below for ease of developing an understanding of marketing, to aid your business’s success.

1. Understand the 6 main types of business marketing

    • Direct Response Marketing

Direct response marketing is described by Smarty Ads as a sales technique designed to evoke an on-the-spot response and encourage a prospective customer to take action by opting into the advertiser’s offer. Unlike other marketing types, the direct response method requires very minimal waiting time to see measurable results. Marketers are able to view performance from the moment the campaign is launched. 

    • Inbound Marketing 

Marketo describes Inbound marketing is a strategy that utilizes many forms of pull marketing such as content marketing, blogs, events, SEO, social media and more. This is to create brand awareness and help to attract new consumers. This is in contrast to outbound marketing, where marketers attempt to find customers, inbound marketing gains the attention of consumers and makes the business easy to be located.

    • Outbound Marketing 

As described by Wordstream, outbound marketing refers to any kind of marketing where a business initiates the conversation and sends its message out to consumers. Examples of this include more traditional forms of marketing and advertising such as TV commercials, radio ads, print advertisements, outbound sales calls (AKA “cold calls”), and email spam.

    • Content Marketing

Content marketing is a strategic marketing approach focused on developing and providing useful, relevant, and consistent content to attract and retain a clear segment of consumers and, ultimately, to drive profitable consumer actions. 

    • Pay-Per-Click Marketing

As explained by Search Engine Journal, pay-per-click marketing (PPC) is an advertising technique that lets marketers place ads on an ad platform and pay the host of that platform every time their ad is clicked. The goal of a PPC ad is to lead the person viewing it to click through to the advertiser’s website or app, where that visitor can complete an action, such as purchasing a product. 

    • Social Media Marketing

Social media marketing is simply described by Neil Patel as the process of creating content that you have tailored to the context of each individual social media platform in order to drive user engagement and sharing. 

 

2. Understand Target Markets and Buyer Personas

    • Target market

A target market is a group of consumers or organizations most inclined to purchase a business’s products or services. As those consumers are likely to want or need a company’s offerings, it makes the most sense for the business to focus its marketing efforts on reaching them. Marketing to these buyers is the most effective and efficient approach.

    • Buyer persona

A buyer persona is, according to HubSpot, a semi-fictional representation of your ideal customer. It’s based on market research, actual data about your existing customers, and a few educated assumptions. It helps you to understand and relate to an audience that you want to market your products and services to. Buyer personas are situated at the heart of any marketing strategy, and throughout every part of the Inbound process. 

target

Hit your target market!

3. Develop Marketing Budgets

Allocating funds for a marketing plan is daunting, but it’s essential for a business’s success. Below are the 6 steps, as devised by OutBound Engine, that you need to understand in order to create a successful marketing budget for your business. 

  • Step 1: Look at the Big Picture
  • Step 2: Outline Your Sales Funnel
  • Step 3: List Your Operational Costs
  • Step 4: Set Goals
  • Step 5: Scope Out the Competition

funnel

Sales Funnel

4. Utilise Visuals and Branding

Visual marketing is the technique of using photos, graphics, videos, and other visual content to market a product or service. Businesses in every industry can benefit from using visual content in their marketing. Using visual branding, such as images, graphics, videos, across your marketing helps consumers remember information about your brand. Below are some statistics from Tinuiti that show just how powerful visual marketing can be:

  1. When consumers process information paired with relevant images, they retain 65% of that information three days later.
  2. 93% of human communication is visual. 
  3. People are 80% more likely to read content if it’s paired with colourful visuals.
  4. Visual content is 40x more likely to be shared across social media.
  5. Presentations with visual aides are 43% more persuasive.

 

branding

Utilize your branding!

5. Retention Matters

The customer retention definition in marketing is “the process of engaging existing customers to continue buying products or services from your business.” as defined by CrazyEgg. The best customer retention techniques allow you to build long relationships with consumers who will essentially become loyal to your brand. This could lead to them spreading the word of your brand to their peers, which can turn them into brand ambassadors. It is easier and less expensive to retain customers than to acquire them, making this an important marketing tool. The most recent statistics indicate that you’ll spend five times less money on customer retention than you will on acquiring new consumers. 

retention

If you understand and use these 5 marketing areas it is likely to aid the success of your business. Check out our other blog posts for more ideas and information on how to help your brand!
And as always, if you have any questions, pop them in the comments below for the team to answer!

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Why You Should Stop Boosting Your Facebook Posts https://rocketfueldesign.co.nz/why-you-should-stop-boosting-your-facebook-posts/ https://rocketfueldesign.co.nz/why-you-should-stop-boosting-your-facebook-posts/#respond Fri, 24 Apr 2020 05:25:14 +0000 https://rocketfueldesign.co.nz/?p=4347 It’s getting harder and harder to get your content in front of your audiences. Even if they already follow/like your page, Facebook algorithms mean your posts often get lost. Boosting your Facebook post may seem like a fast and easy way to promote your content, but is a waste of your money. Sometimes we just want it easy, but in this case, we suggest you don’t! When you spend any money on advertising you want to see results. Boosting Facebook posts may seem like its creating effect, but they do not create tangible results!  What happens when you boost a post? When you boost on Facebook it optimizes the post for more engagement – likes, shares, comments etc.  This is true even if you post a link, rather than enhancing the number of link clicks, a boosted post will still optimize for engagement. Meaning you may see lots of engagement but not many clicks through to your shared link. When it comes to targeting with a boosted Facebook post you have three options; people who like your page, people who like your page and their Facebook friends, or targeted audience of your choice.  Negatives of Boosting If you don’t already have a high volume of page likes who are your target audience, you will be wasting a proportion of your money.  Most people have hundreds of Facebook friends, making it hard for Facebook to ‘pick out’ who is the most relevant within their list.  And while you can ‘target’ an audience, the ability to narrow target audiences down is very limited. Targeted boosted posts won’t allow you to choose on behaviours or include/exclude your current fans or custom target audiences. Not only can’t you target down enough, but you will also find you have no real control over the placements...

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It’s getting harder and harder to get your content in front of your audiences. Even if they already follow/like your page, Facebook algorithms mean your posts often get lost. Boosting your Facebook post may seem like a fast and easy way to promote your content, but is a waste of your money.

Sometimes we just want it easy, but in this case, we suggest you don’t! When you spend any money on advertising you want to see results. Boosting Facebook posts may seem like its creating effect, but they do not create tangible results! 

What happens when you boost a post?

When you boost on Facebook it optimizes the post for more engagement – likes, shares, comments etc. 

This is true even if you post a link, rather than enhancing the number of link clicks, a boosted post will still optimize for engagement. Meaning you may see lots of engagement but not many clicks through to your shared link.

When it comes to targeting with a boosted Facebook post you have three options; people who like your page, people who like your page and their Facebook friends, or targeted audience of your choice. 

Women on a rocket boosting a Facebook post with money

Negatives of Boosting

If you don’t already have a high volume of page likes who are your target audience, you will be wasting a proportion of your money. 

Most people have hundreds of Facebook friends, making it hard for Facebook to ‘pick out’ who is the most relevant within their list. 

And while you can ‘target’ an audience, the ability to narrow target audiences down is very limited. Targeted boosted posts won’t allow you to choose on behaviours or include/exclude your current fans or custom target audiences.

Not only can’t you target down enough, but you will also find you have no real control over the placements of your boosted ads – on desktops or mobiles feeds. 

The placement of your advert matters because there are certain things that people prefer to do on desktops rather than mobile. So if your post is asking people to do an action [which they always should] you need to think about what device will get more action. 

No matter how you chose to ‘target’ on boosted Facebook posts you are bound to lose money somewhere, as they are just not specific enough. 

What you should do instead?

Just do it better! 

Simple, use Facebook Ad Manager instead.

It may take longer to get your head around and build, but you will find that you can target a more relevant audience, create a more suitable campaign objective and have more control over when your ads are seen.

Vanity metrics, as we like to call them, i.e engagement, shouldn’t be the end goal of any campaign. You want your audience to take action, true action, because while a like or comment makes us feel and think we look good it doesn’t move the needle for your business. The end goal is – getting your audience to visit your website, sign up or register [so you can market further] or buy your product/service.  

Overall while you may have to take extra steps, you will get the true value out of your money if you use Facebook Ad Manager instead of boosting your posts.

Facebook Ads on a Laptop

How to use Facebook Ad Manager? 

Here are some simple steps on how to use the Facebook Ad Manager to promote your posts.

  1. Click the green ‘Create’ button in Facebook Ad Manager 
  2. Select your objective – brand awareness or engagement
  3. Reach your customer target audience by choosing your targeting parameters. 
  4. Designate a pre-existing post through the drop-down menu 
  5. Launch the campaign 

Once you have the basics of Facebook Ads Manager down you can move into other more sophisticated campaigns AND THAT is where things start to get really exciting!

 

Creating an advertisement on Facebook is more time consuming, but we believe it is worth it. It is more cost-effective and creates better results. 

If Facebook advertisements feel a bit scary to you, we are happy to set them up for your business.

Talk to us today to see how we can help manage your social media.

 

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The Cons of Outsourcing Your Social Media https://rocketfueldesign.co.nz/the-cons-of-outsourcing-your-social-media/ https://rocketfueldesign.co.nz/the-cons-of-outsourcing-your-social-media/#respond Mon, 17 Feb 2020 09:13:54 +0000 https://rocketfueldesign.co.nz/?p=4176 The Cons and Not So Great Things About Outsourcing Your Businesses Social Media!  There are both pros and cons of outsourcing your business’s social media to a social management company.  Earlier, we discussed the benefits of outsourcing your social media to a social media management company. While it is all well and good pointing out the positives, there are some not so good aspects too. Being in the game for a while now, we have spent some time compiling a list of the ‘not so great’ aspects of using a social media management company.  Culture: Because social media is about being, well, social, it is extremely important to show off the culture of your business. After all, most of the time you are not the only company in your field and you most likely have similar pricing. Showing off your company’s culture and values can go a long way. Good company culture can set your company apart from others and can even entice future employees.  The problem with outsourcing to a social media company is they might not always get it. While we will try our best to showcase the culture and values of your company. We are not living and breathing it.  To truly benefit from having a social media management company it is important to update them with everything. This includes the ‘minor’ details, you never know when they could turn it into something great. Plus, it’s so vital to send lots of pictures of the work you’re doing – imagery is everything. A social media management company can never really show your business culture off in the way that you could if you were an internal employee.  Only as good as you let it: I’m sure I can speak for every social media management company out there;...

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The Cons and Not So Great Things About Outsourcing Your Businesses Social Media! 

There are both pros and cons of outsourcing your business’s social media to a social management company. 

Earlier, we discussed the benefits of outsourcing your social media to a social media management company. While it is all well and good pointing out the positives, there are some not so good aspects too.

Being in the game for a while now, we have spent some time compiling a list of the ‘not so great’ aspects of using a social media management company. 

business culture - open space desk, collaborative working

Culture:

Because social media is about being, well, social, it is extremely important to show off the culture of your business. After all, most of the time you are not the only company in your field and you most likely have similar pricing. Showing off your company’s culture and values can go a long way. Good company culture can set your company apart from others and can even entice future employees. 

The problem with outsourcing to a social media company is they might not always get it. While we will try our best to showcase the culture and values of your company. We are not living and breathing it. 

To truly benefit from having a social media management company it is important to update them with everything. This includes the ‘minor’ details, you never know when they could turn it into something great. Plus, it’s so vital to send lots of pictures of the work you’re doing – imagery is everything. A social media management company can never really show your business culture off in the way that you could if you were an internal employee. 

Only as good as you let it:

I’m sure I can speak for every social media management company out there; when I say that your company’s social media will only be as good as you let it. Often it can be like swimming in the dark when it comes to producing content for a company that doesn’t let you into their day to day and out of the ordinary moments.

If you manage a social media page already, you would have noticed that the more personal posts get much higher engagement. Without leads to this type of content, a social media company is pretty limited to what they can post.  

Majority of the time a social media management company has little to none in-person contact with your company’s customers. Unfortunately, we can’t always encourage them to follow or leave reviews, unless we beckon for reviews online. But the best reviews come when you, the business when you ask for it in person! 

Keeping in contact on Laptop and phone

It can be a drag:

For many companies keeping yet another person/company in the know of what your next move, is just another thing on your list. Sometimes it may feel easier just to do it yourself. More emails and more back and forth can seem like an inconvenience. 

But remember, these guys are the experts and if you do truly welcome them as if they were another employee [a much cheaper one may I add], then you will see wonderful results.

Can’t be personal:

This could be the biggest con of outsourcing your social media. As I mentioned before, unless the social media management company is properly equipped and kept in the know, it can be hard for them to create personalised content and personalised interactions. 

For a social media company, we see value in the little things, like sharing the awesome or not so awesome moment in your employees’ or business week. Unfortunately, because we are not immersed in your business culture we rarely pick up on the ‘gem’ moments. Therefore we fail to share the personal and rare moments on your behalf.

Unless we are told, social media management companies don’t always know who is a close friend, family member or who is a great customer [new or old]. If they aren’t in the know, then, they can’t make personal comments on your business’s behalf. Which is unfortunate because the greatest and main part of social media is to create and maintain great customer relationships

To outsource or not?

You may have spotted a common theme throughout this, a social media management company is really only as good as you allow them to be.

In a perfect world, every company would be in charge of their own social media [yes, we did just say that]. 

While that idea is all well and good in theory, in practice, we know that most businesses don’t have the time, resources or understanding of what is needed to run a successful social media business page.

So if your business is struggling to:

  1. Post consistently
  2. Handle costs
  3. Find time
  4. Upload diverse posts
  5. Have up to date technology

It may be time to investigate outsourcing to a social media company and remember the company can exceed as much as you allow it to!

Let’s navigate that journey together – Contact Us Today!

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8 Benefits of Outsourcing Your Social Media https://rocketfueldesign.co.nz/benefits-of-outsourcing-your-social-media/ https://rocketfueldesign.co.nz/benefits-of-outsourcing-your-social-media/#respond Sun, 09 Feb 2020 23:18:54 +0000 https://rocketfueldesign.co.nz/?p=4133 Be Set Free By Outsourcing Your Social Media  To outsource or do it yourself? We have compiled a list of 8 reasons why your business may benefit from outsourcing your social media to a social media management company. So let’s launch into it… Benefit One – Fresh Ideas: Outsourcing your social media to a social media management company allows for new fresh ideas, not only for your social media – but other marketing efforts too. Being creative, coming up with new ideas is what we do on the daily, we thrive off it! And because creative marketing is all we do, it means we can fully concentrate on it. This is an unlikely situation for most small/ medium businesses, who simply can’t afford to have a sole person working on marketing. Because we are on the outside but understand your business, we can add new perspectives and ideas to your business, for free! We can help in aiding your companies offering development, as we are constantly performing social media listening, which means we can see trends before you do… Benefit Two – Daily Surveillance: Unlike most small to medium businesses, whose staff are assigned social media among other roles; we are constantly on social media, I mean all day. Which means we can perform social media listening, reply and react to comments and messages throughout the day on your business’s behalf. We act as if we are your full-time marketing manager (but for a fraction of the price and a lot less hassle). Being seen as active and preforming social servicing on social media can be the difference between using your company or not – 55% of customers would pay extra money to guarantee a better service (Defaqto Research). Benefit Three – Understand Social Media Platforms: Just because you use social media personally...

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Be Set Free By Outsourcing Your Social Media 

To outsource or do it yourself? We have compiled a list of 8 reasons why your business may benefit from outsourcing your social media to a social media management company.

So let’s launch into it…

Benefit One – Fresh Ideas:

Outsourcing your social media to a social media management company allows for new fresh ideas, not only for your social media – but other marketing efforts too. Being creative, coming up with new ideas is what we do on the daily, we thrive off it! And because creative marketing is all we do, it means we can fully concentrate on it. This is an unlikely situation for most small/ medium businesses, who simply can’t afford to have a sole person working on marketing. Because we are on the outside but understand your business, we can add new perspectives and ideas to your business, for free! We can help in aiding your companies offering development, as we are constantly performing social media listening, which means we can see trends before you do…

Benefit Two – Daily Surveillance:

Unlike most small to medium businesses, whose staff are assigned social media among other roles; we are constantly on social media, I mean all day. Which means we can perform social media listening, reply and react to comments and messages throughout the day on your business’s behalf. We act as if we are your full-time marketing manager (but for a fraction of the price and a lot less hassle). Being seen as active and preforming social servicing on social media can be the difference between using your company or not – 55% of customers would pay extra money to guarantee a better service (Defaqto Research).

People on their laptops and phones
Benefit Three – Understand Social Media Platforms:

Just because you use social media personally (and you get loads of likes) doesn’t mean you will have a successful business page. Why? because they work differently! We live and breathe social media, some may even call us the ‘experts’. Because of this, we understand the ins and outs of different social media platforms, how they work differently and what consumers expect on these platforms. Changing different aspects of your business’s social media may take an hour of your team’s time whereas it may take us minutes!

Benefit Four – Consistency:

Life often gets away on you when you’re busy. The same happens when a companies workload is bustling, social media is often put on the back burner. I mean who cares about new leads or interacting with your past consumers when you have already got enough work on your plate? But suddenly when it slows down again, and your back on social media, you may find you lose lots of your following or interaction with your posts. Posting sporadically may lead you to fall in the ranking algorithm and your posts may be seen less by your audience. Posting too much can annoy your followers and lead them to unfollow you. That’s why consistency is key! We understand that posting consistency can be hard to keep up with when you’re a busy company and generating content can be difficult. That’s why it’s so beneficial to have a social media management company looking after your socials, their workload isn’t affected by yours and they are contracted to produce a certain amount of posts per week/day. Meaning consistency. 

Benefit Five – Focus On What Truly Matters:

Social media is not what makes your business successful (don’t let anyone tell you it will). It’s your business, culture and product/service offering that makes your business prosperous. Social media, however, is a great way to showcase and support this. Your business’s mission is to provide an exceptional product or service, this should be your main focus. Outsourcing your social media means that you can focus on the core of your business. An electrician’s area of expertise may be producing great electrical offerings, not social media, we certainly can’t go past changing a light bulb. You wouldn’t get us to change the wiring in your house, so why would you expect an electrician to be great at social media? It’s not your skill base, outsourcing means you can focus on your talents while having a presence in the digital world.  

Man with paper work piled up around him

Benefit Six – Decreased Workload:

For many business owners marketing is extra to their everyday workload, or pawned off to the receptionist. As we said before, managing your social media is often the first thing that goes out the door when you’re busy. Having a social media company means you don’t have to add marketing on top of your long list or pass it on to an amateur. It allows for everyone to be more effective in the role they have been chosen for.

Benefit Seven – Technology:

One thing we often notice is that many businesses social media pages just lack good visuals. Visuals are such an important factor in having successful marketing –  With 90 per cent of information transmitted to the brain being visual. While some people truly lack the ‘eye’, we believe that the majority of people would pick and create better graphics if they had the opportunity to. Paying for stock image sites and creative suites are often too costly for many small to medium businesses. We have access to better technology and we know our way around them too. Benefit

Benefit Eight- More for less:

It’s a well-accepted fact that one of the most costly expenses a business has is its employees, more so if you have a high turnover. If you hire someone to do your marketing for your business, you don’t only factor their wage but also the cost of ACC, Kiwisaver, Fringe Benefit Tax, insurance, recruitment fees, as well as overheads. It is costly to have an employee, full or part time. Outsourcing takes all those costs away, you don’t have to upskill us, nurture us, buy new technology, or pay us sick leave. You simply pay a monthly sum and bypass all the extra admin, you get much more, for much less. 

 

Are you lacking fresh ideas, don’t have the time or the patience to do daily surveillance, are your posts irregular, have you lost track of what truly matters, are you struggling to complete all your tasks or keep up with the new technology? 

Maybe its time to consider outsourcing to a social media management company. 

Here at Rocket Fuel Design, we work with a whole range of businesses around New Zealand to help connect with their consumers online. 

Contact Us Today – let’s launch your socials!

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Customer Reviews – Your Secret Marketing Fuel https://rocketfueldesign.co.nz/reviews-your-secret-marketing-fuel/ https://rocketfueldesign.co.nz/reviews-your-secret-marketing-fuel/#comments Thu, 25 Jul 2019 03:12:27 +0000 https://rocketfueldesign.co.nz/?p=3851 Customer Reviews – Your Secret Marketing Fuel Ever wonder why most advertisers will use a well-known face such as Dan Carter? Well, that’s because we are heavily influenced by what we marketers call ‘opinion leaders’, ‘influencers’, ‘consumer content’ and a million other names. And why is it when your mother in law tells you all about her new breadmaker that she just ‘adores’, you are more likely to take her first-hand opinion over another advertisement? Well, today only 3% of consumers consider salespeople and marketers to be trustworthy. With advertising surrounding us every day and everywhere consumers now more than ever are picky about which marketing efforts and claims they believe in. Because most small to medium businesses can’t afford to hire a hottie like Dan for a day and can’t rely on your mother in law spreading the word. Other forms of opinions such as customer reviews can act as social proof of your brand’s excellence. In fact, 88% of consumers trust consumer reviews just as much as they trust personal recommendations.   Acquiring customer reviews and using them in your marketing plans can help bridge gaps, keep your brand feeling authentic and build trust with your consumers.    How to Get Your Customers to Review Your Business It may be an obvious step, but you can’t utilise the awesome marketing effects of consumer reviews if you don’t have any… So the first move in using consumer reviews for your marketing is getting feedback from your consumers! Achieving this can be done in a variety of ways, with the first and easiest step just asking your consumers to review! Whether you’re asking in-person or through email, it is extremely important to make the review process extremely easy and hassle-free. Every consumer has a different platform that they feel comfortable on,...

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Customer Reviews – Your Secret Marketing Fuel

Ever wonder why most advertisers will use a well-known face such as Dan Carter?
Well, that’s because we are heavily influenced by what we marketers call ‘opinion leaders’, ‘influencers’, ‘consumer content’ and a million other names.

And why is it when your mother in law tells you all about her new breadmaker that she just ‘adores’, you are more likely to take her first-hand opinion over another advertisement?

Well, today only 3% of consumers consider salespeople and marketers to be trustworthy.
With advertising
surrounding us every day and everywhere consumers now more than ever are picky about which marketing efforts and claims they believe in.

Because most small to medium businesses can’t afford to hire a hottie like Dan for a day and can’t rely on your mother in law spreading the word. Other forms of opinions such as customer reviews can act as social proof of your brand’s excellence. In fact, 88% of consumers trust consumer reviews just as much as they trust personal recommendations.  

Acquiring customer reviews and using them in your marketing plans can help bridge gaps, keep your brand feeling authentic and build trust with your consumers. 

 

How to Get Your Customers to Review Your Business

It may be an obvious step, but you can’t utilise the awesome marketing effects of consumer reviews if you don’t have any…

So the first move in using consumer reviews for your marketing is getting feedback from your consumers!
Achieving this can be done in a variety of ways, with the first and easiest step just asking your consumers to review!

Whether you’re asking in-person or through email, it is extremely important to make the review process extremely easy and hassle-free. Every consumer has a different platform that they feel comfortable on, so provide your customers with options and let them choose the easiest one for them.
This may mean you have a range of reviews on different platforms; Facebook, Google, LinkedIn and even on your webpage itself. 

With up to 80% of reviews originating from post-purchase emails, post-purchase emails can be an easy and cost-effective way to increase the number of reviews on your companies products and services.

Rewards and incentives for leaving reviews can also be used to increase review rates, one company found a 22% increase review conversion rate when offering $10 Amazon gift voucher to the first ten people who reviewed them. 

You may not always need to dangle a carrot in front of your consumers to get a bite, just make sure you ask, most people don’t mind leaving a review, especially if previous reviews have had an influence on their decisions. 

 

Negative Reviews – Not All Bad

Many companies may be scared of allowing consumers to review their products due to trolling and negative reviews, however, bad reviews can have positive outcomes.

So-called negative reviews are trusted more (after all, not every business to consumer interaction is all cherry). Negative reviews provide variation and helpful information about product and service experiences that other consumers may be looking for.

Customers are more likely to buy products that have a 4.2 to a 4.5 star rating, rather than a 5-star rating. Because perfect scores, perfect people and perfect company don’t often exist, it makes customers wary that this may be too good to be true. 

Negative reviews also give companies a chance to repair past consumers negative experiences, therefore improving the companies image. They give helpful insight into why they may be losing customers and allow them to make educated decisions on their companies processes.

 

Put Your Customer Reviews to Work

Customer reviews help build business representation and brand trust as they show real feedback and real-life experiences with your company, both good and bad.  

So where can you use your reviews to help marketing efforts?

Google Ad with Review

Google Ads

Your reviews can be used on your Google search ads ‘seller rating’ and be seen through ‘Google My Business’. A seller’s rating reflects your consumer’s overall experiences with your company (dependant on the country).

If your Google Ad matches what your customers have reviewed previously your ‘sellers rating’ may show up. However according to Google,

“In most cases, seller ratings in a country only show when a business has 100 unique reviews from that same country and a composite rating of 3.5 stars or higher. The reviews from users in a given country will only contribute to the business’ rating in that country.”

Using Testimonial on Facebook

Social Media Testimonials
Not only can reviews can be created and seen by consumers, but you can also use reviews as testimonials on social media and website pages.

We already do this with our customers, the review below was left on Safe Zones Google My Business. We repurposed it and posted it so Safe Zones Facebook customers can see this review as well, this is relatively easy, simple and effective marketing you can do for your business. Using third-party reviews as testimonials on social media and web page can help to validate your company, increase credibility and engagement. By posting your reviews as testimonials you will also encourage other customers to review your services or products.

 

Email Marketing
Not only is email marketing handy in increasing and encouraging reviews online, but emails can also be used in other email marketing practises. Your company’s reviews can be used to help promote your company’s products or services. Including reviews in your email marketing can give your consumers a better idea of what you’re selling and assist them in their buying process.
(Here’s a tip – if you run email marketing programs, make sure to include some testimonials about what value your current email customers have received from subscribing to your emails)

Ads and Marketing Material
As we said above many consumers can be wary about advertisements, however, 87% of consumers think that advertisements that include online review are more trustworthy. And even better user-generated advertisements have shown to have 4 times more click-through rates than normal advertisements. 

 

So as you can see reviews are super helpful and an inexpensive alternative if you can’t afford Dan and can’t rely on your mother-in-law. Not only can reviews help a company’s’ marketing plan but they also give your business insider, truthful knowledge of what your customers are thinking.

If you’re feeling overwhelmed and don’t know where to start for your business.
Don’t worry we have your back.
Contact us today!

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