Bigar Creative

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To Boost or Promote, That is the Question

You’ve probably already heard the news that Facebook has decreased the organic reach for pages (boo). For those of you who are unfamiliar with Facebook reach, in a nutshell, it is simply the number of unique people who have seen your content. Check out our post The Facebook ‘Free Lunch’ and we’ll explain it all. Keep in mind that Facebook considers your “reach” by determining your content’s appearance on news feeds- there is no guarantee that people saw or read your content.  So, what does this mean for marketers? Simply put, you have to pay money to reach your audience. Fortunately, there are two easy and low-cost ways to reach more people on Facebook. You can create an advertisement or boost a current post on your news feed. Now, the big question remains, which should I choose?  The general consensus is to review your goals before spending your ad dollars.

A post that has been boosted will appear higher up on news feeds, therefore, the fee you pay depends on how many people you want to reach with these posts. The best time to boost a post is when it helps promote a product or service offered by your business and when it encourages visits to your businesses website. Boosted posts are also a good option if the post spreads awareness of a time-sensitive campaign. Review your Facebook Insights information and boost a post that has been gaining a lot of popularity organically. You can boost a post for as low as $1.00 making this type of marketing/advertising VERY budget friendly. 

If you choose to use Facebook Ads manager, you will have more options when it comes to targeting, pricing and bidding. Translation, you will have more control over who sees your ad as well as how you pay for it which stretches your ad dollar and creates a better ROI. It also means that creating successful Facebook ads can be more time consuming. Gather all of your marketing research about your target demographic and create a customized audience list for the ad. 

Stay tuned for our next blog post, where we will dive deeper into the different features that are offered by both boosted posts and the Facebook Ads Manager.

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The Never Ending Quest for Curated Content

In our last blog post we talked about the qualities that define good content. Now that we’re past the hard part, we want to ‘share’ some ways to find relevant content for your business. Pun intended 

One of the objectives in managing a social media account is to consistently be a valuable resource to your followers. Always seek out the very best content for your audience, business and industry to help increase your brand awareness and visibility. Don’t always stress about creating your own content. There are plenty of ways to share quality content even if you’re not the author (just be sure to give proper credit).

Not sure where to start? Start big! Check out USA Today, CNN, or even The Huffington Post for some fun. Remember to leave your personal opinion(s) at home and don’t mix politics, religion, sex (insert any hot-button issue here) with your business posts. Unless these topics are part of your company’s mission statement and advocacy, don’t risk turning people away from your business by offending them with your opinion- that’s what your personal accounts are for!

Another helpful tip is to pay attention to things that are trending on social media outlets. Remember that Twitter and Instagram are much better sources for hash tag searches. Take the opportunity to incorporate a trending hashtag into your content to help gain brand visibility.

There are also useful tools called news aggregators that do a lot of the work for you! They sort through the latest news and divide it up based on the industry or niche you may be looking for. One of these sites is Alltop.com, with customizable results that are alphabetically organized by topic. Check out these similar sites that each have their own perks like SmartBrief.com, Inbound.org and stufftotweet.com.

Although we’re just skimming the surface, these resources are a great jumping off point to finding shareable content that is actually worthy of your page. Don’t forget to keep a healthy mix of content, some through resources and some that you’ve created.  Remember that digital marketing is tricky because it can change by the minute. Don’t wait to share timely content because you might miss your only opportunity.

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Always Connected; 3 Tools to Help Maximize Your Audience Reach

It’s 10:00 PM on a Monday night and you lie awake in bed scrolling through Facebook. You watch videos, like photos and comment on a friend’s status (we all have our routines). Before long your Facebook fun is interrupted by a targeted advertisement and, before you know it, you are redirected to an external website contemplating that sweater you didn’t buy last week…is it fate? As you can imagine, there’s a lot of time and money spent by large companies trying to better understand consumer habits. For those of us with less than a million dollar research budget, there are some great tools out there that can help you understand your audience behavior(s) and maximize your organic reach.

  1. Facebook Insights. We can’t say enough great things about this feature and the information it provides!  The Insights tool is a tab included with every Facebook Business account and it’s full of valuable information about your customer/audience. It can tell you the percentage of male vs. female followers, where they live and how your published posts are preforming. Our favorite Facebook Insight statistic at Bigar Creative is the “When Your Fans Are Online” tab. This incredible feature tells you the most popular times/days of the week for your business page and helps create a posting schedule using this information that can result in maximum organic reach.
  2. Twitter Analytics. This feature works much like Facebook Insights except, we would argue, it has even more valuable information. Twitter Analytics is broken down by the month and gives you statistics like profile views, new followers, top tweets and top follower to name a few. All of this can be very helpful when creating content because it allows you to reflect upon your month in review and see what worked and what didn’t.
  3. Email Campaign Analytics. We’re giving a specific shout out to Constant Contact and Mail Chimp on this one! Everyone knows that creating an email campaign is the first step in “owning your audience” (i.e. not relying on a social media platform to reach them). With emails, you are able to connect with your audience directly in their inboxes.  As soon as your campaign is sent, the email marketing programs will start tracking the data. You can see who specifically opened the email, who unsubscribed, what links were popular, how many times it was shared on social media etc. Email campaigns can provide some of the most valuable information when it comes to connecting directly with your audience. Best of all, these programs do the math based on your industry and tell you the next best time to send your campaign for maximum results.

So, in a world where no one disconnects, use these tools and features to your advantage and maximize your organic reach. Have questions? Feel free to email us at nicole@bigarcreative.com.

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Don’t Look Now! Gotcha Guerrilla Marketing

Think back to a time when an advertisement really stuck with you. For most of us, it usually happens when we are caught off guard. Wilkinson Quattro Titanium went for the shock factor when they placed transparent pictures of masculine faces on grocery store eggs in Brussels, Belgium. The company took advantage of the smooth aspect of eggshells to make them look like closely shaved heads. Although this tactic was somewhat controversial, it most definitely did an excellent job of creating brand awareness. This marketing tactic is known as guerrilla marketing, a strategy used to promote products and services in an unconventional way.  This technique is especially great for small businesses as it is more about creativity than cost. Guerrilla marketing is all about using the element of surprise to yield maximum results.

Once you decide upon a guerrilla marketing strategy that’s right for your business, be sure to display it in a public area such as a busy street, park or shopping center so it receives a lot of attention. The main goal is to establish direct contact with your audience, resulting in an emotional response that leaves them with a lasting impression of your brand all while creating a social buzz. Not sure where to start? As with any marketing strategy, guerrilla marketing is not a ‘one size fits all‘ tactic. From sidewalk chalk to revamping the entire side of your building, there are many creative ideas when it comes to guerrilla marketing. Need some inspiration? Check out this great post from tweak your biz where they highlight 100 guerrilla marketing ideas with zero budget.

There are plenty of ways that guerrilla marketing can be used to help out a business big or small. Not only does it create brand awareness, but it encourages better customer recall, increases retention of current customers and, of course, is a form of low-cost advertising. Whether you are looking for a new way to approach your marketing techniques or simply looking to spice things up, guerrilla marketing can take almost any business to the next level!

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From inbox to home screen; how to get your emails opened

inboxYour inbox is a place full of coupons, discount codes, newsletters and the occasional email from your old roommate. As soon as you open your account, you are instantly bombarded by words and phrases like “sale”, “act now”, “save an extra 10%” and “ending today”. With all of this noise, it’s hard no to feel overwhelmed… when did your inbox become a home for countless coupons and unwanted discounts? Many people do not have the time (nor patience) to sift through all of clutter therefore, the majority of their emails are left unopened which could be a major problem for businesses. Are you wondering how to set your email marketing campaigns apart from their competition? We’ve put together a list of helpful tips that will get people clicking.

1. It’s all about a strong headline or, in this case, a strong subject line. The average email subject line on an iPhone cuts off around 35 characters and, according to an article by Litmus, 53% of emails are opened on a mobile device. Therefore, it’s extremely important to see that your subject line meets these requirements or you could risk eliminating the majority of your audience. Additionally, ensure that all of your content is mobile friendly. We cannot stress this enough!

2. Be trustworthy even during sales-driven campaigns. People don’t want to be constantly bombarded with cheap marketing gimmicks and ploys… can you say unsubscribe? Use your email campaigns to promote your brand, your mission statement and your products. Be relatable and personable so customers feel like they can rely on you. Also, especially during sales-driven campaigns, remember to stay away from phrases such as “click below”, “this message contains” and “prize” because those words might trigger spam filters.

3. Present a problem and solve it. This is great piece of general marketing advice and, really, one that can be applied across the board. It’s an expansion upon being relatable and building trust. Present people with a problem they might be facing and tell them how your company, business or product can fix it! Remember to be honest.

4. Reward subscribers for reading. The reward doesn’t have to be promotional, it could be as simple as sharing an industry tip. Share a tip, build your brand and create a sense of reliability and trust.

5. Keep it short and personalized! Get to the point and make sure it is interesting. People don’t have the time or interest to keep scrolling. Make sure your message has good placement within your email so it doesn’t get lost or overlooked. Also, when an email is personalized, your message will be that much more appreciated. Since email is a one-to-one communication, this is the perfect opportunity to learn more about your subscribers so, go ahead and try to make the connection!

As with all success in marketing, the key is to provide quality content whether it’s through e-mail, social media or your website. Once people recognize your brand as one they can trust, you move out of their inbox and onto their home screen.

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Bigar Creative is a full-service Marketing Firm specializing in maximizing the effectiveness of your business through the use of Social Media.

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