Category: digital marketing

Unleash the Power of SEO with This One Simple Trick: Weekly Original Content

Want Great SEO? Content is King! Generating original weekly content is crucial for Search Engine Optimization (SEO) for several reasons. Here are the main ones:

  1. Fresh Content is Valued by Search Engines: Search engines, such as Google, prioritize fresh and original content in their rankings. Regularly publishing new and relevant content shows search engines that your website is active, up-to-date, and providing value to users. Fresh content also increases search engine rankings (SERPs) and traffic as well as getting quality links from other sites. If there’s not enough relevant content for your brand or business, it pretty much defeats the purpose of having a website in the first place.
  2. Improves User Engagement: Fresh content can also improve user engagement by keeping them interested in your website and encouraging them to spend more time on it. Increased user engagement signals to search engines that your website is relevant and valuable, which can improve your search rankings.
  3. Increases Website Traffic: By providing valuable and engaging content, you can attract new visitors to your website and increase traffic. More traffic to your website can also lead to increased visibility, which can improve your search rankings.
  4. Boosts Keyword Rankings: When you publish new content regularly, you have the opportunity to target new keywords and improve your rankings for those terms. This can help you reach a wider audience and attract more qualified leads to your website. Add a few keywords that sum up your article theme and target audience. Don’t spam keywords.
  5. Provides Opportunities for Backlinking: By producing high-quality content, you may also receive backlinks from other websites, which can help boost your website’s authority and search engine rankings.

72% of marketers report that content creation is their best-performing SEO tactic. (OptinMonster)

If you lack the resources for generating content, outsource to an agency or freelancer for help. The basic purpose is to create content and try to post at least 2-3 times per week. Content is scalable and you can add as needed or when more resources become available. Content Marketing is important! Without it, you’re going to struggle to attract the attention you need to collect leads and convert them into sales or clients!

Generating original weekly content is a critical component of an effective SEO strategy. By producing fresh and relevant content, you can improve your search rankings, attract more traffic, increase user engagement, and ultimately grow your online presence.

Top Social Platforms Used by US Marketers for Influencer Marketing 2020-2025

Influencer marketing has become a popular marketing strategy for many companies and marketers in the US. With the rise of social media, influencer marketing has become a crucial part of many brands’ marketing strategies. In this blog post, we will discuss the social platforms that were used by US marketers for influencer marketing from 2020 to 2025.

  1. Instagram: Instagram remains one of the most popular social platforms for influencer marketing. It is a visual platform that allows marketers to showcase their products and services through pictures and videos. Instagram has over 1 billion monthly active users, making it a prime platform for influencer marketing.
  2. TikTok: TikTok, the short-video-sharing app, has recently exploded in popularity. It has become a popular platform for influencer marketing, especially among younger audiences. With its emphasis on creativity and user-generated content, TikTok allows marketers to reach a large, engaged audience.
  3. YouTube: YouTube has long been a popular platform for influencer marketing. As the largest video-sharing platform, it offers marketers a massive audience for their influencer campaigns. Marketers can use YouTube to create engaging video content that promotes their products and services.
  4. Pinterest: Pinterest is a visual discovery platform that allows users to save and share images and videos that interest them. It has become a popular platform for influencer marketing, especially in the fashion, beauty, and home decor industries. With its large and engaged user base, Pinterest provides marketers with a unique opportunity to reach consumers who are actively seeking inspiration and ideas.
  5. Facebook: Facebook remains one of the most popular social platforms in the world, with over 2.8 billion monthly active users. While it may not be as popular as other platforms for influencer marketing, it still offers a large audience and provides marketers with a variety of targeting options.
  6. Snapchat: It is difficult to make an accurate forecast for Snapchat’s influencer marketing in the next few years as it depends on various factors such as the platform’s success in improving its advertising capabilities and measurement tools, the growth of its user base, and the competition from other social media platforms. However, if Snapchat continues to make progress in these areas and provides marketers with a way to effectively reach and engage with their target audience, it could become a more popular platform for influencer marketing in the future.

In conclusion, US marketers have been using a variety of social platforms for influencer marketing from 2020 to 2025. While Instagram remains the most popular platform, other platforms like TikTok, YouTube, Pinterest, and Facebook also offer unique opportunities for influencer marketing. As social media continues to evolve, it is likely that new platforms will emerge, offering marketers even more opportunities to connect with their target audiences through influencer marketing.

How to Perform a Year-End Social Media Business Audit

A year-end social media business audit can help you identify areas for growth and set goals for the coming year. A social media audit is a process used to measure the success of your social strategy across accounts and networks. An audit identifies your strengths, weaknesses, and the next steps needed to improve. Here’s how to get started:

  1. Review your social media metrics: Look at your social media analytics to see how your pages have performed over the past year. Look at metrics such as engagement, reach, and followers. Make note of any spikes or dips in these metrics and try to identify what may have caused them. For each platform, record your username or handle the URL, and the number of followers or subscribers, engagement metrics, or any other KPIs that might be relevant to each channel.
  2. Assess your content: Take a look at the types of content you’ve been posting and how well they’ve been received by your audience. Think about what has resonated with your followers and what hasn’t. You may also want to consider what types of content you want to focus on in the coming year.
  3. Evaluate your social media strategy: Consider whether your current social media strategy is still aligning with your business goals. Are you using the right platforms for your target audience? Are you posting at the optimal times? It may be time to reevaluate your strategy and make adjustments as needed.
  4. Audit your social media presence: Take a look at how your business appears on each social media platform. Are your bios and profile pictures up to date? Do your posts accurately reflect your brand voice and aesthetic? Make sure everything is cohesive across all platforms. Tools such as Agorapulse can analyze your content on Twitter & Instagram. Hashtagify is a cool tool that will allow you to identify related hashtags to the one that has worked best for you. The tool is freemium and it will show you related and popular hashtags for free. Buzzsumo has a handy Facebook audit feature allowing you to analyze the content of any page, and even compare it to competitors’ pages.
  5. Identify areas for improvement: Based on your review of your social media metrics, content, and strategy, identify areas where you can improve. Maybe you must focus on creating more visually appealing content or engaging more with your followers. Make a list of actionable steps you can take to improve your social media presence in the coming year. See what popular posts within each platform and across platforms have in common. The type of post, the target audience of the post, the time it was posted, and any media in the post are things to explore.
  6. Set goals: Once you’ve identified areas for improvement, set specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound (SMART) goals for the coming year. This will help you stay focused and progress toward your social media objectives. Your social media goals should be about how social media can benefit your business, including increasing brand awareness, engagement, and traffic to your website.

A year-end social media business audit is a crucial step in helping your business grow and thrive on social media. By reviewing your metrics, assessing your content and strategy, and identifying areas for improvement, you can set yourself up for success in the coming year.

How to Acquire Financial Services Leads using Social Media & Tips to Help you Stay Compliant

Social media is a powerful tool for acquiring financial service leads. With billions of users on platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, and Twitter, it’s no wonder that businesses are turning to social media to reach potential customers. In this blog post, we’ll explore some of the best ways to acquire financial services leads using social media.

  1. Create a strong presence on social media

Before you can start acquiring leads on social media, it’s essential to establish a strong presence on the platforms you plan to use. This means creating a professional profile, posting high-quality content, and interacting with your followers. By creating a strong presence, you’ll be more likely to attract potential leads who are interested in your financial services.

  1. Use targeted ads

One of the most effective ways to acquire leads on social media is through targeted ads. By targeting specific demographics, locations, and interests, you can ensure that your ads are being seen by the people most likely to be interested in your financial services. For example, if you offer mortgage services, you could target ads to homeowners in a certain location.

  1. Utilize social media groups and communities

Another way to acquire financial services leads on social media is by joining groups and communities related to your industry. By participating in these groups and communities, you can connect with potential leads looking for financial advice or services. Just be sure to follow any group rules and guidelines and be respectful of other members.

  1. Share valuable content

Sharing valuable content on social media is a great way to attract leads. This could be industry news, tips, and tricks, or educational resources. By consistently sharing high-quality content, you’ll position yourself as a thought leader in your industry and build trust with potential leads.

  1. Use social media to answer questions and offer advice

Social media is a great place for people to ask questions and seek advice. By actively participating in these conversations and offering helpful information, you can establish yourself as an expert in your field and attract leads. Just be sure to follow any guidelines and policies set by the social media platform and always provide accurate and helpful information.

Social media is a powerful tool for acquiring financial services leads. By creating a strong presence, using targeted ads, participating in groups and communities, sharing valuable content, answering questions, and offering advice, you can attract potential leads and grow your business.

Also, as a financial advisor, it’s important to adhere to all regulatory requirements, including those related to social media (FINRA & SEC). Here are some tips to help you stay compliant when using social media as a financial advisor:

  1. Understand the rules: The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and FINRA has specific rules (Guidance) that apply to financial advisors using social media. It’s important to familiarize yourself with these rules to ensure that you’re not breaking any regulations. Some key things to keep in mind include:
  • Disclosing any material conflicts of interest
  • Not making false or misleading statements
  • Not using social media to advertise your services without providing the required disclosures
  • Retaining all relevant communications and records for a specified period of time
  1. Use caution when posting: Be careful about what you post on social media as a financial advisor. Even if you’re not intentionally trying to break the rules, it’s easy to accidentally make a statement that could be perceived as misleading or inappropriate.
  2. Keep it professional: Social media is a public forum, so it’s important to maintain a professional image. Avoid posting personal or inappropriate content, and always be respectful and courteous in your interactions with others.
  3. Disclose your relationship: If you’re posting about a specific investment or product, be sure to disclose your relationship to that product or investment. This could include disclosing whether you own the product or are being compensated for promoting it.
  4. Use proper disclaimers: If you’re posting content that could be perceived as investment advice, be sure to include appropriate disclaimers. This could include a statement that the content is for informational purposes only and does not constitute investment advice.

By following these tips, you can help ensure that you’re staying SEC & FINRA-compliant on social media as a financial advisor. Remember, it’s always better to err on the side of caution when it comes to regulatory compliance.

Top Social Media Content Strategies for Small and Medium-Sized Businesses (SMB) Success

Social media has become an essential part of the marketing mix for small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs). It’s a cost-effective way to reach a large audience, engage with customers, and drive sales. However, with so many different social media platforms to choose from, it can be overwhelming to know where to start.

Here are the top social media content strategies for SMB success:

  1. Define your goals and target audience: Before creating any content, it’s important to define what you hope to achieve with your social media presence. Do you want to drive website traffic, generate leads, or increase brand awareness? Once you know your goals, you can tailor your content to appeal to your target audience.
  2. Create a content calendar: Planning out your content in advance will help you stay organized and ensure that you’re consistently posting valuable content. A content calendar will allow you to schedule posts, plan promotions, and track your progress.
  3. Use a mix of content types: To keep your audience engaged, mix up the types of content you post. This could include blog posts, infographics, videos, polls, and more.
  4. Utilize hashtags: Hashtags are a great way to reach a larger audience and increase the visibility of your content. Use relevant hashtags to make it easier for people to find your content and join the conversation.
  5. Engage with your followers: Social media is a two-way conversation, so make sure to respond to comments and messages in a timely manner. This will help you build a loyal following and create a positive brand reputation.
  6. Analyze your performance: Use social media analytics tools to track the performance of your content. This will help you understand what’s working and what’s not, so you can optimize your strategy and improve your results.

By following these tips, you can create a successful social media content strategy that drives results for your SMB. Remember to be consistent, engage with your audience, and constantly analyze your performance to see what’s working and what’s not.

Generating Leads from Social Media

If you’re a business owner or marketer, you know how important it is to generate leads from your social media efforts. Social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn are great for building brand awareness and engaging with potential customers, but ultimately, the goal is to convert those followers into leads. In this blog post, we’ll provide some tips on how to do just that.

First and foremost, it’s important to understand who your target audience is and what kind of content they respond to. This will help you create more effective social media posts and campaigns that will resonate with your audience and encourage them to take action.

Once you have a good understanding of your target audience, you can start creating content that is specifically designed to convert leads. Here are some things to keep in mind:

  • Offer value: One of the key ways to convert leads on social media is to provide value to your followers. This can mean sharing useful information, offering discounts or promotions, or providing helpful resources. Whatever it is, make sure that it’s something that your audience will find valuable.
  • Use calls to action (CTAs): A call to action is a phrase or button that tells your audience what to do next. This could be something like “click here to learn more” or “sign up for our newsletter.” By including a clear CTA in your social media posts, you’re making it easy for your audience to take the next step and become a lead.
  • Utilize lead magnets: A lead magnet is a free resource that you offer in exchange for a potential customer’s contact information. This could be something like an e-book, a checklist, or a free trial. By offering a lead magnet, you’re providing value to your audience and giving them the incentive to provide their contact information.
  • Follow-up: Once you’ve generated a lead from social media, it’s important to follow up and continue the conversation. This could be through email marketing, direct messages, or even a phone call. The key is to continue providing value and building a relationship with the potential customer.

By implementing these tips, you can effectively convert leads from your social media efforts. Remember to always focus on providing value to your audience and making it easy for them to take the next step. With a little bit of effort, you can turn your social media followers into loyal customers.

 

Why Instagram (IG) Reels is Ideal for Reaching New Customers and Driving More Engagement

What is an Instagram (IG) reel?

Instagram Reels are full-screen vertical videos that can be up to 90 seconds long. They come with many unique editing tools and an extensive library of audio tracks (featuring everything from trending songs to snippets of other users’ viral content). On top of sounds, Reels can include multiple video clips, filters, captions, interactive backgrounds, stickers, and more.

Why are Instagram reels so popular?

It has become a hot favorite of influencers and brands all over the world. And the importance of Instagram Reels has only increased over the last couple of years, with more and more social media marketers resorting to this feature. One of the main reasons why Reels has become so popular is because it allows you to portray who you are through short, catchy videos.

How can a business or service benefit from IG Reels?

Reels help your small, medium, and large business gets the targeted audience with instant and safe marketing services like buying Instagram followers, likes, or comments. Instagram is an extremely low-cost and highly effective means to increase your brand awareness due to its huge user database.

The biggest benefit for business from IG Reels? Approximately 80% of marketers claim to have increased website traffic with an increasingly active presence. With 80% of Instagram users following at least one of the business sites, generating traffic to your site becomes important if you wish to make your brand the top SEO rankings.

How to take advantage of IG Reels to reach new audiences and drive more engagement?

Reels are the fastest-growing format and an important part of Instagram, as more people watch Reels to be entertained, go deeper with their interests, or discover new businesses.

For clients or product sales that are not in your website funnel, you need IG Reels to bring them in. Like it or not, IG Reels is the future as far as engagement with your content. If you are selling products or trying to acquire new clients, you need to go all in on Reels. If you think generic IG or Facebook ads are too overwhelming to drill down and figure out, go with just the IG Reels “boost” option.

If you already have posted IG content (in general), figure out which posts get the most likes and shares. Once you do, then that’s the post you want to boost.

How do I “boost” an IG Reel?

You can boost reels within the Instagram app to turn them into ads for the opportunity to reach new audiences and drive more engagement. To be eligible for boosting within the Instagram app, reels must be less than 60 seconds and have a 9:16 aspect ratio, which means they’re filmed vertically and have a full-screen format. At this time, reels that use third-party IP—such as copyrighted music, GIFs, interactive stickers, or camera filters in a reel—are ineligible for boosting, as well as reels shared to Facebook.

You can boost your reels by finding the reel in your grid in your profile and tapping Boost Post. After running your ad, remember to check your Insights to learn which ads brought in the most engagement. Reels is an easy feature to learn and doesn’t take a lot of time and energy to create. Make Reels the center of your Instagram Marketing strategy. Businesses can boost organic engagement on Instagram almost immediately with lots of ROI.

How to Measure Leads Through Social Media

Every day, your customers are active on a huge range of channels, including social media. If you’re not present and engaging with them across all of these social media platforms… it’s killing your reputation, lead generation, and your bottom line.

How you define a quality “lead” depends on your industry, campaign, and goals. Generally speaking, a quality lead will include useful information and clear signs of intent to engage with your business.

Social media is now the preferred business contact platform. Use this to your advantage by actively engaging with (and converting) prospects and customers on all modern channels such as Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn, Pinterest, and Reddit. If you’re collecting social media leads, you need to be collecting analytics insights. Whether it’s product sales or new client and services type leads. How do you measure it coming from social media? Here are a few ways:

  • Google Analytics. Watch and review social media platform traffic (goals) in Google Analytics to track leads on your website. This will allow you to monitor which social media platform is the best source for your business. If you notice, for example, that Twitter outperforms Facebook, it may be worth redoubling efforts on that platform.
  • Social analytics tools. Tools such as Keyhole, Sprout Social, and Hootsuite also allow you to identify the type of creative and messaging (posts) that performs best. Most of these tools offer easy-to-review dashboards that offer metrics such as the number of impressions, reach, posts, and engagements that certain accounts or hashtags you are getting from each individual platform.
  • Engagement. Engagement is one of the most valuable metrics in measuring social media lead generation. You need to evaluate if you’re engaging with the right audience, how they are interacting with your brand, and what they are doing to engage with your topic and spread your content. The ideal engagement metrics include the number of likes, comments, shares, and re-tweets.
  • Tracking via a specific social media “discount code” or “social shopping”. Many brands offer customers a discount code in exchange for a product or newsletter sign-up. Discount codes or rewards points encourage customers to make a return visit to your site, and ideally a purchase. If you plan to offer one, have a strategy in place for not just generating leads, but also nurturing and converting them.
  • Social Media Ads metrics. The main metrics include Reach, Impressions, and Click-Through Rate.
  • Link Tracking on Social. Link tracking answers the question – “How did you find us? It involves tracking the number of clicks obtained by specific links on your social media posts. Link tracking is helpful in monitoring if your audience is clicking on links associated with your ads.

The above bullets can help you measure leads coming back through Social Media. In the meantime, what can actually help boost the % Leads using social media? 5 tips are below…

  • Optimize your profile. Your profile should provide the means for customers to contact you, sign up for your newsletter, shop, contact information, YouTube channel, etc. Your profile should always include a “link back” to your business website. Make sure to “Add a link” to your bio.
  • Create clickable content. Without compelling content, you won’t collect leads (clicks). Clickable content includes social media posts. Social Media posts include clickable content such as blog posts, YouTube channel content, and call to action type of content (landing pages) that can be SHARED.
  • Use social lead ads. Call to action ads can be posted on platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, Linkedin, etc. Your best-performing Twitter posts can be “boosted” (just like paid ads) across that platform where you can dial in demographics such as gender, age, geography, etc.
  • Share testimonials as social proof. Customer stories and testimonials can give you the social proof you need to acquire new leads. Showcasing how clients have benefited from your products and services to demonstrate your brand value. Add these stories and testimonials to your website.
  • Leverage social media sponsorships. Instead of using paid ads, you could also attract leads from the social media content that your target audience is already consuming. Consider sponsoring shows, content, and YouTube channels that are popular with your target audience.

 

“Proof of Work” when Hiring a Digital Marketing Firm

The term “proof of work” originally came from decentralized consensus mechanism that requires members of a network to expend effort solving an arbitrary mathematical puzzle to prevent anybody from gaming the system. More recently, Proof of work is used widely in cryptocurrency mining, for validating transactions and mining new tokens..

However, you can also apply this “proof of work” example when hiring a digital marketing agency. For example, when evaluating a digital marketing agency firm (bid) for your business, request the following:

  1. Industry experience. Agency experience in your particular field (niche). Ask for client (roster) names list and testimonials. Review agency clients website layouts, content (blog), social media accounts, etc. Drill down on Agency clients and look for website rankings, social media follower counts, blog content quality.
  2. What results are they promising (vision and strategy)? Ask Agency what their KPI’s (metrics) are with clients and did they meet them (KPIs)? If Agency guarantees  SEO rankings on first page, that’s a red flag. SEO top rankings takes years to achieve and its a “long game” strategy.
  3. What tools are they using (website & blog building, Slack, Social Media, Google apps, email, CRM, etc) with clients? Id the tools aren’t industry leading, and you never heard of them that’s a red flag.
  4. Size of agency? How many heads (resources) will they allocate for your marketing effort? How do they communicate (daily, weekly, monthly)?
  5. Agency website. I needs to be elite. An Agency website needs to look clean, flow well, images top rate, mobile optimized, call to actions (CTA), and downright pleasing to look at. Anything short of that, don’t bother hiring them.
  6. Communications. Do they speak well on the phone and in person (trust is crucial)? Make sure there is chemistry between you and the Agency’s team. If you feel a conflict in the first meetings (chemistry-wise), move on and don’t bother hiring them. Ask them for an initial audit (free of charge) of all your digital resources (website, blog, social media, etc). Most digital marketing agency’s will send you a quick audit and feedback/strategy when vying for your marketing dollars!

An outsourced Digital Marketing Agency should show you “proof of work” and a strategy on how to best achieve your business success in the digital world.

 

Best Google Chrome Extensions for Productivity, Experience and Security (updated)

Here are latest 15 Google Chrome extensions (updated) boosting your productivity, experience and security.

  1. iCloud Passwords. iCloud Passwords allows you to use the same strong Safari passwords you create on your Apple device, with Chrome on Windows.
  2. LastPass: Free Password Manager. An award-winning password manager, saves your passwords and gives you secure access from every computer and mobile device.
  3. Save to Pocket. Pocket’s Chrome extension is the easiest, fastest way to capture articles, videos, and anything else you find on the web.
  4. HTTPS Everywhere. Encrypt the Web! Automatically use HTTPS security on many sites.
  5. Adblock Plus. A free extension that allows you to customize and control your web experience. Block annoying ads, disable tracking, block sites known to spread malware and lots more.
  6. Privacy Badger. A browser add-on that stops advertisers and other third-party trackers from secretly tracking where you go and what pages you look at on the web.
  7. Print Friendly & PDF. Print Friendly and PDF any Webpage. Print Friendly removes ads, navigation and junk before your print. Pages are optimized for the ultimate print reading experience.
  8. Pablo. Pablo is the simplest way to create beautiful images that fit every social network perfectly.
  9. Google Translate. View translations easily as you browse the web. By the Google Translate team. Highlight or right-click on a section of text and click on Translate icon next to it to translate it to your language. Or, to translate the entire page you’re visiting, click the translate icon on the browser toolbar.
  10. Save to Pocket. Save to Pocket allows you to save articles, Web pages, images and videos for your reading or viewing pleasure. Then it syncs everything across numerous devices, such as your smartphone or tablet.
  11. Boomerang for Gmail. The ultimate email productivity tool. Send later, track responses, and use AI to write better emails.
  12. Todoist. A great useful task manager that helps you keep track of your projects, manage tasks and organize them, all direct from your Chrome browser.
  13. Evernote Web Clipper. Clip interesting web pages, recipes, boarding passes, highlight the most interesting information, take screenshots, and make annotations.
  14. Fair AdBlocker. Blocks a wide range of Ads, malware, and trackers. A solid block adware extension.
  15. Click and Clean. Click and Clean removes all up to your browsing history, cookies, history of downloads, cache, open windows, etc., in one click.