Social Media Archives - Konnect Agency

LinkedIn Best Practices To Grow Your Network

August 11, 2020 by konnectprdaily

We all likely agree that the way in which we connect and socialize with people has dramatically changed since the beginning of the pandemic. Though we as a society already heavily relied on the internet before the entire world started to quarantine, having a good internet connection, email and social media platforms (personal and professional) became ESSENTIAL once we started to interact with people mainly through technology at the beginning of March. People always talk about Instagram and Twitter but we believe that your LinkedIn presence is similarly, if not more, important.

LinkedIn distinguishes itself from other social media platforms in that it is more professional. Compared to Instagram, it is less likely that you will be inclined to share personal photos of your home, pet or family. Compared to Twitter, you can increase the word count on your posts as well. Our public relations agency utilizes LinkedIn on a daily basis and as such have assembled a quick guide to help everyone navigate the platform and use it best for both business and networking purposes.

Customize Your Profile

LinkedIn is great in offering a clear step-by-step guide to ensure that its users complete their profile to include as much information about themselves as possible. You can treat your LinkedIn profile as a virtual CV of sorts. It will prompt you to include a headshot, a short bio, as well as your work experience, education and professional accomplishments. This is all very useful when people are trying to learn more about you. With people perhaps having to change their jobs during the pandemic, their LinkedIn profile can also serve as a perfect tool to highlight your skills and to stand out. With in-person interviews likely not happening any time soon, this platform truly gives you the space to shine.

Brands too can also build a LinkedIn profile which includes an overview of the business, including a link to the brand’s website, and identifies people who work for the brand. We highly recommend that both individuals and businesses have LinkedIn profiles because it allows them to make professional connections and brands can reach leaders in their own industries who they would not be able to connect with over Instagram and Twitter.

Connect with People / Build Your Network

As with Instagram or Twitter, LinkedIn’s objective is to connect you with individuals. As we have already discussed, LinkedIn focuses on building a professional network and as such, it is likely you will be connected there with your team, even your boss, although you might not be in contact with them over other social platforms. The same goes for any business partners, colleagues, or in the case of a public relations specialist, journalists, editors, and clients. What we want to stress is the way how you go about connecting with people. When you find a person you want to add to your network, we recommend that you introduce yourself in the invitation so that the person knows where he/she knows you from, if it is not completely obvious.

Please note that you might not be able to text people directly if you are using the free version of the platform. If you are willing to pay a monthly fee, you will have no limit on how many people you can connect with via a direct message on a daily basis.

Be Active on LinkedIn

Having a profile on LinkedIn is one thing, using it is another. We have seen unused profiles too many times and our opinion is that people/businesses should make the best use of it for further professional development and for making new professional connections. The publicists at our agency utilize their LinkedIn profiles for connecting with journalists, sharing exciting news and articles about their clients, and for further working on solidifying relationships with editors by connecting with them and thanking them for including our clients in their articles. The further sharing of the articles on our platforms brings more readership for the certain piece which in turn helps the writer because outlets value writers whose work is being re-shared and brings more eye to their website.

Brands should also be active on their LinkedIn profiles to share recent news with their professional network, whether that be a recently written article or an important announcement. Brands and executives can also share byline articles related to happenings in the industry, offering creative content to their network. Being active on LinkedIn however, does not only mean sharing your news with others but also engaging with content others share. We definitely encourage individuals/brands to connect with other users/brands and like, comment, and share their posts. Oftentimes people share promotions on their profiles and a great way to show them your support is to congratulate them as that builds on the relationships further. People who are building their profile will also appreciate it when you write a personal recommendation for them (if you two worked together) or if you endorse them for their skills.

Share Relevant Information

As already discussed, LinkedIn is NOT Instagram or Twitter. The goal of this platform is to connect professionally and not to share photos of your lunch or your cat. There should be a clear intent behind posts that you share on LinkedIn. The following are reasons for posting on your LinkedIn profile: job search, announcing a new position, sharing and interesting article you read, thanking an editor for including your brand in a piece, announcing brand news, etc. When it comes to activations such as brand giveaways or any post with a goal of boosting consumer engagement, we strongly recommend doing these on Instagram as LinkedIn is traditionally not utilized by consumers looking for a product but rather by professionals looking to engage with brands on a more B2B level.

Use the Platform as a News Source

Last but not least, you can also use your LinkedIn page to get daily news. The platform syndicates news from a variety of news sources which allows you to receive news about the most recent events.

Denisa Caldova

What It Takes to Keep Up with Social Media in 2020

July 24, 2020 by konnectprdaily

Navigating social media, let alone the world in 2020 is no easy task. Konnect Agency is here to help you navigate these uncharted marketing territories as your go-to resource for all thing’s social media, public relations, marketing, and more! With the uncertainty of today, there are steps we can take on social media to ensure that we are being sensitive and appropriate during these challenging times. Below are our top recommendations for maintaining an appropriate brand presence in 2020.

Monitoring:
Now more than ever things on digital are changing by the minute and it is extremely important to be as diligent as possible in monitoring the overall sentiment towards branded content on the platforms. With important conversations around things such as COVID-19 and the BLM movement circling the internet, brands need to consider where and how they fit into the mix to evaluate the appropriateness of content and advertising on a weekly/monthly basis. We recommend monitoring daily both on your brand’s profiles, competitor profiles and general conversation across the platforms. Paying close attention to feedback/comments from your fans, popular hashtags, and trending content. Having this insider’s perspective will help ensure your content is not coming across as tone-deaf to the platform’s current conversations. Advertising is another content source that needs to be monitored closely. Often times brands have ads that are “always-on” and running year-round. Given the ups and downs of online conversations, these ads popping up in users’ feeds may not always be appropriate. For example, if your brand sells products or has a service that forces you to go in-store or in-person to purchase or experience, depending on your timing that content may come off as insensitive. As numbers in COVID-19 cases are fluctuating up and down across the country and cities are shutting down again the way you speak and advertise to your consumer needs to reflect the current consumer sentiment on travel, in-person shopping, activities, etc. These “always-on” ads are not the best approach in these uncertain times. It is best to create new ads sets on a regular basis that reflect current shopping behaviors and moods. Monitoring daily or weekly to evaluate performance and feedback. Another important aspect to monitor ads is your location targeting. Different parts of the country are experiencing COVID-19 on different levels and messaging that may be appropriate for one area of the country may not be for another. It is important to take all of this into consideration when creating content, ads, and messaging for brands on social media.

Flexibility:
With the uncertainty of the world, brands have had to make huge shifts in marketing plans. From the cancellations of events, sampling activities, partnerships, and content strategies, brands have had to roll with the punches since mid-March. The brands who are doing the best with these changes on social media have been extremely flexible in content planning to adapt to the current conversations online. For example, creating content that is more relatable to the world we live in (i.e. work from home tips, at-home workouts and recipes). As a social media marketing agency, we work with our clients to create relatable content stories that fit into today’s current climate and we create opportunities for our brands to join the conversation online to make a more meaningful connection to their audiences. Scheduling content is another aspect of social media planning that has required a large level of flexibility over the past several months. Pre-scheduled content and planning too far in advance is no longer an option. Social media experts have had to adapt to the changing climate and evaluate strategies on a weekly basis to ensure the appropriateness of planned content.

Creativity:
In a COVID-19 world creative resources are limited with the lack of photo shoots and group gatherings content development is challenging. Brands and influencers alike have had to get extremely creative to create these assets. Leaning on user generated content (UGC) is the best way for brands to leverage relatable and sharable content during this time. Like mentioned above, recipes, work from home related content and at-home workouts are three pillars of content themes that continue to thrive during this time. Working with influencers as content creators can bring these stories to life in an authentic way. For example, if you are a better-for-you snacking brand, protein product or any other pre/post-workout essential working with a local trainer to create a series of workout videos to share on your IGTV or IG Stories creates content that brings value to your audience and keeps theme engaged with your brand without directly selling to them.

Marketing as we know it has changed and it is still extremely unclear if we will be going back anytime soon to the ways in which we used to do things. This truly is our “new normal” and how we navigate changes truly depends on how diligently we are monitoring, how flexible we are in our planning and how creative we are in finding new ways to market our brands in today’s culture.

-Christina Dobson

Easy Ways to Amp Up Your Brand’s IG Stories

July 15, 2020 by konnectprdaily

When you tap your way through Instagram Stories, do you ever wonder what type of content gets the most attention? Knowing your brand’s audience and how to interact with them is critical in answering this question when it comes to your own content. By learning what your audience enjoys and reacts to, you arm yourself with the tools to form a relationship that is engaging and potentially long-lasting.

Interactive Instagram Stories:
Creating content your audience can interact with will help you increase your engagement and impressions. With the right interactive content, your audience will be drawn to your page not only for news about your products or services but for entertaining and shareable content.

Examples:

Inspiring quotes
- Inspire your audience by creating quote cards or re-sharing popular ones. The more a quote resonates with your audience, the more likely they are to save it or share it with a friend
Games
- Create quick, fun games people can fill out such as bingo or a word search. These are easily shareable and create a fun opportunity for you to gain more visibility
- Like a game, you can create a fun template that people can screenshot and share on their own Stories. People love posting fun facts about themselves — create a template that gives you the opportunity to share factoids about your brand and allows your followers to post their own personal version
Giveaway
- Another way to increase your brand’s following is by hosting mini 24-hour giveaways in your Story. Your audience will have access to an exclusive followers-only perk that will encourage them to check in with your brand’s page on an ongoing basis for more. If you have the swipe up feature, you can create a landing page where people can sign up via email to increase your database at the same time. If you do not have a swipe up feature, you can encourage followers to comment on your last post with a friend’s name and a secret emoji. By hosting giveaways consistently, you create a reason for your followers to increase the amount of time they spend on your page and to refer their friends and family to your business
Get Personal: Share insights about your company to showcase what goes on behind the scenes (within reason).
- Audiences love a humanized brand they can relate to and connect with. Behind the scenes footage of something being made, company outings, employee celebrations, philanthropy and relatable or outstanding founder stories are just some examples of subjects you can create content about
Take advantage of Instagram’s features.
- Polls: Create polls so you can gather information about what your audience likes.
  - Ask about their favorite products by putting two products side by side asking which they prefer
  - Ask a Yes or No question that is product or trend related
- Quiz: Challenge your audience to see how much they know about your brand, help them choose the best product for them or share a trending topic.
  - Posting trivia related to your brand gives your audience an interactive way to learn more about you and your product or service
  - With a fun quiz, you can help your customers determine which products or services are right for them and encourage them to make a purchase
- Ask me a question: This Instagram feature lets your audience ask questions about your brand and allows you to decide which of your answers you’d like to share in your Story.
  - You can pose an “Ask us anything” kind of question to see what your followers are interested in learning about your brand
  - Alternatively, if you want to learn more about your audience’s preferences you can pose a question that they enter the answers to, granting you easy insights into what makes your followers tick
- Countdown: Get your audience excited about a new launch with the countdown feature.
- Instagram Live: Interact in real time with your followers by going live.
  - Instagram Live gives you an opportunity to get feedback from your followers and interact with them directly. You can host a Q&A, virtual group workout, cooking show-style recipe creation, invite an Influencer takeover and so much more

Put these Instagram tools to use for your brand, and you will gain invaluable new insights about your followers and customers. With that new knowledge, you’ll be able to increase your brand awareness and tap into a more personal relationship with the people who are most interested in buying and advocating for your product, service, ethos and more.

Happy ‘gramming!
-Amanda Daucher

The Publicist’s Guide to Twitter

May 12, 2020 by konnectprdaily

Twitter is not just for the irrational all-hours ramblings of the world’s loose cannon personalities; it can be a very resourceful tool for your public brand and for PR professionals.

Twitter, at its most basic, is a tool that helps people stay on top of the latest news and “follow” sources of instant information. As a publicist, you can use the social media platform to stay in touch with journalists, share your work, reach out to sources and build your community of clients (both existing and potential), media and peers.

During this time of distancing and isolation, people are increasingly turning to a wide variety of social media sites and apps to seek comfort and a sense of connection. On Twitter in particular, where conversations are boiled down into 280 characters of bite-size information, you’ll find celebrities, journalists, editors, business moguls, the President, your neighbor…you get the idea…eager to share their thoughts and opinions with the world. So join the conversation and make Twitter work for you!

Here are some tips to get you started:

1. Build an Online Relationship with Journalists
Twitter can be a great way to reach out to a reporter, build a relationship and keep track of his or her beat. A simple scroll through a reporter’s feed will give you a feel for his or her interests and coverage. Pay attention to headlines, learn who they are and build your rapport from there. Along the way, you’ll likely glean some valuable insights into what they’re working on at the moment and how they preferred to be pitched.

The following editors took to Twitter to share their thoughts on receiving pitches about CBD in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic — something that some reporters are very open to, but others apparently aren’t. As soon as you come across this kind of tweet, you quickly learn who you should and should not reach out to about a particular topic.

2. Follow Relevant Hashtags
Just as you can follow someone on Twitter, you can (and should!) also follow hashtags. Hashtags allow users to scan topics and see all the latest social media chatter on the subject. Journalists often search hashtags while seeking story ideas. Effective use of a hashtag linking your news to a larger trend might just result in a media placement. (Tip: Keep it simple — don’t use more than two hashtags.)

3. Join the Conversation
Whether you’re connecting with your peers, clients or journalists get in there and strike up a conversation. By responding to someone’s post, you show them that their feedback is important and that you’re listening.
Most media outlets have a presence on Twitter, so be sure to follow those that are relevant to your industry to stay updated on news and trending stories. Find something interesting to comment on? “Retweet with comment” to share the tweet and become a resource yourself.

Funnel some of the same energy you use to interact with other people’s posts into creating your own content. Tweet about your latest updates, blog posts and news, and integrate images, videos, and links to add visual components to your post. This will also help boost your social engagement. Make sure to use relevant hashtags to catch more eyes and target the people who are involved and interested in the topic. When relevant, tag the people and organizations that may take interest in and retweet your post.

5. Use Twitter Lists
Avoid getting overwhelmed with all of the latest tweets rolling in at once. Instead, create and organize lists to see the latest tweets from everyone you follow, and prioritize them. These can be private or available for the public to view and can help you monitor the chatter on specific people/companies/industries. Some helpful lists include celebrities to seed products, influencers to engage, customers or VIPs, media outlets, etc.

For more tips on using Twitter for PR, check out these do’s and don’ts of Twitter. Konnect is also hosting a live Q&A on Instagram this Friday, May 8th with our digital marketing team — stop by to ask your questions and gain some additional insights.

Happy Tweeting!

The Speed of Change

April 16, 2020 by Carmen Hernandez

As we’ve learned over the past month, nothing prompts change as fast as a global pandemic. In a matter of weeks we’ve seen governments around the world make and implement life-changing decisions, companies go into self-preservation mode and people prepare for the worst by stocking up on supplies we may not have realized were essential until now. Change – a word that people don’t typically do well with or welcome in their lives – is being thrust upon us.

And, much of this change has me thinking. In our line of business, being forced to change is not something new. Media and communications have been experiencing drastic changes for decades. However, the marketing engine of many businesses has been less than willing to adapt to those changes and now it’s suddenly catching up to them. As recently as this week, I was speaking with someone who was telling me all the wonderful things their company was able to achieve through events and sampling in 2004 and the easy media recognition they were able to garner with little to no expenditure. What immediately went through my mind is, yeah 2004. That’s 16 years ago. Boy, do I miss those days. At that point, Facebook was not yet for the masses (it was founded in 2004 but only open to students with a .edu address). Not until 2006 did it become available to the public, and even then it took a couple of years to become completely mainstream as a marketing tool. Instagram was introduced in 2010 and gave birth to the modern-day influencer. So, here we are over a decade and a half later in a world that is being altered practically overnight and we should not be talking about what worked in 2004.

If you hadn’t been paying attention to digital marketing before now, then the fact that worldwide traffic to online entities is quickly approaching an increase of 40% due to shelter in place orders should be enough to force you to get with the program. And, what you’ll find is that Facebook is all pay per play and Instagram (acquired by Facebook in 2012 for a jaw-dropping $1 Billion) is following suit; people are starting to embrace Tik Tok (founded in late 2016 in China and rolled out to the world in 2017) as a potential new frontier for marketing and advertising, and in-person meetings have been replaced by Zoom. The way we communicate with people and reach the customer has changed forever and will continue to change and adapt. So adapt we must.

As marketers, we understand the need to embrace change and constantly adjust to the new way of doing things, and sometimes we take brands with us kicking and screaming because we know those who don’t evolve will be left behind. Truly successful brand campaigns (before COVID) are paying attention to the entire customer awareness funnel. They are taking a 360-degree view of where they can build their raving fan culture. It’s no longer enough to reach someone once at a sampling event or be newsworthy for a moment. In this day and age, a brand needs multiple touchpoints and the support of various opinion leaders to be successful. Content, whether from the brand or from creators, needs to be the driving force and requires a sound digital strategy including social media, website, e-mail, advertising, etc. Most importantly, this content, and everything the brand has to offer a customer, has to be perceived to provide VALUE.

The biggest change that has taken place in the past few weeks is that this last piece, the value you offer, has become the foundation for any brand to survive. It’s no longer about a full tactical approach (although I’d argue that getting fully up to speed on digital and e-commerce is crucial). It’s also about how marketers see their customers as humans and how much we are willing to do to make real connections with them and give them what they want and need. So, not only is it that something that worked previously won’t work today, it’s very likely it won’t work in the near future or it won’t work in the same way. Marketing as a whole is forcing us to be extremely agile and flexible to be successful. It’s my suspicion that we’ll be seeing changes that happen much faster and even more drastically so that what we did in 2004 will seem downright quaint. The winners will be those who are willing to change and possibly forget what worked in the past. So, let’s do this together. Let’s be daring and adventurous and create meaningful ways to do business for the long haul.

A “Temporary Normal” Demands New Marketing Tactics For the Long Haul

April 16, 2020 by Carmen Hernandez

The impact of COVID-19 is far-reaching and unlike anything we’ve experienced before as marketers. And, as we take stock of how it is impacting business, we observe that many were not prepared for the direction commerce has taken. A key factor in adapting is the ability to develop contingencies to mitigate loss, most of which are found online. As an agency supporting businesses in consumer packaged goods, franchise and lifestyle, we’ve spent years anticipating how the growth of digital channels will impact business, and even so we are struck with how quickly, practically overnight, digital marketing has become an imperative.

In the recent weeks, companies have realized the importance of digital marketing as their audience has largely shifted their time and wallets to online. This major change in consumer behavior has led us to examine the ways we can help our clients approach social media, digital marketing and influencer partnerships to ensure these new sales funnels grow and develop into permanent solutions. Some key principles to consider:

It’s Time to Get Personal

As humans, we are changing how we view the world almost overnight. As marketers, these personal changes are forcing us to examine our role in helping businesses evaluate their message and lay the foundation for what’s next. More than ever, we need to put empathy, values and service to others first. The formulas we used prior to this pandemic will not work. People are seeking out brands that make them feel connected and valued as customers, so how you speak to a customer who is dealing with personal struggles associated with their new normal is more important than ever. We help clients identify brand narratives, messaging strategies and digital content approaches that consider consumer mindset and the true value you can offer.

As events continue to unfold and the foreseeable future appears to include more staying at home, it becomes increasingly crucial to focus on the emotions we are all feeling and building content that connects people around our shared experiences. Hiring influencers to deliver your message, developing video content or creating live content opportunities are all ways you can transition into meeting the needs of your audience. Combined with a refresh of existing content through editing and creative graphics you’ll be telling a new story in no time.

Now Is the Time to Try Something New

We know customers can be found online, and we can reach them through a relatable and honest content strategy that will live on a website, social media channels and digital ads, but once we reach them, we need to understand what they want and how they will behave. Now is the time to explore how different approaches and tactics might impact your long-term customer relationship. If your organization previously put token efforts into digital channels because you had built your connection to your customers offline and that had always seemed to work, now is the time to revisit and invest in your online presence and refining what works there. That could be as simple as giving your website a slight refresh to make messaging more current and reduce e-commerce friction or giving your social media content a new perspective supported by paid ad strategies that will drive visibility. Konnect has experience with helping brands develop a purposeful approach to building new customer touch points and we can help you determine what will work best for your brand.

While your brand may already be active online, are you really considering how these activities are driving your customer to make a purchase? Awareness may be solid but developing a stronger connection to sales is the trickier part for brands that have been built for grabbing customers in stores. Now is the time to address the many ways your customer can find you though SEO, e-mail marketing, social media advertising, display advertising, testing new audience targeting methods, etc., and when they do find you, make sure their experience is optimized. Now is the time to address your wish list of e-commerce tactics including setting up an e-mail marketing program, customer support chat or add to cart optimization to ensure that your website to matches or exceeds the in-person experience of shopping at a store.

Extend Your Reach Today for The Future of Your Business

With social distancing affecting our view the world, what we do today to reach our customer can add up to a new insight or innovative way of doing business as events continue to unfold. Developing new approaches and shifting to digital marketing should not serve as an emergency solution, rather it should be looked at to develop long-term value for your business, even if the world eventually gets back to normal. There is great potential to reach your audience in new places by expanding your view of various digital channels (streaming, podcasting, radio), ad formats and targeting methods (demographics, geography, retargeting and remarketing) and exploring where your customer is actually spending their time.

Ask Us How We Can Help You?

While there are many ways you can develop new digital marketing efforts, it’s not a one size fits all approach. As we’ve pointed out, making sure you’re offering your customer value is the first order of business and determining what your true value is may be the biggest hurdle. Additionally, a concept designed to bring in new customers may vary from how you will interact with your existing customers. Offering a personalized approach is our strength, and we can develop a unique and applicable set of tactics for your brand. Our team is always available to provide counsel, brainstorm or simply chat about whatever your distinct issue or opportunity may be. We’re happy to connect via phone or video any time you need us.