Advertising on Facebook

Do you advertise on Facebook? Who and, more importantly, where, are your market?

According to the latest article from Mashable this makes a difference

http://mashable.com/2015/06/10/facebook-creative-accelerator/?utm_cid=mash-com-fb-socmed-link

Facebook 'Likes' no longer offer organic reach

As Facebook 'likes' no longer offer businesses any organic reach, what do you need to do to market your business? The first answer is have a budget in place for strategic Facebook advertising...
This interesting article from Marketing Interactive looks at the options for marketeers and businesses and includes 5 key points.
"Ever since Facebook went public, it has made its stance clear about the saturation of the organic reach of branded content through Facebook pages." http://www.marketing-interactive.com/fbs-organic-reach-whats-strategy-now/ #facebook #smm #socialmedia #marketing

Fake Accounts on Facebook

With so many of Facebook's profiles being fake, how many are real 'likes'?

Well this infographic from Joyoftech.com might help explain!

Make sure you target the right audience with your posts and campaigns and beware of those fake accounts!

Top 5 Tips for Marketing with Facebook

Having trouble attracting the right audience on Facebook? Try these 5 tips to help market your business

Facebook is moving towards just being an advertising tool, and as such they're developing functions and models that help marketeers. Here are some of the ways to maximise your Facebook marketing.


1. Make a New Product and Boost it Announcement

Despite all the fake accounts on Facebook - boosting posts is still relatively effective as you will stay in the Newsfeed for longer. Use this for announcements, not advertisements - by keeping it to news you don't turn people off.


2. Make use of Your Newsfeed

How often do you look at pages? Most people on Facebook interact via the newsfeed - this is where the shares and likes are won from. Avoid writing updates that require people to go to your page and leave the newsfeed, such as entering a competition. Try using ActionSprout to allow someone to sign, join, enter from the newsfeed itself.

3. Customise your Marketing to your Audience

You can target your marketing on Facebook and reach specific fans. One such tip is using the 'Custom Audience' option, especially if you post in multiple languages. You can also customise it to people who have visited your website, so know your users and set a different marketing message for them. Essentially you're getting to know your market better and targeting them based on what they are looking at.


4. Don't Run the Same Adverts

To make the most of your advertising efforts and maximise your budget - run a trial of adverts and use different keywords for each. Use only a small portion of your budget and find out which adverts have the best engagement. It may sound a hit and miss way to find your return on investment, but split testing gives the best results to find exactly what segments of the market your reaching and with which keywords.


5. Use Audience Insights

These measuring functions are there to help you and should be used! Take advantage of the insights and check when your users are most active - times of day, where and what they're looking at. This should make you better equipped to target your audience so use this as a tool and engage with them.


For more suggestions on how to market your business check out www.hosteldoctor.com

Social Media Marketing Tips for Hostels

Research shows that 51% of people are likely to book somewhere their friends have enjoyed. And the place they talk about this? Social networks.  Don’t underestimate how important your reputation online is – so follow our tips to keep your hostel profile healthy!

Make sure you use platforms that connect with your market and brand. A facebook page and Twitter feed are great multimedia platforms for interacting with your potential customers visually and creating shares. Facebook visitors spend an average of 20 minutes online each day, and Instagram users spend twice as much time as those on Twitter. Google offers great search and has a range of applications from Maps to Google +



Synchronise
Don’t become overwhelmed - you can synchronise most accounts and focus on your quality of content not just posting to keep up. Creating a schedule is helpful if you have events to promote and showcase.

Interact
Social networks are about being social, and everyone can see them. Interact with your users, connect with potential customers, respond to requests and posts, if someone asks for advice on your page, don’t ignore it!

Keep if fresh
Keep your page exciting and engaging. Use social networks for promotions, news and events. Post pictures and videos that are relevant to your hostel, ultimately you want people to share your posts. Don’t post every day, post when you have something to say.

Use Multimedia
Your post is 39% more likely to engage users if it’s visual, so make the most of showcasing your product with photos and videos. Adding your name to your photos will promote you when shared too.

Check out our blog for advice on Facebook shares, how to use Pinterest, Google+ and top tips for Instagram and Twitter.

Top 5 Tips for Marketing with Instagram

1. Keep it Visual
Instagram is about capturing a moment visually and sharing it – this is the same message with any photography – you’re showing your audience, not telling them. Visually interesting shots create intrigue, show case your products and users, and transcend language barriers. Make a connection with followers, share an experience, inspire. Great for global marketing.

2. Share your story
Business is global and you’ll be attracting people from all over the world – show them yours. Take shots of your local area, points of interest, see through the eyes of a tourist and see what’s of interest. If you go on trips; document them. Think of it as photojournalism for the story of your brand. Everything is mobile now so take your followers on your journey to share your brand experience.

3. Be Human
Your customers will probably be quite familiar with the public face of your brand, but there is always an interest in the human element of your brand – your staff, the other customers, events and parties you hold, experiences. People love to feel like a VIP or have a sneak preview. Posting ‘behind the scenes’ pictures is great for creating interest and can be too. Include other customers having a good time in your images – they’re advocates of the customer experience and will share them also. Give people an understanding of the brand and those who are a part of it.

4. Promote it
A great way to increase your user engagement is through competitions and viral marketing – everyone likes to win. Create a hashtag for your competition and get users to post votes using this and accumulate ‘likes’ and followers. You can offer promotion codes or discounts and send direct messages.  Also remember that Instagram creates a shop window for your product, so you can make offers visual too.

5. Experiment with Video
You can use Instagram video or mix with photography to create stories, time lapses and demonstrations. It’s a great way to speed things up, show case your product in a short space of time, and just to add something a little different.

How to Get More Facebook Shares - by Mari Smith

Mari Smith is an excellent Marketeer who created a great infographic to help you get more 'shares' on facebook.  Follow the advice below and you can't go wrong!

14 ways to get more facebook shares