IGTV – Why Instagram Will Soon Be Better Than YouTube

Why Instagram Will Soon Be Better Than YouTube? Instagram recently launched IGTV, a new platform that allows video producers to post longer videos on the platform.

 

Previously, users were only allowed to post 15 seconds long Instagram stories and 60 seconds for the regular videos. IGTV enables users to upload up to 60 minutes long of video content.

The launch of this product brings a new player into the video sharing space that seeks to challenge established companies such as YouTube and Snapchat.

Another key feature of this app is users can watch videos vertically making it easy to use for mobile phone users.

Videos posted are easy to discover especially if a user follows the content creators.

According to Instagram officials, the release of IGTV comes at a time when the public is watching less TV and opting for digital platforms for videos.

The app seeks to eat into YouTube’s market share, but this is no easy task.

YouTube is an established brand with loyal customers who are already accustomed to it. IGTV realizes this and has come up with some features that rival those of its competitor, they include:

 

1. Automatic Video Play

Unlike YouTube, IGTV will automatically start playing videos once you log in.

It eases the struggle one goes through to search for footage as it appears automatically on your timeline.

The application will play videos from those that you follow the most and love to watch their videos.

The success of Instagram’s live broadcasts and Insta stories played a part in this decision.

Insta stories of those you follow and watch appear at the corner of your timeline, and you click on the one you want.

An automatic play feature allows users to log in and enjoy videos from their favorite content creators.

 

 

2. It Uses Swipe Navigation

It is a feature that allows you to use swipe gestures rather than interrupting the full screen mode with navigational control icons.

You only need to swipe to see the next video while remaining on the same screen mode.

When you swipe, it switches to a new video that plays automatically.

It is an improvement from having to go back to your homepage and selecting another video manually.

Swiping sideways either takes you back to previous videos or next videos.

Swiping up will produce tabs Following, Popular, For You and Continue Watching.

A search bar also appears when you swipe up.

 

 

3. Boosts Creativity

Currently, IGTV does not allow advertisements so content creators cannot earn from their videos.

It sounds bad, but it allows creators to come up with creative content that attracts followers and also sponsors for their channel.

Having a huge number of people watch a video won’t cut it here.

Websites such as EduBirdies also give guidelines on how to boost your creativity.

Your video needs to be either informative, entertaining or educative to attract sponsors.

It’s important to note that sponsors approach you directly and IGTV has no part in it.

You may market their products in your videos and earn in this manner.

The creators say they are first seeking engagement with users before rolling out a monetization platform.

 

 

4. Continuous Watching

Unlike most video streaming platforms, IGTV lets you continue watching a video from where you left off.

The frustration of having to wait for a video to load up to the point you were at has been taken care of with this feature.

There is a scrub bar on the videos, so if you miss a part, you wanted to see you go back to that particular moment.

 

 

5. You Can Use the Original App to Access Videos

If you do not want to download the IGTV app, it is okay.

Your main Instagram app allows you to watch the videos.

There is an icon at the top of your account; you will find a button next to stories highlights that allows you to access this videos.

It is a plus for users since they can add this new feature without alienating other audiences or themselves.

Another key aspect of this app is it has integrated smoothly with other features that Instagram already had.

You can still share videos via messages, use filters and share to IGTVs parent company Facebook.

 

 

6. Vertical Format

Facebook launched Facebook Watch, but it has not picked up as anticipated.

IGTV, however, stands to work better for Instagram since most of its users already shoot and watch videos vertically.

Platforms such as Snapchat receive over 30 million views per month indicating that people have an appetite for vertical videos.

 

 

7. YouTube Is Facing Challenges

YouTube has in recent days experienced numerous hurdles from its monetization policy to offensive content from content creators.

Those that use YouTube in their day to day have been seeking a different alternative where they can share their content.

YouTube is regularly altering its advertising guidelines affecting how most channels earn money.

These shifts in policy are giving YouTubers anxious nights with some at the brink of suffering a breakdown as YouTube is their source of income.

IGTV has an opportunity to take these creators from YouTube and settle them in their platform.

Most of this people have a huge number of followers who will likely follow them to their new home.

Logan Paul also caused a public outcry with his insensitive video which YouTube took time before pulling down.

Child exploitation videos and concerns on monetization are some of the issues facing the company currently.

IGTV now has the opportunity to address all these issues and give its users a guarantee in its terms of use and privacy policy.

 

 

8. Available on Android and iOS

IGTV application is both available on Android and iOS systems.

It ensures that users on both platforms can enjoy watching videos from this app.

Mobile phone users can enjoy IGTV content without worrying about which operating system they run on.

 

 

9. Instagram Has 1 Billion Users

IGTV’s main partner Instagram currently boasts of over 1 billion monthly users.

It is an attractive platform for creators who wish to reach a massive audience.

A billion users ensure that content uploaded already has users waiting to consume it.

For creators, getting a ready market such as this, mainly dominated by youngsters, is a goldmine for them and may even boost them to global recognition.

 

 

Conclusion

IGTV has increased the length of a video one can upload from a minute to one hour. Instagram is targeting a whole new generation who are already handy with video cameras and smartphones.

Although they currently do not allow advertisements, IGTV will soon enable it for creators to be able to generate revenue from their content.

Now Instagram influencers can earn a living by partnering with brands.

YouTube uses a horizontal format for viewing videos, and by choosing the vertical format, IGTV appeals to mobile users as well, and they make up a larger percentage. The possibilities in the video world have expanded greatly.

 

About the Author:

Richard Nolan is a professional educator and team building coach, sharing his experience in spheres

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The Number ONE Advertising Platform for Shoutouts Instagram

Instagram is one of the most effective advertising platforms today so to be effective you must work with the Number ONE advertising platform for Shoutouts Instagram.

Collectively, brands shell out billions of dollars every year for their promotions and typically using Shoutouts Instagram.

The Number ONE Advertising Platform for Shoutouts Instagram

If not anything else, this implies that Instagram advertisements must have been effective, which is the only reason why brands are not shying away from such large scale investments.

However, despite being one of the most popular social media sites, you are not always guaranteed visibility and popularity and this is exactly where the Shoutouts method come in.

Instagram accounts can be a great revenue earner, when you manage the account properly. Starting your own personal brand is simple but not easy.

However, you must ensure that your content earns enough views.

Having a large number of followers automatically ensures effective promotion.

It’s simple – you want to get noticed?

Pay your fellow Influencers to promote you.

They will either refer you in their content or leave a link that would direct them to your page.

Either way, this would ensure that at least 4 out of 10 people get redirected to your account, making it an effective strategy for advertisements and increasing popularity.

Think Shoutouts Instagram.

Why use Shoutouts?

Shoutouts Instagram is one of the most effective ways to promote visibility.

Studies have shown that human beings tend to go for the mass following.

This means that if you have a large number of followers, it’s easier to trust the authenticity of your content.

A fellow Influencer may have the same or better content on his account, but the crowd would still go for the one with a larger following.

So asking the already popular Influencer to help you out will guarantee immediate visibility.

Posting your content on a popular account, along with a link in the account’s Bio linked to your account will attract more followers and likes.

In the long run, this will effectively allow you to influence the market and earn money.

However, you should see to it that your account has quality content to keep the audiences revisiting your account.

Making it too commercialized will end up with you losing your customers.

Shoutout Pages

Before you start with Shoutouts Instagram, make sure that your choice of account or niche is right.

If you are advertising content relates to photography; use a photography Influencer to promote your content.

Likewise, there a number of niches in Instagram dedicated to different topics.

You have food, fashion, lifestyle, travel, music, books, interior decors, furnishings, and the list goes on.

When you approach these Influencers, you have to make sure that your content befits their own.

Generally, Shoutouts on Instagram are not inexpensive.

You must to generate great content and choose an authentic Influencer to ensure you benefit from your investment.

It should ensure healthy traffic to your Instagram account and “Money Page” and at the same time be effective in increasing your follower base.

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10 Ways to Get Viral Instagram Posts

How do you get a Viral Instagram Posts?

Ever wonder why other users are attracting thousands of likes in one post?

Here are 10 ways to go Viral on Instagram . .

Is it just people have better smartphones than you do or are they using or doing something else that you don’t know yet?

Take out the celebrity equation where Selena Gomez, Cristiano Ronaldo, and Ariana Grande lord it over, and you will agree that all is fair in the world of Instagram where content remains king.

Any user has the potential to tell a good story that can stand out among the 500 million daily active users at Instagram.

You will never know when you hit a gold mine until you post what you have in mind.

How to Get a Viral Post? Use these Tricks of the Trade

First – what is a Viral Post? A Viral post starts out as a “Top Post”.

These Top Posts appear on the “Explore” tab. To find “Top Posts” enter any hashtag and you will see “Top posts”.

Your #1 Objective is to get your Instagram Account seen in “Top Posts” via your soon to be viral post.

If you are a content creator wanting to make your way as an Instagram influencer then you might be wondering what tools are available to help with the best ways to grow.

There are several paid or free tools you can use depending on the level of sophistication of the desired content people want.

Of course, some creative writing tools describing your post will be a huge benefit to accelerate your growth hacking.

These days, free social media tools give paid social media platforms apps big competition.

It is just a matter of mastering the techniques and spicing up the content with your creative talent.

These will make a big difference on how to capture the hearts and ever fleeting attention of your target audience.

Read up and discover the viral growth hacking methods you can do to improve your Instagram content.

You’ll definitely not be creating a post to go viral the same again.

Optimizing Engagement with a Comprehensive Tool

Scheduling posts for the “best times” helps users manage their time content efficiently.

Spout Social’s Instagram scheduling app is a winner with its notification aggregation so you are fully aware of any reaction or mention from your followers.

“Publish, schedule, draft and queue posts”

Instagram insights provide you great feedback on what type or types of content that engage your followers the most.

It is critical that creators understand what works so you can prepare more of the same high-quality content and stop wasting your time on content with a low engagement rate.

Additionally, directly posting your photos to Instagram is now possible with the Sprout Social update.

Photo Editing

It’s time to stop whining that your photo is not perfect enough, remember your photo will only be as good as your image source.

That’s where the Instagram editing apps like BeFunky comes in.

As web-based photo editing tool, BeFunky gives you a lot of powers, including sharpening, softening, tilting, resizing, and cropping options.

You’ll complete such steps in several seconds as BeFunky does not require you to create an account.

Want to remove all those unwanted lines and too much shine on a photo?

Here comes PicMonkey which serves as your selfie best friend.

If you are into landscape pics, then make use of PicMonkey’s Adjustments feature.

Get the Adobe Aviary if you are into creative touches such as sharpening, softening or subtle saturation plays.

Suggested edits are one of the advantages of the Aviary so you get a helping hand on what to highlight for your post.

Photo Design

How about some infographic or some text overlays?

All of these are covered with Canva’s social graphics templates for simple announcements, inspirational messages, text-based photos, and many more.

You can go for a hard data post via Piktochart with its attractive templates.

Meanwhile, spruce up images via Framatic’s 32 vintage borders, 36 adjustable layouts, and 92 effects to make your photos more appealing.

 

Photo Resizing

Yes, you can still have those Kodak moments at Instagram.

How?

Through Sprout’s social media image resizing tool called Landscape, you can easily upload a photo and do the cropping and other magic creative skills you want to apply before downloading it to become a freshly minted photo ready for your Instagram followers.

You can resize photos from Facebook and other personal albums with the Square Sized app, with an added bonus of giving you the chance to further edit newly sized images.

Not a fan of cropping and yet you want to post that photo at Instagram?

Yes, that’s very much possible with No Crop and Square.

Also, add personal touches with your chosen filters and stickers.

Collage

Collages are great in telling stories and helping you inch towards gaining viral content.

Leave it to Instagram’s Layout to do the creative work in composing collages from your camera.

You can tap Lipix social tool for its 20 photo effects, 54 different borders, and 90 adjustable templates.

Your collages will look great with these apps, providing an awesome result on how a great story must be presented.

Video Publishing to Get Viral Content

Loosen up a bit by taking videos.

Now develop stories by pressing record and solve your worries with great video apps that are readily accessible.

Bite-sized videos from burst photos can give you a story worth sharing with Boomerang from Instagram.

Fun is the name of your Instagram post if you want a comprehensive editor like InShot where filters, voice-overs and other effects can bolster your video style.

Instagram users and Marketers have the most success using video to Get Popular Instagram Posts.

This Video Editor is another one that can help you achieve the right exposure, saturation, contrast, and brightness.

Video Design to Get Popular Instagram Posts

A Video content design app need not be expensive.

Marketers agree that Video is your best choice to help your post go viral on Instagram.

Go for Instagram’s native Hyperlapse apps to take time-lapse videos even while moving.

Or Lapse It to beautify your time-lapse content such as additional visual effects or backward looping.

High-definition videos can be edited, on the other hand, with Quik by Go Pro using your own smartphone.

Video Resizing

Video buffs will definitely invest on such video resizing apps to correct lighting issues or difficult framed shots.

Crop or zoom with ease through Crop Video Square’s pinch feature.

You can adjust the video position to your liking by rotating or resizing.

Pick the background colors you prefer to set the mood as well.

IFTTT Formulas for Instagram

If this, then that (IFTTT) is a tool that links a social platform and products using applets.

With IFTT, your friends can easily see your posts when you use a specific hashtag to Slack channel.

Finding photos you have identified with the hashtag can be done in several seconds, activating Regram with your followers.

Also, your Instagram posts can be shared to Twitter and even to a Facebook album.

This ability helps you to target Instagram users and still use your content on popular social media networking sites Twitter and Facebook.

IG Story Apps Get Viral Status Instagram Posts

Make your Instagram Stories the talk of the town when you tap into three amazing apps.

The motion typography feature of Hypetype is sufficient to make photos more animated and emphasized.

Your visual will absolutely make the people scrolling on Instagram stop and take notice.

For brand marketers, like will never be the same again with Over as the app’s creative design suite gives people impressive visuals.

If you are the type who works between desktop and mobile, then Adobe Spark gives you graphics creation and editing capabilities with agile application.

It’s no wonder your viral content showing up on the explore page will be the darling of the Instagram world soon.

In the end, it does not matter if you are an individual willing to share your content or an established brand eyeing those big-time sponsorship deals.

It all boils down to creating an eye-catching viral content.

You can absolutely take things to the next level with the available apps in the world wide web.

An experimentation will greatly help you before pushing that final “share” button.

So don’t be afraid now go get massively popular on the Instagram explore page.

You can learn new social media apps and have fun along the way as you tinker with the features.

When you experience a windfall with viral Instagram posts and the picky Instagram users start noticing that you have great content.

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Affiliate Link Cloaking Basics

What is Link Cloaking?

Link cloaking is the combination of link shortening (creates a short link) and masking, hiding or disguising your affiliate link URL that an affiliate marketing program like Clickbank provides you when you decide to promote a particular product or service.

An uncloaked affiliate link leaves you exposed to theft and reduced click through rates.

3 Main Benefits Of Cloaking Your Affiliate Links

1. Commissions Protection

2. More Attractive Links or Pretty Links = Link Trust = Increased Click-Through Rate

3. Tracking Analytics and Link Management

How does Link Cloaking Protect Your Affiliate Link?

A link cloaking app will change the appearance of an affiliate link so your actual affiliate program ID is hidden from viewers.

The shortened affiliate link acts as a link URL redirect to the offer destination URL and preserves the affiliate ID so that you get credit for any sales resulting from that click.

You don’t need to worry about what type of redirect to use.

You can also change out the base URL to further hide the offer source and set to nofollow links.

A good app like Whizur.com takes care of creating and managing your cloaked link.

If you don’t use a link cloaker app to manage redirects you need to be aware of these 3 types of redirects:

1. 301 Redirects – Communicates to search engines that the page has now moved to a different location permanently. The visitor’s browser will remember this action.

2. 302 Redirects – Communicates that the page is sending this query to a different page but not sure why. The visitor’s browser should NOT remember this action. But sometimes the visitor’s browser will remember depending on your server setup.

3. 307 Redirects – Communicates to search engine bots that we are sending traffic to a different page temporarily. The people’s web browsers will not remember this action.

Also, people have been known to simply go to the main site external links and chop off the affiliate code thereby cutting the affiliate out of the equation.

There are a few black hat unsavory characters trying to steal commissions by planting malware in people’s web browsers so that they can switch affiliate code links and steal commissions.

Link cloaking eliminates the opportunity to hijack links so you don’t unknowingly suffer from Commission theft.

Why is Link Appearance Important?

People are suspicious of an ugly link. Such links make internet users think twice about clicking through on an ugly affiliate link to your landing page.

Your web site visitors like to know where they are going when they click a link and if your link looks like it is an internal link visitors are more likely to “click-it”. 

You need a cloaking service that allows you to use a custom domain name that will cloak affiliate links.

Why do You Need Tracking Analytics and Link Management?

This might seem like a silly question and the obvious benefit is that when you develop 10’s, 100’s and even 1,000’s of links earning 6 figure affiliate commissions you need to understand what is working and where you shouldn’t waste your time.

Affiliate marketers know that to be successful you need traffic and you need to understand which sources are working the desired number of clicks so you have a valid reason to work any particular affiliate marketing strategy.

What are my Link Cloaking Tool Options?

You have the two best options; Website WordPress plugins or Cloud Based apps. We don’t recommend making redirects permanent by adding to your redirect directory through your .htaccess file as it makes the process too complicated in our opinion.

“However, you should never touch your .htaccess file unless you’re well versed in using it because making an error within it could take down your whole site. Using .htaccess or the Yoast method for manually cloaking affiliate links means that you lose out on the additional features a link cloaking plugin can provide.”

Credit Sugarrae.com

Preventing Google from Crawling your Cloaked Links

“Once you have a custom subfolder setup to handle your Pretty Links, you’ll want to prevent Google from accessing that folder by using a disallow directive in my robots.txt file. Search engines don’t want to waste resources crawling your redirects, and I’d prefer they stay away from my affiliate links anyway, so they don’t see tons of redirected links on my site.

If you’re using the WordPress SEO Plugin by Yoast, this is easy to do. From your WordPress dashboard, go to SEO in the left-hand sidebar and choose Tools > File Editor.

If you don’t already have a robots.txt file, this screen will give you the option to have the WordPress SEO Plugin create one for you. Once you have a robots.txt file, add the following directive to it – replacing /out/ with whatever you used in your base URL in the Global Options section above:

User-agent: *
Disallow: /out/

Then click the Save changes to Robots.txt button below the box.”

Credit Sugarrae.com

WordPress Site Link Cloaking Plugins Pros and Cons

One of our eCommerce WordPress websites is approaching 7 years old. 

We have tested over 60 plugins for various reasons over the years and half of our plugins remain on the site as inactive and many have been deactivated and deleted or removed. 

Whenever you remove a plugin small bits of code remain and can create some future problems. 

We have also experienced issues that when we install a new plugin it creates some form of conflict and causes the entire website to crash. 

Other times we had plugins interfere with each other so we were forced to decide which plugin was more important and in the end – we did not achieve the functionality we wanted. 

We have had the experience of investing many hours deploying the plugin and getting it to work and then after an update it stops working and we find all our hard work is wasted.

Plugins with this level of sophistication typically have a yearly licensing fee. Often a plugin developer will discount the licensing fee the first year and renewal is at the list price paid yearly.

Plugins have some benefits that save a lot of time like automatically placing your affiliate links in anchor texts throughout your site blog posts and even in your blog post comments.

We have not found a free version.

Cloud Based Link Cloaking, Link Rotating and Link Tracking Analytics App

The number one reason I like cloud based apps is that they do not interfere with the backend of your website. 

Second, most cloud based apps offer a monthly payment option with no long term commitment. 

So for all the reasons I mention in the plugins paragraph we prefer the cloud based app option. 

We like Whizurl.com for the following reasons:

Easy to use Dashboard that is Mobile Friendly

5 Simple steps to Cloak your Link:

1. Add “Title” so you can reference in your “Listing” page
2. Add Affiliate Link Code to be Cloaked
3. Add any notes you need here
4. Public Access to your Statistics for bragging rights
5. Click “Save” and check your Listing to see a summary of your Cloaked Links

6 Simple steps to Rotate your Links:

1. Add “Title” so you can reference in your “Listing” page
2. Add Affiliate Link Code to be Rotated
3. Secondary Affiliate Link Code to be used as redirect if none of Rotator links match hit criteria
4. Rotator Type – You have 3 different choices, “sequential” is the default
5. Public Access to your Statistics for bragging rights
6. Click “Save” and check your Listing to see a summary of your Rotated Links

9 Simple steps to Track your Link:

1. Add “Title” so you can reference in your “Listing” page
2. Add Affiliate Link URL Code to be Rotated
3. Select Countries – You can choose “All” or select specific Counties
4. Enter URL for secondary Counties to redirect excluded counties to a different landing page
5. Track Code – leave empty to generate automatically
6. Add any notes you need here
7. Option to Cloak the tracker
8. Public Access to your Statistics for bragging rights
9. Click “Save” and check your Listing to see a summary of your Cloaked Links

All these Features for a Fraction of our Competitor’s Prices – 90% DISCOUNT

Our prices start a $3.00 a month and our unlimited package is ONLY $9.00 monthly.

Note this is for a limited time only available to the first 100 new customers. When you sign up at these special prices you are “grandfathered in” for as long as you remain subscribed – your price will not increase.

Visit Whizurl.com for a FREE 2 Week Trial

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6 Ways to Change the Buying Decision Process on Instagram

 

If you look into Instagram statistics, you’ll be surprised, to say the least. Here are 6 Ways to Change the Buying Decision Process on Instagram that might interest business owners:

• 72% of Instagram users say they’ve bought beauty-, fashion-, or style-related products after seeing someone brag about them on Instagram.
• Social media users say that Instagram is the platform that has the greatest influence over their purchasing decisions.

Keep in mind that those stats are from the summer 2017 season. Now, with links put directly in stories and with the Instagram Live feature becoming more popular by the day, we can safely assume that this platform is even more important for informing people about products and services and leading them towards purchasing decisions.

Do you need more data? As it turns out, 80% of Instagram users follow at least one business on the platform. Instagram users are 60% more likely to buy a product if they get a chance to buy it on the social network itself. Instagram leads to much higher engagement than all other platforms, including Facebook, Pinterest, and Twitter.

So how do you do it? How do you use Instagram to guide people towards buying your products or services?

We’ll list 6 Ways to Change the Buying Decision Process on Instagram:

1. Polish Out Your Business Profile

You should start seeing your Instagram profile as the new homepage for your business. Since an increased number of people turn to Instagram when they want to search for brands, the logical thing for you to do would be to polish out the profile. This is what the perfect business profile on Instagram should look like:

• It should provide relevant information about the type of business, as well as the link to the main website.
• The motto! Instagram gives you a chance to write a brief “bio” and that’s exactly what people first see at the top of the page. Use that space to write the company’s motto. If you check the profile of MAC Cosmetics, that’s exactly what you’ll see. A brief description of the business, followed by their motto and a link to the website.

The perfect business profile needs a good profile photo, which represents the brand. Your logo is the simplest way to go, and it works. It conveys your brand’s identity, and it’s recognizable enough when people see your posts in their feeds.

• Don’t forget to include a clickable link in the bio section! It should lead your customers to the main website, where they can buy your products or services.
• The visual content is what matters the most. You need a strategy for this! If you check out the profiles of the most successful brands, you’ll see they maintain a specific vibe throughout their photos. Such a strategy makes the brand recognizable.

2. Don’t Sell Products; Sell Solutions

Instagram is not a webstore. It’s mostly a platform where people come to see beautiful visual content. That’s their main interest. If they are interested in a product, they will buy it not because you’re directly selling it to them, but because your content convinced them it was exactly what they needed.

Olivia Clifford, part of the marketing team at UKBestEssays, explains: “When you use Instagram to influence people’s purchasing decisions, you must focus on the experience; not the product. It’s the story that matters. Visual content gives you tons of opportunities to tell a story, and that’s exactly what you should do.”

Let’s take another successful Instagram page as an example: Yakima Racks. They show real users of their products through the photos they post. It’s not just about the product and all its awesome features. It’s about the experience the product provides. The fact that the brand often collaborates with influencers to tell the stories is a huge bonus. They take over the account and bring the followers along with their adventure.

 

• Lifestyle photography is exceptionally effective. It makes people want that experience, so their instinct tells them they need the product, too.
• Storytelling works well on Instagram. People actually read the captions there, so make them great!

3. Share Content by Actual Users

The example with Yakima Racks brings us to another important point: business pages on Instagram should post user-generated content. That inspires more users to tag your brand in their posts, so they will get shared on your profile. When you create such a community around your product, more people are attracted towards it.

Just check out the profile of Vitamix and you’ll see what we mean. They feature user-generated content from food bloggers, but from regular users as well. You’ll still notice that all photos are carefully selected, so the brand can maintain the unique vibe of their profile.

We’re not talking about influencers here. We’ll get to that point a bit later. We’re talking about normal users of your products. They don’t have to have many followers on their profiles. If their content is good and it presents your brand in the best light, feature it on your profile.

• Whenever you notice that an Instagram user tagged your brand, check out the post and react on it. Like and comment; we all love that! You’ll show your appreciation and you’ll boost the chances of turning this person into a returning customer.
• If the content is good, ask for their permission to feature it on your profile.
• When you do feature user-generated content, don’t forget to tag the Instagram user who created it.
• To get more user-generated content, run contests! Invite your followers to share moments when they use your products. The rules should involve tagging your brand and using a specific hashtag. The best participants will get an attractive prize, which you’ll clearly provide. If your target audience is international, then make the contest international, too.

4. Use Instagram Ads to Reach a Greater Target Audience

A huge percentage of businesses already use Instagram for promotional purposes. What does this mean for you? You’re entering a very competitive environment. Due to that fact, you might have to invest in advertising.

No matter how great your social media marketing budget is, you can reach people on Instagram with it. You’ll limit the budget on the ads, so you won’t spend more than planned. At the same time, you’ll reach a targeted audience of people interested in buying your products or services. Instagram lets you monitor the results of the campaign, so you can keep working on it to make it more effective.

• Keep the content fun and the message straightforward. If it’s a video, Instagram users won’t give it a chance if it doesn’t capture their attention from the very first second. If it’s a photo with a caption, they won’t read it unless something indicates it’s important for them.
• Don’t forget the call to action! The ad should tell people to follow your page, visit your website, or directly shop for your products.
• Speaking of Instagram ads, don’t forget the influencers. They already have a large base of followers. When you collaborate with them, you get great exposure. As it turns out 78% of influencers prefer Instagram for brand collaboration. So reach out to the most prominent influencers from your niche and make an offer they can’t refuse.

5. Use the Potential of Instagram Stories

Stories are yet another opportunity for brands to reach a greater audience. When you turn your stories into full-screen ads with clickable calls to action, you can naturally expect greater engagement from your followers. Just check how Kino MacGregor uses that opportunity:

 

Instagram story ads are great because people see them even if they use ad blockers on their browsers. Plus, you can pay for story ads that will show up to Instagram users who don’t even follow you. They will see the ad between the stories of the people they follow.

You can engage users through your usual stories, too. Just use the “Swipe Up” feature, and they will directly come to your website.

6. Create the Sense of Urgency

If you check out Kino MacGregor’s story above, you’ll notice her offer lasts for a limited period of time. When you’re after the greater engagement, it’s important to create that sense of urgency.

If you actively sell on Instagram, your followers will clearly expect promotional offers. Of course, you’ll give such opportunities to them, but you’ll make them time-sensitive. An offer with a deadline pushes them towards a quick decision and instant action.

That’s a nice way to get immediate benefits from your Instagram advertising campaign.

 

Instagram Has Great Sales Potential; So Start Benefiting From It!

The Instagram community is pretty welcoming towards brands. The marketing approach, however, mustn’t be too aggressive. Remember: it’s all about the stories; not the products. It takes a lot of planning and strategizing to develop the perfect Instagram marketing campaign, but you can do it. If you follow the tips we provided above, you can start making the first steps today! Get cheap Instagram followers from BuySellShoutouts and save money which you can invest in other things for your business.

Short bio:

Warren’s lifestyle is full of hiking adventures. When he’s not busy with his guitar or enjoying the sunny day outside, he excels at blogging skills and scrolls through social media. You can meet him on Twitter – twitter.com/_warrenfowler/ and Facebook – facebook.com/warren.fowler.5015.

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source https://www.buysellshoutouts.com/blog/6-ways-to-change-the-buying-decision-process-on-instagram

6 Unobvious Social Media Mistakes Every Business Should Avoid

No one goes out of their way to create Social Media Mistakes Every Business Should Avoid. Buy real Instagram followers from BuySellShoutouts for your Instagram marketing business to avoid any mistake.

 

A decade ago, social media such as Twitter or Instagram were yet to be created or relatively unknown.

Today, social platforms attract millions of people, while Facebook alone gathers more than 2 billion monthly active users.

Social networks have become so popular that it’s almost impossible to run a profitable business without them.

More than 50 million small businesses are already using Facebook Pages to connect with their customers, focusing the majority of efforts and resources on online communities.

However, it’s not enough to simply create a few accounts and post content occasionally.

Social media marketing requires a serious approach and strategy that goes beyond widely-known features.

Most marketers don’t go so far, so they make a series of wrong moves in the process.

In this post, we will show you 6 unobvious social media mistakes every business should avoid.

Here they are!

 

Bite Off More Than You Can Chew

Creating a page on all platforms seems like a reasonable thing to do at first, so most companies go for it immediately.

But they are making a big mistake biting off more than they can chew.

Keep in mind that each network is different and demands a special kind of content.

While Instagram is all about visual posts, Twitter encourages textual messages.

But it’s not only about the content itself since different platforms attract different types of people.

 

Jonathan Henderson, a social media manager at Resumes Planet, explained it briefly: “For instance, LinkedIn gathers business professionals who consume highly analytical content and want to discover the latest industry news.

On the other hand, almost 60% of people aged 18-29 use Instagram, which is a completely different target group that the one you can find on LinkedIn”.

Your job is to select one or two channels where average buyers spend most of their time.

Focus on these networks and don’t waste energy on other channels if they can’t improve brand awareness.

No Multi Platform Strategy

The second mistake goes hand in hand with the first one.

Entrepreneurs don’t take into account the contrasting natures of different social media channels (see example above), so they share the same content across all platforms without any adjustments.

This can cause two problems:

1. Users will realize that you lack knowledge and professional skills to handle social media marketing.
2. People will follow you on one platform only or even un-follow all of your accounts.

To avoid this situation, you have to prepare a multiplatform strategy and tailor content to fit each channel individually.

What does it mean?

It basically means that you should create several versions of the same content.

For example, you can textually present a new statistical finding on Twitter, but it would be much more convenient to design an infographic to display the same information on Instagram.

In each case, you need to think about the format that corresponds to the needs and expectations of social media users.

 

via GIPHY > giphy.com/gifs/instagram-uo6rcjwHSAFsQ

 

Neglecting Video Content

People watch more than 500 million hours of videos on YouTube each day, while 72 hours of content are uploaded to this network every minute!

As remarkable as these figures might sound, they don’t seem to impress all marketers out there.

Some companies still don’t produce video content or do it very rarely.

Bearing in mind a tremendous user demand, this is the kind of mistake you must avoid.

Besides that, there are other reasons to include video design in your social media strategy:

• People consume visual content much easier than plain text.
• Video increases user engagement.
• This type of content can go viral quickly because people love to share it.
• Videos can strengthen the SEO potential of your website.
• Video content improves retention compared to images and blog posts. Most users spend a few seconds scanning articles and photos, while 80% of them watch Youtube clips at least 30 seconds.

 

Forget About User Interaction

Okay, now you pay attention to communication channels and create high-quality content.

But what if you still don’t get too many leads and conversion?

What if your ROI is just not good enough?

The problem probably lies in poor user interaction.

Successful marketers know they have to maintain relations with their followers.

That is why they invite customers to leave comments, share posts and ask questions.

That is also why marketers answer comments and questions.

The whole point of social media engagement is to strengthen the bonds between the brand and its followers fostering mutual interaction.

 

The speed is also critical.

According to the research, more than 40% of users expect a response within 60 minutes.

Things change quickly in the digital environment, so you have to be ready to answer inquiries almost instantly.

This is a very demanding business, but it definitely pays off as you keep raising brand awareness.

Remember that social media interaction is not as formal as email or face-to-face communication.

On the contrary, you should write friendly comments to show a human side of the business.

This should convince potential clients that there are some real people behind the brand, which makes communication a lot smoother.

 

Not Building Trust

Social media engagement has an important side effect – it strengthens the feeling of trust between you and your followers.

Unfortunately, most companies don’t care about it and provide users only with generic and alienated answers or comments.

Although it’s hard to answer dozens, hundreds, or even thousands of inquiries every day, you need to do your best and answer as many questions as possible.

Doing so, you will prove that you respect followers and appreciate their opinions.

The number of page likes is not important if you can’t build trust and expand the base of loyal followers.

In general, only 20% of customers generate 80% of your sales.

These customers are loyal and become long-term brand advocates.

Therefore, you should try to increase the number of such followers.

You might wonder if there is a situation when you don’t have to answer social media inquiries.

The simple answer is – yes.

If someone leaves a nonsense comment that clearly reveals trolling, you can neglect it.

Social Media Egoism

Nobody loves investing hours of work into social media and content creation.

It is hard work that you do to present your brand and hopefully improve sales results.

However, it doesn’t mean you should be too pushy and walk the “look at me” road.

Social media egoism is actually one of the easiest ways to start losing followers.

You need to be careful with self-promotion.

Try to make a balance between promotional and educational content.

Remember the 80/20 rule we mentioned above?

Well, it turns out that it has another application.

The logic is simple: 8 of 10 posts should be informative or entertaining, while only 2 pieces of content should directly advertise your products or services.

This is a reasonable ratio that won’t bother social media users.

Such strategy will also help you to increase professional credibility and become recognized as one of the key opinion leaders in your industry.

 

CONCLUSION

Social media are by far the most important segment of contemporary marketing, so you need to understand all tricks and tactics in this field.

A lot of companies make wrong moves online, minimizing the overall effect of their marketing strategies.

In this post, we showed you 6 unobvious social media mistakes every business should avoid.

Did you ever make some of these mistakes?

Do you have other suggestions to share with your peers?

Feel free to let us know in comments and we’ll be glad to discuss it with you!

Author Bio:

Warren is a marketing enthusiast and a blogger at Resumesplanet, who loves music. If he doesn’t have a guitar in his hands, he’s probably embracing new technologies and marketing techniques online! You can meet him on Twitter – twitter.com/_warrenfowler/ and Facebook – facebook.com/warren.fowler.5015.

 

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source https://www.buysellshoutouts.com/blog/6-unobvious-social-media-mistakes-every-business-should-avoid

Promote your products with a Shoutout on Instagram

Promote your products with a Shoutout on Instagram

Instagram offers enough opportunities to build and promote your own brand, but these tend to be effective only as long as long as you are getting enough traffic to your pages. More the visibility, more the popularity. You may spend hours creating your posts, but if you do not work on ways to promote your visibility, the efforts are not going to be worth it. Here are ways which can help you attract more followers.

1. Create Interesting Content

The content of a blog has lots to do with the popularity. Do not post materials that are too mainstream. People love unique and out of the box ideas. You can create a niche around something that will allow you to come up with something interesting every time you post a content. Also, it is important if you stay away from sensitive topics if you want mass following.

Whenever you are starting, upload enough contents to keep the visitors engaged for some time. This way, the audiences will have a better chance of understanding your blogs and you will have higher chances of getting revisits from the audiences.

2. Choose an interesting username

This may sound cliché but it is worthy of mention. Your username has a huge role in deciding your popularity. It helps to have a username that is catchy and easy to read and remember.

3. Team up with fellow Instagrammers

This is one of the most effective strategies to increase your visibility. Working like a lone wolf is not quite the thing when it comes to social networking. You will have to resort to as many options as possible. The smallest of things can sometimes act as game changers.

Find out if there are people posting similar contents as yourself. Connect with them and ask for promotions. Even if you succeed in directing 20% of the traffic from his account to yours, it would increase your visibility by a great deal.

Shoutout on Instagram

Many popular Instagrammers promote other budding bloggers in return for money. This way, you can have a network of links redirected to your account. This is exactly what is known as a shoutout on Instagram. This strategy can guarantee you instant fame and higher chances of attracting more followers. However, there are a few key things to keep in mind when you are starting a network of shoutout on Instagram.

1. Two is always better than one

Try to advertise your links in as many shoutouts as possible. The more traffic you receive, the better it is for you. The most important thing is to have followers. After that, you can use the fame to your advantage.

2. Choose your promoters carefully

If you are creating contents for fashion, then it is no good to have your brand advertised on blogs dedicated to gaming. You have to make sure that the audiences visiting your shoutout on Instagram will be interested in yours too. You should also be careful that you do not connect with the accounts that may harm your reputation. For e.g., If your sites are very similar but not as interesting as your shout out on Instagram, the audiences will definitely give a higher preference to the promoter. Therefore, it counts to plan your strategies carefully.

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