Facebook has become a shining star in the constellation of social media. It went global in 2006 and is still going strong with over 5 billion active users and reach over all the continents. It is the self-proclaimed king of social media with privacy and consumer-data concerns denting its name. Still, there are no signs of slowing down but users are getting very suspicious about the data handling practices.

The success of the Facebook model has opened a portal for other players to explore the market and make a niche for themselves.

Many believe that Twitter is an alternative to Facebook, but they are not similar and attract different types of users. It is worth mentioning that Twitter is closely following behind when it comes to the number of users.

No matter how glorious and immensely popular Facebook is, there are some other apps that can help you in connecting with friends and family. They are not as ‘wholesome’ like Facebook, but they address a specific audience. For example, there is a program that curates interests and communities for artists and creators. Then, there are dedicated apps for designers, writers, architects, and so on.

If you are thinking about deleting FB profiles and looking for top Facebook alternatives, here is your guide to get the process kick-started.

Need For Facebook Alternatives

Even for handpicked applications, you can always find pros and cons in it. The same is true for Facebook. Some find it to be too crowded that it is a cumbersome task to connect with the people you actually want to connect with. Others are too concerned with their privacy.

At Facebook, there were scandals, like Cambridge Analytica, and collaborations, such as News Feed that have put a big question mark on their integrity.

Now, to the alternatives.

Facebook Alternatives For Artists & Photographers

500 px

It does not matter if you are a budding artist or scoring big clients for your photography skills, you should visit 500 px more often than Facebook. It is a strong community of photographers with close interactions. So, it is only natural to find a repository of amazing snaps. In addition to that, the website offers insights and practical tools for photographers to up their game. Ironically, you can find alternatives to 500 px if you don’t like it.

Flickr

For exposure and getting to know a vibrant community of photographers and artists, you can find yourself at home on Flickr. The content there is diverse and you can have so much to learn from and enjoy. Whether you are an established name in photography or just looking to get your swag on, Flickr is the place.

The selling point of Flickr is the assortment of exceptional pictures in its database. Just like 500 px, it offers helpful organizational tools that can help you in creating your own collection. Additionally, Flickr mobile application allows you to get exciting filters and editing tools to tweak with your images.

Facebook Alternatives For Designers

Behance

Behance offers a platform where designers can showcase their work and get immense exposure for your work. In the definition of a community, you can connect with artists on Behance and follow their work for referencing or inspiration.

There are also options to connect with people for discussion.

Adobe Portfolio

For those who are willing to create an exquisite site, there is no alternative to Portfolio.

The site offers exceptional layouts and customization options that can get you a site that appeals to your audience. The cherry on top is the automatic customization option that makes the site optimized for all types of sites.

If you are ready to go the paid route, you can unlock a whole suite of Adobe creative apps to enhance your productivity.

Facebook Alternative for Professionals/Career

LinkedIn

For professionals and career-oriented individuals, LinkedIn has been the ultimate goldmine that allows them to connect with industries and employers. No matter which side of the spectrum you are on, you will find yourself at home to find new employees and explore work opportunities.

It is a dynamic platform where you can promote your business and connect with like-minded people to grow your social circle.

The absolute advantage of LinkedIn is the quality of content and users you find there. Since it targets professionals, you know there are no spam and meaningless messages.

Career Builder

If LinkedIn is the best social media alternative for professionals and job-seekers, CareerBuilder is another prime example of such a website. They offer a wide range of job listings, career advice, resume posting, and so on so that professionals can connect with employers and collaborators.

CareerBuilder is far more superior in the job hunt and landing new clients when compared to Facebook. The reason is that the former gets direct job offers and listings from companies. They have also collaborated with businesses to expand and prioritize their user-base.

Facebook Alternative For Media Sharing

Instagram

Instagram has seen exponential growth in recent years, with its growing numbers of followers. It is a wholesome social media application that allows its users to upload photos, short videos, etc. You can even text someone privately.

If you are a social media junkie, Instagram offers excellent integration options where you can share your Insta feeds with Facebook, Twitter, and other social media applications. Owing to its rise, there is a whole class of applications that are similar to Instagram. It is a serious competitor to Facebook with its versatility and environment.

YouTube

Chances are you are living under a rock if you don’t know and use YouTube. It is a video-sharing giant of a platform that has revolutionized how we watch, share, and post video content.

Overall, it is a great community with great, original videos. Of course, it is not a proper alternative to Facebook, but it offers direct messages service and other options that you can find in other popular social media apps.

Other than YouTube, there are many video-sharing websites like Vimeo and DailyMotion. You can explore them for video content.

TikTok

In recent times, TikTok has become the go-to app if someone needs to share original or lip-synced videos. So naturally, for those who are looking for a Facebook alternative that allows them to watch fun content, TikTok is the best offering in the recent past.

The application customizes your video feed so that you can find videos to your liking in a hassle-free manner. Thanks to a wide diverse range of creators, you will always have fresh content to consume. If you are a creator, you will find a number of tools that will allow you to tweak your content in the best possible way.

Facebook Alternative Discussion Forum

Reddit

Reddit is one of the social applications that have a dedicated fan base. Most of the users are gamers and developers who discuss and comment on the things they find interesting.

In general, Reddit posts are consisting of questions, stories, Q&A sessions (AMA), and images. In most cases, users connect with each other through comments. Even in the presence of other social media giants, Reddit has enjoyed immense success among its users which is a testimonial to its worth. If you are interested, you can even find alternatives to Reddit.

Quora

If you are a professional or a creator who is often bombarded with new ideas and questions, Quora can fetch you the answers you are looking for. You can ask questions on any topic and start discussions on issues and phenomena.

There are cool options like anonymous follow up where you can go after the same question or an answer without revealing your profile. Just as liking a social media post, you can up vote answers if you find them useful and authentic.

Facebook Alternative For Microblogging

Twitter

Twitter needs no introduction. It is one of the most popular applications in the world posing a serious competition to Facebook. It has immense diversity in users where they can tweet (small posts) about issues and things they are concerned with.

One thing that makes it even superior to Facebook is its elite status. Celebrities, including Politicians, Statesmen, Artists, etc., rely heavily on Twitter to get the word out.

It is considered to be an extremely enjoyable application with an easy-to-use user interface. If there is an app that can give Facebook a run for its money, it is Twitter.

Meta’s Threads

Meta Threads serves as a text extension for Instagram, offering various key features:

• Post content up to 500 characters.
• Share video posts lasting up to five minutes, along with links and photos.
• Inclusivity features, including screen-reader support and AI-generated alt text.
• Utilize Instagram’s user safety controls, encompassing actions like unfollowing, blocking, restricting, and reporting profiles.
• Access a feed containing posts from followed accounts and discover new recommended content.

Notably, Meta has committed to adding support for ActivityPub, an open social networking standard. Once implemented, Threads will become interoperable with platforms like Mastodon and WordPress, enhancing its connectivity across diverse social networks.

Facebook Alternative For Dating

Tinder

There are many people that use Facebook to connect with others for a romantic hookup. But there is a much better alternative to that.

Tinder is one of the most popular applications that can help you in finding people you want to get emotionally attached to. The stroke of genius in this app is that after you sign up, you will see suggestions of profiles you may want to date. Swiping right would mean like which will notify them and you can take it from there if you want to.

Obviously, it is not the only alternative but it is a great one that offers discretion and a friendly user-interface.

Facebook Alternative For Movie Geeks

IMDB

IMDB is an abbreviation of Internet Movie Database. It is the ultimate choice of movie-lovers if they are looking to explore the world of cinema and tv. Users can read reviews for the movies from other users and can rate and comment on content they have seen.

It has a fun community and you can chat with anyone via Message Board. The best part about IMDB is that you can get a pro version that allows you to connect with the artist you love and talk about things.

Ending Remarks

Facebook is a fun app with billions of users. It has seen enormous growth but in recent times, there are many scandals and suspicions that compel users to look for alternatives. The applications and websites discussed in this post will help you in finding the next best thing for you.

The post Top Facebook Alternatives for Different Social Media Types appeared first on Derek Time.

This guide will help you understand Facebook marketing. It includes all the information you need to know about creating a strategy for your company’s Facebook presence, hiring a Facebook ad agency, as well as strategies for attracting new customers and keeping existing ones happy.

This guide is designed for businesses who want to grow their Facebook fan base. It assumes that you have a solid understanding of how Facebook works, but it also covers some more advanced concepts, such as using keywords and hashtags in your posts.

I’ve included information about Facebook ads in the guide as well. However, I recommend that you focus on your strategy for increasing your fan base first and then figure out how to advertise later.

Facebook advertising is very powerful but it can be difficult to set up correctly so it’s better to learn about marketing first and let the ad platform come along after you have a good idea of what works best for your business.

Set Up a Facebook Page

Create a Facebook Page

A Facebook Page is a public profile on the social networking website Facebook. Facebook Pages are created by users and typically represent a business, celebrity, organization, or cause.

The main difference between a personal profile and a company Page is that while people can like your personal page and comment on it, only others who have permission to use the “company” page itself can like and comment.

To create an account for your company’s brand page follow these steps

1)   Create a new Facebook Page with your company name on it.

2)   Fill out the standard info about yourself, such as your company name, address, and phone number.

3)   Add a custom URL to the page that links directly to your website. You can use this as a way for people who don’t know you personally to find out more about you or what your business does. It’s also useful if you want people to link from their own Facebook pages instead of theirs only.

4)   If necessary, create an account with the “Page” tab so that others can comment on it and like it.

5)   Be sure not to change any of the default settings for the Page unless they are incorrect ( this is a new Facebook Page so you should have all of the default settings as is).

Add photos

Facebook is a social media site that allows many people to share their favorite things with others. Users can create their own personal profiles, upload photos, and share news. It is also possible to set up groups where users can post private messages for one another.

The most popular version of Facebook is the mobile app which allows users to access their account on the go. It is also possible to use Facebook on computers and mobile devices.

To set up a photo upload for your Facebook page, you will need to go to the account settings.

Step 1: Go to Facebook’s Page admin screen and select “Photos” from the drop-down menu in the top right corner of your screen.

Step 2: Select “Upload Photos”. You can upload one or more photos at this time by selecting them from your computer or mobile device. There is no limit on how many photos you can upload, but they must be less than 50 MB each (the maximum size). When uploading multiple photos it is recommended that you save them all in a single folder and then upload them all at once.

Step 3: Select “Apply” from the top right corner of your screen to complete your photo upload. You will be prompted to confirm that you want to publish the photos on Facebook as well as change some other settings for your page.

You can now view these photos by going back to the account settings again and selecting “Photos”. The first thing you should do is look through your gallery for any new or old photos that you have uploaded since setting up a Facebook page, however, there are two different ways in which people can find out about your Facebook page.

Add a short description.

To add a short description to your Facebook, you will need to go under the “Edit Page” tab on the right side of your screen. You can find this tab by clicking on the name of your page in the top left corner of your screen.

When this tab is open, scroll down to where it says “About”, and click on “Edit Info”.

A description box should appear below. Click on the text boxes at either end of this box and type in what you would like people to know about yourself. You can type as much or as little information as you like.

Once you have added your description, click on “Save Changes” at the bottom of the page.

To make sure that your short description is correct, go back to the “Edit Page” tab and look for it under “About”. Your text should appear in a box with a blue background next to it. If there are any errors then just edit them again and save them once more before going back into Facebook.

Create a username for your Page

Many people are unaware of the fact that they can create their own username for their Facebook page. This allows them to set up a profile for themselves on Facebook. Most often, this is done by creating a name using your initials or first and last name.

It is important to note that many people choose not to use this method in order to keep their personal information private. The next step is to click on the “Create Page” button. You will then be taken to a page that looks like this:

Once you have clicked on the “Create Page” button, Facebook will take you through the process of creating your Facebook page. This process is fairly simple. On the left side of your screen, you will see a box that says “Name”. Type in whatever name you would like to use for your page.

For example, if I were creating my Facebook page it would be called “Jason Sefchick” (sounds much cooler than Jason Seflchick). Once you have typed in the name of your Facebook page, click on the “Create Page” button at the bottom of this window.

Once you have clicked on this button, Facebook will ask what type of content do you want to put on your page. This is a good question to ask yourself because you want to create something that people will find interesting and/or useful.

Add a Page CTA

Having your own Facebook page is an effective way for students or people who are interested in marketing their business or brand to be able to share information with their friends, family, and colleagues.

This is done by creating your own personal account on www.facebook.com. Creating this account allows you the ability to customize your profile so it reflects who you are as well as what type of content you would like posted on your Facebook wall.

The first step in the process is to log into your Facebook account.

Once you have logged in, click on the “Profile” option at the top of this page. From here, you will be able to view your current information as well as update any information that is missing or incorrect.

You can also delete any past posts from this page by clicking on the “Delete” button next to each post you would like removed from your profile’s history.

If you would like more space for new content and/or want to change what types of posts are allowed on your wall, simply scroll down and click on the “Edit ” button next to your profile information. This will allow you to update the content of your wall.

Verify your Page

Facebook pages are meant to be public. As such, they should not be difficult for anyone to find and view. To ensure that your page is not easy to find by unauthorized users, you can verify it with Facebook in order to make sure people will only see the information you want them to know about your page.

To do so, type “I agree” into the text box at the bottom of this page and then click on the blue button that says “Click here if you agree.” You will then be taken back to the registration form where Facebook will give you an authorization code. Write this code down and use it to verify your page.

When you have finished verifying your page, you will be able to view all of the information about your profile as well as post new content.

Content Strategy for Facebook Posts

Show Products in Action

Product in Action Facebook posts is a great way to showcase a product and get people interested. Companies often create an image or video of the product and a text post with a few details about it.

These posts can be done on their own, but they also work well when paired with other content from another venue. For example, if your company is hosting an event at a museum, you could take pictures of the products available for purchase there and then post them on Facebook.

Create Recognizable Memes

Facebook memes are an easy way to grab attention for your posts, especially when you’re trying to reach a specific audience. You can create memes relevant to your business or industry by using witty one-liners that have some sort of meaning behind them.

For example, if you run a marketing company, you could do a meme about how Facebook is no longer the best place to post pictures of your products because customers won’t find them on social media. Use these memes in conjunction with other types of content, so they have the most impact possible.

Repurpose Top Content Into Visuals

Facebook posts can be a great way to promote your business and connect with your audience. However, it can be hard to know what kind of content to share on the platform. One tip for using Facebook more effectively is to repurpose top content into visuals.

For example, if you had a piece of content on your blog that received good reviews from readers, you could recreate this post and use it as a visual on Facebook or Instagram. This will help cut down on the time and effort needed for creating original content and show off your skills while also reaching new audiences for free.

Create Snackable Videos

With the increased use of Facebook and its ability to simplify marketing, many small businesses are taking advantage of the platform. As a result, Facebook has become an integral social media tool for these companies.

One of these ways is through video content on their Page, which can be played on the website, in their app, or on any other device such as televisions and intelligent devices. This allows users to easily consume content without going through a lengthy article or watching a short clip on YouTube.

Leverage User-Generated Content

Facebook is all about sharing content, but some things can be done to make it easier for users to share content on the platform.

For example, you could create a Facebook event or place a coupon code in your post, so users have an incentive to share the information with their friends. This will also help boost your Page’s engagement rate and improve how people interact with you as a business.

Use Contrasting Colors and Fonts

There are a few ways to get more engagement on your Facebook page. One of the easiest and most effective is by using contrasting colors and fonts for posts.

The theory behind this tactic is that it helps create contrast between your content and will draw attention from users, encouraging them to interact with you. Use the “Ask” Feature

Another simple way to increase engagement on your Facebook page is by using the ask feature. This allows users to send you a direct message, asking for help or advice in any area of their life. You can then respond to them directly and provide them with an answer.

If you do this often enough, people will begin interacting with you on a more personal level which helps improve customer service and develop a better relationship between business and consumer.

Maintain Brand Consistency

Brands often have guidelines for posting on social media sites, including Facebook. These guidelines are to ensure that the brand’s messaging is consistent across all platforms so potential consumers can easily identify it.

For example, if a brand posts about its product and mentions where people can find it in a post, it should make sure it does not mention this location in any other post on Facebook or Instagram. It also helps to avoid confusion when multiple employees try to promote different products at the same time.

How to Create a Facebook Marketing Strategy

Identify Your Target Audience

Knowing your target audience and how to reach them will help you develop a strategy for promoting your business on Facebook. You can then use this information to create content that best suits the needs of each segment.

Use Facebook Advertising to Create a Facebook Marketing Strategy- When you’re ready to advertise on Facebook, you must choose the right strategy. The most common advertising methods include Sponsored Stories and sponsored posts.

These are both good options for businesses looking to reach their target audience, but they can be costly depending on how many people will see your ad. Other options like remarketing are also popular ways of promoting products or services through paid ads.

Set goals for Facebook Posts

When you have a Facebook marketing strategy in place, it’s time to get started. Start by setting goals for the posts that will be published on your Page. Think about what messages or topics are important to your audience and create content that supports these messages.

Don’t worry about creating posts that are overly promotional or over the top. Your goal is to make sure your audience knows about all of your business’ offerings and keep them updated on what’s new in the industry.

Therefore, it’s important to be realistic about the amount of time you have to promote your business on Facebook.

Create a Content Calendar

Once you’ve set goals for your posts, it’s time to create a content calendar. This is an effective way of promoting your business on Facebook and can help you reach different audiences throughout the year.

For example, creating a content calendar will be important if you’re in the construction industry and want to promote upcoming projects or build awareness for new products.

You’ll also need to make sure that each post supports the campaign’s purpose and has clear call-to-action buttons at the end of each post.

Optimize your Page

You can optimize your Page to help promote your business on Facebook. First, you’ll need to add a custom URL and choose whether or not you want to use an existing domain name for the Page.

Once that’s done, click “Edit” next to “About.” You can then add more information about your company, such as an address, phone number, and website.

When this is complete, make sure all of the contact information is accurate and update any links in the footer with direct links back to your website or social media profiles. Also, make sure that all of the images.

Track & Measure Results with Facebook Analytics

Likes

Facebook Analytics can be used to help you measure the number of likes your posts receive. You can use it to see which posts are getting the most likes and which posts are receiving the least.

If you want to know how much engagement your post is getting, send it out on Facebook with a goal in mind. If you want more people to like your post, then increase the share count in Facebook’s ad preferences before sending it out.

If you’re looking for more people to comment on your post, then add a goal of at least one comment. Facebook also allows you to track the performance of specific posts in a campaign by adding a tag that’s linked to your analytics tool.

If you want to measure how many times someone has liked or commented on a particular post, all you have to do is go into your Page and look under “Page Insights.” Here, there will be two tabs: “Likes” and “Comments.” You can choose from either tab by clicking the drop-down menu next to it.

Reach

Facebook is one of the most popular social media platforms. Using Facebook Analytics, you can track and measure reach. You can find out which campaigns, ad sets, or ads are performing well so that you know how to allocate budgets towards certain targeted audiences.

The best way to get a good idea of the reach on an ad set is by using a cohort analysis tool. A cohort analysis looks at engagement rates for your target demographics over a specific time interval and compares them through the use of charts to see if any parts of your data have shown significant interest in your content. This helps determine where you need to spend more money on ads or where you should stop.

If you’re looking for a specific audience, then it’s important that you know how many people are engaging with your posts and campaigns. This can be achieved by using the Insights tab in Facebook Analytics.

The Insights tab gives a detailed report of all interactions within your Page, including likes, comments, shares, and other actions such as watching videos or reading content. You can even compare different audiences against each other to see which one is better at performing certain tasks on your Page.

Views

Facebook’s analytics tool helps marketers track how many people click on ads, view posts, and convert to sales. The insights provided by the tool help marketers decide where their Facebook marketing is working well or not.

One way to measure success with Facebook is to use the Ad Impact Report in the Insights tab of your Facebook page. The report shows which ad impressions generate clicks on an ad and which ones send visitors to a specific landing page. This can help you determine which ads are performing well and which ones aren’t.

Facebook’s Insights tab also allows marketers to measure the effectiveness of different types of content, including video, photos, links, status updates, and text-only posts. This helps them understand how people interact with their Facebook pages in different ways.

By measuring engagement with your Page through specific metrics such as click-through rates (CTR), conversions on landing pages, or sales leads generated from social media campaigns. Facebook provides all this information at a glance using charts that let you compare data across audiences for better analysis.

Peoples’ Reactions

Facebook analytics is a tool that gives Facebook users a variety of tools to monitor their websites. These tools can be used to track and measure peoples’ reactions to their websites.

One such feature, the live-streaming tool, allows people to see what visitors are doing when they visit it. This tool has been helpful for companies that want to keep track of how many times people have visited certain pages or ads on their websites.

It also helps them understand which product is performing well and which products need more work.

To track and measure people’s reactions with Facebook analytics, you must first create a “page” on your website. You can do this by going to the settings tab of your Page and clicking on the “Create Page” button.

Once you have created a page, make sure that it is set up as public. Then go to the privacy settings of your Page and click on “allow apps access” under the advanced options. This will allow any app that Facebook has approved to access your content for analysis purposes. The last step in creating

ROI

To effectively track and measure ROI with Facebook analytics, you must first understand the type of data they provide. This includes impressions, reach, page likes, engagement rate, time on site, and more. Each metric has a specific purpose in your marketing strategy.

For example: “Impressions” are merely how many people saw or glanced at your ad. Reach is how many people who saw the ad could see it again if they clicked on it or shared it.

Page likes are simply how many people like your Page before you pay for advertising on Facebook ads. Engagement rates show how many people interacted with your content and shared it.

How to Run Facebook Ads

Start creating an ad through Facebook’s Ads Manager.

To get your company name out there, you should create Facebook ads. When creating an ad, go to the “preview” tab to see your ad’s look before publishing it.

Many digital marketing strategies can help companies grow, including social media advertising.

You should know that Facebook offers a variety of tools for advertisers to use in their campaigns, including the ability to implement customized audiences and build custom conversion goals.

Choose an objective

When creating a Facebook ad, the advertiser must choose an objective they would like to advertise. There are many types of objectives that can be used when advertising on Facebook. These include:

Reach –Get your target audience to see your brand or product. This is helpful when you’re growing awareness for a new product or service in a certain market.

Generate Leads –Capture email addresses and phone numbers from your audience so you can send them marketing materials later on. By capturing information, you can connect with these potential customers online and offline.

Conversions –This is one of the most important objectives because it measures how many people click on your ad, views your content, and ultimately converts into paying customers.

Choose your audience

Facebook uses a combination of custom audiences and people you know to target your ad. Using the “lookalike” audience, Facebook will try to match your ad with similar people who have already shown interest in certain products or services.

This is helpful when trying to reach out to customers that another company’s campaign has targeted. The type of objective you choose for your campaign will determine how much money you spend on advertising each month.

Some advertisers might want a high-quality audience, while others may prefer a cheaper option. To learn more about how to choose your audience, see the link below.

Set your budget

Set your budget for your campaign. The more you spend, the more people will see your ad and be able to reach out to you with an offer or ask a question. The number of people who see your ad will depend on the objective you choose.

Some advertisers might want to reach a wide audience, while others may only want a small group of interested customers.

When setting your budget, keep in mind that Facebook also charges a fee for every click and video view. The amount you pay depends on the number of impressions your ad receives.

Conclusion

Facebook offers various tools for marketers to improve their marketing efforts. The company has such as a “Marketplace” and “Ads Manager.” The Facebook Marketplace allows marketers to buy and sell products and connect with customers, while the Ads Manager lets them better manage their ads on the platform.

According to the company, Facebook has over 1.3 billion monthly active users and 500 million mobile daily active users as of 2018.

The social media platform was founded in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg with his Harvard classmates Eduardo Saverin and Andrew McCollum. In 2012, Facebook reached a milestone when it hit 100 million monthly active users.

We hope this guide on Facebook marketing has been helpful to you. Let us know your thoughts and queries in the comments below.

The post The Complete Guide to Facebook Marketing: The Ultimate Step-by-Step Guide appeared first on Derek Time.

To help you out, we’ve compiled a list of 5 different Instagram tips, tricks, and growth hacks that pros won’t tell you. We’ve personally tested these methods and can attest to their effectiveness.

1 Set Achievable Goals

So, the first thing to do when you are trying to grow your business is to break things down into tiny and very manageable pieces! What do I mean by this?

For example, let’s say you want to increase your Instagram following by 500 in the next month. That’s a particular and achievable goal. But how do you go about achieving it?

One way would be to break it down even further into daily goals. So, your goal for day one might be to get 10 new followers. And then, each subsequent day, you would try to get just a little more than the day before until you reach your end goal of 500 new followers in 30 days.

If you have blogs to write, it can be helpful to set a goal for how many you want to write each week. And then break that down into daily goals as well.

2 Quality over Quantity

This one is huge! When it comes to Instagram (and social media in general), it’s not about the number of followers you have. It’s about the quality of your followers.

You could have 100,000 followers who never interact with your content and will never buy anything from you. Or, you could have 10,000 followers who regularly like your posts and engage with your brand.

Which would you rather have?

The answer is obvious! Your followers feel the same way, so there isn’t a way to fool them. This is why it can be a good idea to create a long-term content plan to ensure that things remain fresh while you are also remaining constant.

Developing a content plan with a long-term approach can help you create a ‘tree’ of content that will really help in the future. A tree diagram allows you to constantly grow on new and old ideas to maintain new perspectives and angles.

3 Post Consistently

This one is pretty self-explanatory but worth mentioning nonetheless. If you want people to follow you and engage with your content, you need to be posting regularly.

Your specific goals and audience will depend on how often you should be posting, but a good rule of thumb is to post at least once a day. Keeping with the importance of measuring your goals, it can be a good idea to set your expectations to be realistic. Ask yourself how much content you can produce per day or week.

When you’ve figured out what you can manage, start immediately and keep it going consistently! It may not be your first post that goes viral or even your 100th, but one day, things will start snowballing, and you’ll look back and wish you had started sooner.

Developing a content plan is also a great way to ensure you are on track with your posting and content creation. It can be very easy to miss a day here and there, but eventually, those will add up and discredit your page. If you have trouble keeping up, you can get some extra help by scheduling your content ahead of time. If you have the content already made, you just need to set it to post at the right time!

4 High-Quality Content = High-Quality Followers

If you want to be an Instagram pro, remember this rule: use high-quality content if you want high-quality followers. It’s really that simple. People are visual creatures, and they will respond better to pleasing images to look at. You can test the quality of your content by how well it performs. Keep in mind that if you purchase views, it will have more immediate results than waiting for organic traffic to kick in.

So, how do you go about taking high-quality photos?

For starters, you can use a DSLR camera if you have one. If not, that is okay! The newest smartphones actually take really great photos.

Some excellent photo editing apps can help you make your photos look even more professional. Some of our favorites are VSCO, Afterlight, and Snapseed.

Once you become more comfortable with photographing your own content, you can start experimenting with other factors that influence the quality, such as the following:

• Lighting
• Composition
• Angles
• Subject matter

Lighting is an essential and often forgotten aspect of taking high-quality photos. If you can, try to take your photos in natural light. If you’re stuck inside, though, that’s okay! Just make sure to turn on all the lights in the room and open up any curtains or blinds.

Composition is also crucial. Pay attention to the placement of your subject in the frame and try to use the rule of thirds. This guideline suggests that you should place your subject off-center so that the photo is more visually interesting.

Angles can also affect the quality of your photos. Play around with different angles and heights to see what looks best. And finally, think about your subject matter. What are you trying to convey with your photo?

5 Only Engage Positively With Followers

Sometimes, it’s easy to forget that we are human beings behind the screen and that the people who follow us are human. So, when you’re interacting with your followers, always remember to be respectful and positive!

To ensure the best approach to any situation, here are a few ground rules:

Don’t curse – Cursing is the biggest turnoff for most people. Even if you think it’s harmless, keep it to yourself to avoid offending anyone.

Don’t bash other influencers – If you don’t have something nice to say, don’t say anything. No one wants to see negativity on their feed.

Don’t be rude – Be polite and respectful, even if someone is being rude to you. The high road is always the best road to take.

Don’t be aggressive or argumentative – The first mistake that most people make is trying to argue with a troll. This will only result in more negativity and drama, which is the last thing you want to fill up your feed.

Try to see things from the other person’s perspective – Trying to take a step back and see things from the other person’s perspective can help diffuse any tension. Sometimes this can be the most simple but also the most effective solution.

Always be positive – This one should go without saying, but always try to remain positive! Positivity is infectious, and people will be drawn to your page if they see that you’re a happy person.

Of course, people will always try to test these boundaries. If someone is being rude or crossing a line, don’t hesitate to report them or block them if necessary.

There’s no need for negativity in your life, especially when it comes to social media. So, make a conscious effort to only surround yourself with positivity, and you’ll see your follower count start to go up in no time!

Instagram can be a great way to connect with your followers and share your content. However, it’s important to remember that you represent yourself online and should always act respectfully. It’s important to show respect by creating unique content, having achievable goals and by never being negative. If you follow these rules, you’ll be in the same league as the pro’s in no time.

The post 5 Instagram Tips, Tricks, And Growth Hacks Pros Won’t Tell You appeared first on Derek Time.

Because Instagram is such a high-traffic app, millions of businesses are flocking to the popular platform to advertise products, boost sales, and grow their clientele.

Are you making the most out of your business’s Instagram account? If you’re struggling to attract customers and reach a wider market on the platform, you’ve come to the right place. Here, we’re sharing some simple yet effective Instagram tips for businesses. Just keep on reading to learn more!

#1. Keep Customers Updated and Engaged

When viewers go to your profile, you’ll want to show them what your business is about. Post photos detailing updates on products, staff members, events, and everything in between to ensure that any potential customers can get a feel for what your business is like.

Just make sure your Instagram photos are high-quality and full of bright, fun colors to draw more attention. If you want to learn more about making a great post, check out this Instagram post template that’s effective and powerful.

#2. Utilize Instagram Stories

Instagram stories are short clips or photos that you can post on your profile. They’ll stay up for 24 hours and are a great way to show off products or update followers about what’s going on with your business.

You can also feature polls and get direct feedback on your stories, so it’s a great way to engage your following.

#3. Be Interactive

Always like and respond to comments on your Instagram profile. Whether it’s someone asking a question or leaving a review, always acknowledge it in a professional and friendly way. This will show that you care about your customers and are punctual in your responses.

#4. Take Advantage of Hashtags

Hashtags are a simple way of bringing more eyes to your business profile; they take Instagram marketing to a whole new level.

At the end of each post you create, be sure to add some relevant hashtags. Adding these hashtags will make your post searchable, bringing more attention to your page.

#5. Host a Giveaway

Want to gain more traction on your profile? Host a giveaway for either a gift card or some fun promotional items!

Be sure to include rules in the caption of the photo that state that, to enter, viewers will have to repost your photo to their story and tag a few of their friends. This acts like a snowball effect, attracting more and more people to your business’ page.

Try These Instagram Tips for Businesses

If your business isn’t making the most out of Instagram, then you need to try implementing the tips above. Now that you’re aware of these simple yet effective Instagram tips for businesses, you can look forward to reaping the benefits. Good luck!

Did you find the information in this article helpful? If you did, be sure to check out the rest of our posts about all things business and marketing.

The post 5 Simple Instagram Tips for Businesses appeared first on Derek Time.

One of the great things about Instagram for business is that you’re able to market and sell in the same place, it is an excellent opportunity for small businesses to grow their brand’s reach and profits.

Instagram provides several tools, such as insights, metrics, and promoted posts to help you reach your business goals, so if you’re interested in creating an online business on Instagram, don’t waste any more of your time, and read on.

Let’s Get Started – Set Up an Instagram Business Account.

First of all, if you want to start promoting your business, you need an Instagram Business account; this is how you set it up:

1. Download the app from your app store, then tap on it to open it once it has been installed on your phone.
2. Sign up to Instagram using an email address or Log in with your Facebook account. I recommend the latter if you want to connect your Instagram Business account to your Facebook Business Page later.
3. Choose an appropriate username that will let people find you. Try to use your brand’s name without alterations. If your username is taken, add numbers or abbreviations for your location.
4. Choose a safe password and fill in your information. Once you’re finished, tap Done.
5. Go to your profile by tapping your profile icon. Then tap the three lines icon on the top right corner and go to Settings.
6. Tap Switch to Business Profile, then Continue.
7. Add all the required information, then tap Done.

You now have an Instagram Business account.

Talking Strategy

Your Instagram strategy will largely depend on your business goals. Whether you want to get new clients, more sales, or build an engaged audience, you will have to establish specific objectives and parameters that will allow you to use the app to its full potential to benefit your business.

Creating a winning strategy for Instagram.

First, define your target audience; this will determine the type of content you will be posting on your account. Establish an age range, gender, location, lifestyle, etc. to have a clear understanding of who you should attract with your content.

If you already have customers, you should study them as well. Since they’re already interested in your products, which means you’d like to find similar profiles to theirs on Instagram.

The next step is to set business goals. These must be Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant, and Timely (SMART). Depending on your goals, you focus on different metrics that will help you stay on track:

• If you want to increase brand awareness, focus on follows, profile visits, impressions, and reach. These metrics will let you know how many people are interacting with your business and where they are discovering you so you can keep using the strategies that brought you there.
• If you want to increase engagement, focus on likes, comments, and shares. Pay attention to what type of posts get lots of these and keep replicating them.
• If you want to increase sales, focus on clicks, mostly those on the link on your bio. Again, analyze what posts are driving the most sales since this will give you an idea of the interests that your audience has.

Optimizing your profile.

Your name and username are the only searchable elements of your profile, so make sure they include your brand name and any relevant variations.

It’s a good idea to use the same username and profile picture in all of your social media profiles so that your customers can easily find you anywhere. Your profile image should be your brand logo in 320 x 320 pixels.

Add a relevant link on your bio; this can be a link to your home page, your online shop, your sales funnel, your YouTube channel, etc. It is the only clickable link you get on Instagram, so make sure you use it wisely.

Include your contact information, such as your email address, phone number, and address if your business has one; this allows for better communication between you and your customers.

Action buttons let your potential clients make an appointment with you or buy your products with just one tap, so make sure you include one of those on your profile.

Lastly, you can use the category section to select what your business is all about and let new visitors know.

A regular posting schedule.

When we talk about a posting schedule on Instagram, you have to know that different content performs better at different times, so you aren’t able to just Google what’s the best time to post and expect your posts to blow up.

You will have to go through a testing period where you try out different times and days to see when you should post. Your Insights will provide all the information you need to establish a posting schedule that keeps your followers engaged.

The idea is to post regularly to stay top of mind with your customers, and your stories can help you achieve this. However, you don’t want to overwhelm your followers by posting too often. Also, there are tons of courses online that call themselves “Online Academies” about a particular subject, in this case, they’d call themselves “Instagram Academy”, if you see any of those courses, you should check out https://onlineacademyscam.com/ before purchasing them. They post in-depth reviews of almost all the courses out there in the make money online niche. And you can know beforehand whether the course you’re planning to buy is a scam or not. It’ll save you a ton of time and headache.

Optimal profile bio.

You want your Instagram bio to convey your brand personality.

Even though 150 characters seem too little, you can use a couple of sentences and the right tone to let people know if your brand is more on the serious, fun, or casual side.

Emojis and spacing are great ways to make your bio lighter and easier to read.

Building a community.

Building a community on Instagram takes dedication and effort, but it’s not as difficult as it seems. You just have to follow these simple steps:

• Find a group related to your niche. You can do this by scanning your competitor’s page. If you follow these engaged users, people that might be interested in your content and products will know about your business and probably follow you back.
• Do hashtag research. Hashtags are another of the few things that are searchable on Instagram, so they allow you to put your content in front of potential clients that don’t follow you. However, you will only achieve this if you use the right ones. Spend some time monitoring and looking for proper hashtags that showcase your content in the best light.
• Engage with your audience—people on the internet like it when you interact with them. It’s only fair that you reply or like their comment if they took time out of their day to say something beautiful; this will slowly create a relationship between your brand and your audience and encourages followers to interact with your posts.
• Consider influencer marketing. Nowadays, even small businesses can benefit from influencer marketing. Micro-influencers are willing to work with you even with a low budget. Look for someone with an engaged audience that will be highly interested in your business and try to work with them. You can offer them free products in exchange for promotion.
• Use Instagram ads. Instagram ads do an excellent job of putting your content in front of a larger and targeted audience; this means that your brand will be seen by users that are very likely to follow or interact with your content. However, you must have an evident and accurate vision of who your target audience is for this to be beneficial for your business.
• Use your other social media profiles to promote your Instagram business account.

Getting Business.

Instagram not only allows you to market your business, but it’s also a great platform to start building one. There are several ways you can start a business with just an Instagram account. Some of them are:

• Become an Instagram influencer. You have to choose a niche you’re passionate about because you will be creating and posting a lot of content to build the audience you need to be an influencer. This content has to be relevant and useful to other people interested in the field, so you have to dedicate a lot of time on your selected topics. Once you’ve built your audience, you can choose brands that are looking to promote their products.
• Review products; this is pretty much on the same line as an influencer. Find products you like to test and review them on your Instagram account, and always be as genuine as possible to build credibility. If your followers can’t trust your reviews, following you is not going to be worth it.
• Become an affiliate marketer. Promote and share affiliate links to other people’s products and earn commissions after someone buys them using your link.
• Create an online store. Instagram is a very crowded platform, so if you want to have a successful online store on Instagram and catch users’ attention, you have to offer something unique in a specific niche. Look for already successful shops on the platform and see what products they offer and how they sell them to their customers.

Summing it all up.

Instagram is one of the best platforms to start making money online. The best part is that you only need an account to start a profitable business. Once you choose a niche and set up your account, you’re ready to go.

Define your target audience, set business goals, and focus on the right metrics to change your course of action along the way to get better results. Engage with your followers and potential clients on the app to build a community for your brand, and then you will be able to earn money just by using your account.

Now that you have this knowledge on your hands don’t let it go to waste and start your online business on Instagram today.

The post Instagram A Platform For Online Business – How To Create An Online Business On Instagram appeared first on Derek Time.

With such booming expansion in the user base, the race to buildup followership has become intense. People are discussing strategies to increase their followers. Dedicated blogs are explaining ways to grow your followers. Everyone wants to be popular on Instagram like celebrities and famous personalities

It is fascinating how you can increase your followership on Instagram just by commenting. Instagram comments are one of the several ways to increase your fan base provided that it is done properly. Let’s discuss how commenting can allow you to grow following.

Respond to the Instagram Comments You Get

Show your audience and followers that you are interested in and care about them by responding to comments on your posts. This will create a sense of community among your followers and can play a vital role in increasing them.

Do not ignore the comments you get, there is a good chance that your response will trigger further discussion and more people will participate. The thread will increase and (if it goes well) so will your followers.

Engage With People in Comments

The way you comment and respond to people can have an impact on the conversation too. Try asking people questions in a friendly intuitive way and share similar experiences with pictures of your own.

For serious conversations and threads use a formal tone and present your point in a discrete logical way. For casual topics, you may use appropriate style and slang to match the subject and tone of the thread. Do not try to be a bully or a dogmatic commenter.

Appropriate emojis and can be eye-catching and fun for a lighter conversation. Too much use of emojis can also be negative and spammy.

Comment on High-Quality Content

Instagram’s algorithm judges the quality of the content by several likes it gets and how quickly it receives them. Commenting on quality content that you think has the potential to rise quickly can make your comments visible to more people.

Instagram promotes high-quality stuff and makes it popular. More and more people engage with high-quality pictures and make them famous pictures.

Participate In Popular Posts

As mentioned earlier the more a picture is viewed the more likely its comments are going to be read by users. Sometimes a spot-on comment early on the post is seen, read, and praised excessively.

Posts by celebrities, artists, signers, political personalities, sportsmen, and global personalities are a hit instantly due to such a huge fan base. Try commenting on these to be viewed more and more people. Ask questions and remember engagement is the key. If they like your comment there is a chance they like you and start following you.

Use Creative Hashtags & Relevant Keywords

Creative hashtags and relative keyword use can make tour comment good looking and increase your visibility. This increases the chances of likes and even the following. Usually 5 or 6 hashtags are enough; however, you can use up to 30.

Some people say that morehashtags are wasteful and can give you a spammy outlook. They also claim that 11 hashtags can give you maximum engagement.

You can search online to know the popular and mostly used top hashtags. Some people use them to ask for likes or following like #followback, #instafollow, #like4like, #l4l, and #follow me.

Avoid Too Much Commenting – Don’t Be Spammy!

Try commenting more, to promote engagement and likes but not too much. Excess of everything can be bad; the same is true for Instagram comments. A huge number of comments can overwhelm users. It also makes you look spammy and desperate for followership.

Use your comments cleverly and consider them as a micro blog for engagement which can in turn increase following.  Comment on the right time of the day or night and do not waste them on unfruitful posts (some estimate it to be between 1 pm and 5 pm for IG).

There are rules for Instagram commenting try not to violate any of them while using commenting as a technique to increase your followers. Despite being a simple technique it can certainly increase the fan base and follower growth.

The post Using Comments to Grow Instagram Following appeared first on Derek Time.

Native content

Facebook wants to keep its audience as long as possible on its site. If you want to get more visibility for your business page, you will need to provide specific content for Facebook.

Instants Articles

Instants Articles are articles directly hosted on Facebook. Just like your blog articles, they are designed to be played on mobile with ease.

They are largely favored by Facebook and thus today collects 20% more clicks * than the link of a classic article. This format also facilitates virality and thus capitalizes 30% of additional shares *. * data provided by Facebook.

Facebook and Instagram Live

Facebook Live is the name of the mobile live streaming service offered by Facebook. This feature is available to all and allows you to stream video content taken from your smartphone live for your Facebook & Instagram followers.

Advertising on Facebook

Facebook continues to innovate by always offering more advertising formats or distribution sites.

The next support that should quickly reach advertising on Facebook and Instagram is Messenger. Indeed, Facebook plans to set up sponsored messages to Messenger users who have already come into contact with a brand.

Future developments of Facebook that will interest companies

In terms of development, Facebook provides many new features.

Messenger

Facebook should soon integrate in Europe chatbots able to offer payment methods, so it will be possible to book a plane ticket or order a pizza directly from Facebook Messenger.

Other robots should allow you to insert more content into your discussions with your friends like music (in association with Spotify), articles published by a page or products for e-commerce.

Augmented reality

Augmented reality has been the subject of most of the announcements of this conference. No commercial applications to be expected in the near future because it must first of all that its use is democratized and that users equip themselves. But it is clearly the horse on which Facebook has decided to bet for the future of its social network.

Companies, why be present on Facebook?

Here is a series of answers that will give you an idea of  the interest of social networks for your company . 

Facebook is the most visited network in the world and also in France.

The site that has the most daily revisits (number of visits on a day) is Facebook.

The Facebook network has accurate, reliable targeting and the data is analyzed, cross checked, etc. : big data at its apotheosis.

Instagram belongs to Facebook and suddenly you can combine the two networks and reach even more Internet users and different Internet users (age …).

Even if a company is not present on the Internet or networks, the people who work there and their knowledge or families are there!

Even business leaders have a Facebook account … on a personal basis.

We can play the viral (sharing, buzz …) with Facebook on advertising campaigns.

With Facebook, we can reach prospects on moments “quieter” and therefore more interesting …

We can reach internet users in an ultra-localized geographical area with Facebook, contrary to popular belief.

Your customers have a Facebook account too.

Facebook is very interesting to recruit too (job, internship …).

The advertising tools of Facebook have been greatly improved and completed (statistics, formats, targeting …).

We do not necessarily need a very large advertising budget to advertise on Facebook.

The post What Should your Company Take into Account of the Present and Future Evolution of Facebook? appeared first on Derek Time.

Post Content:

• Post quotes
• Post user-generated content
• Buy Instagram views
• Comment on popular photos
• Ask a question

Post quotes

It is really a tough task to post different content ideas on your Instagram page. But the most engaging type of content in quotes because it is often text with a plain background. Quotes can be read easily and grab the attention of many people. People love to read something that uplifts their soul and inspirational. You can get your followers engaged with the quotes that are more relatable with them. It means you can get more like easily by posting quotes. You can also write your own quotes and share them with your followers or a quick Google search will give your best material for quotes.

Post-user-generated content

If you want to maintain your online presence then UGC (User-generated content) is the best way to achieve the same. People who follow the brands often post the content about them. Find these type of content, like the post and leave a thoughtful comment and repost these images. But don’t forget to give them credit in these posts. This is the genuine content that encourages other people to share this type of content. It helps you to get more views and views.

Buy Instagram views

If you are looking for getting views in a fraction of time then buying Instagram views is the best way. It will also help you to increase your followers.

Comment on popular photos

In order to engage your audience, find the new content in your explore feed. Follow our industry-specific Instagram accounts because it gives you relevant content. Find the big account and leave a comment on their popular posts but it should be simple and concise. The creator and their followers will see your comments and they will likely to visit your profile to learn more about your brand means more reach, more views, more views, and more followers.

Ask a question

You will notice that a post with more views and comments on Instagram has the caption with a question. A photo with a question (should be related to photo) get your post more viewers and get higher engagement ratio. People like to answer the question which shows their interest. It can help you to get a number of views on your Instagram posts.

The post 5 ways to get more Instagram views appeared first on Derek Time.

1. Consistency

Social media posts and messages help to keep consistency in the mind of brand followers. It is important to be consistent for making any social media campaign successful. The ideal way to manage the regularity on social media proper plan of your goals you have, following you want to meet and a number of posts you need to do a day/week. You can’t expect positive results if you suddenly go from posting once a month to five times a day. Balance is what you require for managing your social media.

2. Use relevant social networks

Everyone has a social network that they usually prefer over others. So, for making your social media success, you should try to share posts across all your social networks. Doing so will help you reach a good amount of quality audience. You can also forward the post with only a selected group of networks that are highly relevant for your brand.

3. Format content for optimizing each platform

People usually commit a mistake of posting the same content on all the social media platforms. But, this isn’t the right way to manage social media. Your followers may find it frustrating to see the same piece of content everywhere around social media. Therefore, the best way is to create content that is specifically meant for different social media platforms. The message through your content can be similar but the content that you post on different social media channels should be different. You can create amazing social media content using the free designing tool. This will help you save a lot of your time and efforts.

4. Push networks that work well

Some social media networks work better than others. When you come across those networks that work better for your brand and has more relevant customers, you need to push these network and make the best use of them.

5. Content should align with your message

Building a strong social presence is more than just getting likes and follows. Even if you get a nice number of responses for each post, you should focus on the content that goes well with the message that you wish to convey. Everything that you present should be a good fit for your brand identity. Your message should be clear in the content.

6. Some important content might get ignored, but still, keep the post

Social media is just like another marketing strategy. Not every time you post, you will get the same amount of engagement through likes or comments. It can be related to charity, testimonial or other. Always remember that these type of content are a very important source of validity in the market. It might not get as popular as your other posts, but surely these will surely build a great foundation for your company.

7. Discover a balance between popularity and business

The professional social media site should always be about the business, but you should always make sure that it gets all the attention required. In other words, if you want to get popular on social media then you need to find a perfect balance of popularity and business. This point explains the need of having a little bit of both mixed with a fun quotient. You should never sound to informative or casual every time. .

8. Use social media plan to boost your business and marketing efforts

Every business has its own marketing plan other than the social media campaign. After all, a marketing plan has a different variety of techniques that work for one similar brand motive. A solid social media plan gives a good boost the marketing efforts that you are making.

If social media when done correctly tells your customers about the brand that it is active and focused on knowing customer views and communication. I hope this article helped you to know about some new tips that will help you use social media correctly for your brand. In case of any query, do feel free at any point to contact us through the comment section below. Thanks!

The post 8 tips to grow your new business through social media appeared first on Derek Time.