#which will then fill all your algorithmic feeds with All The Most Recent Popular Posts

[thechekhov]

[bby-bo]

“Quaratine Fantasies”

i am TERRIFIED to post this bc i’ve never ever written smut before, but I couldn’t let this idea go unwritten🥲🥲🥲.  someone please message me w pointers or constructive criticism or just gimme your thoughts !! (also the title of this makes me giggle)

- bo

Pairing: Midoriya x Reader

Warnings: nsfw, solo prohero!Midoriya, fist fucking, begging, tiny daddy kink in there too

Summary: In which Pro Hero Deku buys a Peloton to keep himself in shape during quarantine, but can’t keep the fantasies of his instructor at bay

It goes without saying that a Pro Hero needs to keep themselves in great shape, even during a pandemic.  So to make sure he wasn’t going to be falling behind in the hero charts once quarantine ended, Pro Hero Deku bought himself a Peloton bike.  

After getting himself all set up, bike pieces properly constructed and computer screen plugged in, he changed into some light workout gear and filled a water bottle before slipping on the bike shoes and clipping in.  His fingers worked across the screen, scrolling through the different filters for the cycling classes.

“Let’s see you can go by class length, music, instructor…” Thinking aloud, he pressed the 45 minute length and decided to see what the algorithm suggested to him for a first class.  There on the top row was a video suggestion, and the instructor presented on the thumbnail had Midoriya immediately clicking on it without hesitation. 

The thumbnail was a photo of you, sitting up high on the bike seat with your hands on your hips, your body was beautifully displayed in a matching set of leggings and a sports bra with the Peloton logo as your head tilted slightly in a genuine happy smile.  Midoriya quickly realized he had possibly made the best purchase of his entire quarantine stress shopping.  And his realization was only solidified when the video automatically started to play.  Your voice came through the speakers, strong and sweet, as you looked directly into the camera to give a quick introduction to everyone at home.  

“Hello Peloton and welcome to your 45 minute tibatta ride!  My name is Y/N L/N and I will be leading you in today’s Beyoncé ride!  I mean who the hell doesn’t want a whole track list of Queen B?  Before we start let's check in with our form…”  Jumping right into the ride, you started moving your legs, oh god your legs- they were defined with lean yet strong muscles that Midoriya couldn’t drag his eyes from.  

What Midoriya wasn’t expecting was how hard the class was going to be.  Sure he had basically full control over the weight beneath the pedals and the speed of his legs but having you to draw up a workout like that for him wasn’t something a busy pro hero would ever overlook.  Not only that but hearing the soft sigh of breath that you let out at the end of the final hard push of the workout was worth every single minute of the class.  Dragging his body to the floor to stretch, then across his apartment to shower, Midoriya was already thinking ahead to tomorrow’s class.

“If I take an hour long class then I’ll basically be getting more time with her” Midoriya shocked himself at his own thoughts.  He saw you one time through a screen and now he’s hooked?  He hadn’t ever met a girl like that even in person, yet here he was, mind consumed by you already.  Shaking himself out of his stupor, Midoriya settled himself into bed for another quiet evening in quarantine.  Dinner eaten, TV shows watched, he was left with absolutely nothing else to do.  Pulling out his phone he clicked the icon for Instagram, looking up your name.  600K followers???? Midoriya practically choked, not having realized how popular your occupation made you- even though he himself had millions of followers from being so well known in his own line of work.  

Hitting the follow button then scrolling through your feed, Midoriya found himself repeatedly zooming in on your posts.  One of your most recent posts was you in bed, a timer camera photo set up so that the city skyline could be seen out the windows behind you.  The morning sun poured through the windows, the duvet fluffed up around you covering much of your figure from the chest down, a steaming mug of tea between your palms.  The photo captured you in a natural state, hair slightly messy and body definitely not dressed; such a contrast to the ponytail and tight fitting workout set he saw you in earlier.  Pinching the photo to zoom in, he brought his eyes to where one of your legs poked out, the skin from your lower thigh down to your feet bared to the world.

All of a sudden Midoriya found himself thinking back to your cycling class video, how your body moved up and down with the pedals of the bike, midriff bared and breasts hardly contained in the sports bra.  Midoriya felt almost like he was disrespecting you, eyeing you in your workplace like that.  But to be honest he just couldn’t help himself.  Ridding himself of his shirt and lying back in the dark grey sheets of his bed, Midoriya let his mind wander as he dragged a slow hand down his chest.  

His thoughts were stuck on the way your thighs pushed hard against the weight of the pedals, wondering if they would flex and clench that way on either side of his head.  Wondering how they would feel underneath his palms as his fingertips gripped into the flesh over his shoulders.  His breathing picked up as he lifted his hips to kick off his sweatpants, tossing them somewhere else in his room.  Toying with the hem of his boxers, Midoriya teased his growing erection, dragging two fingers down the prominent vein on the underside of his cock.  

He pictured your body, splayed out on the sheets before him, hair over the pillows and body ready for him to explore.  His mind traveled up from your thighs to your hips, then to your stomach all the way up to your breasts.  He thought back to how they moved in tandem with your body, bouncing up and down as you pedaled on raised legs.  He wanted to rip that sports bra right down the middle.  He craved to see the material falling away to reveal the soft mounds to his hot gaze.

Midoriya brought his fingers to tease his clothed tip, pressing into the center of the wet spot spreading on his boxers, eliciting a low groan from the back of his throat.  He pinched the very tip of the head lightly between his thumb and forefinger, dragging the two down either side of his cock putting pressure all the way down his fully hardening length.  He lifted his hips once more, shoving his thumbs into his boxers to drag them down his legs, the band catching on his cock on it’s way down.  The leaking tip came up to slap his muscled stomach, pre cum smearing above his navel as he quietly moaned at the sudden contact.  Taking his length into his palm, Midoriya let his imagination run wild.

Fuck- he wanted you to look up at him from between his legs, eyes on his while you pressed kisses to the tip of his cock.  He wanted to feel that tension between the two of you, wanted you to worship his body’s most sensitive parts in the same way that he so desperately wanted to worship yours.  He wanted to feel the drag of your tongue, all the way from below his balls up to his wet slit.  Bringing his hand below his cock, Midoriya mirrored the path your tongue would take, pressing down on that sensitive space between his heavy balls before dragging upwards.  He wanted to feel your fingernails digging into his hips as he pressed into the hot cavern of your mouth, eyes still connected with his emerald ones as you took his length down your throat, his hand on the back of your head coaxing you further down his length.

Midoriya let out a long, low and gravelly moan, picturing your pretty mouth around the inches of his cock as he wrapped his fingers all the way around the hot skin of his shaft, moving up towards the head.  He brought his hand up to his mouth, spitting into it softly before repeating the same back and forth motion in smooth strokes, the saliva making the friction of his palms that much better.  His other hand came down to give his balls a hard squeeze, his entire lower body seizing up from the shock of pleasure.  

“Fuck… Y/N, please” He let his moans out in earnest, unable to keep them at bay.  God he was desperate for you, for your body, for your pussy.  He could practically hear the way you would cry out with his fingers buried inside you, rewarding you for letting him fuck your mouth so well.  He wanted to taste every drop of your slick from his fingers- no, directly on his tongue.  Your hips squirming as his tongue circled and swirled over your clit, puffy from his mouth repeatedly sucking on the button.  Your hips would squirm and writhe against his face, thoroughly soaking his mouth and chin in your arousal.  Midoriya would press down across your hips with his forearm, holding your body against the sheets as his other hand was occupied pumping two thick fingers in and out of your dripping hole, preparing for the length of him to press into you.

Midoriya flipped his body over on his bed, his knees holding his hips up in the air as one arm came to support his weight beneath his head.  His other hand formed a tight fist, and holding it just at his tip, slick with the mixture of saliva and pre cum, Midoriya slowly forced his entire length through the hole he formed.  Watching as his balls gently pressed against his wrist, Midoriya was mesmerized by his own actions.  Closing his eyes he began a quick pace fucking into his fist over and over again.  He cried out at the sensation, throwing his head back and screwing his eyes shut tight.  

He wanted to work his hips against yours, feel your walls flutter around him, smell the scent of sweat from the heat between your bodies as his weight moved against you.  He so desperately wanted to hear you beg for him to make you cum, to make you feel good.  Wanted to praise you because yes, you were such a good girl for letting him use your pussy like this.  Midoriya’s mind was utterly lost in his fantasy of you, moaning and stuttering out his cravings of your body.  

“Oh fuck yes- baby yes, I know you can take more for me”  He tightened his fist, fucking hard into the little hole as his imagination convinced him it was your walls clamping down on him, his orgasm coiling quickly at the base of his cock, getting tighter and tighter.

His mind immediately brought up the sight of your post-workout face, that sigh exhaling from your lips as your eyes closed in a satisfied bliss.  How easily he could imagine that face as your fucked out expression, his hands in a bruising grip on your hips as he drilled his cock into your pussy.  How easily he could imagine the way your breasts would bounce with every thrust, your hands coming up to brace your body’s jarring movements as your fingernails dug into his biceps.  How easily could he imagine the way your begging would reach his ears, smooth and thick like honey.

“Izuku please please please make me cum, I need it Daddy please..!”

“Ohhh fuck thats a good girl. Begging for me so good baby, but you gotta hold it.  You can’t cum yet baby girl I know you can take it harder for me”  He was totally lost in the sex of his fantasy and the lewd squelching of his wet cock fucking fast and aggressive into his fist, that coil at the base of his cock tightening more and more.  He just needed to see you cum, to see your mouth open in ecstasy as you cried out his name.  He would force you right over the edge, rubbing your clit with three fingers sliding in quick circles as he continued his harsh pace in and out of your clenching walls.  He could practically feel you gush around him, your legs wrapping around his waist and pressing him even closer to you, as he chased his own high.  

Midoriya’s eyes rolled into the back of his head as his orgasm hit him hard.  The wave of pleasure dragging him into another headspace, as his hips stuttered and worked every last drop of cum from his balls, the mess spilling out over his fingers, down his hand and dripping onto the sheets, as a long and pathetically loud moan ripped from his throat.  Collapsing right on top of his sheets, uncaring of the mess beneath him, his post orgasm bliss buzzed throughout his entire body.  How long had it been since he felt that good? Since he’s had a fantasy that vivid?  How long had it been since he didn’t need his phone to help him cum??

Midoriya dragged his naked body up onto his feet, tugging the sheets off of his bed and throwing them into the washing machine on his way back to the bathroom.  He needed another shower after all that.  Scrubbing himself clean once more, Midoriya was overcome with embarrassment.  He hadn’t even met you or spoken to you and he was already fucking you in his dreams?? He felt guilty about objectifying a stranger like that, but at the same time it just felt so good- so intense.  Quarantine horniness had completely taken over him, and he prayed for this stupid virus to just disappear so he could take one of your classes in person, or ask you on a real date.  Even just have a face to face interaction with you.  Shit- he was so smitten.  Midoriya groaned in frustration, the sound reverberating off the walls of the shower as he shoved his blushing face into his hands.

[yodaebusiness]

The 25 Best Ways to Increase Your Online Presence in 2021 (+ Free Tools) | Online Sales Guide Tips

Kristen McCormick May 21, 2021

Guys, we spend eight hours a day doing digital activities. That’s more than half the day. More than most of us sleep. And we have different identities online—we’re hobbyists (gaming), alter egos (Reddit), social butterflies (Facebook), professionals (LinkedIn), and consumers (what we’re focusing on in this post).

So whether you’re a service-based, brick-and-mortar, or online business, a strong online presence is everything today. And this does not pertain to just ecommerce. While ecommerce growth has been accelerated by the pandemic, so, too has support for local businesses. And the fact remains that 97% of consumers go online to find and research local businesses.

But as the internet evolves, so, too, does the definition of a strong online presence. In this definitive, data-backed guide, you’ll learn everything you need to know, including:

By the end, you’ll be ready to fill every nook and cranny on the internet.

How do you define online presence?

Online presence is, and isn’t, exactly what you may think. You can very well exist online, but that doesn’t equate to having a presence. Your presence is a deeper layer that paints the full picture of your business, according to:

So while an online existence may get you on the map, an online presence is tied to your visibility, credibility, and reputation.

Without a strong online presence, you really don’t have one at all. It’s all or nothing in the noisy world of cyberspace.

But before we get into the tactics and strategies, let’s back up that bold statement.

Why you need a strong online presence

The more ways you can place your business in front of your target audience with quality experiences, the more opportunities you have to build brand awareness and improve your reputation. But there are other ways a strong online presence benefits your business.

Finally, flock mentality. Each of your online assets and identities gives power to one another. Each channel performs better in concert with the others than it would on its own.

How to increase your online presence with your website

No matter how someone finds out about your business—whether through social media, an ad, a listing, direct mail, a friend, or even seeing it in their travels—their first inclination is to go to your website. Going into the business or calling is far less appealing than browsing your site on their own terms and gathering the information they want, quickly. Which is why 30% of consumers won’t consider a business without a website.

30% of consumers won’t consider a business without a website.

And that’s a stat from 2017, so the percentage has most likely grown and been further accelerated by the pandemic.

So with that being said, here’s how to use your website for an optimal online presence.

1. Get a modern, attractive site

Consumers have high expectations these days—to the point where if you don’t have a good website, you’re almost better off not having one at all. In fact, 75% of consumers have admitted to judging a company’s credibility based on their website design.

And truth be told, I would highly suggest hiring an expert to set up your site. DIY builders are awesome in theory, but in my own experience, people end up spending hours on them and experiencing endless glitches—oftentimes to the point of eventually spending more to hire someone. Having a lead-generating website that looks and functions exactly the way you want it to without losing hours of your time or hairs on your head is, to me, worth every penny

2. Perform SEO with the latest updates in mind

Did you know that only 49% of small businesses invest in SEO? Or that only 18% of small businesses do not plan to ever pursue targeted SEO efforts like link building, content creation, or keyword research?

SEO is a free way to get on the first page of Google—the hallmark of online presence.

It takes time, but when done right, it is the gift that just keeps on giving.

Here’s how to use SEO to increase your online presence:

3. Target more keywords with a business blog

The core pages of your website (homepage, about, pricing, products/services, contact) are relatively limited in terms of optimizing for keywords other than your service and location. You don’t have much text to work with and the goal is to distill the information down to the essentials visitors are looking for.

With a business blog, each post you publish can dive deep into a relevant keyword and be individually optimized to rank for that keyword, allowing you the opportunity to appear in search results for tons of searches your target customers are performing at various stages in their journey. More first-page appearances doesn’t just mean stronger web presence; it also equates to more traffic to your conversion-optimized site and greater credibility. In fact, businesses that blog get 55% more website visitors than businesses that don’t.

Plus, this is where you can demonstrate your expertise and let your brand personality shine through—both of which play into the reputation component of your online presence.

When blogging for online presence, make sure to:

How to increase online presence with social media

Using social media to increase your online presence is a no-brainer, as its vast user bases and sharing capabilities make it an amplification tool. Plus, according to Sprout Social, after following a brand on social media, 91% of consumers will visit its website, 89% will buy from the brand, and 85% will recommend the brand to a family or friend.

Here’s how to improve your social media presence.

4. Limit the number of platforms to only what you can handle

Online presence is about quality, not quantity. Choose the platforms that your audience is using, and limit the number you choose based on your bandwidth. Having just one or two accounts with solid engagement is better than having several accounts with weak activity.

Platforms to consider include:

5. Think audience, not followers

Your online presence doesn’t improve with more followers. Rather, your following improves with a stronger presence. So work on cultivating a quality, niche audience of individuals who are interested in and can benefit from what you have to offer. This will translate into more likes and comments with your posts and more user-generated content. And if you didn’t already know, marketing campaigns with user-generated content result in 29% higher conversions than campaigns or without it.

It’s better to have fewer followers with a vibrant page than to have lots of followers and not much value to offer.

6. Post with emotion for shareability

Quality posts that get engagement are important if you want social algorithms to display your posts in users’ feeds. But quality isn’t really enough. You want your followers to feel something when they consume your content—so much so, that they feel compelled to share it with others. Use emotional words and phrases in your captions. Add emojis. Use compelling stats and evocative images.

And speaking of shareability, pay attention to small nuances in your captions to see if you can find any patterns. We recently found that leading off with a key stat in the caption resulted in more shares. Another approach is to create link-free posts that followers can consume quickly. They don’t always want to read a long post or go to a link, and they’re more likely to share something that isn’t a big ask for their followers either.

7. Perform social media SEO

Facebook receives over 2 billion searches per day. And in 2020, Instagram announced that it now supports general keyword searches (as opposed to just accounts, hashtags, and people). So just like with your website, you should include popular keywords in your profiles and posts. You can use many of the same keywords as you do with your site, but perhaps with a bias toward idea-oriented and lighter-hearted queries. Social media platforms are more of the browsing and inspirational types. But it all depends on your business. The first result for the query “how to clean a sink” on Facebook is a video with almost a million views.

You should also still be using hashtags in your posts to improve your social media presence, but treat them as you would keywords. Use broad hashtags sparingly and focus more on location-based and niche terms so that you can increase your visibility to the right audience.

8. Be active (duh)

You’ve heard this a million times, and now, for the million-and-oneth time: If you’re going to make social media a part of your online presence, you need to have an active account. So that means publishing quality posts regularly, responding to likes and comments on those posts, liking and commenting on your followers’ posts, answering direct messages, sharing content from other sources, and more. And it means doing this consistently. This is the difference between a profile and a presence.

If being able to have this type of engagement means only having one profile, then so be it. Better to have one vibrant profile than to have three that are subpar. And precisely why it’s important to only take on the number of profiles you can manage.

Plus, if you want to find and connect with influencers, you need to be active in your niche so you can identify who is realistic to reach out to and gradually build your relationship with them.

How to improve your online presence with listings

With thousands of online directories out there, creating listings for your business can help you show up in more places online. In addition, links to your site from popular directories serve as citations for your business, which Google takes into consideration when ranking your site. Finally, curated “Top 10” lists from popular directories can dominate the SERP, so if you’re ranking in their top 10, you can achieve that much more exposure.

But reaping these benefits takes more than just throwing your NAP out there and then kicking back. Let’s cover the steps for using online listings to properly boost your online presence.

9. Start with the heavy hitters

Many of the smaller directories out there aggregate information from the biggest ones. So take the time to perfect your listings on the following sites:

Google My Business (If you only do one of the suggestions in this post, let it be this one!)

Your Google My Business Profile is arguably the new homepage for your business. It provides all of the essential details of your business, directly in the SERP for Search and Maps.

Change the category on your business page to “Local business or place” so you can then add your location and collect reviews. Also, get listed on Facebook Places by attempting to check in at your location and then adding your business there.

The fact that an HVAC business can show up on a Facebook search speaks to its validity as a directory.

We know that Google is the leading search engine, by far. But that doesn’t mean Bing is to be ignored. Here are some stats that prove it’s worth being present on:

Small businesses, in particular, can benefit from a presence on Bing because there is less competition and the older audience may be ideal.

Foursquare has fizzled out as a social platform, but its Places technology powers location data for Apple, Uber, Twitter, Microsoft, Samsung, and 120,000 other developers. When your business is listed on Foursquare, it’s automatically included in thousands of local apps and services.

For a more complete list of listing sites, check out LOCALiQ’s 10 Best Free Business Listing Sites.

10. Populate every field, meticulously

Like social media feeds and search engine results pages, listing results are determined by an algorithm. This means that the quality of your listing matters. Make sure that for each listing, you populate every section available, such as:

As much as possible, make sure the information you provide is identical across listing sites. We’re talking St vs street, [Business name] vs [Business name], LLC, and other tiny details. This is because Google looks at consistency of information about you across the web when determining your credibility and ranking; and also because auto-populated listings risk inaccuracies, so you can keep deviations to a minimum with identical listings to begin with.

11. Have a proactive review strategy

Reviews have perhaps the most powerful influence over how high you show up in directory results. Not to mention the fact that they are one of the top ranking factors for Google local search. Simply providing review-worthy service will not do it. You need to have a proactive strategy in place to keep a steady stream of reviews coming in. Here are some ways to obtain and ask for reviews:

12. Maintain and monitor your listings

With the thousands of directories across the web that pull information from one another, your listings can develop inconsistencies or inaccuracies over time. And 80% of consumers lose trust in local businesses if they see incorrect or inconsistent information. You don’t have control over all of these profiles, but take the time to keep the ones you do have control over updated and consistent. Another option is to use a listing service provider who can stay on top of everything for you.

Monitoring your reviews on these directories is also crucial, for obvious reasons.

How to improve your online presence with advertising

Paid advertising is a fast way to show up prominently on search engines, social media feeds, and websites your ideal customers frequent. With SEO, you can really only target your audience with keywords, but with PPC, you can layer audiences onto your targeting based on a number of criteria. Here are some of many the different ad options you can use to increase your online presence.

13. Search ads

It’s worth investing in paid search ads because not only do they land you at the top of the SERP, but they also reach your target customers when they have the highest intent. And if you can get your site to rank in both organic and paid results for a keyword, the chances of getting a click on one or the other are higher.

And although Google is the most popular search engine, there are still many advantages of advertising on Bing.

14. Social ads

Social media ads can be used to improve your online presence because ads have higher reach and engagement rates than organic posts. And while social media users have less intent than on search engines, social ads come with stronger targeting capabilities and more creative freedom. Plus, you can leverage the power of video ads.

15. Display ads

Display ads put your business in front of custom audiences based on their interests, behaviors, types of websites and apps they frequent, and even places they’ve visited. Though display ads have lower engagement rates than search ads, they will earn you lots of impressions and like social media ads, you have more options for branding, color, and creative.

16. Retargeting ads

Retargeting ads appear in front of users who have previously expressed interest in your business, such as by interacting with a previous ad or visiting your website. This is a great way to maintain a presence with prospects as they engage elsewhere on the web.

17. Google Local Service Ads

Google Local Service Ads also show up at the top of the SERP in card form. If you go through the application process, you can appear with a green “Google Guaranteed” badge under your name, which makes for a stronger presence in this section of results.

This is, by no means, an exhaustive list. There’s podcast advertising, Google Shopping Ads, Reddit ads, and more.

More ways to increase your online presence

Your online presence isn’t just limited to your website, social media profiles, online listings, and ads. Here are eight more ways to increase your visibility online.

18. Have a presence in the inbox with email marketing

The advantage that email marketing has over other channels is that your recipients have opted in to receive your emails. Yes, your social media followers have opted to follow you, but feeds are infinitely more crowded and competitive than email inboxes. Plus, while 79% of Facebook users check Facebook once a day, 99% of email users check their email every day, some as much as 20 times a day. Lots of opportunity to get exposure.

99% of email users check their email every day, some as much as 20 times a day

The email marketing best practices are pretty evergreen, but if there’s three to focus on with regard to your online presence, it would be these:

19. Use guest posting to reach more potential customers

Do you know of any complementary businesses or local media outlets that have a strong online presence? See if they’ll accept a guest post from you. Not only can you get your business in front of their audience, but a link to your site from theirs can help to improve your SEO.

You can also accept guest posts on your own blog. Writers are always eager to share their publications with their audiences.

20. Leverage the power of video for more shares and memorability

There are tons of video marketing stats that highlight the importance of this medium for growing your business, but in terms of online presence, you should know these three:

Here are some ways to use video to improve your online presence:

21. Encourage your employees to share your content with their networks

According to Linkedin, employees have a network that is 10X larger than its company’s follower base. And Social Media Today tells us that content shared by employees receives 8X more engagement than content shared by brand channels.

Take advantage of this! Share your blog posts with your company employees and encourage them to share it on their networks. The added bonus is that your sales and support teams can stay on top of content that can be of use to them.

And don’t forget that your online presence is also made up of what others say about you online. Get listed on Glassdoor, treat your employees well, and let them play a part in building your reputation.

22. Build relationships with lots of different people

Building your online presence is a lot of work. But who says you have to do it alone? Those with whom you have a strong relationship can help you in a number of ways.

Plus, these immediate connections can introduce you to their connections. Maybe you connect with a developer that can help you with your website, or a young videographer offering inexpensive work to gain experience. But as always, networking and building relationships should not be self-seeking. The goal is to cultivate mutually beneficial relationships from which organic opportunities can arise.

23. Make your content accessible to all

Make your website pages and emails accessible to people with disabilities. Not only does one in four adults have a disability in the US, but also, the assistive technology industry is growing. With those with disabilities having more access to online content, you have the opportunity to expand your online presence to the 61 million adults in the US who have one—not to mention demonstrating values that matter to consumers today.

With the antiracisim and inclusivity movement that began in 2020, incorporating diversity into your workplace and marketing material is more important than ever. Plus, people are attracted to material—whether visual or written—that represents them. This is partly due to the familiarity principle (more on marketing psychology here), but also because it conveys to them the message that they are heard and seen. By representing the diverse range of people within your audience in your online assets, you can get noticed by more people while also demonstrating social responsibility.

25. Use mobile-specific marketing strategies

As mentioned earlier, Google is now using mobile-first indexing for all sites on the web, so having a responsive site and enhancing performance with tactics like lazy loading is essential. Plus, with more than half (60%) of internet searches being performed on mobile devices, you really do need to prioritize your mobile online presence. This means making sure your website pages and emails render properly on tablets and phones, but also leveraging mobile-specific strategies, such as:

And for local businesses in particular, local SEO is crucial for mobile marketing. According to Google, 76% of consumers who search for a local business on their smartphone end up visiting the business within a day, and 28% of them make a purchase.

Free tools for online presence management

With so many online channels, building and maintaining your online presence is a big undertaking, but with big returns. Here are some free tools that can help you with your efforts.

1. LOCALiQ’s Digital Marketing Healthcheck

With LOCALiQ’s free presence checker, enter your business name and address and get a report showing you which of your business listings are complete, which ones are missing information, and which ones are missing entirely.

Here’s how missing or incomplete listings show up:

2. Google search

Google yourself. See what shows up on the SERP. Hopefully your website is the first result and your Google My Business profile appears on the right. It’s likely that the rest of the results will be directory sites that have you in their database. Take a gander through them to make sure each listing is complete and accurate, and that reviews are accounted for.

3. Google’s Page Speed Insights

When you plug your website into the Page Speed Insights tool, you’ll get a score for both mobile and desktop as well as recommendations to improve page speed.

4. Google’s Mobile-Friendly Test

Simply Google “mobile friendly test” and enter your website into the search result.

Hopefully you won’t get the dreaded red text…

5. Google Alerts

Set up Google Alerts so you can be notified when new results for a topic show up in Google Search—i.e. your business.

6. WordStream’s Google My Business Grader

BrightLocal’s research has found that businesses with more than 100 images in their Google My Business listing get 520% more calls, 2,717% more direction requests, and 1,065% more website clicks than the average business. This is just one of the many small tweaks you can make to your profile to get big results. WordStream’s free Google My Business Grader identifies what’s missing in your profile and exactly what you need to do to improve it.

7. WordStream’s Google and Facebook Ads Graders

Our free Google Ads Grader and Facebook Ads Grader tools perform a thorough audit of your accounts and provide a detailed report on optimizations you can make to increase the visibility of your ads, prevent wasted spend, and get more conversions.

Use these strategies and tools to increase your online presence (and ultimately, your revenue)

You can only exist in one place in the physical world, but with the internet, you can be in multiple places at once, places your current and potential customers are spending most of their time. Having a strong online presence allows your business to get discovered by new customers, and the more touchpoints you have with your audience, the more you can build your reputation, increase brand awareness, make data-driven optimizations, and ultimately increase revenue.

There were many strategies mentioned in this post for improving your online presence, so let’s recap:

This content was originally published here.

[asthalntechinfo]

What is LSI Keywords and how to use it? || LN-TECHINFO

Have you ever heard what these LSI keywords are and how to use them? The LSI Keywords recently come to hear a lot because you are giving Google's search engines so much importance to the keywords. Its demand is now slowly increasing. I have seen many bloggers that they are always looking for something to increase the ranking of their website or blog, and while doing so, they sometimes use Black hat SEO, which may work for some time. Proves but later on they cause their trouble.

What is LSI Keywords

The full form of LSI is “ Latent Semantic Indexing ” keywords. Which means that similar or related keyword which is similar to main keyword. Using this, many search engines such as Google decide how to separate a user's search phrases from different web content. This makes it easy for Google to understand the relevant content and find it according to the right search. This increases the search relevancy of your article. If you use LSI keywords with main keywords, then your article will become even more SEO friendly .

If we talk about the earlier Searching algorithm, then earlier it used to try to search only the exact search query . Due to which Search Engines were unable to provide correct search results. But now this is not a problem, now search engines analyze search queries and find its meaning. Now you can get all the information related to that search query very easily. Google now uses such algorithms that can easily prevent wrong methods like Keyword stuffing. And finally you get the correct information of your search.

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For example, if you search about Apple, then there are possibilities of its two results. One can be this fruit or fruit or the other can also be Apple Company. But if we use LSI keywords here, and after Apple use a word like fruit, color, taste, then it also becomes easy for Search Engines that you are talking about Apple fruit. And here these words like fruit, color, taste are all related to Apple fruit, so they are also called LSI Keywords.

LSI and SEO

Search Engines like Google are always looking for how to get all the information related to any search query. This is not so easy in favor of any search engine , that is why they use LSI keywords to find out that it is in the context of search query. For our understanding, we can say that this makes it easier to increase the ranking, but the actual process behind it is much more complex and it is equally difficult to understand.

We can say that the use of LSI keywords is not only limited to increasing the page ranking, but it can be used even more, about which we will learn later. Here an important thing you have to understand is that LSI is a type of SEO technique, by using which you can increase the ranking of your page, with this you can make your articles more search relevant, there are many such results. Here we have to use it properly for our blog.

How does LSI Keywords work?

Whenever you search for a word in google, for example " custom made jackets " then Google shows you all the keywords related to this words in the search results. The same which are relevant and related keywords are called LSI keywords.

Here, when you are typing that keyword, then in the search bar itself, many such keywords are being automatically filled in the auto-fill option, about which people are made. All these auto-filled keywords are also LSI keywords in a way that are related to your main keyword. But have you ever wondered why Google does this? The answer is also very simple. Google does this because it wants its users to always find relevant content according to their search. If only the exact keywords were searched then only Spam pages with stuffed keywords would be seen in the results . Due to this, Google Algorithm has been designed in such a way that such search results can be stopped.

LSI Keywords Vs. Long-Tail Keywords

The question must have come in many minds that there is a difference between LSI Keywords and Long- Tail Keywords. And the answer is yes. The LSI keywords are not completely identical to the Long-Tail keywords, but to a large extent these two have a lot of similarities.

The main difference between these two is that it reduces the scope of Long-Tail Keywords Search, while LSI increases the scope of Keywords Search with the help of related keywords. With the help of Search Engines LSI Keywords, it checks how deep knowledge you have in your written article, and if it gives your page a first place in search results. That is why you must have seen that many times organic traffic starts coming on your blog post without doing anything because it is because Google has ranked you in your post search result due to some of your relevant keywords.

Fields to use LSI Keywords:

By the way, if we talk about user experience, then there are many advantages of using LSI keywords. Here I am going to tell you about its fate.

1. Save

your content from being Spam Labeled With  the help of LSI Keywords, your contents will not be tagged with Spam in Search Engines because you are using genuine relevant keywords. The credibility of your content increases with the use of other relevant keywords with your main keyword. Which separates such content from spam content.

2. Bounce Reduces Rates With

the help of LSI Keywords, it reduces the bounce rate of your page which is increased by any wrong keywords. For example, suppose that two articles have been ranked by the keyword of "Notebook". One is " Notebook movie " while the other is " Notebook PCs ". So if someone has searched about it then Google may not be able to tell the difference between these two, but if we use LSI keywords, then LSI keywords such as "romantic drama film", MTV movie award, delete Google can easily tell the difference between these two scenes so that to a great extent people will get the correct search results which will also reduce the bounce rate. Otherwise people will go to the website of PCs looking for the movie.

3. On-Page Time Spent by Visitors Increases Visitors do

not go easily from articles where LSI keywords are used because keywords are used in a way that readers would like to read, and not Let's feel like some keywords stuffing articles. With this, the meaning of the content is correct and it is also fun to read. That is why the bouncing rate page does not increase.

4. Improve Search Engine Rankings Using

LSI keywords increases the related searches of the page, which makes it easier for the page to rank higher. Google bots automatically crawl in your site and study your articles well with the help of your related keywords. And they now use LSI criteria semantically to increase their related searches even if your main keywords are no other reason.

5. Your Blog Authority improves,

more rankings = more click-through rates = so that your blog has more authority.

6. Increase in sales

LSI keywords are mainly like long tail keywords and by which you can easily rank high and that too in low competition. For example, Amazon has increased its sales by 57% last year, using LSI and long tail keywords. This is because there is less competition in the LSI zone and you get exact buyer intentions.

How to find LSI keywords

Now that you people have got some information about LSI keywords and you must be understanding how using it can bring you a good ranking and good traffic of your blog, now you must be thinking that after all you will have such keywords Where to get it from. Yes friends, in order to clear your doubts, today, you will tell people about some such tools with the help of which you can find LSI keywords. Here I have provided some information about them.

You can find LSI keywords by using these tools

Google Keyword Planner

LSI Graph (Most Popular)

Keyword Shitter

Soovle

SEMrush

Mondovo

KeywordTool.io

So let's know about such keywords with full details.

1. Google Keyword Planner - For initial LSI Keyword Research, you can find everything with the help of google. By the way, LSI keywords too. By the way, this method is very basic, so for best results you can find it by combining it with other tools. For your information, let me tell you that you can find the initial LSI keywords from Google Autosuggest and with that you can see the related searches below the page. With this, you can also use Google Keyword Planner to search LSI keywords.

2. Generating LSIGraph - Perfect LSI Keywords You can use this tool for some better latent semantic keywords. For this, you just have to go there and enter your keyword, clear the captcha and press the button to generate. As soon as you do this, you will see LSI keywords.

3. Keyword Shitter - This is another great tool to generate LSI keywords in Bulk and it works just like its name. This gives you some very good LSI keywords if you feed some query into it. Apart from this, it is also an option to separate negative and positive words. With this, you can get the keywords displayed as you want. And later you can download them according to bulk LSI keywords. And if used properly, you can enjoy it realistically.

4. Soovle - Get Quick Search Suggestions Soovle is a very good keyword suggestion tool for Online Marketers. As soon as you put some queries in it, the top 10 searches will appear in front of you and they are also popular search engines. Soovle supports many good Search Engines such as Google, Wikipedia, Amazon, Bing, Yahoo, YouTube and Answers.com. It is so spontaneous that as soon as you start Typing in it, the results will start coming in it. With this, you can also check that according to which people are searching, according to which keywords you are searching. From this you will get good information about related searches. The rest is up to you how you use it.

5. SEMrush - Finding Competitors' Keywords If you have to compete with a website or blog, then SEMrush is the best tool for you. Because with this help you can find the keywords you need. With this, you can also know the competitors' keywords by using it. For this, you just have to go to SEMRush's website and type the URL of your competitor's blog. By doing this you can see and analyze all their keywords. In Free Account you can see up to 10 keywords and if you need more then you will have to upgrade your acoount.

6. Mondovo - This is an all-in-one Digital Marketing Toolset. Mondovo is a tool that people use who cannot afford this much money for SEMRush. In this, you will get to see the results of SEMRush, and that too for free. You get free credit as soon as you register in it and you can use it to fuse Keyword.

7. KeywordTool.io: Google Keyword Planner's free alternative Keywordstool.io is a very good alternative to Google Keyword Planner. Here you can easily generate keywords and that too LSI keywords. Although it is a paid tool, but its free version is enough to find LSI keywords. These results are visible alphabetically so you will find it easier to find LSI keywords.

How to do it

Insert your base keyword First of all you have to insert the keyword in this tool and it gives you by searching in other search engines and searching for the related LSI keyword of your keyword.

Choose the target Search Engine In this, you have to choose the search engine you need such as Google, Bing, YouTube and App Store.

Choose the selected country Here you have to choose based country of LSI keywords so that you get complete exact keywords and along with the demographics of the right audience.

Choose the language Here you can choose your preferred language.

Hit Enter After this you have to press the switch of enter and with this all the search results will be seen in front of you.

With this there is also a tool that can be useful for you and that is UberSuggest. By the way, let me tell you that the methods of tracing LSI keywords are unlimited. It is just up to you how you use mehzuda tools for yourself.

How to rank your content higher using LSI keywords?

Now that you have all the things to use, now you just have to use those things correctly. I have seen many bloggers who do not know how to insert LSI keywords in the right place, so that their posts do not rank properly. So I thought that I should tell you about some such tricks of people, by using which you can rank your post. 1. Choosing the right keyword: Most LSI keyword tools generate related keywords only according to their algorithm. They are not produced by any human being, so they lack personal touch . Therefore, you will see many such keywords which do not have any relation with the main keywords. All these keywords should be filtered. And they should be used only by choosing the right keywords.

2. Place it naturally: It is absolutely wrong to use all the LSI keywords in your article. Because doing so can also change the sense of your article. Therefore, you should first choose the right and necessary keywords and keep them separate and then use them manually in your articles so that the sense of anything in the article does not change. Therefore, all these things should be taken special care of.

3. Target more positions: LSI keywords are not to be used only within the article, but if possible, you can use it in the post title, conclusion according to the question and in the internal link according to the anchor text . With this you can use them in title tags, permalinks and most importantly in the blog post in the introduction and conclusion section. This will make them look completely natural and there will also be a good flow in the article.

[remelitalia]

10 Content Marketing Trends for 2021 and Beyond

Organizations that have made consistent and sound investments in content marketing have reported those investments paying dividends in recent years.

However, to maintain their growth, marketers must also stay tuned into the ever-changing content marketing landscape.

What worked last year may not be enough to creep ahead in 2021.

Being able to anticipate trends and changes in audience behavior based on technology trends and updates can help you adjust your strategy and get ahead of the wave.

Here, we’ll detail some trends to keep an eye on in 2021, but before we do, let’s look at why content marketing keeps evolving.

Why Does Content Marketing Change so Frequently?

Content marketing continues to evolve to keep pace with trends, technologies, and consumer demands. For instance, increasing use of mobile devices, voice search, and social media all require us to stay on top of things.

Then there are the platforms themselves that change. Established sites like Facebook have started to attract an older demographic, while newer platforms like TikTok appeal to a younger audience.

To reach their audiences effectively, content marketers must adapt their strategies to meet these changing trends.

10 Current Trends in Content Marketing

More recently, adaptability and flexibility have been central to content marketing. However, many of the preferred marketing methods remain the same.

Although many current content marketing trends are a continuation or evolution of existing ones, some trends are gaining considerable ground.

1. Building Communities

With as many as 24 million e-commerce stores out there, you need to find a way of getting noticed.

You achieve that in such a crowded space by developing a community.

Community marketing isn’t about getting a quick sale—it’s about engaging with customers while building trust and loyalty and reaching a wider audience.

The Dollar Shave Club (DSC) is an excellent example of this. DSC works on a subscription basis and considers all of its members a part of the community.

In addition to its social media presence and a blog to engage with customers, DSC features members in its monthly newsletter and ensures its subscribers are at the heart of the business.

Then there’s ProBlogger.

You might know ProBlogger from its jobs board or its blog. However, its community side is a considerable part of the brand too. The community gives new and established bloggers the chance to come together and learn and collaborate.

It also offers:

networking opportunities

webinars

discounted books, tools, and events

community downloads

2. Optimizing Content for Niche, Long Tail Keywords

For a long time, the focus for marketers was long-form content. However, more recently, content marketing has stepped back from detailed, lengthy article guides. Instead, the use of niche, long-tail keywords is becoming more prevalent, as long-tail keywords are more specific and have less competition.

Further, using long-tail keywords makes it easier to get your content ranked on Google. That means more organic traffic, which is good news for marketers targeting a competitive niche.

Finding these long-tail keywords needn’t been difficult. You’ll find there’s plenty of free and paid-for tools available, such as:

Ubersuggest

Semrush

Wordtracker

Moz.com

You can also use:

the “people also searched for” feature on Google

Google Suggest

Google’s related search

Once you’ve narrowed down your keywords, you can then focus on a specific segment of your business and create content around the subject.

3. Hiring Content Teams With Diverse Skill Sets

In recent years, there’s been a consistent shift away from content churning.

The brands experiencing the most success with content marketing aren’t just flooding their audience with content. They’re taking a media publishing approach.

The process is just as important as the content itself now. Having a team of writers isn’t enough anymore.

Your company needs to create a broader strategy with a more diverse group of talent and skills to meet your audience’s demands.

That means good writing isn’t enough. The content team will need to grow and adapt for the next year and should include people who have talent in:

video production and editing

graphic design, illustration, and editing

audio editing and production skills

content optimization

content distribution and promo

strategy development, execution, SEO, and campaign management

communications and branding

4. Repurposing Content Across Channels

Repurposing content saves time, gets you in front of a different audience, and enhances your organic search.

This simply means repackaging it into a different format. For example:

turning blog posts into an eBook or newsletter content

embedding YouTube videos in your blog

transcribing your YouTube videos and distributing them as podcast, newsletter, or blog content

creating infographics from research and stats.

ESPN showed how effective content repurposing could be. When ESPN launched “We the Fans,” it distributed the content across a range of formats. Articles, podcasts, videos, and social media were all part of ESPN’s strategy.

As Chad Millman, VP/editorial director of U.S. digital content, explains, “The idea was to take advantage of all of ESPN’s platforms.”

You should consider doing the same for your business.

Content Marketing Trends for 2021 and Beyond

Looking forward, the need for marketers to adapt their content plans will continue, and we’re likely to see a greater increase in existing trends like Google’s Discover and stories to engage readers and keep them on the page.

Let’s take a closer look at these content marketing trends.

5. “Discover” Features

Yoast, Search Engine Land, and HubSpot are just some of those talking about Google Discover. It was formerly known as Google Feed, but it’s undergone a significant transformation since its launch.

If you’re not familiar with Google Discover, it combines news, evergreen content, along with visuals like photos. To fill the feed, Google uses AI and machine learning to understand a user’s search history, meaning the viewer gets content likely to engage them.

You’ll find Discover on Google’s mobile pages, and mobile Chrome users will see the feed when they open a tab.

Over time, Discover becomes increasingly sophisticated. Just ask the Vogue and Vice’s publishers.

Your content is eligible to appear on Discover if it meets the guidelines and Google has indexed it. However, as Google states, it doesn’t guarantee your content will appear in its Discover feed.

Google does, however, have some guidelines to improve the chances of your content showing up.

These include:

posting “outstanding and engaging content”

creating content that’s unique and timely

providing exact authorship details (your name, publication, bylines, publication)

high-quality imaging

descriptive titles that avoid clickbait

6. “Story” Features

Stories are growing in popularity for several reasons. First, they make great social media content. Secondly, they’ll also show up in mobile searches and Google Images, increasing your chances of discoverability.

There are other factors in their growing popularity: platforms like Google Stories make story creation accessible to everyone.

Crucially, though, Google Web Stories cater to consumers’ business lifestyles and provide content for people on the move: the use of Accelerated Mobile Pages (AMP) allows readers to flick through the same way you would with social media stories.

Another example of story features is Instagram Guides. These provide curated content in the form of videos, photos, and text. The idea is to make content easier to find, therefore making brands and influencers easier to discover.

7. Featured Experts

Commentary from experts that lends credibility to your content can help you stand out. That’s why including comments from a subject matter or featured expert could benefit your content’s performance.

Google doesn’t use subject matter content as a ranking factor (yet). However, evaluators consider the expertise, authoritativeness, and trustworthiness (EAT) factor in their quality rankings.

Google isn’t the only one interested in the quality content, though. Consumers are too.

According to a Nielsen study, 85 percent of consumers regularly or occasionally look for expert content before buying.

Additionally, 67 percent of buyers say unbiased expert endorsements make them more likely to consider a purchase.

InPowered, who commissioned the survey, says there are three main takeaways from the research. Marketers should:

build trust and cut through the noise with expert content

begin to share their stories once they’ve gained consumers’ trust

continue to build trust through expert content and ask customers to leave reviews

8 & 9. Generative Media & NLG

Generative media is increasing in use the same way that natural language generation (NLG) is. Like NLG, generative media uses AI to create content. The only difference is it makes computer-generated images rather than text.

It works in much the same way as NLP too:

The designer gives their instruction to the machine, detailing parameters/algorithms.

The machine uses these parameters to create an image.

However, the designer still has some input and can alter algorithms to produce the finished piece.

Tyler Lastovich of Lastly Studios predicted growth in generative media some time ago. As Lastovich points out, although there’s been a surge in use, we’ve yet to see its full potential. For instance, content marketers could use it in areas like:

contextual images

personalized content

realistic chatbots

According to a senior analyst at Techna, trial versions of generative design, cloud-based generative design solutions, and the rising integration of 3D printing with generative designs are just a few of the reasons behind this content marketing trend.

10. Content Driven Personalization

Yieldify defines content personalization as the “process of tailoring content that is visible to the customer based on their profile or preferences.”

Every customer who visits your website is at a different stage of the customer journey. Your content should cater to their specific needs and encourage them to take the next step.

A good example would be a customer that comes to your website to find out more about new kitchen units. When they return to your site, you could offer an e-book offering tips on choosing the ideal kitchen units for their home or a checklist on preparing for the revamp.

In case you’re wondering, content-driven personalization isn’t optional if you want to keep your customer satisfied. Research from Salesforce shows 84 percent of consumers say being treated like a person, not a number, is crucial to winning their business.

Further, fifty-nine percent say tailored engagement based on past interactions is crucial to winning their business.

Conclusion

While data support the trends listed here, trends aren’t everything. You should do your research to see how they can improve your content marketing strategy moving into 2021.

There’s also plenty of historical data that shows us how quickly trends can flop or die off.

Rather than chase content marketing trends, always do your research. Keep an eye on top performers in your space and use data—as well as experimentation—to fuel your strategy as you head into 2021.

Which of these content marketing trends for 2021 are you working on incorporating into your strategy?

The post 10 Content Marketing Trends for 2021 and Beyond appeared first on Neil Patel.

Original content source: https://neilpatel.com/blog/content-marketing-trends/ via https://neilpatel.com

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Potential Risks of Social Media      Social Media: To Isolate or                        Communicate?          That is the Question. Hidden Motivators for Utilizing These Competing Platforms.

Social media has essentially changed the entire way that we communicate with others. The risks involved can be more threatening than a person can even understand, until they find themselves a victim of the daunting isolation and polarizing damage that can be done. This has a huge amount to do with the psychological factors included. Because we all vary in psychological health and wellness, the results can vary tremendously. The correlation between loneliness seems ironic in an online world that thrives on communication opportunities. “This is an important issue to study because mental health problems and social isolation are at epidemic levels among young adults. We are inherently social creatures, but modern life tends to compartmentalize us instead of bringing us together. While it may seem that social media presents opportunities to fill that social void, I think this study suggests that it may not be the solution people were hoping for." (Bergland, 2017.).  From a way to see family who lives elsewhere, or an opportunity to promote a business, and even as a method for keeping in touched with loved ones when we are limited by something as catastrophic as a pandemic, the benefits are endless. In the past decade, people have even used social media as a way to find new friends, or even a potential soulmate as dating platforms have gained in popularity. Social media can keep us informed of current events, but it can also mask peer's opinions and turn it into seemingly factual information in very talented ways of seeming legitimate. These wonderful ways of communication can be filtered through others interpretations differently, and unfortunately, we are left with the risks that are potentially attached to such technological advancements. When we get obsessed or dependent on this type of way in which we can communicate with like-minds, this trouble can cause a filter type of reaction and make it harder to even consider opposing groups ideas and values. “Facebooks ability to create filter bubbles, promote divisive content, and accelerate political polarization is no surprise to users who’ve kept up with the platform's many scandals. But two new studies point to pitfalls with commonly proposed solutions and point to a troubling double bind for the 190 million Americans who rely on Facebook for news. Filter bubbles and echo chambers are well researched territory, but the Virginia paper argues against popular understandings of the topics and, tellingly, against diversifying news consumption as a means to mitigate polarization. A liberal may diversify their news source by reading 20 new news sites for the first time. But if they are similar to the person’s current beliefs or further left, it won’t have a moderating effect. Additionally, disrupting a person’s feed with occasional posts outside their usual beliefs can actually reinforce their initial point of view. The most politically active users would routinely engage with content on the other “side,” if only to dismiss it. In journalist parlance, this is called “hate sharing.” A liberal blog may go viral among conservatives because of how strongly readers disagree with it or vice versa. Poetically, the paper terms this a “phenomenon of animosity.”. (Reynolds, 2020.). Isolation and polarization risks can also be masked, as if almost social media sets a person standard accordingly. From a psychological aspect, I can very easily see how people can interpret these platforms so very differently. Different media platforms mixed with all of the different age groups and demographics make it nearly impossible to find a one-size-fits-all protocol or way to help make people aware of their own potential risks. “According to a new national analysis conducted by researchers at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, young adults in the U.S. who use social media more frequently than their peers report higher levels of perceived social isolation.” (Bergland, 2017.). What begins as a way to keep up with one’s correspondences, we have set precedents for ourself and whether it be depicting real life from fake life, it can lead to peer pressure and pressure simply to fit in with different groups. Finding people that we share values and common interests with is a beautiful thing, but when the psych behind it can alter personal ethics; the potential to ‘fit in’ and do as your similar peers are doing seems the only answer. Isolation can make a person feel like they are not of any importance. This past week, our country held an election to declare our next President, and polarization was all sorts of mixed up between the political limelight and the social distanced dilemma the year 2020 has thrown us all into. Recent ‘Uncertain times,’ alone can do a toll on a person's mental health, but when these social media outlets encourage opinion while communicating has been limited, the combination can be so challenging for some. “Americans are more polarized than ever—at least by some measures. A growing body of research suggests that social media is accelerating the trend, and many political scientists worry it’s tearing our country apart. It isn’t clear how to solve the problem. And new research suggests that one often-proposed solution—exposing users on the platforms to more content from the other side—might actually be making things worse, because of how social media amplifies extreme opinions.” (Mims, 2020.). When I stroll through my newsfeed it is generally filled with happy friends and family, because, of course, no one wants to put the real daily stresses up for public display. This is a false image that can make a person with no big family or fun outings feel as if they are not good enough, or that they are in fact alone. It can lead others to depend solely on the use of technology and neglect human interaction all together. These confusing times of a pandemic have not helped matters much when it comes to stress and its factors of polarizing people. To conclude, the dangerous side of social media can be hidden in various ways. The idea that a message or information can be spread so vast and so quickly, often times leaving a footprint that cannot be undone. This is helpful for facts and spreading important, or vital, news stories. But this benefit can quickly go awry in a seemingly subconscious manner in which our minds have been trained to believe we need this type of communication only. Lest this mean that fake information is the only news that spreads fast, the important information can lose it accreditation quite easily. Social media is a wonderful thing, but when it is not used for the intention of communicating in a healthy way, the potential risks can be dangerous, and most of all very disguised in a hidden algorithm. Stay safe fellow Social Media users, and help to inform others of facts; not fear.  

                                              Sources Cited

Bergland, Christopher. (2017, March 7.). Social Media Exacerbates Perceived Social Isolation. Retrieved on November 7, 2020 from https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/the-athletes-way/201703/social-media-exacerbates-perceived-social-isolation

Mims, Stephen. The Wall Street Journal. (2020, October 19.). Why Social Media is So Good at Polarizing Us. Retrieved on November 8, 2020 from https://www.wsj.com/articles/why-social-media-is-so-good-at-polarizing-us-11603105204

Reynolds, Michael. (2020, March 28.). It’s Hard to Escape Facebook’s Vortex of Polarization. Retrieved on November 8, 2020 from https://www.wired.com/story/facebook-vortex-political-polarization/

[tombentlecmpsongwriterproject]

Spotify Case Study – ‘Should Spotify Be the Main Focus for Independent Artists in 2020?’

Intro

From my own experiences of releasing music independently and being someone whose social media is constantly flooded with other independent artists promoting their music, I’ve noticed somewhat of a trend in the way music is shared. Spotify. Artists are constantly sending their audiences to their Spotify accounts with direct links and post captions of “out now on Spotify”. Of course, there are also links to Apple Music, Amazon Music, Deezer, Soundcloud, Bandcamp, etc. etc… but Spotify still feels like the be-all-and-end-all of the current streaming platforms. My main question is why is this the case? But I also wonder whether independent artists are right to prioritise promoting their music on Spotify to the detriment of other platforms.

For the purpose of this case study I am focusing solely on streaming platforms and mostly ignoring the parallel media streams of radio, blogs, magazines, etc. as it’s a fair assumption that most artists will be pushing their music into these channels regardless of which streaming platforms they prefer.

My case study analysis will break down the advantages and disadvantages of Spotify as a streaming platform for independent artists, followed by a concluding notion as to whether artists are right to be prioritising Spotify promotion.

Monthly Users

According to the most recent statistics published by Spotify, it is claimed that the platform has 286million monthly users (https://musically.com/2020/02/19/spotify-apple-how-many-users-big-music-streaming-services/). Compare that figure with the estimated 80million monthly Apple Music users and 55million monthly users for Amazon Music, and it’s clear that Spotify has the biggest market share by far in terms of consumer outreach. As an artist it’s important to be putting your music into the content feeds people are occupying in the biggest numbers, therefore making Spotify’s huge audience an appealing prospect for artists.

Contextualise these statistics in the trend of focusing social media promotion on Spotify and it makes perfect sense. Assuming that all of an artist’s followers use either Spotify, Apple Music or Amazon Music, (services such as Deezer and Tidal have tiny user numbers in comparison and therefore feel slightly pointless in debating), then by focusing the marketing on Spotify you’re appealing to roughly 70% of your total audience. However, an interesting promotional tactic that is becoming increasingly popular is the use of features like SmartURL (https://manage.smarturl.it) which allow links from various sites to be shared simultaneously, thus removing the need for Spotify bias.

Other interesting comparisons to make as far as monthly users go are the 175million reported by SoundCloud and the estimated 1billion by YouTube. The downside to SoundCloud is the app makes discovering new artists extremely difficult and so providing direct links to an audience is the only way of assuring your music will be heard – there have been some cases of artists rising to prominence by establishing a dedicated SoundCloud audience, most notably Post Malone, however for the vast majority of artists SoundCloud seems to offer a very niche, genre-specific audience that arguably lacks the level of perceived authenticity that Spotify has in terms of hosting the music of “real artists”. YouTube on the other hand can offer a very popular alternative to the typical streaming platforms such as Spotify, however it’s not a service dedicated solely to music and so artists are having to compete for views against not only other musicians but also vloggers, gamers, makeup artists, chefs, dancers, etc. and are therefore competing within a much more saturated market. YouTube is the obvious first choice when releasing visual content, however for audio content it seems far more lucrative to push into Spotify-type platforms.

Economic Factors

One of the downfalls of most streaming platforms is the necessity for a third-party distributor to put music onto the platforms on the artists’ behalf. There was a brief Spotify-beta programme that allowed independent artists to upload music directly to Spotify however this was deemed a failure and was quickly abandoned (https://artists.spotify.com/blog/we%27re-closing-the-upload-beta-program).

For an independent artist to have their music distributed to Spotify, Apple Music, etc. they would need to opt with one of many distribution services. With every service offering slightly different costing strategies it can be difficult to draw direct comparisons, however they can range from under £10 for releasing one single up to around £50 for a yearly subscription to release unlimited amounts of music. The major downside with some distribution companies are that they require continual subscription fees to be paid otherwise an artist’s music will be removed from streaming platforms. (https://aristake.com/cd-baby-tunecore-ditto-mondotunes-zimbalam-or).

It is evidently an expensive practice for independent artists to be paying these distribution fees if they don’t have a big enough audience to guarantee profit from these transactions. If you remove the “my music will seem more legit if it’s on Spotify” notion from the argument, then financially it makes very little sense as an artist would need around 2,500 streams on a single to make back a £10 distribution charge. Consider the cost of marketing required to hit those figures and it appears relatively insurmountable. Expensive distribution is made worse by the extremely low royalty rates paid by Spotify at £0.004/stream and Apple Music at £0.008/stream (https://www.dittomusic.com/blog/how-much-do-music-streaming-services-pay-musicians) – the reason for needing such high audience figures to make any money back.

An important question to consider is: what are the alternatives? YouTube and SoundCloud are free to upload content to however an artist is likely to make literally no money unless they start hitting the 100,000s of streams.

Bandcamp offers the best solution in terms of guaranteeing artists profit from any music or merchandise they sell through the platform, however it doesn’t provide anywhere near the commercial exposure to vast audiences when compared to Spotify, and feels more like a digital version of the hipster vinyl collecting trend as opposed to a viable alternative.

In-App Features

Where Spotify truly starts standing out as the most beneficial platform for independent artists is the vast framework for music discovery. It’s a platform literally designed to push new music into the ears of users who are most likely to enjoy it. With mind-blowingly complicated algorithms based on the unique listening history of every user, Spotify curates individual discovery playlists for every user featuring songs that are similar to the music they listen to most. There is the caveat that the more streams an artist is able to generate organically then the more discovery playlists they will be featured on, thus favouring the artists that have already been “discovered” to a greater extent – although this is a feature that goes largely unexplored by Apple Music and Amazon Music, and is pretty much non-existent on SoundCloud and Bandcamp.

Spotify also enables artists to fill their artist homepage with links to their merchandise and upcoming live shows as a way of tempting audiences to invest in artists directly, and so there are some features artists can exploit to counter-act the low royalty payments they’ll receive.

Conclusion

There are clear advantages and disadvantages for an independent artist prioritising Spotify as their primary content platform that make it difficult to a determine a clear-cut yes or no answer to the question of whether it should be an artist’s focus. It must be acknowledged that it will be largely down to the wants and/or needs of an individual artist as to whether Spotify is able to provide them with sufficient opportunity to push their music.

With advantages such as a huge user-base and a platform designed to push the process of music discovery it’s clear that Spotify is able to break new artists in a crowded commercial market. The disadvantages being focused on the cost just to distribute music to the platform and then the lack of income will be a sore point for artists (although this will be the same issue facing artists on Apple Music, Amazon Music, Deezer, etc.) that may see them favour the Bandcamp model – however this will come at a cost of sacrificing 100s of millions of users who could potentially be discovering that artist’s music on Spotify.

The question that should perhaps be asked is not whether artists should be using Spotify, but rather how artists should be using Spotify. It’s clearly a popular platform for commercial music consumption and so from the perspective of giving your audience immediate access to your music, streaming platforms come second-to-none. Even if financially it isn’t the ideal business model, Spotify’s discovery services could provide sufficient growth in audiences to see revenues increase through merchandise sales and live event attendances.

As a final conclusion, if an independent artist is aiming to push their music out to commercial audiences on a mass scale then Spotify feels like the only platform capable of providing the user numbers that would merit a reasonable opportunity for enhanced discovery. Obviously, it’s down to the artist to promote their music on social media to a sufficient enough level to attract audiences to their Spotify pages in the first place but that would be the same whether they used Spotify, YouTube, SoundCloud or Bandcamp.

[kerishaharris]

Beyond job hunting, *what* is LinkedIn for?

Once upon a time, LinkedIn was little more than that obscure site that seemed to pop out of nowhere, and we only learned we were on it after Googling ourselves (no judgment, we’ve all done it). If you’re anything like me, your first reaction was what on earth is this, and more importantly, um, why does this thing know where I work?!? But in time, LinkedIn grew to be a sort of news/social networking/career development one-stop-shop, and more recently, a legitimate source for media consumption and a must-have for landing your next gig. Not a bad growth arc there, LinkedIn.

(hey, I know her!) Why LinkedIn’s growth is different

Founded in 2002, LinkedIn struggled for a bit to find its footing among a social media field that was growing ever-more crowded by the minute. For a while, its purpose was a little unclear. Is it for job hunting? Bragging about our latest career development? Stalking the dream company we wish we worked for? No one was certain. Part of why the network grew the way it did was that unlike other social networks that require users to opt-in and join, your initial LinkedIn profile was generated for you based on your publicly available employment information, you just had to claim yours. So as LinkedIn began to grow and refine itself, most of us were already on the platform and able to take advantage. And while Facebook and YouTube continue to (unsurprisingly) dominate the social media landscape, LinkedIn has slowly but surely increased in popularity. According to Social Media Today, LinkedIn is now up to 690 million total members. Unbeknownst to me, Microsoft acquired LinkedIn in 2016 for $26.2 billion, and as recently as 2018, LinkedIn contributed $5.3 billion in revenue to its parent company. That’s because unlike other social media platforms that rely on advertising, LinkedIn offers career-building opportunities that users are willing to pay to unlock, such as help with sales and hiring.

Real tips from real pros

(Self Made Millennial says LinkedIn’s algorithm looooves native content) Although I am happily employed in a new role I’m thrilled with, I admit to checking LinkedIn almost daily. For the most part, I visit to be nosey to learn more about where my former colleagues are working, what projects they’re up to, and frankly, what companies are hiring for my specific skill set (it’s how I landed the job I have now, so thanks LinkedIn). Far less frequently, however, do I visit LinkedIn to consume media. For that, I turn to email lists I’m signed up for, like The Morning via the New York Times, Twitter, and my Apple and Google news alerts. But interestingly enough, times are changing and LinkedIn has become a place for thought leadership, think pieces, career-related blogs, and long-form media content. 

Writing for Kinsta, Maddy Osman notes that content on the LinkedIn feed, inclusive of articles written on/for the platform, generates 9 billion (woah!) impressions per week, and that it drives more than 50 percent of social traffic to B2B sites. A study by OKDork found that how-to articles, long-form content, and posts that included at least eight images were among the top-performing pieces of content. Interestingly though, only a tiny percentage of LinkedIn users are posting content to the site regularly.

What I do like about LinkedIn’s content feature is that unlike a piece from WSJ or CNBC, I’m not hearing from a journalist on a specific beat looking to scoop the industry. Rather, I’m hearing from real professionals offering advice based on their own experiences and lessons learned throughout their careers. I see some potential value in that. Still, with so few users actually creating the content, it’s hard to say whether any of the media found on LinkedIn is helping or advancing the brands or influencers creating it. The real struggle? Doing LinkedIn “right” Because LinkedIn is still kind of figuring out exactly what it is and who it’s for, I haven’t seen too many brands actually master a LinkedIn presence that makes sense or adds real value. Full disclosure: most of my engagement on LinkedIn as a communications and marketing professional has been to remember to post something (ok, anything) on it at least every few days just to say I did. Terrible, I know, but I have it on good authority that I’m not the only one. It seems fewer people engage with LinkedIn looking for news or media, but rather, are there looking for career growth and development. According to Osman’s deep-dive into the numbers of LinkedIn for Kinsta, more than 20 million companies are listed on LinkedIn and 90 percent of recruiters are using it to fill more than 14 million open jobs. In terms of who is using LinkedIn, the Pew Research Center notes that LinkedIn is most popular among college students and graduates, as about half of college grads use the platform, compared with a mere 9 percent of people with a high school diploma or less using it. It seems pretty clear that students, as well as educated working professionals, are using it for reasons primarily tied to career development and networking.

(Emily preemptively looking for the next Emily on LinkedIn) What’s the future for LinkedIn? I commend LinkedIn for its efforts to innovate and turn itself into more than just a job-hunting and recruiting tool. Recent rollouts like LinkedIn Live for business pages allow brands to combine the best parts of interactive social media and smart career development, and reach their audience in new ways. A real standout here in my opinion would be the New York Times, which has tapped into LinkedIn Live to bring together journalists and subject matter experts for live, interactive video conversations. But in reality, I think LinkedIn is just too much of an outlier, and that it can only mimic the best of what other digital and social networks have to offer. Looking for the next great gig? LinkedIn’s your jam. But beyond that, I think I’ll stick to the other guys.

[megacircuit9universe]

Times Change

WED JUL 08 2020

Trumps numbers... approval rating, and polling numbers in all the states that could possibly matter this November... are so bad right now that Trump has threatened media outlets, including FOX News, for posting the latest numbers, which he says are all fake.

He’s also been ranting on Twitter about how the upcoming election is going to be rigged, and doing speeches, such as on July 3rd at Mount Rushmore, in which he’s ranting about how liberals and Democrats are enemies of the state, including teachers, and the media, and that they’re all conspiring to end America and bring forth a scary dictatorship where conservatives will be persecuted and punished.

His little pal, Tucker Carlson, over on Fox... is running with that ball and helping to plant the seeds in the dysfunctional brains of his audience, that if Trump loses, it will be because the election has been rigged by a vast liberal conspiracy.

Well... if by, rigged, they mean... influenced by a level of Presidential incompetence so astronomical that nobody in the country can’t see and feel it quite painfully... and if by, conspiracy, they mean... a vast majority of voters have agreed to use their voting powers to vote him out of office... then, sure!

But what this all says... the warlike paranoid rhetoric against not just all races (it used to be just Muslims and South Americans) but all US citizens who would dare to oppose Trump... coupled with the cries of a rigged election to come...

...is that he know’s he’s going to lose.

And they know... he’s going to lose (his junta).

So, the best plan they can think of at the moment is to try and foment violence if he loses... in an attempt to intimidate the rest of us into backing down.  

Don’t you vote him out, or we will unleash our army of brainwashed morons to take to the streets with guns and torches blazing.  We will throw the biggest tantrum the world has ever seen.

But, after everything else we’ve been through so far... we’re not simply desensitized to the threat of more upheaval... in the case of this threat, we’re like, bring it on!

People are already in the streets standing up to walls of fascist cops in riot gear every night. You think anybody’s scared by the idea of a bunch of red hat idiots coming out of the woodwork with their shotguns and assault rifles?  We have shotguns and assault rifles too!

This is America... everybody has a gun!

We don’t use them on the cops, but if Backwoods Bob, or KKKarl wants to show up in attack mode, because they’re pissed off about the outcome of the election... shooting their asses in self defense is justifiable homicide, so let’s go!

Meanwhile, the Supreme Court and the Pentagon have already shown conclusively, in the past month, that they have zero loyalty to Trump.

BLM has brought together a huge coalition of not just white and black people, protesting and fighting side by side, but also Native Americans, Arab Americans, Mexican Americans, Puerto Ricans, Asian Americans, Jews, Amish, Wiccans and other Pagans, atheists, scientists, gay, straight, lesbian, trans, even some Christians, and yes, a not trivial number of Republicans.

Gen X was always there for the fight, along with a few Boomers, and a few Silents, but now Millennials are finally on board, as is... everybody’s celebrated new heroes... Gen Z!

Which brings me back to Tik Tok...

Tik Tok has been instrumental in bringing the above mentioned coalition together... though it took SARS CoV2 to be the catalyst that mobilized us against racism, fascism, and Trumpism, here in 2020.

As social media platforms go, Tik Tok has outmatched all of its predecessors... who were all, in their own ways, very impressive... from MySpace, to YouTube, to Tumblr, Instagram, Twitter and Vine.

It has old roots, being a merger between Musical.ly which has been around since 2014, and what began as Douyin back in 2016.  2018 was the year that what we now know as Tik Tok, was born, and quickly rose to the top of the app charts.

It inherited a huge user base of teenagers, but also filled the gap left behind by Vine, which died in 2016, and Tumblr, which was dealt a critical blow in late 2017, when it was sanitized of all explicit material.  

Ignored completely by the mainstream, Tik Tok was also blown off fairly aggressively by established YouTubers as a platform of vacuous content, of no interest to anybody above the age of 15, other than pedophiles.

 But when Covid19 hit the world stage in early 2020, forcing everybody on the planet to shelter at home, and grapple with boredom... Tik Tok went mainstream in a big way. 

It was the only social media app left, where it was acceptable not to wallow in depression and political defeatism (Twitter), not to be out shopping, globe trotting, or partying (Instagram) and not to be making long form videos in a professional studio with 100K subscribers and a Patreon (YouTube). 

This is when most of the millenials, GenXers, Boomers, and even Silents began to get on board... to have a go at finding their own niche in the Tik Tok universe.

And this brings us to the key to Tik Tok’s popularity... its algorithm.  

Well, its algorithm, coupled with an elegantly simple interface, and perfect upper time limit for videos... just over a minute. 

It takes only ten minutes, scrolling through Tik Tok videos, liking the ones you like, for that algorithm to start visibly tailoring your feed to what you want more of.  And over the course of just a day or two... doing this, and following whoever you’d like to see more of, even when they aren’t going viral on the For You page... you can quickly cultivate an addictive feed that you’re happy to scroll through for hours.

Some say it’s just a sinister ploy to keep you on the app, in order to steal your data but... all social media apps do that.  Tik Tok simply does it better.  It’s algorithm is superior to Twitter, Facebook or even YouTube, allowing you to tailor your feed on the fly in real time... if times are changing that fast... which they have been.

So, why the long love letter to Tik Tok now?

Well, this week, it’s suddenly in peril.  It’s been banned in India, could soon be banned in America.. and after losing those two massive markets... could just die.

It began with China passing a law last week that, for national security reasons, it needed to have access to all app data collected by all apps based in China... which includes Tik Tok, which is owned by a Chinese company known as ByteDance, headquartered in Hong Kong... the province which has been in a struggle to maintain what little autonomy it has left from the Chinese mainland for several years now.

India... which was recently embroiled with a border dispute with China that resulted in a military skirmish, immediately banned Tik Tok, for fear of their citizens data falling into the hands of Xi Peng.

But Tik Tok has an American CEO, who, in a move to save the app from getting banned in America, announced that the Hong Kong headquarters would be moving overseas.

That didn’t do much to calm the Trump administration, however... who have only just pieced together that Tik Tok was truly behind the disastrously low attendance of his recent Tulsa rally... and also a key social media channel for BLM and other anti-Trump movements to organize and coordinate (and one they can’t penetrate and manipulate, as they did with Facebook and Twitter four years ago).

So now, both Trump and  his Secretary of State, Mike Pompeo have gone on record saying they’d like to ban Tik Tok in the United States.

It’s not clear yet if this ban will actually happen, though it seems likely.

It’s even less clear how a ban in both India and the US will affect the fortunes of Tik Tok.  

VPNs will make it possible for users in both countries to continue using Tik Tok, so... over the short term, it will remain accessible... at least to those hardcore devotees who have come to rely on it.

But, barring a massive sea change in the general popularity of VPNs... which is not out of the question, in these increasingly authoritarian times around the planet... the loss of most of the two biggest markets could cripple Tik Tok.

People say, What about supply and demand?

Well... the most likely fate would be for Tik Tok to be bought out by a non-communist company, say a US company like Google, or Amazon.  

That’s been the trend for over a decade now.  Yahoo bought Tumblr.  Twitter bought Vine.  Facebook bought Instagram, etc.  But more often than not, in these cases, when the hugely popular platform gets bought for billions by the big corporation... the big corporation drops the ball and drives it into the ground.

YouTube being bought by Google is probably the least dismal of these examples, but YouTube is nothing like what it was back in the early twenty teens, when it was a platform for anybody with a web cam in their bed room to talk to the world, and get famous.

But then again, this IS 2020...

Tik Tok has redefined the entire dynamic of social media, at the same time that SARS CoV2 has drastically altered the global economy... meaning that the twenty-teens model of both things, and how they work together... could well be out the window by now.

And this brings us, in tonight’s final analysis, to a fundamental truth that Trump, for all his diabolical plotting to game the 2016 campaign process... has failed to plan for.

Times change.

Twitter was the shit back in 2016, wasn’t it?  What a brilliant move for a dark horse boomer candidate turned President to troll the shit out of it every goddam day for years on end, right?

Well, he’s killed Twitter now.  The whole universe, as it was in 2016, has disintegrated... in no small part thanks to Trump’s abuses, neglect, and incompetence.

But also just the march of history... climate change, global pandemic, technological breakthroughs, economic upheaval, civic unrest, etc.

They like to say those who ignore the past are doomed to repeat it.

I say... those who ignore the future, get eaten by it.

Tempus Edax Rerum.

Time consumes all things.

[socialyup1]

Make your Brand More Valuable in 2020 with Real Instagram Comments

Instagram: A Valuable Platform in Social Media Circle

In this 21st century, social media is a huge circle in which every second person get involved by creating a new account on any platform. Many platforms are included in social media and it is known all over the world. Although every platform has its own place and reputation but still here, if we talk about Instagram, it is different from other platforms.

Instagram is a photo and video sharing platform and it has its own importance in the social media circle. The greatest point is, it is free of cost. It means, you do not need to pay to create an account on it. Millions of active users use Instagram to become popular but here I would like to stop with the statement, that not only by common people but also by online marketers, it is also used. Therefore, it cannot be said that only common people use it. Now let us go ahead to know more about it and its features.  

Instagram: A Success Achieving Platform for Online Marketers?

Here, I would like to ask you a question. Are you an online marketer who want to achieve instant victory via Instagram? If your answer is yes, that is cool because it is beneficial using Instagram to get success. Every third person uses Instagram and that is why it is easy to get success by using it. Many online marketers use it because they know that by using Instagram, they can easily viral their product and can easily reach the huge circle of people. In the business career, audience feedback matters a lot and businesspersons keep it in mind during the business promotion.

You may know very well that the people who start their online business, also are desired to use Instagram because they know that hoe easier is using Instagram to boost up the brand or product. This is the most important reason; business holders want to get the high rank on Insragram so that they can get the thrilling feedback of their Instagram followers as well as all Instagram users.

Instagram: The Most Using Platform for Online Marketers

As you know that millions of users get active on Instagram so that they can get updated about their interested topics. Even online marketers also get excited to use it because they know that Instagram has a much larger user base, giving your brand a much better reach. In addition to your built-in audience, there’s also the opportunity for increased discoverability. On Instagram, there are hashtags, and geotags to increase your chances of being found. The recent change in Instagram’s algorithm has made marketers scrambling to become visible in feeds. Instagram now fills up the news feed with the posts from profiles a user is most interested in based on their previous engagement.

Hence marketers also agree that Instagram is a cool and easier place to make their brand or product viral in a very short time period. They are desired to use Instagram’s algorithm to make their brand more attentive and it is possible by increasing the brand visibility. It is possible by having a large amount of people’s feedback in the comment section. Yes, the more comments a post has, the more visible the brand will fast. So let us go ahead and know that the best way to get comments on a post and to make that more valuable.

The Power of Comments on Instagram Posts

Instagram allows its users to give their feedback on the post in the comment section. That makes easy to get engaged with the viewer. Comments play an essential role to viral a post in the social media. This is the reason most of the social media platforms like YouTube. Facebook, Snapchat, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn and many more have the option of comments. So that they can get comments on their post and can analyze that how good the post is.

Comments are a big benefit because of the slow adoption rate of users. If a user only has 10% of followers posting to the post, you have a much higher chance of being seen, which means a regular post from your business's page, would most likely show up on the top bar of the users who follow you. Well, you have got that Instagram is used by marketers for their career height and high reputation. Now let us go to the next step and come to know that how comments are powerful and helpful element for occupational purposes.

1. Increase the Perceptibility of the Brand: As an online marketer, if you want to viral your product. You can get the many ways for this like, if you increase Instagram comments, you can increase the product perceptibility instantly and it is really so beneficial for your business growth.

2. Improve the Importance of Product Smoothly: Comments are capable to creates a sense of urgency. The high number of comments work in the same way. Your audience can explore your brand by leving the comment of your posts.

 3. Connect More Instagram Users: Instagram comments tend to generate more engagement than Instagram views. It is well known that comments are two-way interaction. You can connect and get engaged more Instagram users via increasing the real comments.

4. Lift up your Career: Comments are an important element, which is so helpful to get the highest reputation in the business field. If you buy Instagram comments, it is 100% guaranteed that you would definitely lift up your career as well as post.

5. Give Utterance to your Brand in Short Time: Time is precious and it is too costly to run any business because if you waste your time, you can get the difficulties in the process of getting success. This is the reason, businesspersons buy online comments and they utterance their brand within a short time duration

6. Clear all the Terminates: When you will have a good support of comments, you do not need to get any other way of success. You can increase comments and can clear all obstruct of your career.

7. Influence the Audience Deeply: You may know that when you get Instagram comments, it is a good source to achieve people attention because when they see the huge amount of real and positive comments, they automatically get attracted towards the post which is really so useful for business growth.

8. Use Proper Suitable Title or Caption - When you upload an image or video, make sure that it should have a proper and suitable caption or title. You can use emoji’s but make sure they make sense for what you are posting and seem appropriate for your company.

The Modernistic Strategy to Get Real Comments on Instagram

Comments directly express the view and feedback of the audience. By having more comments, you could easily reach your targeted audience. The easy way to get Instagram comments on your Instagram posts is by hosting an Instagram contest or giveaway. You could post on Instagram promoting the contest, then ask users to enter by commenting on your post. You could make your contest more interesting by putting an amazing question. You could even incorporate user-generated content and ask followers to post their own photos and to tag your brand in the post.

This is the technical era and this time, new generation will be attracted only towards that product which grown modernly. When youth sees that, a post has unlimited positive and good comments, that one gets attracted towards the post and in this way, a business holder does not need to use another way to promote the product.

It’s natural that when other users see that your content has many comments on it, they might visit on the post as well to join in on the discussion or ask a question about your post. This could result in more people following you and ultimately commenting or reacting to your regular posts. Here, tell me, have you ever thought to purchase Instagram comments? If yes, you can easily do this because this is really an amazing way to get comments instantly. Even, the people who got success on their Instagram account, bought online service of comments to viral their posts and to highlight the post.

Overall the thing is, the Instagram comments are a source, which can take anyone to the side of success. A businessperson uses this feature on a big level because it is needy for high engagement with the people on Instagram. If a businessperson has high numbers of comments, the users will definitely be attracted towards the post, which will be helpful to viral, a post. This would be so supportable for the development and improvement in the business.

Finishing:

Now it has been cleared, that Instagram plays an essential role in businessperson’s career and open the door of brand success. In addition, Instagram comments are really very helpful and effective for business growth and a businessperson can improve his business through online  comments on Instagram. It is a very good effort towards the business product. It can improve the value of the business so at last you all are suggested to get real comments. If you purchase online comments services, you can get the fantastic audience feedback, which will show that, how can one publisher become the victorious person? Therefore, a marketer can target the public by his little efforts towards his business. Lastly, I would like to thank you to give me this opportunity to present my views here. I hope, you would like this and get the best way of achieving comments on Instagram posts.

[growinstablog]

How to Use Instagram Hashtags

Recently, Instagram began paying closer attention to the use of hashtags and their ability to aid in content discovery. If you plan on actively growing your Instagram account hashtags will inevitably play a major role in your daily agenda. In this post, we will discuss the importance of hashtags on Instagram and provide some tips to help you make the best possible use of this social feature. 

Understanding Hashtags on Instagram 

The concept of a hashtag is not a new one. The once famed (pound sign “#”) on our old telephone landlines has become an internet staple. We commonly use hashtags as a medium for organizing content. This style of organization was popularized by Twitter and is now widely used amongst all popular social networks. Since Instagram is quickly becoming the world’s most popular social network the question begs, ” What is the right way to use an Instagram hashtag ? ”

During the early adopter phase of Instagram many account users become accustomed to filling the post captions with up to 30 widely used hashtags. Some have even devised system cheats algorithm cheats like

Placing hashtags in the comment section

Editing posts to include new hashtags in old content

Creating intricate text structures to prevent hashtags from appearing in the feed

These algorithm cheats may have worked in the early days. However, as Instagram places emphasis on the use of Hashtags (i.e. featuring the ability to follow hashtags) the common practice of spamming a hashtag in a post for greater reach is becoming less and less relevant. Let’s explore the proper use of Instagram hashtags in greater detail below.

Instagram Algorithm

As mentioned above, Instagram users now have the ability to follow #hashtags, which means a user won’t have to search for an Instagram hashtag and scroll through the feed to land on your page. Instead, your post will automatically show up in their feed and to potential new followers.

This recent update now requires account holders to pay closer attention to how they actually use hashtags in the post captions. A simple example of how this update may impact your reach is the ability for users who follow your hashtagged content to now mark your content as something that they don’t want to see. Users can select the new “Don’t Show for this Hashtag” option to essentially displace your content from specific hashtags. While no one but Instagram has definite knowledge on the algorithm’s performance this simple feedback mechanism obviously removes posts from the users feed based on the hashtag selected. 

What does this small but powerful Update mean for your Instagram account?

As with all systems on the internet, maturity requires refinement. As networks amass more data these datasets need to be organized. Once data has a basic structure that structure is then improved on with increasingly complex arguments. Many of us experienced this with Google’s multiple slaps, Facebook’s business page updates, and now Instagram’s need to improve how its users discover content.

Instagram’s need to contextually categorize content now means we should focus on highlighting relevant hashtags as opposed to generic hashtags with a large reach. You’ve now entered the realm of social niches. Welcome, we’re glad to have you here!

Types of Hashtags

Now that you understand why hashtags are important on Instagram. Let’s explore the different types of hashtags on Instagram. By using proper hashtags, you can now reach your target audience, win customers, and truly increase engagement. There are the different types of Instagram hashtags that you can use depending on your goals and the images you use. These types include: 

a) Industry or General Hashtags

Examples: #photographer, #blogger

These hashtags are exceedingly popular which are great to use if you’re just starting off or if you need a good boost. However, use them sparingly and ensure they are contextually relevant.

Since these hashtags are widely used, there’s also a higher chance that followers or views are not properly segmented according to location or specific interest. However, this can be a good hashtag if you simply want to increase your followers and likes.

b) Niche Hashtags

Examples: #weddingphotographer #travelblogger

Niche hashtags provide greater specificity. Much like longtail keywords a niche hashtag drills down the audience to provide more targeted and contextually relevant visibility. It may not provide massive reach or engagement but will instead foster a more focused response.

c) Community-Related Hashtags

Example: #mytravelgram

Even more specific are Instagram communities where you can be part of a tribe.

These hashtags help you to connect, share and grow your presence across Instagram.

Community hashtags are the best way to find trends, common interests and ideas from other users as well.

d) Location Hashtags

Examples: #SydneyWeddingPhotographer #Koreanfood

These hashtags imply the name of the places where the picture is taken. It can drive more sales especially to the place where you plan to sell your product.

The competition here is very low, but the ones who will find you will be the ones who truly care about what you show.

These hashtags can be also featured on Instagram’s location tab especially if you specify a location on your tag post.

e) Branded Hashtags

Branded hashtags are created by a company, brand, media, etc to promote their campaign. These hashtags contain specifically the name of the company or a phrase that they want to promote.

However, these types of hashtags won’t generate a wider reach. In order to do so, you have to combine branded hashtags with other strategies. Examples include #maccosmetics #uniqlolifewear

You can use branded hashtags in engaging with your followers on a live event, creating raffles and contest, and if you want to position your brand deeper into the minds of your followers.

Avoid Being Blocked or Shadow Banned

There are a growing number of users who are affected with an Instagram shadowban, wherein IG hides your posts from users who don’t follow you in effect it can be a problem on growing your account and getting more followers. If you get shadowbanned, only your current followers can see your posts when they search your account. But for those who don’t follow your account, they won’t be able to see your posts. To avoid this from happening:

Don’t just copy and paste your hashtags in every post. Instead, come up with a new list of hashtags and switch up hashtags in every post. You don’t want to defeat the whole purpose of promoting your brand or campaign then you have to use the correct and proper hashtags.

Avoid using gimmicky tags such as #likeforlike or any hashtags that have been used for million times. This might get you a lot of likes but it won’t give you a high number of targeted followers.

Choose to use tags that describe your business, and your target market. For example, Dove is a personal care brand for hair, skin care, and deodorant. Most of their posts, use hashtag #Dove #RealBeauty, #Deodorant, #Refreshing, #FeelingGood, #FeelingFresh

Use of community hashtags also brings like-minded users to your page. Community hashtags connect you to followers, improves your connections and makes your account more visible to potential followers.

If you think your posts might be shadowbanned you can test your 10 recent posts by visiting Triberr’s Instagram Shadowban Tester. The shadowban tester will help you identify hashtags that have been banned so that you do not use them in the future.

Instagram Hashtag Tools

There are different tools that help an Instagram user to use relevant hashtags. These tools can help in generating a targeted audience.

To help, here is a list of some tools:

a) Instagram Search

By simply using Instagram, you can already look for relevant hashtags. You can simply select the Instagram search icon and type the keyword you are looking for. However, they’re not sorted by popularity, you have to select manually, and you have to write them in when you want them to add to your posts.

b) Hashtagify.me

It’s an external tool and in using this you only have to type the keyword on the search option. Then the page will display the most relevant topics and hashtag that is related to the keyword. This tool is free for Twitter users only. If you want to use this tool for Instagram, then you’ll have to get the pro version. This is a web app only, it doesn’t have any version on Android or iOS.

c) Display Purposes

It’s a simple and effective external tool where you write one or two keywords about your post, and the tool will display the best 30 hashtags in order of relevance. The hashtags it provides are both popular and relevant. You would surely love to use this tool. Aside from that, it has a map section and a graph section that shows how the hashtags are related to each other. This is also a web-app only.

d) Tagboard.com

This tool can be used also for other social media platforms such as Twitter and Facebook. You just enter the word or hashtag that you want and then it will give you the list of all the posts with that hashtag across all social media platforms. You only have to find and choose relevant content.

e) Top-hashtags.com

Just insert the keyword on the search tab and it will give you the best hashtags and the number of posts using that hashtag immediately. If you click a hashtag, it will give you the list with 30 hashtags that you can copy and paste into your posts. The good thing is that this a web app and can be used by anyone who knows how to do a Google Search.

Conclusion

Overall, hashtags are one of the simplest ways to leverage discoverability on Instagram. However, this does not give you cause to spam your posts with irrelevant hashtags. Instead, this is one of those moments where less is more. Focus on using hashtags that help people discover your valuable content.  It’s that easy! Get out there, do your hashtag research, and start reaching a more targeted IG audience today. 

https://growinsta.xyz/how-to-use-instagram-hashtags/

[wikimakemoney]

Engagement: The new metric for marketers

30-second summary:

The previous generation of marketers progressed believing everything is measurable and that generating leads by gatekeeping content and forcing customers to fill out forms was the ultimate in lead gen.

Audiences are bombarded with outbound messages, and unsubscribing is easy. We need to tell relatable stories that customers want to hear and stop making them jump through hoops to get the information they want.

Instead of counting how many people fill out forms, we should be looking at engagement metrics like dwell time, video completion rates, inbound calls, etc.

Change is never easy, but the present business environment is the perfect time to make the jump to an engagement model because it accelerates sales velocity and deal size.

Marketing automation software has made it very easy to measure everything we do, simplify lead management, and we’ve become so data-driven that marketers have focused on leads as if they’re the only thing that matters.

But there’s a shift underway, a tendency to ask for more than a potential customer’s name and email—to also earn their attention.

Engagement, not leads, is becoming the primary metric for marketers. We’re changing the way we’re doing marketing, focusing less on whether a prospect has downloaded a white paper and more on if that person has actually read it.

The trend didn’t start with COVID-19, but uncertain times have absolutely created urgency around efficiently transforming content into engagement and ultimately revenue.

Information overload is driving the shift

Too many marketers look at content assets—webinars, whitepapers, how-to guides, etc.—as lead gen machines, as if the contact information viewers or readers provide is the point of the content.

They focus more on corralling their audience into gated landing pages to fill out forms (where non-committal prospects often provide fake names and email addresses) than relevant content the customer will truly value.

Lead management tools process the data provided, and when potential customers provide their real contact information, automation makes it easier to reach out to them repeatedly with fresh, relevant content … and the cycle continues.

Lead gen outreach is more personalized, and that’s a good thing. But since it’s automated there’s a lot of messages, which can become overwhelming.

Unfortunately for marketers, automation also makes it easy for platforms like Gmail to ask users if they want to unsubscribe from a list when they haven’t opened the last 10 emails. With everyone experiencing information overload, many are opting out.

This dynamic is accelerating a return to engagement basics rather than strategies focused on leads as the metric for success. We need to find a more creative way to do marketing, making engagement our primary focus and opening access to content for potential customers.

We need to focus on creating captivating content that helps audiences realize new possibilities and avenues for competitive advantage, instead of gatekeepers who generate leads.

Toward an engagement marketing strategy

So, how can you make the shift to engagement marketing? Some brands are already doing it, lowering the drawbridge so users can access content freely, while marketers keep an eye on metrics like dwell time.

To cite one example, LinkedIn recently shifted algorithms to emphasize engagement in its feed, explaining the move as follows on their engineering blog:

“The Feed AI Team’s mission is to help LinkedIn’s members discover the most relevant conversations and content in their feed to help them be more productive and successful.”

B2B marketers can also focus on what makes customers productive and successful and create stories around that. Content needs to be relatable and authentic, and it has to consistently deliver value, i.e., information, tools, and ideas that help customers do their jobs better.

Podcasts are now a popular marketing tool precisely because they’re an avenue to offer real value, which can generate higher engagement.

Also keep in mind that interruptions are roadblocks to engagement. Ever realized it’s 2 a.m. and you’ve just binge-watched six episodes of a series? If so, you were probably on Netflix, which serves up the next episode so quickly that you don’t have time to walk away.

Commercial breaks or actions that force viewers to affirmatively click to start the next episode cause a loss of attention.

Marketers should borrow a page from the Netflix strategy and create content that is accessed seamlessly, and continue the conversation with the next compelling content asset.

Ask users what draws them to your company, and build a narrative around that to drive sales. And, you don’t need a huge budget to get started–be scrappy in your approach and learn what works.

Now is the time to make the change and focus on engagement

Shifting focus from leads to engagement isn’t a trivial change, and with the economic fallout from the pandemic, many marketing teams are treading water.

Perhaps an economic downturn is the best time to make this change. As companies that focus on engagement have learned, revenue goes up when an engaged base of prospects moves through the sales cycle faster, oftentimes also resulting in increased deal size.

Engagement marketing requires creativity because finance isn’t going to fulfill marketing’s budget requests every year, especially this year.

However, you can work with the finance team to monitor metrics, such as the total cost of acquiring a customer, and look for ways to make your operations more efficient. Being authentic and relatable doesn’t incur an extra cost—you just need the creativity to pull it off.

As a marketing professional, show potential customers who you are by letting them access your content freely. Let them get to know you through podcasts and virtual events (which are cost-efficient, by the way).

Consistently deliver value to capture and hold your audiences’ attention. Do A/B testing to figure out what works and what doesn’t. That’s bold and scrappy—and ultimately engaging.

Rowan Tonkin is an experienced sales and marketing leader for fast-growing global organizations. He is currently the SVP of Marketing at Planful, a leading financial planning and analysis cloud platform, where he leads the market strategy and all aspects of creating, nurturing and enabling demand.

The post Engagement: The new metric for marketers appeared first on ClickZ.

source http://wikimakemoney.com/2020/08/28/engagement-the-new-metric-for-marketers/

[kadobeclothing]

Paid Social Media: Worth The Investment?

Rick and Morty is a popular adult cartoon that airs on Adult Swim, reaching 2.3 million viewers on average. Recently, chip brand Pringles worked with the TV show to produce a commercial that runs on social media channels. In 24 hours, I’ve seen their ad on Twitter four times already:

The infinite adventures of @RickandMorty meet the infinite adventures of Pringles Flavor Stacking. pic.twitter.com/8SQB6vE0ZP — Pringles (@Pringles) January 28, 2020

If you’ve seen Rick and Morty, you might be thinking — Why Pringles? Well, of those Rick and Morty viewers, about 1.9 million are adults, ages 18-34. And, of Twitter’s users, 44% of them are adults, ages 18-24.

If Pringles wants to reach a demographic within this range to promote their product, a Rick and Morty-themed advertisement via Twitter seems like a good place to start. Ultimately, paid social media helps with targeting audiences, and driving sales.

What is paid social media?

Paid social media is a method of displaying advertisements or sponsored marketing messages on popular social media platforms, and targeting a specific sub-audience. Pay-per-click advertising, branded or influencer-generated content, and display ads are all examples of paid social media.

Every social media channel is different. Twitter offers short-form content, Instagram focuses heavily on visual-based content, Facebook has its own marketplace, and LinkedIn is the home of networking professionals. As such, paid social media on each platform differs, and should, depending on the campaign and audience. Here, we’re going to explore some quick strategies that will help you decide how to use paid social to the benefit of your brand.

Paid Social Media Strategy

A paid social media strategy involves using the ad tools native to social media channels to create, schedule, and post targeted ads that will reach your intended market. Strategies might look a little different based on the channel and campaign.

Pringles and Rick and Morty might seem like an unlikely partnership, but it was a decision that came from months of planning and execution, with help in no small part from the social media channels chosen to run the commercial. Having a paid social media strategy can save a budget that might not be as expansive as a global potato chip brand, so we’ve gathered the important things to know about using various social platforms for paid ads. Facebook When advertising on Facebook, it’s a good idea to use Facebook Targeted Ads. This feature is run on a bidding system — advertisers bid on a number of ads based on their target audience. Then, that bid will be put into a lottery for a chance to be picked to run. Other than the lottery, Facebook Ads lets you show ads to your customers based on their behavior. This is helpful because you can keep advertising to your existing Facebook customers based on what Facebook tells you about their use of the app. Using Facebook Ads helps you build new leads and generate brand awareness. The analytics Facebook gives you opens the door for experimentation — try using different ad formats and see what your audience engages with most. It might be different than other social strategies. For more information about Facebook Ads, check out our checklist that gives you everything you need to know before setting them up. Twitter As a consumer, Twitter paid ads sneak up on me. I barely know I’m looking at a sponsored tweet because they look so similar to regular tweets. As a marketer, this is fantastic news; it means more eyes on your ads because they’re not as blatant as ads on other social channels.

Watch out for that crispy, caramelized crust on our Crispy Pan Pizza! — DiGiorno (@DiGiorno) January 30, 2020

Why Twitter Ads? Well, Twitter reports that 41% of users purchase a product after seeing an ad within a month, and when using their Ad software, you can target your ad to a specific demographic.. Twitter provides ad settings based on your budget —like how frequent your ad will be seen (Pringles paid attention to this), and the ad type to run. Twitter has a few different types of ads for you to choose based on your goals. Take a look at this post to learn more about the different Twitter ad types, as well as how to start using them today. Instagram 60% of people discover new products on Instagram, and it probably isn’t a bad idea to look into advertising to the 200 million accounts that visit at least one Instagram Business profile each day. Business profiles on Instagram mean you can set up ecommerce and run ads from your Instagram account. Since Facebook owns Instagram, if you run ads on both platforms, they’re managed in one place (on Facebook), so campaigns can be run and analyzed concurrently. It’s a good idea to look into Instagram Ads because, while the platform is ripe with exposure possibilities, Instagram Ads are against the changes of the app’s algorithm. So when the algorithm changes and some posts might not show up on user’s feeds, ads always will. Using Instagram Ads, you can choose your budget, which is tied to the length of the ad run. It’s like filling up a gas tank — You get the amount of gas you pay for, and on Instagram, your ad runs for as long as you pay for. With so many different visual styles running on Instagram, there are different ways to leverage paid social media, such as Image or Video. Take a look at this post a rundown on those ad types and their exact ratios, we can help you out there. LinkedIn On LinkedIn, millions of professionals have found a wealth of professional connections, their dream job, or both. The platform lets you reach thousands of people in your industry. Fortunately, as a marketer, ads let you do the same.. There are 630 million professionals on LinkedIn, with 63 million in decision-making positions, like business purchase decisions. This is a B2B advertiser’s dream come true. With the potential to reach 60 million decision-makers on the most popular social platform for lead generation, it’s good to consider LinkedIn as an optimal platform for advertising. . LinkedIn’s targeted ads let you type in keywords and select audiences by category. So, if you’re posting a job for a certain role, LinkedIn can help you find that audience.

Source You can also play around with ad formats on LinkedIn to find which one is most effective. To find out more about the ad types on LinkedIn —such as sponsored, message, text, and dynamic — check out our post about creating an awesome LinkedIn Ad campaign. Pringles is just one company using market research and target audiences to make paid social media decisions that work extremely well. It’s easy to think ad spend is just for the big brands, but making informed purchase decisions benefits every business. The truth is, social media channels are making advertising functional for businesses of small size, as well. It’s just about learning how to use them (and which ones are best for your audience) to benefit your brand and get the highest ROI.

Source link

source https://www.kadobeclothing.store/paid-social-media-worth-the-investment/

[avaliveradio]

Musicians guide to promoting new music

Do you have a plan for your music release but you don’t know how to promote it? 

Planning a music release can be a very intimidating thing when you haven’t done it before. Even when you have, getting eyes on your music isn’t as easy as google searching cold contacts and begging them to listen to you.

It actually doesn’t work that way. PR takes time and effort to execute well.  Sadly, many artists believe that PR is done by blasting a press release out to the top 100+ music sites that they Googled. This never works, because PR placements start with people you already know and have a relationship with. You can’t expect to get results with cold contacts you get from a stock list or google search. It’s a waste of your time and efforts. Especially if you have to buy your press list.

As a member of the press, I can assure you that I have never discovered an artist from a mass mailing. Even if they get through my spam filters, I never read them because I never signed up to receive the information and I don’t know the credibility of the person mailing me without permission.

On those two reasons and so many more, cold mass mailings don’t offer value to me as a press agent nor do I consider them an effective .

A quality list must be developed over time. I always say that if you don’t know each person on your list by name and qualifications, don’t bother emailing them.

Instead, I recommend working with a qualified team that can help you promote your music professionally. A team that gets proven and time tested results. Track record is everything in this business.

We have been promoting artists for 10 years, you can Read the FEEDBACK here: https://www.avaliveradio.info/feedback

Now let’s go down a solid list of strategy that you’ll need to know for a successful Music Release.

Pre-release Guide:

Here’s my break down for releasing new music so you don’t miss a single opportunity. What we noticed that separates the best artists and teams who get results vs. those who are floundering is planning. Follow our lead and you’ll be gaining exposure and seeing results like a pro. 

Register with a Performing Rights Organization. to collect your royalties you’ll need to sign with a both a Performing Rights Organization (“PRO” for short) as well as SoundExchange. The three options in the U.S. for PRO’s are ASCAP, SESAC, and BMI. For live royalties, BMI and ASCAP both offer portals to collect royalties from playing live. Once your songs are registered on the PRO database, you log in and enter any dates you have performed those songs, where they were performed, and which songs. The PRO companies payout quarterly so be sure to enter the performances soon after they are through, otherwise, you could miss a deadline! You also have to register with SoundExchange, which focuses on royalties for your recording (mechanical rights), while your Performing Rights Organization focuses on royalties for your song (performance rights).

** If you do not yet have your music streaming across all platforms, you can use a service like Tunecore to distribute your music to all digital stores and streaming services in preparation of our package.  I recommend making sure you will be released on Spotify, iTunes and google play at the least for best use of our marketing packages and for the success of your release.

When to release? Releasing on a Monday or Friday gives popular artists the best chance to maximize their chart potential. Billboard tracks sales from Friday to Thursday each week, so a song or album released on a Friday has the advantage of being tracked for all seven days of the weekly cycle. Try releasing something new at least once or twice a month for optimal growth. You Get Paid More often and have more music for your new fans to listen to.  This helps you generate alot more streaming revenue from every mega fan. If you are willing to put in the time and effort, releasing singles is a great strategy when it’s done consistently and often.

Gather Images: Hopefully you filled up your cell phone with good quality images that can be used on your social media and in your music promotions with us here at AVA Live Radio.  We recommend filling a drop box or google photo file with at least 10 high quality studio photos that help to track your journey to this new release. They can be full color, or black and white images.  They can also be a mix of in studio pictures, playing your instrument, official art work for the release, play date posters, band photos, or even photos of the band hanging out together. Get creative and think like a music fan. What kind of pictures help to document this time and tell the story through visuals. What kind of picture will draw someones eye to the fact that your a musician and you are living that life.

Fill in our New Single Release form When you get on board to work with our marketing team, make sure you fill in your form. The New Single Release form will help you pull in the information about your single that will best represent you on promotion days. You only have to fill this in once, so do a great job. The more details we have to work with, the better your visual story and digital foot print will turn out. We want this information to work for you past the release date, so everything you can tell us about bringing this single to the public will be helpful. Try to tell a story. Mention details on writing, recording, mixing, mastering, being in the studio, etc. All these details can be really exciting for your fans to discover.  Taking them on a behind-the-scenes journey of this music release is a great way to form a stronger bond with your current and growing base. If you have a website, a blog or even an instagram page, you could tell this story with great visuals that we can use to help people walk that journey with you. It’s important that we map this journey out to the press as well. This way we can ensure that your music makes a solid impression on the people that matter most. When documenting this information for your fans, send updates on how the recording, mixing and mastering is going using videos and photos via your socials, plus capture longer-form stories for Instagram Stories and for your newsletter.

Up to 1 month before your release, engage with your following on milestones through multiple distribution routes. This can include: Your own newsletter, website, blog, instagram, Facebook, youtube, linkedin, etc.  Share versions of the artwork you are considering and song titles by polling your fans and holding contests to select what cover or title to go with. Have your fans weigh in on photos, graphics and get them involved with the process. The goal of all this activity is to get people excited so they are engaging and thinking about your progress. When you order one of our packages, we can use the pre-release time to support your content and start telling more people about you through social media. Our artists have found it very helpful to have our assistance during these days prior to any release.

Focus on Increasing Your Audience : If you have been recording new music you may have taken your eye off of your fan sites but it’s time to get back in the swing. You need to grow your social and email list during these pre-release time. This takes some thought so get your team on board. Use my Social media Tune up list to get your pages up to date. I have s section filled with ideas. If you have not kept up consistently find your friends and people you admire (bloggers, other artists, venues, local spots you like to hang out in, etc.) on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook and friend away!  This will increase your audience because many of the people you follow will follow you back. Also, start reaching out to people in your inbox and outbox and get them on your list (remember it’s illegal to just sign people up, so do this with integrity and ask each person to stay in touch through your newsletter). Your newsletter is the place where you will be able to monetize so, don’t skip this step. Also look back through all your previous post comments and try to reactivate all those conversations. It helps to feed the algorithm some targeted followers to show your future posts to. This also reminds those top fans that you are still around. These are the people who are most likely to play and share your new music.

Prep Your Website and social skins: Change the artwork on the landing page to announce the new music and b sure to add those same images to all your social media banners and thumbnails. The key here is to accomplish a unified look for everything public. Canva is a great free resource to create art at the right size for all your social media pages. Change your bio to announce the release on all social pages.

Update Spotify:

Header and Profile Photo: Keep these up to date and in line with the rest of your social profiles.

Image Gallery: Choose images most aligned with your brand and recent music.

Social Media Links: Add links to your socials.

Update your spotify bio> With 1500 characters to share with your fans, you can update this whenever it makes sense for you. Keep your bio updated, include shows, notable press, and new singles.

Add an Artist’s Pick: You can designate a song, album, or playlist as the “Artist’s Pick.” This will appear at the top of your profile with a note from you. You can add a custom image to your Pick or share tour dates if preferred.

Release Week Checklist:

Make sure your New Single Release form is filled in and completed in full at least 1 week prior to your preferred launch date. Pick a package and get started: here

Start a Spotify playlist that includes your new single along with 9 other songs that are more popular (both indie and mainstream) and closely related to your theme, genre. Think of songs that come from artists with similar fan bases to your own. You can create additional playlists as well focused on themes such as wedding, romance, travel wanderlust & adventure, an activity, or event.

Update your fans with a countdown posting a great new photo or video clip each day for 7-10 days leading up to your release. Include this on social media, send a newsletter with that story at 10 days in, 5 days in, and 24 hours before the launch.

Plan your content calendar. Write down what things you are planning to post this next 7-14 days. It’s so helpful to have a plan down. Consistency is key to seeing post growth and social potential. You should have already started activating your pages during the pre-release week but it’s never too late. Include video clips, live stream, photos, play dates, and links to upcoming reviews and articles in your content calendar.  I love using hootsuite to set up posts ahead of time but facebook also has a creator studio that allows you to set up posts for instagram and facebook ahead of time.

Release Day:  Set aside a few hours to support your own release on those first few hours it goes live. You will want to get the release into as many hands as possible even if that requires personal messages, live streams, links and newsletters. Also don’t forget to send your release to your most active fans and ask them to share it for you. Remind them that your first goal is to get to 5k streams and you need their help to meet that milestone. Getting people on board with a target goal, is a great way to activate your fan base.

Social Media: Create a post for all your social media pages that offers a streaming link. I recommend using a landing page on your own website that offers all your links from spotify to apple.  I use http://wavve.link/avaliveradio to include links to multiple pages. Create a release tile and post with the album / single art and say “out now”. Instagram: Create an Instagram Story video and post by 9 am. Go to Instagram Live and talk about the fact that the music is available and ask for fan feedback. Facebook: Post a status update announcing your release, and pin it to the top as a timeline feature. Go to Facebook Live and talk about the fact that the music is available and ask for fan feedback. Twitter: tweet out your release announcement. Pin the tweet to the top of your profile page Go to Hootesuit and program the tweets for 1-3 times a day for the next 10 days. YouTube: Customize the top banner, profile picture to announce the new music. Add your wavve link and mention of the release to the “About” section. Upload cover art and have track streaming in the background. Newsletter: Send out a newsletter announcement to your mailing list.

Now that you have a plan and strategy for releasing new music, come sign up for a promotion and let’s start making a difference.

Let’s look at a sample promotion package:

Included in this package:

A press release about your music and interview

SocialMedia Marketing using images you provide & professional art created by our marketing team.

Spotify music ads created and run for 2 weeks to promote your interview and Spotify music stream to 175,000 people

Featured article including a Q&A for the interview, audio and links to your interview on our network as well as 15 other broadcasts, your social links and important information people need to know about you. 

2 Newsletter mailings and press releases to industry, other stations, press core and music fans.  Media, podcasts, websites, bloggers, and social pages.

Radio rotation across 15 broadcasting channels. 

ART: digital poster with release date of single, art for your press release and feature page on our website.

We have been promoting artists for 10 years, you can Read the FEEDBACK here: https://www.avaliveradio.info/feedback

CONTACT with questions..

[i-globalone]

This post is part of CoinDesk’s 2019 Year in Review, a collection of 100 op-eds, interviews and takes on the state of blockchain and the world. Alex McDougall in the co-founder Bicameral Ventures, a venture capital firm focused on blockchain, interoperability, data and identity self-sovereignty, personalized AI, and Web 3.0.Striking it rich. The phrase derives from natural resources exploitation. Prospectors would strike an easy patch of oil, extract it from the ground, sell it and get rich. Sometimes it was hyper-focused geological engineering that made the strike, sometimes the speculator stumbled upon it in a TV hillbilly swamp. But the story remains the same: someone finds a resource, accesses it, and sells it.We’ve had a checkered history with resources compensation dating back to the colonial era, but in the modern capitalist era we’ve been relatively good about acknowledging who owns the land oil is found on and assigning some level of compensation to them for the use of “their” resource. Not so with personal data. “The new oil” is worth billions of dollars, but we haven’t worked out how to extract, refine, sell and establish its value. We’ve been pretty good about compensating “owners” of oil – the generic, fungible, naturally-made, public good resource that the “owner” did nothing to actually make. But somehow we’re atrocious at compensating the owner of the highly personalized data that they exclusively created. We don’t tell data creators that we’re “mining” them and then we manipulate their subconscious biases via engagement algorithms to get them to take actions that make their data even more valuable. It’s like if an oil company came to your oil-filled swamp and instead of paying you for the rights to extract said oil, they convince you that if you extract, refine, package and leave the oil on your front doorstep that five million strangers may like you.The new oil is worth billions of dollars, but we haven’t worked out how to extract, refine, sell and establish its value.It’s no secret that the most valuable companies of today are driven by data and artificial intelligence (Google, Facebook, Amazon, and so on). It’s also no surprise that large corporations have been the first to realize the value of the resource and have been extremely efficient in harnessing and monetizing it. It’s super unsurprising they have generally tried wherever possible to keep as much of the value chain for themselves as possible.We completely exclude data creators to the point where we don’t even have a model to understand how we could do it better. While oil companies from history would happily completely exclude “owners” from the value chain if they could, they haven’t been able to because land ownership is something ingrained in us and because five oil rigs showing up on your property is something people tend to notice.Who owns the searches you make on Google Chrome? Who owns the words you type into Gmail? There are no rigs, no trucks, no smoke, just opaque terms, and a business model average users find confusing (“everything is free you say?”), and an incredible user experience that happens to deliver creepily targeted ads to you on random webpages. Worse, even if your physical oil is extracted without compensation, a drop of it doesn’t contain your medical records, credit card information, or where your kid goes to school. 2019 saw yet another increase in data breaches (data spills?) partially because of the disparity between how different parties value data and the antiquated methodologies used to protect it.With ongoing privacy breaches and growing dissatisfaction with how privacy and data are handled, we’re finally starting to demand better of our platforms. Altruism and “doing what’s right” is one way to solve this extraction problem, regulation and establishing penalties for egregious data policies is another, but in our current system the lasting solutions are revenue and profit driven.Luckily, our data is far more valuable when we share it willingly. Big data’s value is a byproduct of bad data. Extracted data is often bad data and you need sufficient bad data to scrub out the signal from the noise and determine what is actually a valuable insight underneath all the byproduct. Shared data is timelier, more accurate, more relevant and more ethical. While shared data comes with its own incentive issues, the quality of a platform and insights built on shared data vs. extracted data is night and day. What is the best way to get us to share it willingly? Help us understand why it’s valuable, who it’s valuable to, how we can make it more valuable and then let us share in that value in a simple tangible way. Ideally all of this happens via platforms and behaviours we already do on a day to day basis and value is shared back to us in tangible, creative ways.  In 2020, let’s see commuters earning mobility credits towards free metro rides because they’ve agreed to work with a platform to organize mobility preferences en masse to help municipalities, wellness groups, favorite chain restaurants, scooter companies, real estate investment firms, car manufacturers and other mobility stakeholders in understanding how commuters are moving around a city.This type of shared data-centric optimization is an exciting potential evolution of what Velocia, a Bicameral portfolio project, has recently launched a mobility rewards platform in Miami.Next year, let’s see closed loop platforms start experimenting with open platform ideas like “data-portability” whereby you can use reputation and experience generated on one platform to gain status or better user experience on another platform. For example, we should be able to port driver ratings between Uber and Lyft, or order histories between food delivery apps. This doesn’t even need to be driven by the platform but can begin to be built by third party tool developers. The Open Application Network, another Bicameral portfolio project, has been working to create and popularize these types of tools.At Bicameral, we’re exploring brand new models whereby we partner with emerging market ISPs and households to leverage valuable shared data profiles to improve the economics of laying expensive fiber broadband directly to the home. Giving households next generation routers and IoT smart-hubs, we can help data creators organize and optimize their 360-degree home data profiles simply by continuing to browse, research, watch, buy and take the digital actions they already do. These profiles can be shared with a transparent insights and analytics platforms to both earn discounts and dollars and increase the quality of data-driven interactions with consumer brands, educational tools, market researchers, government agencies and even protect you from manipulative third-party algorithms and bots.Let’s be frank, it’s not going to be a data paradise overnight. 2020 isn’t going to be the year we see a world of complete transparency into our data supply chain and we’re not going to be able to pinpoint the exact unit of value we’re getting for the exact piece of meta-data we’re sharing with an exact brand. But we can take meaningful steps forward to change the mindsets of transparency and value sharing. We can create models that leverage our existing hardware, software and consumer behavior to start bringing data creators into the value chain and we can start proving out the model that shared data is better than extracted data.We can start proving the hypothesis that if you compensate us and help us understand how our data is valuable, we’ll opt in willingly and you don’t have to trick us. Maybe 2020 will even be the year some of us even start turning off data feeds or deleting extractive apps that offer us nothing in return? We may not end up millionaires like the hillbillies, but I’m confident that 2020 will be the year the tide changes and we as data creators start taking our rightful place in the flow. Disclosure Read More The leader in blockchain news, CoinDesk is a media outlet that strives for the highest journalistic standards and abides by a strict set of editorial policies. CoinDesk is an independent operating subsidiary of Digital Currency Group, which invests in cryptocurrencies and blockchain startups.

http://m.globalone.com.np/2019/12/data-creators-should-share-in-profits.html

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How to Use Instagram Hashtags

Recently, Instagram began paying closer attention to the use of hashtags and their ability to aid in content discovery. If you plan on actively growing your Instagram account hashtags will inevitably play a major role in your daily agenda. In this post, we will discuss the importance of hashtags on Instagram and provide some tips to help you make the best possible use of this social feature. 

Understanding Hashtags on Instagram 

The concept of a hashtag is not a new one. The once famed (pound sign “#”) on our old telephone landlines has become an internet staple. We commonly use hashtags as a medium for organizing content. This style of organization was popularized by Twitter and is now widely used amongst all popular social networks. Since Instagram is quickly becoming the world’s most popular social network the question begs, ” What is the right way to use an Instagram hashtag ? ”

During the early adopter phase of Instagram many account users become accustomed to filling the post captions with up to 30 widely used hashtags. Some have even devised system cheats algorithm cheats like

Placing hashtags in the comment section

Editing posts to include new hashtags in old content

Creating intricate text structures to prevent hashtags from appearing in the feed

These algorithm cheats may have worked in the early days. However, as Instagram places emphasis on the use of Hashtags (i.e. featuring the ability to follow hashtags) the common practice of spamming a hashtag in a post for greater reach is becoming less and less relevant. Let’s explore the proper use of Instagram hashtags in greater detail below.

Instagram Algorithm

As mentioned above, Instagram users now have the ability to follow #hashtags, which means a user won’t have to search for an Instagram hashtag and scroll through the feed to land on your page. Instead, your post will automatically show up in their feed and to potential new followers.

This recent update now requires account holders to pay closer attention to how they actually use hashtags in the post captions. A simple example of how this update may impact your reach is the ability for users who follow your hashtagged content to now mark your content as something that they don’t want to see. Users can select the new “Don’t Show for this Hashtag” option to essentially displace your content from specific hashtags. While no one but Instagram has definite knowledge on the algorithm’s performance this simple feedback mechanism obviously removes posts from the users feed based on the hashtag selected. 

What does this small but powerful Update mean for your Instagram account?

As with all systems on the internet, maturity requires refinement. As networks amass more data these datasets need to be organized. Once data has a basic structure that structure is then improved on with increasingly complex arguments. Many of us experienced this with Google’s multiple slaps, Facebook’s business page updates, and now Instagram’s need to improve how its users discover content.

Instagram’s need to contextually categorize content now means we should focus on highlighting relevant hashtags as opposed to generic hashtags with a large reach. You’ve now entered the realm of social niches. Welcome, we’re glad to have you here!

Types of Hashtags

Now that you understand why hashtags are important on Instagram. Let’s explore the different types of hashtags on Instagram. By using proper hashtags, you can now reach your target audience, win customers, and truly increase engagement. There are the different types of Instagram hashtags that you can use depending on your goals and the images you use. These types include: 

a) Industry or General Hashtags

Examples: #photographer, #blogger

These hashtags are exceedingly popular which are great to use if you’re just starting off or if you need a good boost. However, use them sparingly and ensure they are contextually relevant.

Since these hashtags are widely used, there’s also a higher chance that followers or views are not properly segmented according to location or specific interest. However, this can be a good hashtag if you simply want to increase your followers and likes.

b) Niche Hashtags

Examples: #weddingphotographer #travelblogger

Niche hashtags provide greater specificity. Much like longtail keywords a niche hashtag drills down the audience to provide more targeted and contextually relevant visibility. It may not provide massive reach or engagement but will instead foster a more focused response.

c) Community-Related Hashtags

Example: #mytravelgram

Even more specific are Instagram communities where you can be part of a tribe.

These hashtags help you to connect, share and grow your presence across Instagram.

Community hashtags are the best way to find trends, common interests and ideas from other users as well.

d) Location Hashtags

Examples: #SydneyWeddingPhotographer #Koreanfood

These hashtags imply the name of the places where the picture is taken. It can drive more sales especially to the place where you plan to sell your product.

The competition here is very low, but the ones who will find you will be the ones who truly care about what you show.

These hashtags can be also featured on Instagram’s location tab especially if you specify a location on your tag post.

e) Branded Hashtags

Branded hashtags are created by a company, brand, media, etc to promote their campaign. These hashtags contain specifically the name of the company or a phrase that they want to promote.

However, these types of hashtags won’t generate a wider reach. In order to do so, you have to combine branded hashtags with other strategies. Examples include #maccosmetics #uniqlolifewear

You can use branded hashtags in engaging with your followers on a live event, creating raffles and contest, and if you want to position your brand deeper into the minds of your followers.

Avoid Being Blocked or Shadow Banned

There are a growing number of users who are affected with an Instagram shadowban, wherein IG hides your posts from users who don’t follow you in effect it can be a problem on growing your account and getting more followers. If you get shadowbanned, only your current followers can see your posts when they search your account. But for those who don’t follow your account, they won’t be able to see your posts. To avoid this from happening:

Don’t just copy and paste your hashtags in every post. Instead, come up with a new list of hashtags and switch up hashtags in every post. You don’t want to defeat the whole purpose of promoting your brand or campaign then you have to use the correct and proper hashtags.

Avoid using gimmicky tags such as #likeforlike or any hashtags that have been used for million times. This might get you a lot of likes but it won’t give you a high number of targeted followers.

Choose to use tags that describe your business, and your target market. For example, Dove is a personal care brand for hair, skin care, and deodorant. Most of their posts, use hashtag #Dove #RealBeauty, #Deodorant, #Refreshing, #FeelingGood, #FeelingFresh

Use of community hashtags also brings like-minded users to your page. Community hashtags connect you to followers, improves your connections and makes your account more visible to potential followers.

If you think your posts might be shadowbanned you can test your 10 recent posts by visiting Triberr’s Instagram Shadowban Tester. The shadowban tester will help you identify hashtags that have been banned so that you do not use them in the future.

Instagram Hashtag Tools

There are different tools that help an Instagram user to use relevant hashtags. These tools can help in generating a targeted audience.

To help, here is a list of some tools:

a) Instagram Search

By simply using Instagram, you can already look for relevant hashtags. You can simply select the Instagram search icon and type the keyword you are looking for. However, they’re not sorted by popularity, you have to select manually, and you have to write them in when you want them to add to your posts.

b) Hashtagify.me

It’s an external tool and in using this you only have to type the keyword on the search option. Then the page will display the most relevant topics and hashtag that is related to the keyword. This tool is free for Twitter users only. If you want to use this tool for Instagram, then you’ll have to get the pro version. This is a web app only, it doesn’t have any version on Android or iOS.

c) Display Purposes

It’s a simple and effective external tool where you write one or two keywords about your post, and the tool will display the best 30 hashtags in order of relevance. The hashtags it provides are both popular and relevant. You would surely love to use this tool. Aside from that, it has a map section and a graph section that shows how the hashtags are related to each other. This is also a web-app only.

d) Tagboard.com

This tool can be used also for other social media platforms such as Twitter and Facebook. You just enter the word or hashtag that you want and then it will give you the list of all the posts with that hashtag across all social media platforms. You only have to find and choose relevant content.

e) Top-hashtags.com

Just insert the keyword on the search tab and it will give you the best hashtags and the number of posts using that hashtag immediately. If you click a hashtag, it will give you the list with 30 hashtags that you can copy and paste into your posts. The good thing is that this a web app and can be used by anyone who knows how to do a Google Search.

Conclusion

Overall, hashtags are one of the simplest ways to leverage discoverability on Instagram. However, this does not give you cause to spam your posts with irrelevant hashtags. Instead, this is one of those moments where less is more. Focus on using hashtags that help people discover your valuable content.  It’s that easy! Get out there, do your hashtag research, and start reaching a more targeted IG audience today. 

https://growinsta.xyz/how-to-use-instagram-hashtags/