All About Pinterest Marketing

SethAdvertising, Company, Mobile Technology, Social Media, Technology Leave a Comment

Pinterest has helped you make tons of delicious meals, complete DIY projects, and throw great parties but many people miss the mark entirely when it comes to Pinterest marketing. Just like with any social media platform, Pinterest can help you reach your goals and objectives if you use it correctly. Here are some helpful tips to boost your brand with the power of Pinterest.

Keywords

Pinterest has very strong search capabilities. You can help even more people find your business by using keywords in the board titles. Make sure that you select a category for each board to help people find them.

Description Section

Keywords in your description section will increase the chance of your entire page being found. Keep in mind that users can tweet your pins and also include them on their blogs and other social media platforms.

Vertical Images

Images that are up to 735 by 1102 pixels can share a ton of information at once. This creates an engaging invitation to repin your pinned article. Remember, you can put the content onto a pinned picture rather than a long and dull caption.

Links to Your Website

You have two opportunities with each pin to add your link: one in the description and one in the source for the pin.

Embedding

You can also embed pins on your blog, and this is a great way to get more repins. Pinterest makes it easy to get an embed code on site.

Social Media

Remember that social media platforms can all work together. Tweet your pin and share them on your other social networks where they are relevant.

Pinterest for Business

Just like with most platforms now, Pinterest offers a business account so that you can monitor your data and analytics. On Pinterest, some pins are known as Rich Pins: movie, recipe, article, product, and place. Prepping your website with meta tags and testing out your pins is the smartest tactic to see which pins will bring growth to your product or service.

Collaboration

Collaborative boards help you reach a new group of pinners and have your pins be seen by more people. You do need to be careful about which boards you join because all the pins will show up on your Pinterest presence as well. Remember that Millennials and Generation Z love to be a part of the process!

Pinterest marketing can help increase the chance of your brand becoming successful and here at Velocity, we have a team of marketing strategists and social media professionals that work together to implement the best marketing strategies for our clients. If you are feeling confused and need backup, let us help!

Holly Jolly Holiday Marketing

SethSeasonal Leave a Comment

The holiday season has crept on us again. It’s crunch time in the marketing world! If you haven’t done much so far – fear not! At Velocity Agency, we have impeccable holiday marketing ideas to make your brand shine! Here are six tips to make your holiday marketing campaign a hit this year:

Harvest Your Data
Numbers don’t lie. You should always monitor your data to stay one step ahead of your competition. Take advantage of all the reports, charts and data you have.
 
Think About Sales and Promotions
Customers are always looking for deals and discounts this time of year. Start planning holiday sales and promotions that will work specifically for your business. For example, if you’re a candy store, individually package sweet treats and offer two for the price of one as stocking stuffers. These promotions can also be provided online to broaden your market.
Hit Key Emotions
Despite what you may think, decision-making is hardly ever purely rational. The truth is that all people make decisions emotionally before justifying them rationally. As a result, a successful holiday marketing campaign should be an emotional one. Focus on the feelings that are unique to the season. Values and feelings that abound during the holidays include friendship, family, good-will, giving back, gratitude and being home.

Make Your Campaign Easily Shareable
While it’s hard to predict what will go viral, you can always maximize your chances. 74% of consumers rely on word of mouth as the top influencer of their purchasing decisions. When someone learns about your campaign from a friend, it means so much more to them than seeing it in a commercial or in a Facebook ad.

Be Consistent
It’s important to make sure the customer experience is consistent across all channels. Multi-channel marketing is the norm for nearly every brand. This approach is much deeper than making the branding and color scheme cohesive on just social media. Your offers should also be consistent.

Here at Velocity Agency, we have a team that does it all. From marketing strategy, video promotions, graphic design, social media and more – we do it all. Are you looking for an all in-house marketing team that will create a holiday marketing plan for your brand? We are ready to accept the challenge!

Video Marketing on Social Media

SethSocial Media Leave a Comment

The most important strategy in content marketing today is video on every social platform. If you don’t implement a social media video strategy for your accounts, then you will come up short. The platforms of distribution for video content online have shifted drastically over the last few years. Facebook gets more daily minutes watched than YouTube. Additionally, Snapchat’s daily views are now in the billions. Video on Twitter has taken listening and one-to-one branding to a whole new level.

Most people think that YouTube is the destination for finding the best video content for their social media pages. 300 hours of video content is pushed to YouTube every minute and it assists in growing personal brands. Although it is still valuable, the problem with YouTube is that it’s in a downward trend compared to Facebook’s 4 billion daily video streams. A number that is only going to go upward from here on out.

Facebook has moved to the forefront because of one word: data. Although we already mentioned that video is the most powerful tool in your arsenal on all platforms, it’s important to know how each platform differs.

Snapchat

Snapchat is a great way to reach a younger audience, but keep in mind the video content only lasts 24 hours. It is also perfect for brands that want to give their audience a peek into what happens behind closed doors.

YouTube

YouTube is ideal if you want to build a community for your brand, but it’s hard to stand out because of the massive size of the platform. Since YouTube is owned by Google, its videos are given higher ranks than those hosted elsewhere.

Facebook

Facebook is a great forum for engaging with your audience, but posts have a limited lifespan. When a video gets great engagement on Facebook, it shows up in more people’s timelines and serves as an excellent forum for engaging directly with the audience.

Twitter

Twitter is a powerful engagement tool, but not right for brands looking for deep insight into their audience. It provides countless opportunities for brands to get more engagement with their customers.

Instagram

This platform is great for engagement from Millennials, but Instagram is known for not playing nice with other platforms. Instagram is owned by Facebook. Therefore, you can use many of the same paid ad data and segmentation options on Facebook.

Velocity Agency has an experienced marketing team that produces highly successful marketing strategies. If you are falling short of developing your brand or just need an extra push, call us today!

Starbucks is No Longer Seeing Red

SethSeasonal Leave a Comment

It’s the time of year when the flavors of fall fade away, and peppermint mochas beckon consumer to get holly jolly. A significant signaling of the holidays is Starbucks’s red cup. Since 1997, Starbucks has welcomed the holidays with a cup that ranges from modern and abstract to nostalgic and traditional. The cup design is mostly red with white details to evoke the warm fuzzy feelings we associate with Christmas. In 2015, the company took advantage of the popularity of minimalism in design and debuted a completely red cup.

The cup spawned a social media uproar. Consumers claimed there was no holiday cheer or mention of Christmas on the cup. A movement of people ordering coffee and asking for their name to be “Merry Christmas” and posted it on Twitter with the hashtag #merrychristmasstarbucks. To avoid another round of controversy, Starbucks responded with a brilliant campaign in 2016. The cup was to be designed by the consumer. Starbucks held a contest to support the creativity of their customers by inviting them to share their designs on Instagram. Starbucks received more than 1,200 individual submissions from 13 countries, and the images were featured in an online cup collection. Every design was featured on a cup. This excellent PR work remediated the outrage that sparked the year before.

In 2017, Starbucks fuzed its ideas from the previous two years in honor of the holiday cup’s 20th anniversary. This year’s cup features a black and white sketch with just a few splashes of red and green. The design is meant to encourage drinkers to grab their art supplies and fill in the rest. The design was described by the Executive Creative Director Leanne Fremar as an “ode to years’ past.”

In the colder months, Starbucks profits raise on an average of 12% and the reaction to their holiday menu on social media is always highly positive. Starbucks continues to be the master of consumer-based and straightforward marketing strategies that keep on giving. Which holiday cup was your favorite and why?

Surviving Black Friday and Cyber Monday

SethSeasonal Leave a Comment

Not long ago, Black Friday was a one-day event. Now, Black Friday sales seem to last an entire season. Brands launch sale days in advance and stretch out the holiday shopping season as long as possible. Some shoppers seem to be losing interest in Black Friday. There has been a 72% decrease in social media conversations about Black Friday since 2012. While Black Friday is on the decline, the internet is favoring Cyber Monday. The decline in Black Friday is due mostly to the negative presence on social media. More than half of the conversations on social media surrounding Black Friday have had a negative connotation. Whether you choose to embrace Black Friday or Cyber Monday, the pressure is on to compete with nearly every other brand in the country. So, with so much pressure to be at your peak performance, how can you win the holiday season?

Here are some strategies that can make your holiday marketing flourish:

  • Revisit Last Year’s Data
    • It’s important to look back at last year’s data and monitor keywords, contents, promotions, traffic and conversions. You should know what the behavior of your consumers was the previous year to create the best marketing plan in the current year.
  • E-Blasts
    • Email marketing is still a strong weapon in your arsenal. It is responsible for 27% of holiday sales. Your e-blasts should be simple, include a special offer, extend your sale and eye-catching.
  • Social Media
    • Using social media should be an obvious strategy for Black Friday. Just like with e-blasts, you can share coupons, promotions, deals and contests on all social media platforms.
  • Paid Ads
    • Facebook ads are extremely effective. They have the potential to reach target audiences instead of reaching one that will likely not purchase your product.
  • Target Millennials
    • Millennials spend the most money in our current economy. Make them a part of your brand’s strategy! You should experiment with social media, write valuable content and be honest in all of your ads. Millennials love to be a part of your brand, so allow them to co-create content.
  • Mobile Optimization
    • More than 70% of adults in the US own a smartphone. Your business should be smartphone friendly so that customers can access coupons or promotion codes.
  • Video Content
    • Stand out among all of the scary black Friday footage that has gone viral in the past years. Generating video content that is fun and creative will entice your consumers as well as drive more traffic to your site.

Velocity Agency has helped our clients succeed year-round, but we know how to make a promotion stand above the rest. Don’t let your business get left behind! Contact our highly skilled and professional marketing team so that we can help you have the happiest holiday for your brand yet.

Public Relations Managers

SethClients, Company Leave a Comment

Superheroes in Disguise

Public Relations is a strategic communication process that builds mutually beneficial relationships between organizations and the public and is commonly shortened and referred to as PR. A career in PR involves gaining understanding and support for your clients and trying to influence opinion and positive behaviors. You may have heard somebody say “that’s great PR” about a commercial for a brand, or a donation to a charity from a washed up celebrity. One of the most important duties of  Public Relations managers is crisis management.

In 1996, Odwalla Good’s apple juice was contaminated with E.coli resulting in one death, 60 becoming sick, and more than 20 lawsuits. Odwalla demonstrated fantastic PR by immediately recalling all Odwalla products containing apple or carrot juice and the CEO accepted responsibility when talking to the media and vowed to pay all medical costs for those affected by the outbreak. Odwalla also released daily press briefings that updated the public along with full-page newspaper ads and a website explaining the situation. This created a sense of concern for the safety of the public and demonstrated the company’s willingness to take full responsibility for their mistake. Today, the company has been bought by Coca-Cola for $186 million.

Launching a new product is also where PR is crucial for success, and Apple is winning in that department. Apple creates a good deal of media hype around each new product before release by following some rules to live by in the PR world:

  • Establishing what is newsworthy about the product
  • Creating a buzz with social media
  • Writing a media release
  • Encouraging and dispensing Product Reviews
  • Holding an Event
  • Continuing the hype after release

It’s not hard to believe that when Apple is launching a new iPhone that people camp out for days to be the first to have their hands on it.

Lastly, great Public Relations Managers know how to be a skilled storyteller and put a spin on media to persuade public opinion in favor of their brand. Here at Velocity Agency, we know that spinning the news isn’t generating propaganda or blatantly lying but a tasteful skill that requires skill and experience. Our entire staff is well versed in the art of public relations that will make your brand stand apart from the crowd. If you are looking for a team that will help your brand attract not just clients and customers but fans, give us a call today.

Marketing Lessons from the Pumpkin Spice Latte You Can Sip On

SethSeasonal Leave a Comment

Fall is officially here and you’ve already felt the effects of fall fever. You have moved your sweaters to the front of your closet, you passed a pumpkin patch on the way to work, and you are anticipating the slew of fall festivals on your calendar. Pumpkin spice has taken over this season and it isn’t slowing down.
There are pumpkin donuts, bagels, hamburgers, chips, beers, liquors, wines, yogurts, salty snacks, cheese and even toothpaste. In 2017, America’s pumpkin spice obsession is bigger than ever. Sales of pumpkin products have grown by 79% since 2012 and have grossed $361m compared to $201m five years ago.
Most of us are not buying pumpkins and serving up slabs of it for dinner, so why are we so obsessed with the pumpkin spice flavor? Pumpkin spice is a combination of cinnamon, cloves, and nutmeg, not pumpkin itself. Profound psychological reasons underlie your innate craving for this flavor. This flavor evokes positive associations like cool breezes, piles of leaves, crackling fires and the cozy togetherness of the upcoming season. Combining this with successful marketing makes pumpkin spice “taste like fall.” Our sense of taste is 80% smell, therefore, it’s the cozy smell of pumpkin spice that evokes fall nostalgia more so than the taste. Take the aroma of pumpkin spice, combine it with sugar and the consumer immediately has a warm, homey and nostalgic digestive experience that is arguably addictive.

The pumpkin spice trend started in 2003 when Starbucks’ espresso brand manager noted that there was nothing pumpkin flavored on the market and created the pumpkin spice latte. One of the key factors behind the pumpkin spice craze is the fact that it is a limited time offer. Tying an LTO to a season or a holiday associated with indulgence conjures up excitement for the product, creates enthusiasm around the product, and drives consumers to purchase the product before it’s gone.

All companies have very carefully planned marketing strategies when it comes to their seasonal product, especially Starbucks who has a verified Twitter and Instagram for the pumpkin spice latte. The posts are amusing, creative, and visually appealing as well as diverse. Starbucks has remained current by evolving their brand and products through storytelling marketing mainly by making the PSL a character that directly communicates with their audience.

Learning About Storytelling from Found Footage Films

SethTechnology Leave a Comment

The Blair Witch Project is still one of the most beloved horror movies of all time. On a budget of $60,000 and a grossing of $248.6 million, other filmmakers took note of the film and followed suit. The Blair Witch Project is an excellent example of found footage: a subgenre in film that is presented as if they were discovered video recordings.

Found footage films make sense for horror because it puts the viewer in the shoes of the story and allows them to experience scares more viscerally and directly. People love horror movies, but sometimes being spoon-fed demons and monsters through traditional marketing for horror films has played out. At the time of The Blair Witch Project, found footage films were not a new concept. In fact, the subgenre got its start in the 1980s. Many film critics have dubbed this style of lazy film filmmaking, but the results don’t lie.

Handheld cameras and improv only heighten the inherent danger, insinuating that what’s happening onscreen is happening moment by moment in environments that could turn on the actors at any time. Some found footage films have been major flops in the past, so there are several rules to producing a fantastic found footage film.

Be Relatable

A good found footage film should be set in a relatable environment or a space that is recognizable to keep the belief of the audience alive.

Establish a Reason to Film

There has to be a reason why the characters are filming to make a found footage film work. The Blair Witch project’s premise center around a group of filmmakers that had the idea of making a documentary in the woods. Cloverfield was released in 2008 with a completely different premise: monsters. Instead of being a traditional Godzilla-like movie, the characters are at a party celebrating while one character is making a movie as a memento for his friend when disaster strikes.

Cut to the Chase

Don’t bore your audience. Eerily build suspense instead! Avoid strained banters and keep the movie reasonably short in comparison to traditional films.

Embrace the Limitations of the Style

When you’re telling a story with found footage, you are telling the story with much less exposition than a typical narrative. You do not need to explain everything or have narration; it’s about the images being captured on film.

Here at Velocity Agency, we know that making something authentic and real is essential for the success of our marketing campaigns. The powerful storytelling marketing behind the success of found footage films is the same strategy that we use to take our clients to new heights.

 

Google’s and Facebook’s Mistakes Following the Las Vegas Massacre

SethDigital Innovation, Social Media Leave a Comment

You’ve heard it over and over again no matter how much you’ve tried to ignore it: fake news. Fake news is used to describe a political story which is seen as damaging to an agency, entity, or person. The printing and dissemination of fake news isn’t a new concept. However, in the past, it has been easy for people to understand which news story is inherently false. Last Monday Morning, many Americans woke up to the heartbreaking news of the Las Vegas Massacre which killed at least 59 people and injured more than 500. Google and Facebook displayed false reports on the unfolding tragedy; adding to the ongoing failure of the Internet’s largest news platforms to manage misinformation. We can confidently say we are living in the age of the algorithm.

An algorithm is a set of instructions for carrying out a particular task. It’s deterministic, predictable, not subject to change and works for all cases. The average internet user often doesn’t check facts or consider whether the source is credible when reading an article. Algorithms within networks such as Google and Facebook provide users with personalized, and ultimately, skewed results. Algorithms are always changing so companies can maintain a competitive advantage. The algorithms made explicitly for filtering news narrows the information we receive and serves us information that tends to support what we already believe. Facebook confirmed in a paper that it often shows users news from users with similar political beliefs and users are about 6% less likely to see content that the other political side favors. Your best friends and their political views influence what appears on your newsfeed more than the algorithm does.

After the Las Vegas massacre, Google’s algorithm promoted a story on a 4chan message board thread that misidentified the shooter. Facebook’s crisis response hub showed an article with the same misidentification. Google responded quickly and stated that relevant results had algorithmically replaced the story. Facebook told CNN that they were working hard to fix the issue that led to the false news story being promoted. These examples of algorithms failing present a great lesson for marketers. Many marketers feel that everything can be reduced to algorithms, predictability, and numbers. This logic can be true to a certain extent: but not wholly. Algorithms arouse suspicion in consumers which causes plans to backfire. If a customer feels that the marketer knows too much about them, they will abandon ship. Algorithms also encourage complacency and stifle customer responses to marketing offers.

Here at Velocity Agency, we know our clients on a personal level and work with them side by side to ensure that they have success rather than treating them as a formula or equation. That extra attention makes ordinary brands extraordinary, and we are proud of each of our client’s success.

Pushing Forward in Smartphone Marketing

SethMobile Technology Leave a Comment

All Smartphone users are starting to notice something strange about their phones. You leave work on a regular workday; your phone alerts you that you are 12 miles from home and it’s ready to navigate you through the traffic. It gets even spookier! You go to the gym every Wednesday for a spin class, and before you leave, your phone has caught on that you are going to the gym. Don’t worry, your phone didn’t hear you cancel your plans with your friends because you are going to the gym. It’s all about location services.

30% of the smartphone-using population is already using location-based marketing services, and 80% of them want to get location-based alerts from businesses like yours. A geofence is a virtual perimeter that you can draw around any location on a map and then target customers that enter that area. Hardware, referred to as beacons, target customers as they arrive, leave, and dwell in the location where you set them up. These beacons are ideal for proximities or knowing if someone is near a particular product. Beacons are best suited for larger areas so that companies can gauge if someone is walking by your store, a competitor’s store, or into a particular location.

More and more companies have started developing apps for their customer base. Starbucks launched their app to cater to customer rewards and mobile ordering. American Eagle sets up a geofence around shopping malls to draw more customers into their store. Netflix gives updates on what shows are streaming when they are released. Successful companies must adapt to stay ahead of the changing tides of consumer needs. They are utilizing the most significant advancement in geofencing and interactive marketing campaigns: push notifications.

A push notification is a message that pops up on a mobile device via an app. In 2015, push notifications changed from general push notifications to segmented push notifications. Segmented push notifications target users based on their preferences. They can show the latest sports scores, get a user to take action such as downloading a coupon or let a user know about an event. Many brands are looking at push notifications instead of e-blasts because of the clutter that most email users have to sort through on a daily basis. Push messaging may eventually replace email marketing altogether. Therefore, marketers must remember the rule of value exchange. While consumers do like coupons and discounts, they don’t want apps to bombard them with messages continually.

Powerful and effective push notifications are brief, eye-catching, and infrequent too often. Most users that are overwhelmed by push notifications too often will delete apps completely. It’s exciting to see new technology being utilized creatively and making our lives easier! Do you think that push notifications are useful or annoying?