Over the years, my Hodges colleagues have written quite a bit about Twitter on this blog. From explaining how Twitter works in 2009 and “Twitter is Dead” back in 2011 to building brand loyalty for your CEO on Twitter in 2016 and tips for increasing organic engagement last year, we’ve covered a lot of ground. Personally, I’m at a Twitter crossroads, and not just because Twitter may be making some changes to the like button and The Atlantic says it should kill the retweet. What…
Read MoreEarlier this week, LinkedIn announced a few significant changes to Company Pages on its platform — which caused our ears to perk up a little bit. We’ve been using LinkedIn as a communications channel to tell our clients’ stories since Company Pages launched in 2010. Now, with big changes afoot, here’s the 30,000-foot view of the features that will be rolling out over the next few months and the impact they might have on your organization’s social strategy. User-friendly mobile experience for admins Admins can…
Read MoreReaching the right people at the right time, with the right message is the pillar of a successful content marketing program. And with more organizations developing content these days, the competition to reach potential customers with tailored content is fierce. For many organizations, the challenge usually isn’t the creation of valuable content. The challenge is ensuring your content is breaking through the millions of pieces of content shared every minute. It used to be enough, for example, to share posts to your Facebook newsfeed or…
Read MoreContent marketing has been around for ages and its accelerated growth and use especially in the last few years shows that it’s not going anywhere anytime soon. 89 percent of Americans use the internet to find new products and services and research potential purchases. The way consumers shop today differs vastly than they did even just 10 years ago. They are no longer swayed by overt, aggressive sales and advertising tactics—instead today’s buyers (both b2b and b2c) prefer to do the research and decide for…
Read More“We talkin’ about tactics. Not a strategy. Not a strategy. Not a strategy. We talkin’ about tactics.”– Allen Iverson (OK, maybe not an exactly transcription of what he said.) One of my favorite YouTube clips is Allen Iverson’s infamous press conference where he bemoans the criticism directed at him over missing practice. His point, the games are what really matter, but people are obsessing over the wrong thing. While this metaphor certainly isn’t entirely transferable, many companies fall victim to a similar trap – jumping…
Read MoreRecently, one of our clients had a question about the way Facebook was displaying their reviews. To set the scene: the business has an impressive 4.3-star overall rating, yet right there at the top of the home page, Facebook’s algorithm elected to display two one-star reviews. If you are a potential customer checking out the page, it isn’t a great first impression. That’s extremely frustrating as a business owner. The majority of the reviews of the business are overwhelmingly positive, but it’s the two outliers…
Read More“Does social media advertising really work?” “What kind of ROI will I get on my social ad spend?” These are the kinds of questions we get a lot from clients. So, let’s start with the second one, the important question about using social media to move the needle. The answer: it depends. Goals and objectives are different from client to client, so it’s tough to give a concrete, one-size-fits-all answer. For example, if your goal is awareness, the metrics you’d use to see if social…
Read MoreYou know the old saying, “don’t put all your eggs in one basket,” right? This idiom perfectly applies to a lot of things in our industry, especially when it comes to social media advertising strategies. It’s easy to think your money should be spent on Facebook, one of the largest social media platforms and one of the earliest adopters to advertising, but if your audience is on multiple platforms, you should be, too. Here are four good reasons you should diversify your social media strategy….
Read MoreWhat happened? Cambridge Analytica (CA) obtained personal data of about 87 million Facebook users without their consent with the hopes that they could use this data to develop psychographic profiles of those users. The data was collected a few years ago through a third-party app that had to be downloaded by a user, and the app was approved by Facebook (it was created by a university researcher who claimed it was for academic purposes). Those who downloaded the app unknowingly gave CA access to their…
Read MoreLike so much other advice, one of the best tips for an organization launching any sort of marketing or PR campaign is quite simple, yet at times, deceivingly difficult – define and differentiate. Let’s quickly explain both. Define involves clearly articulating who you are, what you do and whom you serve. Differentiate explains how your organization is different (and better) from your competitors. It might seem like basic advice, but it’s a step that often is rushed, fumbled or overlooked altogether. It isn’t necessarily because…
Read MoreEvery year, for as long as I can remember (since 2005), Pew Research Center has released its annual report on social media usage. The organization recently released its report for 2018. No shock here, Facebook and YouTube are the juggernauts in the social media landscape with 68 percent of U.S. adults saying they use Facebook, and 73 percent using YouTube. One key question moving forward: how will the Cambridge Analytica scandal impact American’s use of Facebook if at all, or is the social network too…
Read MoreMidway through the second half of 16-seed UMBC’s historic win over No. 1 Virginia, CBS’s Jim Nantz reminded viewers that UMBC was short for University of Maryland, Baltimore County. In becoming the first No. 16 seed to beat a top seed in NCAA Tournament history, the Retrievers were sure to be the talk of the tourney’s opening weekend. But thanks to a Twitter game that was savvy, hilarious and authentic, UMBC went even more viral. Yahoo Sports and others shined a well-deserved light on Zach…
Read More
