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Should You Use Stories on Facebook for Your Business?

In last week’s blog post and video, I shared that Facebook is, indeed, not dead. 😊

One FB feature I want to encourage you to start using (or start using even more) is Stories. Have you been posting there? Using its more interactive visual effects? Reaching your audience more effectively? You should be.

Learn more about the How To’s of Stories on Facebook in the brief video below. Please share any comments or questions after viewing. And if you’re already dialed into using Stories on Facebook, I’d love to hear how that’s been working for you as well. Bonus points – link to your page so I can ‘Like’ you! Enjoy!

To the future,

Crystal

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Is Facebook Dead?

Tell me if I’m wrong, but I have a feeling you’ve been wondering lately if Facebook is still relevant to retailers.

Well, I have news (which could either be good or bad depending on you)! Facebook is not dead. It’s still a strong marketing tool for retailers when used correctly.

This is good news if you like Facebook and have utilized it to gain successful marketing results. This is bad news if you hate Facebook and would rather focus your time on other things like Instagram (or- gasp!- not doing social at all).

In this quick video, I share with you why Facebook is still an incredibly powerful marketing tool. Click below to watch now.

And a quick reminder! On May 7th, I’m doing a special live training webinar for my Insiders on can’t-miss email marketing advice and tips. Email remains one of the best tools you can use to drive traffic and sales so I’d love for you to join me to capture some important take-aways.

Become an Insider here and mark your calendar for May 7th at 9 a.m. PST for the live training event (brought to you online, like a webinar). If you can’t make the live event, no worries! As an Insider, you’ll get the replay, plus lots of other exclusive tools, training, and support.

“See” you next week with another tip!

Crystal

P.S. Subscribe to my email newsletter list to be the first to hear about upcoming training events and get weekly social media tips sent straight to your inbox every Monday morning.

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How to Get 50, 100, 1000 or More People Opening Your Emails!

Remember learning the importance of email marketing in a previous Crystal Media newsletter? If you missed it, click here to catch up via my blog post. It’s an important one.

Today, I want to give you one more essential email marketing tip. That is, to analyze your email open rates. Ok, I hear you… This is not a sexy or fun topic for most. But it’s critical in order to maximize your email marketing.

Let’s try this fun little analysis exercise (see what I did there? 😉):

  1. Review your last 10 emails and find the average open rate.
  2. Share your average open rate with me in a comment here on my blog post or DM us on Instagram. (If I get enough retailers to share their averages with me, I’ll share the average of the average on our social media for your reference. So PLEASE share your average with me!)
  3. Identify the emails with the highest and lowest open rates and try to determine WHY these were the best/worst.
    • Was there a clear reason?
    • Was the time or day you sent a factor?
    • Did one have a clear CTA (call to action) and one didn’t?
    • Did one have a more mysterious subject line than the other?
    • Were the lists (or audiences) used the same or different?

By spending a little time (aim for just 15-20 minutes) to understand what’s working or not in your email open rates, you can respond with more effective emails through better content, better subject lines, better audiences, and better-targeted timeliness. Getting my drift? An overall better marketing strategy.

Think about it.  If you could get an additional 50, 100, 1000 or more people to open your emails, wouldn’t that impact your bottom line? I bet it would.

So get to work, check out those last 10 emails, let me know your average, and analyze them to uncover what’s working and what isn’t. I promise it’ll help optimize your future sends.

And by the way! If you need more email marketing tips and strategies, I have great news!

May’s live training webinar for my Insider members is all about Email Marketing. If you’re not already an Insider, you can join for just $97/month and get in on this live training happening May 7th. You’ll get all the juicy benefits of being an Insider too!

Get the scoop on becoming an Insider by clicking here.

To the future,

Crystal

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How to Easily Save Hashtags to Save Time Posting IG Captions (and What the Heck a Hashtag Is)

If you’re looking to save time while marketing your store on Instagram, you’ve come to the right place. In this post, I’ll share a time hack to speed up posting on IG for your business.

But before I dive into the tip, we need to get our feet wet by talking hashtags. I get SO many questions about hashtags. What the heck is a hashtag? When should I use them? Can anything be used as a hashtag? How many should I use? Where can I use them?

Have you had any of these questions? I bet you have. I created a quick, helpful video for you titled, “What the heck’s a hashtag?”. It’s a retailer’s version to better understand what a hashtag is and what kinds of hashtags you should be using. BUT BEFORE YOU WATCH…please note: I filmed this in 2013…yes, 2013!!! It all still applies and is filled with lots of hashtag tips and examples. Since recording this video, I recommend not using many hashtags on Facebook, but definitely use them on Instagram! Here’s the video:

Ok, now that you’ve watched the video and fully understand hashtags, let’s jump into the time-saving Instagram tip. 😊

As you learned, including hashtags on your posts are a must to drive users to your profile and ensure your content gets found. But creating impactful hashtags or typing in up to 30 hashtags per post for every single post can be time-consuming and daunting.

Here are two time hacks to help:

  1. Create 3-5 groups (or more if you’re really active on IG) of hashtags that you find yourself consistently using. Open up Notes on your phone, enter each of the groupings of hashtags, and the next time you’re posting to IG just open up that hashtag Note, copy the group of hashtags you want to use, and paste them into the IG caption.

  2. Another option (my preferred way) is to create a keyboard shortcut on your phone. Trust me, this is so simple to set up. Below are written instructions as well as a step-by-step video on how to easily set this up:

For iPhone:

  • Tap Settings icon, then tap General, then tap Keyboard.
  • Tap on Text Replacement, then tap the + symbol in the top right corner.
  • In the Phrase field, type in the entire phrase or groupings of hashtags you’d like to create a shortcut for.
  • In the Shortcut field, type the name of the groupings or phrase. For example “Group1” or just “1” or categorize it such as “NewProduct” or “Events”.
  • Now, let’s test. Compose a new Instagram post and type the shortcode you created in the caption. When you do, you should see your shortcut appear as a text-substitution button just above the keypad.

For Android:

  • Tap Settings, Language & input, then Personal dictionary. Tap the language option of your choice.
  • Tap the + button in the top-right corner of the screen, then type the word or text string that’ll trigger the shortcut.
  • In the next line, type in the actual phrase/groupings of hashtags you want to appear when you type the shortcut, such as “#yourlocation #typeofproduct #categoryofpost”. Unfortunately, the phrase is limited to about 50 characters.
  • Tap the Back button and you should see your shortcut appear as an entry on the Personal dictionary screen. Tap + to add another shortcut.
  • Now, let’s test. Compose a new Instagram post and type the shortcode you created in the caption. When you do, you should see your shortcut appear as a text-substitution button just above the keypad.

Don’t put this off! Spend 5-10 minutes to get your hashtag groupings stored either in Notes or as keyboard shortcuts and utilize these moving forward every time you post to your IG feed.

NOTE: You can modify the hashtags anytime if you don’t always want to use the exact same ones in your groupings, or if you want to mix up the order, and I recommend you do this. Sometimes, the groupings are a good baseline as is and other times useful to build from. Make sense?

With Instagram being one of the best retailer apps to sell products and build raving fans, it’s imperative to learn how to successfully market your store using it. And great news! My brand-new Instagram for Retailers Training Course is now available! 🎉 Click here to get it today for only $397! 

If you have any questions about Instagram or the new training course, click here to shoot my team an email. We’re happy to help.

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Get More Instagram Followers for Free with Two Proven Strategies

Want to know how to get more Instagram Followers without paying a dime?

Whether you’ve plunged into Instagram (IG) marketing years ago or you’re just about to dip your toe in the IG pool, I’ve got to share with you two proven strategies to grow your IG followers today. Let’s dive in!

  1. Follow People. Does that sound too simple? 😊 It sort of is. You don’t need to overcomplicate this. Here’s the deal. If someone starts following you, you get a notification of the new follower. Often, people click over to the new follower and check out their profile. If they like what they see, they follow back. It’s simple.

But don’t think I want you to follow EVERYONE. You just need to follow customers and potential customers. Easily find them by going to your competitors on Instagram and follow their followers.

Also, look up other local businesses (if you’re a brick-and-mortar store) or big boxes that would have the same types of customers as you and follow them. Finally, you can search for local hashtags (for ex: #Denver or #DenverCO, if your business is in Denver), click on users’ profiles that are using those hashtags and, if you think they might be someone who’d shop from you, follow them!

Does this take time? Yes. But you can make it manageable by creating a time block of 15-30 minutes a week and just get it done. In my opinion, it’s one of the best ways to build quality followers.

Not sure how to search hashtags on IG? No worries! I got you covered. Watch the short how-to video, below in this post. 

  1. Get Current Followers to Tag Their Friends. What’s the best form of marketing? Word of mouth marketing. If someone has an awesome experience with a business, they tell everyone and, in return, those people are more likely to shop from that business too.

When people tag their friends on Instagram in a comment of a business’s post, it’s similar to word of mouth marketing. Users see great content they think their friends would love, so they tag them. The friends trust their friends so they click over and engage with the post– often following the business’s profile. This is a great way to build quality likes.

Outside of posting great, share-worthy content, you can also suggest that people tag their friends on your posts when you’re announcing new products, an event or a sale. For example, “Tag your friends who you’d love to come with you to our weekend sidewalk sale!” or “Tag your friends who would LOVE these new items”.

Finally, you can run a contest asking people to follow you to enter to win. Simply suggest they tag their friends in a comment of the contest post. But note: you can’t require they tag friends to enter to win because this is against Instagram Contest Terms. See below to learn more about IG Contest Terms.

Promotion Guidelines

  1. If you use Instagram to communicate or administer a promotion (for example: a contest or sweepstakes), you are responsible for the lawful operation of that promotion, including:
    • The official rules;
    • Offer terms and eligibility requirements (example: age and residency restrictions); and
    • Compliance with applicable rules and regulations governing the promotion and all prizes offered (example: registration and obtaining necessary regulatory approvals)
  2. You must not inaccurately tag content or encourage users to inaccurately tag content (example: don’t encourage people to tag themselves in photos if they aren’t in the photo).
  3. Promotions on Instagram must include the following:
    • A complete release of Instagram by each entrant or participant.
    • Acknowledgment that the promotion is in no way sponsored, endorsed or administered by, or associated with, Instagram.
  4. We will not assist you in the administration of your promotion and cannot advise you on whether consent is required for use of user content or on how to obtain any necessary consent.
  5. You agree that if you use our service to administer your promotion, you do so at your own risk. Read more about Instagram Guidelines here.

Look for several strategies to build your Instagram following, covered in the Instagram for Retailers Training Course which is available now! 🎉Click here to get it today for only $397!

While you’re following potential customers, don’t forget to follow me and my team! We’re @crystalmediaco. Looking forward to “seeing” you on IG.

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