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Zack Jackson

The Almighty InstAgram Algorithm Explained (sorta)

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A common question most everyone who’s ever posted on Instagram has asked themselves … Who the heck actually sees these posts? What sort of magical robot determines this? Well … that robot (to an extent) was recently explained in more detail by Instagram head Adam Mosseri.

If you’d like to read the whole post, it’s in the Instagram blog section, but I’ll do my best to save you the time and give you the quickest summary possible. In fact, if I had to recap the post in just one sentence it would be this …

“We promise our collection of algorithms strives to show you all the stuff you like the best. Trust us!”

So … do you trust them?

Me? Kinda.

I know that’s a flimsy answer, but I’ll explain. Do I think Instagram strives to show you the content it thinks you like the most? I do. It doesn’t do them any good to inundate you with content you hate because … quite frankly … you’d stop using them.

So what does this mean for a business and reaching customers? The more a person interacts with your page, the more the algorithm thinks they like your content, and the more of your future content it will show them. This is why you seem to have a stable of superfans that like and comment on everything you post. They’re locked in by the algorithm, and it shows them all your posts.

So how do we turn more people into these superfans? That’s the REAL challenge, and I believe the only legit way to do this is to go on offense. You need to take the time to target these customers, and go to their page and interact with THEM. Social media is a two way street, and when you start realizing this, more traffic flows in your direction as well.

Ever go to someone’s page you haven’t seen in your feed in a while and interacted with their page for a couple posts? Well guess who ends up close to the top of your feed the next day? That person! Why? Because the algorithm knows you interacted with them before and figures you’d like to do it again.

So try going on offense and interacting with some of your followers (or even the followers of your competitors). Like one of their posts, throw in a comment, or better yet ask them a QUESTION … because when they reply it carries even more weight with the algorithm. Also … keep this engagement in mind when creating your own posts. Instead of making a statement like “we have happy hour specials,” consider asking a question like “anybody out there excited for happy hour?” Squeezing out just a couple more comments/likes per post makes a difference, and definitely adds up over time. And when somebody comments on one of your posts, do your best to reply to that comment (again ideally with a question), and that interaction may squeeze out even more engagement.

Is this a simple thing to do? Absolutely. Is it a time saver? Absolutely not. But sometimes the best growth for your business takes some effort (but you already knew this).

Don’t Be Everywhere

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Social media can be an exhausting landscape.  Facebook.  Instagram.  Twitter.  LinkedIn.  Pinterest. Oh wait … and now there’s Tik Tok.  And Clubhouse.  And Instagram has launched Reelz.  And Twitter has something called Spaces. And what about my Facebook and Instagram Stories?  Oh and my YouTube.  And IGTV.  And should I be on Facebook Live?

AHHHHHH!!!!!

Feels like too much, doesn’t it?  Well there’s a reason for that … it IS too much.  No rational human with an actual life (let alone a business owner with a hundred different duties on their plate) can possibly do all of these things.  So how the heck do we do all of these things?

I have great news for you … we don’t.

WHAAAT??? You’re telling me I don’t need to have my business on every single social media platform?

Yup.  That’s exactly what I’m saying.

Sure … every one of those things I mentioned CAN serve a purpose for a business but that doesn’t mean it serves a purpose for YOUR business.  Furthermore, unless you have an entire staff of individuals who’s sole job is to produce and share content on every single social media platform, you’re simply never going to have the time to do all of them properly.

And that’s OK.

To me … the single most important social media strategy is to first decide which platforms work best for your specific business goals.  You don’t have to be on ALL of them.  You just have to be on the ones that you feel you’re able to maintain an interesting and engaging voice for your brand.  That’s what will yield you the highest return on the investment of your time and energy.

You won’t get punished by your customer base for not having a Twitter page, but you will get punished by your customer base for having a BAD Twitter page.

I don’t know about you, but if I am checking out a business, and I see that their last post was 11 months ago and it simply said “Happy 4th of July,” I’m immediately less interested in what they’re offering.

Don’t let that happen to your business!  Take an honest look at every social media platform you are on and what kind of content you’re producing.  If it’s not where you think it should be, then consider trimming the number of sources. 

If having just one or two social media platforms for your business is all you can handle, then put all your focus into those.  It is far more beneficial to do a great job at a handful of things vs. spreading yourself too thin and doing an average job (or below average job) at a lot of things.

Facebook Finally adds story scheduling!

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Scheduling Stories is Here!

Rejoice!

Being able to schedule posts has been a Godsend for small businesses and social media managers alike. And while there are plenty of third party sites out there that offer this service, using Facebook’s Creator Studio function presents itself as a more convenient option because it doesn’t require additional logins and syncing to other sites. (Plus, let’s not act like Facebook doesn’t give preferential treatment to posts run through its own site vs. outside sources!)

Scheduling POSTS has been a great resource, but Facebook had yet to allow the scheduling of STORIES … until now! Stories are a great way to create an additional contact point with your audience, but it has always required you to do it in the moment, which can be incredibly difficult for any small business owner who’s already wearing 27 different hats on a daily basis. Now you FINALLY have the ability to do it in your down time, additionally allowing you the advantage of scheduling things with daily relevance to drop at midnight on that day and disappear 24 hours later. No longer does your “Happy Taco Tuesday” story have sit there and look all ridiculous for 8 more hours on a Wednesday morning!

There is one catch … this function is available in Facebook’s new Business Suite functions, which not everyone has access to just yet. For more information on Business Suite and scheduling stories, Social Media today has more

Own Your Audience

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There’s been a great deal of talk lately (or “noise” might be the better word) about Apple vs. Facebook vs. Google vs. Advertising vs. Privacy.  I could sit here and try to dissect the entire hot mess, but really you just have a bunch of billion dollar companies fighting with all of them trying to look like the “hero” to the court of public opinion.  

It’s kind of like when Directv would fight with a network like ESPN over money.  Each side would tell you how the other is the “bad guy” and how you need to go complain to them to “do what’s right.”  Simple fact is, no matter who “wins” this battle of digital privacy, there’s still going to be a million ways to track individual users and “new and improved” ways to squeeze money out of small businesses for ad spending.

I bring all of this up to hammer home this message … Stop just relying on other resources to reach your audience! OWN YOUR AUDIENCE YOURSELF!!!

Yes … using companies like Facebook and Google to advertise to a targeted audience is a useful resource, but don’t let it be your ONLY resource.  When you do that, you are always at the mercy of their system. They control the algorithms and will in turn control who sees your information and how often. When you own your own audience, YOU have that control.

It is absolutely essential that you explore ways to gather the contact information of your customer base, and then use that information strategically in ways that reward your customers and increase your revenue.  There are many ways to do this … email databases, loyalty programs, and text message reward systems are some examples.  And the beautiful thing about systems like these is that when you send something to your audience in these ways, EVERY single one of them will receive it. 

Meanwhile, Facebook will sit here and squash your organic reach down to about 10% of your audience and then tell you to spend money for the “privilege” of reaching the rest.  Why?  Because they own the audience and get to decide how to utilize it.  When YOU own the audience, you’re the one who calls those shots.

When done right, social media marketing can absolutely be an effective way to boost your business. However, things are always evolving and changing, so it’s entirely possible that there will be a day that social media marketing doesn’t exist or it least isn’t the shiny new marketing toy. When you’re the one who owns your audience, you’re already prepared for that evolution and can continue to reach them in the most effective ways possible.

So … What’s your pivot?

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You don’t need me to tell you that 2020 was a wild ride for small businesses in just about every way imaginable (not to mention every way that was previously unimaginable). As we move forward (hopefully) to the light at the end of the tunnel, we also need to look back and learn from this experience. Many businesses took a huge hit in 2020, some closing their doors forever.  Meanwhile others THRIVED during the situation.  How?  The pivot.

If there’s one thing that the pandemic has taught us as a business owner, it’s that we can’t put our entire business model into one expected outcome.  Many of our clients are in the food and beverage industry, so needless to say they had to make some massive pivots.  Restaurants that were built on the business model of “cram as many people as you can into the place” were suddenly forced with the reality that there were now ZERO customers that could be a part of that model. Suddenly they needed to learn how to adopt to curbside takeout, online ordering, minimal staffing, and more.

While it has been a very difficult journey for them, many of these businesses have learned that they are able to create new revenue streams within their business that they previously never thought they would be able to do. Even when things return to “normal,” many of these pivots will remain as part of their plans and will provide multiple revenue streams for the business and can also help protect against future unforeseen events.

We as a company had to pivot as well.  Clients that previously needed help with event planning and day to day social media marketing, suddenly needed help with web design, ecommerce, email marketing, and whatever else the day threw their way.  We made those pivots, and it helped us learn new ways we could help small businesses succeed in a forever changing marketplace. (We also found a new appreciation for tequila to help take the edge off this wild ride.)

Finding new ways to innovate and expand your revenue streams is the key to your businesses’ growth, while also insulating it during trying times.  So … what’s YOUR pivot?  If your number one source of revenue disappeared tomorrow, what would you do? Don’t rely on just one expected outcome. Explore things like ecommerce, affiliate marketing, social media, or whatever makes sense in your industry to always stay in touch with your customer base.

If you have any questions about content creation or marketing for your business, please feel free to reach out to me at zack@thejpgagency.com.  I’d be happy to provide any insight I can. Thank you!