Callan Group Communications

Don’t Be Annoyed...I’m In Marketing

The Power of a “Like” or “Follow”

By: “Digital Di” February 21, 2016

We’re friends on Facebook or Instagram. You thought you wanted to keep in touch with my life or maybe follow because you that I was cute. After a few days you realized, damn this girl asks me to “like” or “follow” something every day. Annoying? To some, sure, but I’m in marketing people!

I own four businesses. I have dozens of clients and I have tons of friends who own businesses, too. Of course, I’m going to ask you to “like” them! If I’m annoying then delete me. I promise I won’t be offended but let’s look deeper at what I’m really doing and why.

SEEING MY NAME IS POWERFUL

Every time I ask you to “like” a page or attend an event you see my name. Top of mind awareness (TOMA) is huge. It’s the idea that the first person/company you think about when hearing of an industry or topic is yours. That’s what I want for my clients and it’s what I want for me. When people think of social marketing I know they think of “Diane Michael” or sometimes even “Digital Di”. This is very powerful and I am proud to be noticed even if sometimes it’s considered annoying.

LIKING DOESN’T MEAN YOU WILL SEE POSTS

Because of the amount of friends and businesses on social sites you probably won’t see many posts in your Facebook feed. I “like” 477 pages. I rarely see any business’ posts. This actually pisses me off because if I hit “like” I want to see what’s going on but because of sponsored posts and algorithms it’s not typical.

I LOVE Instagram because if you go back far enough you will see every single post. According to Forbes.com Facebook bought Instagram for $1 billion in cash and Facebook shares so who knows how long the feed will be this way. I only follow 74 people on this platform.

THE BOTTOM LINE

Marketing pays my mortgage. Asking you to follow one of my client’s pages allows me to travel the world. When I deliver monthly stats to my clients I love seeing the numbers increase and I know I am part of their growth. It’s a powerful thing so please don’t get annoyed just remember I’m “getting shit done”!

If you think Instagram is for "young people" you may be a ‪#‎DigitalDinosaur‬

If you think Instagram is for "young people" you may be a ‪#‎DigitalDinosaur‬! We started this account Sunday night after picking up a new client at a Civil War Show in Charleston and they already have over 400 like-minded REAL followers and people are "tagging" their friends letting them know to check out the merchandise. We are experienced and educated on how to get the RIGHT type of followers...we aren't just going and tapping on people's accounts or buying followers. Strategic marketing creates the clients you want! Let ‪#‎DigitalDi‬ and team get them for your business!

Callan Group Communications (CGC) is a boutique firm specializing in cause marketing, digital media strategies (notice we don't say "social media") and business/non-profit marketing management.
By "connecting the dots" CGC helps "tell your story" to the masses through thoughtful creative campaigns. Keeping your your business/non-profit relevant and sustainable is our number one focus!

Work / Life Balance

It's so important to balance our hectic work schedule with some fun in life sometimes... don't you agree?!

Just like we, as adults need a break once in awhile - so do our kids. We wanted to share the #VolusiaCountySchoolSchedule so you're aware of the dates and time off for teachers and kids! Our teachers and parents mold our future generation and need a break every once in awhile, as well as students. Time off to be with their families and make memories since, life is so short.

#CallanGroup #timeoff #lifeworkbalance

To #Hoot or not To Hoot...

I get the question "Do you use hootsuite?" pretty often from business professionals and friends when asking about my work. I quickly respond after a reaction that some can compare to a look of disgust with, "not one bit!"

No offense to #hootsuite... for some people this software may be a life saver, but I have NOT had the same experience. I also don't like to judge before experiencing, so I tested out hostile for a couple months and tried to use it... however, it was more difficult than following through on my New Year's Resolution to not drink soda. ;)

There are pros and cons to any software, below I have outlined the ones I think Hootsuite holds and you can develop your own opinion on whether you'd like to use it or not!

#PROS

First off... do not mistake quantity over quality in the below numbers

1. Access to MANY social media networks

With a click of a button you can access Facebook, twitter, instagram all from one web page and monitor them closely

2. All in one interface

Goes hand in hand with the above point, you can see all of those social networks in one interface. No opening other tabs or logging into various accounts... it's all there

3. Advanced Posting Options

Does anyone even post daily anymore? Ha! No way.. it's all scheduled. I build my client's Facebook posts a full month in advance to tell you the truth, instagram is the only day to day upload I actively do.

4. Unique app directory

A feature unique to Hootsuite is a directory or library that supplies access to more than 100 apps, such as apps for YouTube, Salesforce, Google Drive, and SoundCloud.

#CONS

1. #Confusing

After an entire month of poking around this site, and I like to boast on my tech "saviness" if that is a word... and this site still has me scratching my head.

2. Longer Learning Curve

IF you end up figuring out their website, and that is a strong... IF you have the patient for it. The learning curve is a long time. Platforms like Wordpress can be mastered in a meager minute, while hootsuite left me clicking the big X because I was tired of working this hard to make my life potentially easier...

3. Costs can add up

Although it's only $9.99 per month.. that can quickly add up, especially for a small business owner!

So! I leave it to you, to decide whether you will hoot or not... but I personally can wait until a new platform comes out with a much easier and less "pull your hair out" interface :)

#callangroupcommunications #hootsuiteprosandcons

The Power of Google

We wanted to share a recent success story, since so many people/businesses etc dismiss digital presence and the importance of building yourself up on it.

Our client, the Little Black Photo Booth in #DaytonaBeach has the FULL digitally evolved package with #CGC and we cover every area of their marketing for them online. Are you currently on Facebook for your business? Twitter? Instagram? Google +? If you answered NO to any of the previous questions, we should sit down :)

Online marketing is an interesting journey to climb, and seeing results for our clients grow and grow each month only invests us more in it's power. Think about how often we are on our phones, on facebook, googling answers to question we don't know, liking instagram photos... now turn all of that free-time people are spending, into $$ for your business.

The above photo draws special attention to the power of Google + and building up your presence organically with Google. Did you know Google owns YouTube? Having a profile (and connecting it to your G+ profile) not only helps people find you quicker, but it helps increase your ranking on google. But how?
Well first off... Google LOVES Google, so they want to reward people for using their services! Easy enough...

So do yourself a favor, log into your gmail and create a G+ profile for your business. Upload your logo, interior photos, exterior and more. Next, publish WEEKLY articles on various topics pertaining to your business. Then watch as your exposure #BUILDS BUILDS BUILDS!

Social Trends in 2016

Marketing Trends 2016

I can't believe it's almost 2016, this year really flew by! With the new year comes new advances and areas of interest when it comes to social media. We wanted to outline what WE think will be hot in 2016.

1. #Content Remains Queen

Quality over quantity everyone! #Content #Marketing Institute released survey figures that 86% of B2B organizations have a strategic content marketing strategy in place.

Time for the remaining 14% to get on board - am I right?

Whether you're an insurance agency, yoga studio or chiropractic office; providing your consumers with informative information does two things. Builds trust and brand identity. Also from the CMI, 80% of business decision-makers prefer to get company information in a series of articles rather than advertisements. So time to fine tune that blogger, connect it directly to your website and share your articles via all social media outlets. Continue publishing weekly articles to Google +, where according to Google, articles get the most traction when they're 60 characters OR LESS. So you can always be short and sweet on this platform while elaborating in your blog. But don't forget to ##### !

2. The #Buy Button

Have you noticed the ease it is to BUY things lately?!

this is NOT helping my online shopping addiction...

Now with Facebook you can click the "buy now" feature through sponsored posts and be directed to that product to purchase without blinking an eye. Think it can't get any better? Well, how about Facebook makes it easier to click buy and stay within their app to purchase the product instead of being taken to another website. Instagram is moving in the direction of making it easier to purchase through their sponsored posts, it will be very interesting to see how other apps (including instagram) adopt this feature.

3. #LIVE Social & Video

Ever heard of periscope? A live stream you can record and share through social media, and described by the company as "the closest thing to teleportation". From a rioter in Ukraine, to a cliff diver in Australia, you can go wherever the videos are streaming in from. Experience the world, all via live streaming.

Makes it especially easy for couch potatoes to NEVER move in my opinion ;)

Some things to know about video from a business standpoint before you wonder the importance of it...

Videos average 62% more engagement than photos

Video shares increased by 43% at the start of 2015

58% of consumers consider companies that produce video content to be more trustworthy

71% of consumers say that videos leave a positive impression of a company and help them BUY

We think in 2016 there will be an increase not only in video usage by companies, but live videos through social. Nothing is more trustworthy than a video taken in the moment. Think of this example... You view pictures of a hotel on yelp or tripadvisor and get to the hotel to find it's nothing like the pictures. SHOCKER... Well now the Hilton would be able to take live feeds, or even customers staying there can share how their room was via video.

4. #Inbound #Messaging for Social

Messaging a company is going to continue to increase, and companies are going to have to invest more time and man-power into replying. Sprout Social reports that across industries, brands have received 32% more inbound messages this year than last, and 82% of those messages that brands receive, go without a response.

REALLY?! I would be so irritated if I was ignored and therefore look differently at that brand.

Making things more personal and more interactive with the brand and the consumer are steadily rising. Consumers are craving this, and brands are responding.

Changes to Google +

So #Google + has had a major face lift this past week. At first glance you can tell the obvious alterations to the dashboard, and simpler use from desktop to mobile. Google wanted users to have a consistent experience whether they were on a small screen or a large one, for both Android and iOS devices. The company met with thousands of G+ users and narrowed it down to the two most important qualities of the social network, based on what people said.
#Collections and #Communities.

Collections let you immerse yourself in content about topics like surfing, or tiny tilt-shift photography scenes. Communities enable groups of people with the same interest to join up and geek out on anything from game of thrones to painting.

One key difference between now and then G+, is you can follow a person’s posts about a particular topic – and avoid all their posts about topics unrelated.

Some say that Google has really “slimmed down G+” and hangouts are on the way out, along with tagging your friends in photos you upload.

Some remain skeptic thinking the G+ name is already damaged and no one will jump on board due to these changes – however, Google will be monitoring data usage and user reviews to remove components low in popularity.

#GooglePlus #CallanGroup #OrmondMarketing