Security in Social Networking Platforms: What businesses need to know.

It’s not new news that Social Media Social has quickly become one of the best ways to engage your customers. Here at Paprika we are always suggest our clients to use their Social Media and we are aware that million of dollars are being spent on this Marketing method that wasn’t exist twenty-years ago.

Whether you are blogging, updating information about your products or services one thing needs to be always on top of your mind: safety and security.

If you are concerned about security in social media then read further how to take control of your social media accounts and educate yourself.

1. Scams

   Scams are everywhere. You can find them anywhere, in your mail, through email and of course on social media sites. You can identify which links are scam but since social media got better removing such links. But of course, attackers, come up with new approaches once one technique is down. One method is through friends. Generally, people click on something that their friends have shared. A recent scam, is the one creating new profiles using information and photos of legitimate accounts and the attacker sends friend requests on real’s person friend list and then starts posting scam articles or messaging friends.

2. Malicious app

   Malicious app have and viruses have also made their way into social networking sites and of course other related apps. Although is not easy to pass a virus through e.g Facebook, employees tend to user their smartphones to manager posts. Especially if they are using other third-party apps such as Hootsuite. If employers, using their smartphones and tables and using them for work related stuff and there’s a malicious app installed it can be easily walk through networks of company’s.

3. Human Error

   Social Media Training is so important. Employees need to know about the dangers of using social media for anything confidential. People need to understand what kind of links need to click, which friends to accept. They also need to know about security and privacy settings so to lock features that doesn’t need to be available to everyone.

While is good to train people on how to use social media, companies also needs to discuss with employees what kind of posts they will share. Another thing, that needs to be address is how many people have access on social media networks. If the company has it’s own Marketing Department can be monitored only by them. If it is a small business and everyone has an access then some security issues can be caused.

Make sure you also know who can use your social media in addition to who can post.

Digital Marketing in Healthcare Industry

Digital Marketing is playing a vital role in every industry. Medical practices or healthcare industries are no different.

Digital Marketing includes more or less, social media marketing, search engine marketing, content marketing and mobile marketing. In these categories is where healthcare industry should start building upon to their marketing as it is an inexpensive way compared to traditional ones. Here is how they can actually be benefited with the following:

Search Engine Marketing

A number of people search for an answer to their problems. These searches has been increased and will keep increasing as the time goes by. As it is known, from other businesses, those who are using search engine marketing and SEO and other ad campaign, can gain visibility than those who don’t.

Social Media Marketing

Social Media Marketing is like “word of mouth” marketing. A lot of people are online and active on social media. Having a good reputation is essential and plays an important role to whether other users will trust you or not.

Mobile Marketing

A significant number of people who are online are using their mobile phones for searching products or services. These people, though, are expecting, mobile user-friendly experience when they will deal with a business. Having a good mobile friendly site is essential. Hence, bad experience with your site will turn these users also away from you.

Digital marketing in healthcare, now, it is needed due to the increasing number of people who are not only active on social media but they are also looking solutions for health related problems.

Inbound Marketing: Why Does it Matter?

Inbound marketing is the new normal. If you provide value to customers first, they will respond by returning that value back and do business with you.

How to get started?

First, you need to know what inbound marketing is. Inbound, is anything that provides value to your target customer without asking anything from them in return. There many ways to do this and most of these strategies are on a low budget.

If there’s one thing to start with is by setting up a blog and have someone responsible for publishing content (regularly 🙂 ). Having a lot of content on your blog will help your business SEO efforts and drive more traffic on your website.

Other, techniques that can be used for Inbound Marketing includes:

1. Free Guides or eBooks

Creating advanced guides and give them away for free it will help you to drive more traffic. As long as the guide is relevant to your business. Keep it specific and as you want to gain a certain type of visitor, the one who will convert and become a customer.

2. Social Media

Social media is one way that you can make your business go viral because of users’ engagement. Follow and interact with other companies. Although, social media may not give you as many conversions as you want it is good to use it as engage social method that will enhance your brand.

There many ways to use Inbound Marketing to grow your business. Starting with one or two at the beginning is the best as you will see the from your users.  Each business, needs to work hard and by trying different methods to see which one works better for them.

How to run a successful Facebook Contest

Every business that has a Facebook page wants to have thousands of likes! Getting them for free is..impossible! Obtaining likes through advertising is possible but..it can be expensive. Contests on the other hand can be equally effective and not that expensive!

If you want to run a Facebook contest and you want to succeed, here are some of the tips:

• Know your objectives
  

  What kind of objective you are looking for? Looking for a traffic? Want engagement? Collect email addresses or you just want more likes by the end of your campaign? All these will determine how you will run your contest.

•  Give a prize that people want
  

  Make sure your prize it is relevant. People tend to be attracted by prizes and even if they are not interested in your business they will be there just for the prize. A common phenomenon, is give away an iPad as a prize. Who doesn’t want an iPad for free? Even if people are not interested in your services, they will just hit and share the post just for the prize. But, what you need to think, is not getting the likes. What about the engagement rate?

•  Stick to the rules

  Make sure you follow Facebook’s rules. A lot of business run ‘Like and Share’ contests where users are required to like a post and share it on their wall by way of entry. This is of course something against Facebook’s promotional guidelines. What you can do is to promote by ‘Comment and Like’ here you can have the same amount of engagement without breaking the rules. In the end of the day, either way the post will show on others people wall if users comment and like a post.

• How you will run Facebook Contest?
  

  There are different types of Facebook contest. Decide if you will run a status updates, or if people will need to watch a video and answer a question. There is also another type of contest where a third-party app where you can ask questions and expecting the right answer from users.

• Plan in advance
  

  If you are running a contest around a certain event you may want to organise your graphics. This needs time and if you plan well in advance you will not have to worry about it. There many business that do not take seriously their marketing efforts and they are on the last-minute thought.

• Choose a time frame
  

  When running a contest, it’s good to let people know how long they have to enter. Let your audience know if this will keep few days or weeks.

•  Terms & Conditions
  

  It is well worth mentioning, that there are business that they run contest without using Terms & Conditions. Think about if you are having a prize and the winners wants to the equivalent cash instead of the prize. What would you do? If you don’t have this somewhere saying that is not allowed then how you can say it isn’t? When share your contest, let them know about your Ts&Cs and have them somewhere where you will make sure you are cover.

•  Get creative
  

  If you want your contest to look good and something to stand out make sure you invest time to create some banners, graphics. Using website like Canva, you can get something that looks good and quickly! They have also free banners where you can just edit or create your own from scratch!

• Share details of the winner afterwards
  

  To ensure people believe that you actually giving away something make sure that the winner agrees to have his/her name and a photo shared on you page after the contest is over. Simply add this on your Terms and Conditions!

If you run a Facebook contest let us know any other tips do you have to share!

5 ways to Optimize your Facebook Ads

So, you have been using Facebook ads for a long time now? Do you actually see any leads? Can you see any success with your Facebook ads?

Many questions can go through someone’s mind, while advertising online. In this blog entry will discuss some of the optimization tips that can help you see success with your Facebook Ad account.

Question: Do you target the right audience?

Not focusing on the right audience can harm your advertising budget. A big mistake that most of the people do, is when they do not target the right audience. Obviously, such way, can spend money on people who do not have an interest in their ads. While you are setting up your ad, Facebook prompts you do choose your audience by: Location, Demographics, Language and Parental Restrictions. If you are a local business, you cannot advertise in a country or city that you will not be able to serve your customers. Segmenting, your ads by choosing your location and/or age that your product appeals to, you will save money and get at the same time the right conversions from people.

Question: Which post to boost?

It is often the case, that you are sharing a blog entry and you can see that many people reacted on your post (shares and likes). In such case, you will likely, want to promote this post as it may be interested to a broad group of people. Think, friends of friends option. Facebook, also provides the option of “Connections” where you can choose to broaden your audience by choosing the option of “Friends of people who liked your page”. This option, will help friends of your already existent audience to know about you as well.

Question: What type of images are you using?

A/B test your images. Try to use different variety of images and see which one is more appealing within your audience. When you set up a new campaign try to add two or more different ads that are similar except their image. Later, come back and see which one is converting the best. Don’t forget to add a CTA (Call-to-action) button and make sure you follow the Facebook’s 20% text policy. (aka Ads must not include added or excessive text that comprises more than 20% of the image)

Question: Do you track your leads?

Facebook’s conversion tracking helps you to see which audience converts better. This helps you to focus and spend your budget efficiently on the audience that will bring more leads. For instance, it can provide you the age range of people who converted most on your site. Therefore, you can try to promote something more specific or even an offer to these people as they are more willing to engage with your business.

Question: Are you using the same ads for a long time?

If you are using the same ads for a long period of time, people will get sick of seeing the same thing. Try to promote different products or posts. Let people know that you are actually also active and you are promoting the right posts to them.

Summary

Know your audience. Do your research. If you don’t know what’s your audience you will spend your money inefficiently and will never promote the right content to the right people.

L is for your Local Marketing

“87% of people who search for a local business call or go to that type of local business within 24 hours”

If you are a small business owner, you might think that you can’t market your business the way that the large business do. However, there’s nothing to worry about. If you are a local business you can brand yourself locally and be one of those big guys without also low-budget!

If you are looking how to promote your local marketing for your small business here’s how:

• Get Listed Online

Make sure that your business is listed in all big online directories (Google, Yahoo and Bing). If you are a restaurant or a coffee shop make sure that you are listed on the most popular online review sites Yelp and Foursquare. Also, list your business on Google+. This is a huge benefit as when someone is searching for a local restaurant it can show the restaurant with the map among with its reviews. [The more (good) reviews, the better ranking you will get! ]

• Ask for Reviews

Ask from your customers to leave reviews on your sites or on the review sites that you are listed. It’s important for your business to have as many as possible reviews. If you would like to have a good reputation your customers is a great source for it. One way to ask them is either directly or in your email marketing provide links on your website, this will make your reviewing easier and faster.

• Join local events

Sponsor or participate local events or why not host your own?! You will get publicity on local newspapers and blogs. People will share such events or talk about the event.

• Stay active on SocialMedia

Small business can get new customers via social media. In addition, many business collect feedbacks from their customers and they build loyalty between them and their customers. Find more tips here. 

• Share freebies.

Create contest or share offers as this will help you increase your followers and hence, customers. Share such promotions and go viral through your social media channels.

• Business Cards

Get yourself some fancy business card. While you are networking make sure to give one of your business cards. The more people find about your business the better!

How to Use Instagram for your Business

Instagram is a rapidly-growing photo sharing community, which can benefit your business’s exposure. Many businesses are using Instagram as part of their Online Marketing Strategy.

Although, it is really hard to get noticed and get as many followers as you can, key to success, is to share unique content from your business.

Show your product

Share your products that your business is selling. Industries and especially those promoting fashion can be benefited by sharing a collection of their products. Snap photos and tease your followers. Start a conversation with them when you have a new product and engage with your customers by asking something like “Guess what is the new product”. Promote your offers and show products that have value for your business.

Follow your followers (#f4f)

Follow your followers back. In order to build relationships with people on Instagram don’t hesitate to hit the follow back button. Engage with your users and find relevant hashtags in order to find your audience.

Show your employees

People are often curious to know who is behind the scenes or how does it look like work there. Introduce to your followers the employees of your business and build a trust between you and your follower. They can see that your are human and not a bot! People can see that your employees are friendly and can match your brand’s personality.

Show how it’s made

If you have a business which is selling handcrafted/handmade products, share a photo that shows to your follower how it is made. Your followers love to know the process from planning to delivery.

Find your audience

Connect your Instagram with your other social media accounts. Find new followers by using hashtags relevant to your business and your brand name, also use a hashtag of your city/region if your a local business!

Tip: Stop buying from Stock Images! There are applications such as VSCO Cam which you can snap and edit your image. All you need is a camera and creativity! You can use filters to edit your content and there you go!

7 Social Media Marketing Tips for Businesses

Did you just start with Social Media Marketing Strategy or Digital Marketing but don’t know how to influence or you worry that no one is yet know your business? Don’t worry. Successful people started from 0!

In the Media world, there are a lot of Social Media Channels, but you don’t have to be on all of them. The key is to understand where you will find your audience and sign up for the channel that will best fit your company’s needs. There is now a trend for businesses to go on Snapchat. But, do you really know how to use it or your audience is interested to know what are you doing?

So, how to begin?

    1. Find your audience

To know your audience is a key for your strategy. Do you have a specific audience? Here’s the list on where it might be your audience:

• –Teens: Snapchat, YouTube, Tumblr, Instagram
• –Parents:  Facebook!
• –Business: Linkedin
• –Bloggers: Twitter, Tumblr

    2. Which network?

Instagram: It is a photo app, therefore consider wisely. Is your business a visual company and has something to show? Then if you want to show products of your business and advertise your content you really need to create a profile! Upload, follow your followers and they will love you back!

Facebook and Twitter: If you are a type of business where likes to generate and show content like a blog then all you need is a blog to write your stories and then share them on Facebook or Twitter.

Snapchat and Youtube: If you like to show how is your business inside or show products and of course you are having a sense of humor try using snapchat or Youtube. There is no need to be an extensive video since all you want is to catch they eye of a viewer and get him interested in your business.

   3. Use the same nickname

It is kinda hard to claim the same nickname over all channels. But try not to use a completely different name. If you pick a unique Facebook nickname try to use the same for Twitter, Instagram, Snapchat and wherever else you signed up for. If you are using a different name this will only confuse your customers and will not know what they are tagging or if it is the same business. You don’t want to compete with yourself in such case?! In theory, if someone follows you on Twitter or liked your page on Facebook he or she will go and find your Instagram profile too.

   4. Create Content

…Content that your fans will like & share and of course content which is related to your business. If your business is related to tech share tech content. If it is fashion business then, share fashion events and trends. You can’t mix interests although that a customer he might be interested in both. However, you are one type of business and not both!

   5. Engage

Engage not only with your customers but with other businesses as well. Content is now huge on the Internet. It is ok to share something that other businesses shared previously. Sharing is cool! Be active and shear articles, tweets that again is related to your business. You can’t be called tech business and share sports news! Unless it is.. related..? Well, only if you want to sponsor the team?!

    6. Share 

A lot of businesses are sharing content that was written a year ago. Don’t afraid to do it, too. If it is related to today’s news, go and share it again. Last year, -you just started -you may didn’t have too many people on your pages. Go and share and compare traffic and engagement!

  7. Keep going and don’t quit.

In your strategy, you really need to know when and how often you share. If you do not have news to share all the time on and writing on blogs to give up on it, write once per week. Share posts on Facebook, Instagram, Linkedin three times per week but tweet more!!

Remember, you just started. Building relationships is what matters at the beginning then you just need to keep your customers happy! 

In Marketing, it’s all about numbers! Or is not? The reality is that, you can buy more than 10k fake followers at a low price but is that want you really want? Success is not having 10k that will not invest in your company but have 100 followers that can be converted into sales.

We are always talking about the Digital Marketing Planning your business must have. By thinking to buy fake followers, can ruin all your marketing efforts and here’s why:

1. Your customers are at risk

Many fake profiles can be malicious and often engaging in scam. These profiles they just want to gain people’s passwords and other important information. In other words to hack their media accounts. If you really want to keep a high profile for your business don’t put your customer’s at risk.

2. Think of your Reputation

Your “actual” followers are smarter than you think. People can be suspicious about having 100k followers and 0 likes in a post. They can easily spot that most of your followers are just fake accounts. Of course, you don’t want to give a negative impression and make your business untrustworthy.

3. Think your ROI

You may think that having many followers will boost your social media presence. However, is better to invest and spend your money in practices that provide ROI. Digital Marketing agencies can immediately identify and boost your online presence. What’s more they know in advance what content people like to see and engaged with. You can have a look at our article 5 Reasons to Hire a Digital Marketing Agency.

4. Your account will be banned or deleted

Twitter’s terms of service say that following large amount of people can result to suspend your account. Therefore, if your account is following at once 5K fake accounts, then is breaking Twitter’s following rules and accounts can be suspended.

If you really, want people invest in your company and engage with your customers think alternative ways to spend your money such as PPC advertising. Take time to build relationships with your followers rather than buying a follower which will probably never engage neither buy from your services.

Digital Marketing is important for those who want to have a successful business online. If you want to kick-start your career in Digital Marketing, you need to understand consumer’s behaviour and actions.

It’s easy to say a digital strategy is needed. However, you need to start with it. First of all, you need to consider your online plan and how to make use of the tools that are available for your company. For instance, social media, is one of your best online PR friends and it is also free! There are many routes and paths to digital marketing strategy and you need time to decide which one is the best for your company and if you can achieve your goals. Once you know what your goals are, then you only need to focus on the right media networks.

Some of the options that are available for you are as follows:

Design

You want to impress. You want your visitors to stay longer on your site. Thus, you need a website design that will impress. Here at Paprika Ads, we also know that Design is not only how does something looks like. We believe that the key element is to understand your target audience. Once you know who is your audience, then it will become more easy to promote your brand. Designers, know how to create unique logos and designs for branding and marketing.

SEO

Search Engine Optimization is the key to success. A healthy SEO and organic searches help your audience to find you. Researching and working with search engines may take a long time before the results start showing but once your company is indexed and found online you can compete easily with your competitors.

Content

Your content can work well with your SEO strategy. It is important to have the right content on your website to inspire your audience and turn your fans into customers. You need to know the right keywords for search engines to trust you and create content that people are willing to read.

Social Media

Social Media is your best friend! It is free of charge and if people like your product they will spread the word online. Therefore, your brand is getting value. Many people, searching social media to see what they can learn about a product or service and they value a lot other’s opinion before proceeding to buy a product. It is a free tool and knowing how to use it effectively, you can get the most out of it.

Last but not least, you need to measure your digital marketing strategy and evaluate the effectiveness. It is important to monitor and have a control of your online activities. Google Analytics is a free tool that can assist you with information and reports in order to see and evaluate your online performance. All you need is a Google account!

Social Media platforms have also their own analytics and in real time you can see what is happening on your posts. This is actually quite good, because you can understand the best time to reach your followers. For instance, you can measure what time you get more likes on your posts, so you know when to reach and engage with your potential or already customers.

If you think this is too much to handle, try our services! See what we can offer and a member of our team will be happy to talk and answer to any of your questions!