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Sep
23
Webtivity Marketing & Design: Proud Sponsor of Learn@Lunch
Posted by Meredith on 23 September 2019 02:46 pm

Proud SponsorWebtivity Marketing & Designs is excited to announce that we are a proud sponsor of Tampa Bay Beaches Chamber of Commerce’s upcoming Learn@Lunch “How to Use Storytelling to Promote Your Brand Across Social Media” taking place this Thursday, September 26th at the Holiday Inn Harbourside Hotel & Suites at 401 Second Street, Indian Rocks Beach, FL 33785. The event runs from 11:30am to 1:00pm and is $15.00 for Chamber Members, and $20.00 for non-members.

This Learn@Lunch will help to teach attendees how to use storytelling to promote their brands across social media. While enjoying lunch, there will be a discussion about how businesses should focus on knowing their audience, as well as how to create great content so they can become good storytellers on their different social media platforms; especially on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter. There will be different examples of stories and content which have been used in social media and have resonated with the audience here in the St. Petersburg and Pinellas County markets.

Speaking at the Learn@Lunch is Matthew Cimitile, the Communications Officer for the University of South Florida St. Petersburg (USFSP). Matthew reports and writes news and events for USFSP print, online and social media platforms. He also serves as their contact person for media requests, and assists in crisis communication.

For more information, or to register for the Learn@Lunch, click here.

 

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Jul
22
Facebook is Changing Mobile Media Aspect Ratio and Text
Posted by Meredith Bardsley on 22 July 2019 05:13 pm

mobile media aspect ratioWith all the focus being placed on mobile, here are some important changes that are coming for mobile devices. Facebook is changing the mobile media aspect ratio.  This is the proportional relationship between the width and the height for both photos and videos which are shown in the news feed on mobile devices. Additionally, Facebook is limiting the amount of text that is shown in a mobile news feed post.

Here are the new specs you need to be aware of if you’re optimizing posts for Mobile Facebook Newsfeeds.
Aspect Ratios for Photos and Video:

  • The maximum height for both photos and videos is being reduced from a 2:3 aspect ratio to a shorter 4:5 in the mobile news feed.
  • Media which is taller than 4:5 will be hidden, meaning users will have to tap on it to see it in full.
  • There will be less text shown in mobile news feed posts, dropping from 7 lines of text down to 3 lines of text. Users will be prompted to “click to view” additional text for posts containing more than 3 lines of text.

Facebook says these changes are “designed to simplify our formats and improve the consistency of our mobile experience.”

These changes will be effective on August 19th, 2019. It might not seem like a big change, but as mentioned above, with the majority of users being mobile users, it will change their experience, so it’s important to think about how text and photos are formatted going forward. This allows for a few weeks of adjusting to formatting media shorter, and with fewer lines of text.

Facebook is always changing things up, Webtivity is here to keep you informed and up to date with all the latest marketing and web design trends in this ever evolving world wide web! If you’d like to learn more, request a consult.

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Jul
17
Boost Engagement on Facebook without Using Paid Ads
Posted by Meredith Bardsley on 17 July 2019 11:35 am

boost engagement on FacebookGetting users to engage on Facebook posts isn’t the easiest thing these days. With all the algorithm changes and the business page changes, the focus on groups, and messaging, it seems that paid advertising is the only way to go. But that isn’t always true. You can boost engagement on Facebook without paid ads. Here’s how.

 

 

Use Facebook Insights to Your Advantage

Facebook has an insights tool, this tool allows you to see what your users like about what you’re posting. Using those insights as a tool for future posts can help to improve your results moving forward, they can also help guide you as to how often and when you should be posting.

 

Use Questions

Have you noticed that people love sharing knowledge? If you can start a debate on your page it is sure to entice activity. The only thing you have to be sure to do is promptly answer questions. If there isn’t going to be someone around to be available to manage the Facebook page promptly, it probably isn’t the best idea. If someone is available, it’s a great idea. People love feeling like they’re a part of a bigger conversation, and that they’re being listened to. Facebook promotes popular content, so the more engagement on your posts, the better.

Different Ways To Engage Users

There are several ways to engage users on a business Facebook Page. Just be sure to stay within Facebook’s guidelines if you’re using giveaways or contests. Facebook has made it easier to have users interact with business pages. Some of the more popular ways to get users involved include:

• Videos
• Online quizzes
• Contests
• Watch Parties
• Live Videos
• Voting

Hopefully these tactics gave you some ideas for ways you can boost engagement for your Facebook Business page. For more tips and tricks read this article.

The post Boost Engagement on Facebook without Using Paid Ads appeared first on Webtivity Marketing & Design News.


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Feb
6
What Small Businesses Can Expect from the Facebook News Feed Changes
Posted by Didier Bizimungu on 06 February 2018 01:51 pm

facebook news feedThe advent of the social media era on the internet marked a new age in business client relationship management. Not only could businesses big and small directly interact with clients and potential clients but they could, most of the time at no additional cost, generate leads off of platforms they paid no fee to use. This was unheard of in the digital arena long dominated by paid for listing professional directory listings to generate business. Facebook, and consequently, the Facebook News Feed kicked off this new avenue in true digital fashion; that is overnight with little to no warning for businesses to prepare.

Facebook has dropped another bombshell on the business community. It is estimated that up to 94% of all businesses use social media, 60 million on Facebook alone. Small business owners who often have smaller than average profit margins to meet flocked to this readily available method to generate leads for little to no cost. Facebook, Instagram, Google Plus, Twitter and other social media platforms represent a quick and easy way to reach former, current and potential clients directly while demonstrating your commitment to customer service in a public forum.

The Purpose of the Facebook News Feed Changes

facebook news feed changes Being on top is not always advantageous however as Facebook has recently learned. By nature, social media content is cloud sourced as well as community reinforced. It only takes a few unscrupulous advertisers or businesses to target misleading or erroneous content to known vulnerable communities to have content, news in this case, spread with little to factual background. Facebook, being the biggest social media platform by far, has been the most susceptible to this type of false information attacks. Accusations have gone as far as to blame Facebook for swaying democratic elections in some of the world’s oldest democracies.

Facebook responded to these concerns on January 11th 2018 with several planned changes to the Facebook News Feed. The Facebook News Feed is the main way users interact with Facebook as it lists the posts Facebook determines to be most interesting to you when you open your Facebook app or page on a computer. It has seen several updates in the past but the new announced changes will change the way it fundamentally operates in regards to separating businesses and personal pages.

CEO, Mark Zuckerberg, described the new changes as shifting away “…from focusing on helping you find relevant content to helping you have more meaningful social interactions.” The details on the implementation of this new Facebook News Feed update are still far and few in between but the stated goal is to shift Facebook content away from all pages and users having similar weight in terms of appearing on the Facebook Feed to more priority given to personal pages.

Changes Thus Far

What we’ve seen thus far is a noticeable decrease in Facebook Business page reach and video watch times. This has carried on to less Facebook referrals to client websites probably due to loss of user content interaction. Facebook business pages that are newer seem to be more affected than their more established counterparts. This might be due to more consideration given to pages Facebook considers “trusted” by users which are usually pages with a large user following and a higher rate of post interactions.

Future Expectations

small business facebook news feed changeBased on the overall goal of the new Facebook News Feed changes there are several effects we can predict in this upcoming year. Viral pages will see their view shares drop more in the future. Small businesses whose pages are new with a few likes will see their already small Facebook interaction rate drop even further. Videos will have less of an effect than they have in the past at garnering user attention. For those established small businesses with high interaction rates we can expect that their posts will see more likes as they stay on users’ news feeds for longer periods of time.

Free Ways to Minimize News Feed Effects on Your Business Page

What do you do when your small business’ user intake funnel drops? Capitalize on those users who you already attract. There is no better time than now to spruce up your business’ Facebook page. Add widgets, customize the call to action button, add more pictures, and respond to user posts/reviews promptly. Earn your current users’ trust so that they in turn are more likely to recommend you to their friends. This has the added benefit of increasing your Facebook “trust” score as well.

Paid Ways to Minimize News Feed Effects on Your Business Page

facebook advertising Facebook Ads have never been more important than now. The first thing businesses should do is ensure that they have a current interactive audience that is interested in their services that they can target. This can be accomplished quickly by launching a Facebook Like campaign. This is critical as all other Ad campaigns ran through the Facebook platform will depend on the size of this initial audience. Small businesses especially are vulnerable to having a smaller than ideal audience size.

As Facebook Ad revenue grows so does the tools it provides advertisers to use in their goal to generate more qualified leads. A shrewd advertiser should be taking advantage of all the aspects Facebook provides to reduce spending while simultaneously increasing profits. The Facebook Pixel, custom audience development, engagement ads, and website conversion campaigns are just a few of the tools now in your arsenal as an advertiser to assure a more successful ad campaign.

Consult the Experts

webtivity designs & marketingShow me someone who tells you that they know the entire extent of these new Facebook News Feed changes, and I will show you a liar. The fact of the matter is that the Facebook News Feed algorithm is a complicated beast that only Facebook truly knows how to manipulate. Take this same algorithm and add a major change to it and you have absolute turmoil. This is where it becomes important to have a competent trusted source of information of not only what is transpiring but how to adjust to the changes as well to minimize negative effects, and maximize their positive counterparts.

Webtivity Marketing & Design has been offering digital marketing services since 1999 with a strong focus on personal service. A point of view we found severely lacking in the online digital world. We specialize in providing a complete solution to all digital needs for small to medium as well as large business enterprises.

We are a Certified Google Partner Agency, winner of the Manatee Small Business of the Year Award, and other accolades.

Give us a call at 941-753-7574 or email Tim for more information on how we can work closely with you to help your business achieve all of your goals!

The post What Small Businesses Can Expect from the Facebook News Feed Changes appeared first on Webtivity Marketing & Design News.


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Nov
3
Social Media Marketing Trends for 2018
Posted by Meredith Bardsley on 03 November 2017 12:26 pm

With only a little more than a month left until 2018, it’s time to start thinking about your social media marketing strategy for 2018. Grabbing people’s attention is becoming a bit harder, there’s more competition, and duplicated competition. Considering our attention span has decreased, there isn’t a big opportunity to grab the attention of our users. These 5 trends are what we think you need to be prepared for in 2018.

  1. Video

Video again will be one of the biggest trends. Instagram’s stories are becoming increasingly popular.

Infographic: Instagram Stories Blows Past Snapchat | Statista You will find more statistics at Statista

See how much it’s grown compared to the lack of growth with its biggest competitor, Snap Chat.

  1. Virtual Reality

Both of Apple’s new phones the iPhone 8 and the iPhone X have been built with chips included to allow users an augmented reality experience. Take that and Facebook’s  project Spaces, a place where users can go live from VR and their friends can follow along and interact in this virtual environment as if they are in the same room!

  1. Chatbots

With the decreasing attention span of consumers, expect chat bots to play a big role in the upcoming year. Chatbots are easy to design, and allow brands to quickly interact with their customers. Facebook’s Messenger connects you to over 1.3 billion people monthly!

  1. Influencer Marketing

All you have to do is open Instagram and you see many different brands using celebrities and real influencers with many followers promoting their brands. Sponsored content is one of the most powerful ways for brands to reach consumers by helping advertisers connect to new audiences as well as engaging existing users.

  1. Generation Z

It’s no longer a Millennial market, it’s all about Generation Z. Generation Z has grown up using cell phones, and the internet. They’re all about speed and customer service, their attention span is 8 seconds.  The oldest ones are now entering the workforce, and they’re focused on social issues and social responsibility. Currently 1 in 5 Americans belong to Generation Z with 96% owning a smart phone.

Final Thoughts

We are in an age of instant gratification. We want to buy things instantly, we want our news instantly. We don’t like to wait for anything. Advertisers will be turning to social media platforms such as Instagram and Snapchat to use videos and disappearing content to reach users. Social media gives so many opportunities to connect advertisers with audiences helping both their brand and their followers. How are you planning for 2018?

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Sep
8
How to Run a Successful Facebook Like Campaign
Posted by Didier Bizimungu on 08 September 2017 03:17 pm

facebook like campaignSo you want to run a Facebook like campaign? Maybe you’ve just now finally created a Facebook page for your business. Or you’ve had a page that just never seems to gain any traction with Facebook users.

Does every one of your posts only get one or two likes…one of those being from you? Does your post “reach” just include 5 people?

If any of those situations describes you or your business a paid Facebook like campaign comes highly recommended. Now that you’ve identified your need however, how exactly do you go about running this thing?!

Your background is not a marketer, let alone an online marketer. And if you are like me in the past, social media itself might be a scary unfamiliar beast. Fear not! The folks at Webtivity Marketing & Design have put together a quick guide on how to run a successful Facebook like campaign.

Set Your Facebook Like Goals

This step would be obvious to anyone running a marketing campaign but often goes ignored for anyone just starting out on their own. How many likes do you have? How many do you want to have? And how long do you want to take to achieve your goal of likes?

Customize Your Facebook Page

Just like you wouldn’t invite visitors into a dirty home, tidy up your Facebook page before you sink any money into it. Give it the best chance to succeed in attracting its own organic likers before paying for any new ones. This will have the added benefit of encouraging anyone who comes from your paid like campaign to stick around.

Edit your about section, add your business hours, customize your call to action button, add any services you offer as their own tabs, and most importantly customize your profile and banner images

Spread Your Facebook Page Organically

Webtivity is a big believer in organic traffic and content. So start by adding links to your Facebook page on your website, in your newsletters, and even in your blog posts. Tell friends, clients, everyone you can reach to generate buzz and attract natural visitors to your Facebook page.

Create a Constant Stream of Quality Content

No one would like to visit you if your house was empty so why would they want to like a bare bones Facebook page?! Commit, and commit now to a steady posting schedule of quality content. Facebook makes this even easier by adding a scheduling tool to allow you to do your entire daily, weekly, and even monthly posting schedule all at once.

Do not start a Facebook like campaign without first committing to a steady posting schedule. We would even go as far as to suggest you try posting regularly for two months before spending any money on that page. You might run a successful Facebook like campaign only to lose all of those likes in the future as the posting frequency dies down to a trickle.

One thing Facebook, Twitter, and all other social media platforms have in common is the need to be social. What happens to friends who stop talking to you? They eventually fade away from your memory, and your relationship becomes a thing of the past. Do not let your Facebook page be a ghost page after investing your cold hard cash in it.

Be Responsive

This is the easiest one to list but probably the hardest one to follow in actuality. Be responsive to any reviews, comments, or private messages you receive from prospective, current or even past clients. This shows them that you care and increases the likelihood of a good review as well as a good recommendation.

You can accomplish this easily by linking your Facebook Business page to your personal page and turning on notifications. These will go straight to your Facebook page and phone if you have the Facebook application installed.

Set a Budget Based on your Goals

Set a monthly budget for your Facebook like campaign based on the like goals you want to achieve. Keep in mind the time period you are willing to wait to reach these goals. This should depend on your advertising budget as well as the perceived benefits you expect to reap from successfully achieving your Facebook like goals.

Track your Results

Simple enough but often overlooked. We have seen many a Facebook like campaign get ignored almost in the same breath it is created. Use Facebook’s handy dandy tracking tools to measure the results of your like campaign. From there you can adjust budgets or even posting frequency to either increase or decrease resulting likes as necessary.

webtivity marketing & designsWebtivity Marketing & Design has been operating since 1999 with a strong focus on personal service. A point of view we found severely lacking in the online digital world. We specialize in providing a complete solution to all digital needs for small to medium as well as large business enterprises.

We are a Certified Google Partner Agency, winner of the Manatee Small Business of the Year Award, and other accolades.

Give us a call at 941-753-7574 or email Tim for more information on how we can work closely with you to help your business achieve all of your goals!

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