20 Inspirational Ideas to Kick Start Your Fall Marketing on Social Media (With Real Examples)

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With summer now officially over, the start of a new season is a great time to give your social media profile a refresh and to introduce autumnal ideas into your content strategy. If you're in need of some ideas and inspiration, look no further. Here's how 20 big brands are already making the most of the opportunity:

1. Starbucks uses a time lapse to showcase its new season cup design...

2. Home Depot updates its Facebook cover photo to reflect the fall season...

3. Williams-Sonoma inspires fans with a variety of recipes...

6 simple recipes to celebrate fall's signature flavor: pumpkin! http://wsono.ma/bdMwr

Posted by Williams-Sonoma on Monday, September 28, 2015

4. Dunkin' Donuts injects some humour into an Autumn-themed post...

Even these little guys love our donuts ;) #Autumn

Posted by Dunkin' Donuts on Sunday, September 27, 2015

5. Party City shows off its Fall stock in a collage...

Goodbye summer. Hello autumn! Decorate your home in warm tones with Party City’s fall décor starting at $1.49. Shop now! http://bit.ly/FallDecor_FB

Posted by Party City on Thursday, September 24, 2015

6. Pop Tarts uses humour to promote limited edition products...

This explains why we can only deliver Pumpkin Pie Pop-Tarts once a year. Totally worth the wait. Get them in stores now.

Posted by Kellogg’s Pop-Tarts on Monday, September 14, 2015

7. Whole Foods welcomes customers into the new season...

It's the first day of autumn... Congratulations on making it through the summer heat!

Posted by Whole Foods Market on Wednesday, September 23, 2015

8. Marks and Spencer uses a photo album to promote its new baby range...

Ensure your baby is the best-dressed tot in town this Autumn. The new baby catalogue is available now > http://bit.ly/1NWy1ud

Posted by Marks and Spencer on Monday, September 28, 2015

9. Levis encourages fans to make the most of the summer rays...

10. Panera Bread shares a soup-y factoid...

Your great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-grandparents knew how to make a mean Autumn Squash Soup. #FoodForThought

Posted by Panera Bread on Friday, September 25, 2015

11. Avis promotes one of its motors with a splash of fall colours...

Welcome fall in style. #FirstdayofFall #SignatureSeries https://goo.gl/3LtnAd

Posted by Avis Car Rental on Wednesday, September 23, 2015

12. Blistex shares its autumn essentials (including its product, of course)....

Autumn officially begins today! We've got our essentials at the ready - have you? :)

Posted by BlistexUK on Wednesday, September 23, 2015

13. Coppertone provides a blank canvas for colouring in...

Colour this picture of falling leaves and a setting sun.

Posted by Coppertone Canada on Monday, September 28, 2015

14. Folgers gets us thinking about the smells of the season...

Fall is in the air, and it smells like Folgers Gourmet Selections® Caramel Drizzle® Flavored Coffee. http://spr.ly/6188ByuG0

Posted by Folgers on Sunday, September 27, 2015

15. Iams shares a cute and funny pet photo...

It's officially the start of autumn, the hide and seek season.

Posted by Iams UK on Wednesday, September 23, 2015

16. Mod Podge shares some crafty fall ideas...

The only question is, which one will you try with your kids first?

Posted by Mod Podge Rocks! on Monday, September 28, 2015

17. Pillsbury shares a Buzzfeed-made fall recipe...

Fallelujah! Time for pumpkin everything including these 3-ingredient Pumpkin Pie Roll-Ups.

Posted by Pillsbury on Friday, September 25, 2015

18. Tetley Tea plays on the colours of fall for a promotional post...

Just like the trees in autumn, our leaves vary in color as well…

Posted by Tetley Tea on Saturday, September 26, 2015

19.  Thermos shares a fan-made fall-inspired graphic...

Iced coffee with spice will always be in season. Sip on! (Credit: Alysha Dawn Illustration)

Posted by Thermos on Wednesday, September 23, 2015

20. Turtle Wax prepares its customers for seasonal spills...

We’ve got your back for Pumpkin Spice Latte spills. #Fall #FirstDayOfAutumn

Posted by Turtle Wax on Wednesday, September 23, 2015

Over to you

Will you be using any of the ideas above, or have you already got your own in the pipeline? Let me know in the comments!

I Spent $3 Per Day on Facebook Ads Over 2 Months: Here's Exactly What Happened

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Do you advertise on Facebook, or are you considering it? In this blog post, I'll show you what I managed to achieve over a two month period between July and August 2015, limiting myself to a budget of just $3.00 per day. 

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How to Shoot Shareable Instagram Photos: Real Life Good vs Bad Examples

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How to Shoot Shareable Instagram Photos: Real Life Good vs Bad Examples

How to Shoot Shareable Instagram Photos: Real Life Good vs Bad Examples

Do you use Instagram for business? Do you want to shoot photos that receive more likes and shares? The most popular Instagram photos evoke a strong emotion in viewers, are inspirational, aspirational, and eye-catching. With just a few simple tweaks, you can improve the quality of the photos you take, and drive more engagement with your content. Let's take a look, using real life examples to demonstrate. In each case, ask yourself which

1.  Context is important

Let's say you're in the business of selling accessories for the home. Customers will most likely be drawn to photos that show how your items fit into their own spaces. shop_juliecouch's photo is rather uninspiring (the lamp even still has its plastic packaging!), while hkliving's shot is carefully staged, colour co-ordinated, and eye-catching.

2.  Get the lighting right

Taking the time to light a photo properly (or improve the lighting in post production) can make a huge difference to the quality of your content. Both photos above serve to show off a printer, but Canon France's shot - lit well - is much more appealing to the eye.

3. Play with lines and shapes

Some of the most popular Instagram posts include arrangements, patterns, and shapes that are pleasing to the eye. In the above examples, jampaper's photo is colourful and neat, but there's something about the angles and composition of juliamanchik's composition that people find innately appealing.

4. Think about composition

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When you publish a photo, it should be obvious to viewers what the main focus of the image should be. In kellygerland's photo, the black dog is lost against the dark sofa and dominated by the banner on the wall. Meanwhile, kaianatural's photo has the office dog as centre of attention (even looking at the camera lens!), with very little dead space in the rest of the shot.

5. Have fun and be creative

Above all, the most successful Instagram images from brands are those that connect with  your customers in a way that only you as a business owner know best. Fun, creative, and inspirational, or aspirational content - well planned and shot - is nearly always a winner.

Over to you

Have these pointers inspired you to look again at your Instagram strategy? Or do you already but these ideas into practice? Let me know in the comments below!

5 One-Minute Strategies to Boost Your Facebook Ad Conversions And Increase Sales

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5 One-Minute Strategies to Boost Your Facebook Ad Conversions And Increase Sales

5 One-Minute Strategies to Boost Your Facebook Ad Conversions And Increase Sales

Do you advertise on Facebook? Are you looking for ways to optimise your ad campaigns and boost conversion rates? 

In this blog post, I'll show you five simple strategies that you can use to improve your Facebook ads, hopefully saving you money and increasing your returns!

1. Use Custom Audiences to re-target existing customers

With Facebook ads, sometimes the temptation can be to shoot for a brand new audience of people, but for many brands,  targeting their existing customers will provide the most fruitful returns. After all, if they've bought from you in the past, chances are higher that they will do again. In addition, you will already be familiar with the make-up of these group, so in a better position to shape your marketing message and product offering. You can do this is through custom audience targeting. Facebook will allow you to target users by email (upload or import your own list), app user IDs, or phone number - and your ads will be fed to them if they are on Facebook. 

2. Use a CTA button to drive click-through rates 

When creating your ad, Facebook will ask you if you want to add a call-to-action button to it. These buttons - including Shop Now, Sign Up, Call Now, and Download - give customers a stronger indication of what the purpose of your ad is, and a precise course of action for them to act upon what they see. Make sure that you match the correct CTA button to your campaign. Doing so will help to drive click-through and decrease bounce rates from your website.

After a one-month review of AdRoll advertisers’ running campaigns with CTA buttons, the Facebook found that those ads experienced a 2.85x higher click-through rate compared to ads that didn’t have a CTA button. They're free to use, so definitely worth considering!

3. Experiment with video ads

Currently, video ads only make up small proportion of brand marketing efforts on Facebook, but with estimates suggesting that that digital video advertising will make up 15% of the total digital advertising market by 2017, there's never been a better time to get in ahead of the curve. And according to an analysis by Kinetic Social, a Facebook marketing partner, paid video placements maintained a higher clickthrough rate (CTR) than all other types of US Facebook ads served to desktop and mobile via its platform throughout 2014. 

Why are Facebook video ads performing so well? Putting aside their relative novelty, research shows that the auto-play ads in News Feeds - even if watched only for a few seconds - helps to drive value and purchase intent.

"...data shows that people who watched under three seconds of the video ad created up to 47 percent of the total campaign value, and people who watched for fewer than 10 seconds created up to 74 percent, depending on the metric. That means that while lift continued to increase the longer people watched, people didn’t have to watch a whole video to be affected by the ad."

Facebook recommends that brands experiment with short video ads, remembering that value increases the longer people watch. I would add that it is not always necessary to focus on product; use video to educate, inspire, bolster your existing content strategy, and overall brand awareness.

4. Run ads at the optimum time of day

image via adstage

image via adstage

It might sound obvious, but if your ads mostly run at a time when your target audience isn't usually online (or at least not actively in the mood to purchase), then you're pretty much throwing money down the train. Use the knowledge of your audience to decide when they will be most active, and willing to buy!  If you've set a lifetime budget for your ad, you can schedule specific times of the day or days of the week to run your ad by going to Ad Scheduling, clicking More Options and then selecting Run ads on a schedule. (you may need to click Show Advanced Options first.

5. Make your ad offering simple and specific

No one really wants to see ads in their News Feeds, but if yours are to be engaging and successful, they need to influence users after just a glance; keep headline, link, and main copy jargon-free. It helps to narrow the focus of your ad campaign to one specific offering. In addition, where your ad takes viewers once clicked, should be right where the customer expects. For example, if your ad promotes a 50% discount on one of your products, the landing page should be the product page for said item, not your website's home page. 

Over to you

Have these strategies given you some ideas about how to optimise your Facebook ad strategy? Do you already use them, or do you have any more ideas? Let me know in the comments below!

3 Easy Ways to Use New Instagram Explore & Search to Grow Your Business

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Last month, Instagram rolled out two major improvements to the Search and Explore functions of its app; changes that confirm its ambitions to truly compete with rivals like Twitter. In a nutshell:

The upgraded Explore now surfaces trends as they emerge in real-time, connecting you to events and conversations both near you and around the globe. Meanwhile, the Search function now features a Places tab, which allows you to search for any location on Earth to find and interact with photos and videos that have been tagged there. On a related note, the new Top Search tab will return all the most popular content from any particular location.

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