As a small business owner or manager, you might need to work a little harder to make sure potential customers in the Lancaster County area are aware of your business. Luckily, there are a number of strategies your business can take to give your name the extra boost it deserves. Brand advertising is a great way to improve the awareness of your business in the minds of consumers.

A brand advertising strategy helps businesses build customer loyalty. As Quantcast says, “the goal of brand advertising is to foster long-term positive recognition by establishing brand identity, credibility, and loyalty and connecting with prospects intellectually and emotionally.”

The following items are part of a successful brand advertising strategy:

• Long-term focus: Brand advertising aims to establish a brand’s presence and identity over time. The goal is to lead to sustained customer engagement and loyalty.
• Emotional appeal: Your strategy must create an emotional connection with your audience. But the particular emotions themselves can be whatever makes the most sense for your company. It can be anything from joy to humor to nostalgia. You should just make sure it’s positive, relatable, and memorable.
• Consistency: Keep your messaging, design, and tone consistent. This will help to solidify your brand image in your potential and current customers’ minds. When your brand identity is consistent, your customer base will be more likely to recognize it.
• Brand storytelling: A narrative is an essential part of brand advertising. This will personalize your brand and help to convey values, history, and mission.
• Audience-centric: Brand advertising is all about understanding and resonating with your intended audience. It’s not just about selling them a product — it’s about building a meaningful relationship with them.

How Does Brand Advertising Add Value to Your Brand

According to Instapage: “With more consumers aware of your brand, the more they trust and stick with you throughout the buyer’s journey.” That means they’ll be more likely to take action when they see a performance-based advertisement. Once you have the building blocks of a solid brand advertising strategy, you’ll start to see significant value added to your brand in the forms of actual leads and sales later on.

You can expect brand advertising to add value to your campaigns in the following ways:

• Establish your identity — A brand identity consists of your logo, fonts, brand colors, general web presence, and more. Once that happens, you’ll be able to make a great first impression on your current customers.
• Build brand credibility — People will only buy from the brands they trust, and you can build trust with effective brand advertising. Create this credibility by establishing yourself as an industry leader against your competitors.
• Build strong connections with prospective customers — The best brands offer solutions and build connections with their prospects. If someone feels like they can’t form a personal connection with your brand, they’ll likely dismiss you.

In this article, we’ll help you to create a plan for an effective brand advertising strategy for your business. You’ll walk away with the tools to establish trust, loyalty, and long-term success.

What Small Business Owners in Lancaster County Need to Understand About Brand Advertising

Brand advertising is incredibly powerful too. When it is done correctly, it can take your small business to the next level. But before you can achieve that goal, you need to understand what your business stands for and why your business even exists. Here are some important things that small business owners need to know about brand advertising:

• Branding and marketing are two completely different things — Branding and marketing are not the same thing. Branding answers the why behind your brand. Marketing defines the ways that your brand is perceived in the world. Understanding the difference between the two is critical to the success of your business.
• Creating brand guidelines is crucial to your success —  Creating guidelines provides tips for a clear understanding of your brand by employees and your customers. They should include the following items:
• Visual components
• Your mission and vision
• Values
• Messaging
• Tone and voice
• Brand personality
• Target demographic
• Buyer personas
• Your brand is an iceberg — As ExtraCo Banks says, your brand is just the tip of the iceberg. There’s so much more to it than what’s on the surface. Your brand isn’t just fonts, colors, and your logo. It also needs to include your mission, vision, values, tone of voice, messaging, and more. These foundational pieces establish consistency with your brand and its personality.

When you take the time to understand the power of your brand and build upon it, you’ll create an infectious culture around your brand. Prospects will be drawn to your brand and customers will provide repeat business. That strong foundation will easily set you apart from the competition, providing success for years to come. 

7 Questions to Ask Before Deciding on a Brand Advertising Strategy

Brand advertising is important to any small business. But before you dive in, you need to finalize key components of creating a strategy. Here are some questions to consider before doing that.

How are Google Ads relevant to a small business in Lancaster County?

A strategically built Google Ads campaign ensures the right people see your ad at the right time. You can target audiences based on location, language, demographics, and interests. The Google Ads platform also lets you create engaging ad copy to entice prospective customers to click to your page. That means you’ll be able to create ads that appeal to consumers in Lancaster County looking for a specific product or service. Getting their attention at the right time means those consumers will be more likely to make a purchase.

What is a branded keyword?

Branded keywords are phrases or search terms that are associated with your brand and/or the products and services you offer. Your brand name and any common misspellings should be included in this list. While these keywords can be discovered through social media, make sure you don’t confuse them with hashtags or mentions online.

Keep tabs on branded keywords to make sure you’re always looped in about the conversation surrounding your small business. Tags or mentions online will always trigger notifications. But the use of branded keywords on social will not. For example, a customer may be praising or venting about your business online, without tagging you. If you have a pulse on your branded keywords, you’ll never miss an opportunity to interact with your customers.

What is a non-branded keyword?

On the flip side, non-branded keywords are those that do not reference your business’s name or any common misspellings of it. While it’s important to rank for branded search terms, non-branded keywords are crucial for attracting prospective customers to your website.

For example, let’s say you run a children’s clothing boutique. Using non-branded keywords will allow your brand to be seen even if a consumer doesn’t know your brand yet, and is just using general search terms for a children’s clothing store in Lancaster County. That’s the power of non-branded keywords.

Ranking for non-branded keywords will help consumers come across your website when they are searching for services or products you sell. If you match their search intent, you’ll be able to convert them into customers.

What is brand name bidding?

Brand name bidding refers to purchasing your own name as a keyword in Google Ads. As Fraud Blocker says, “The primary goal of brand bidding is to capture high-intent traffic from users who are already familiar with your brand, while also protecting your brand against competitors who may want to capitalize on your brand equity.” This involves targeting search terms that include your brand names, product names, and any other term your business has trademarked. Doing this has the potential to perform better in organic Google searches and have some impact on your online reputation.

Should I pay for Google Ads on my business’s branded keywords?

The answer here is typically yes. Bidding on your branded keywords ensures your competitors cannot rank for them. As Abigail Beene with HawkSEM says, your competitors may attempt to bid on your keywords so their business will outrank yours.

She says: “If you have someone searching for your company, they will want to appear next to you or above you on the search results page so potential customers can check out their brand instead.”

If customers are searching for your business’s name, you’ll want to make sure your brand name comes up first in the search results. Try to set aside a small amount of your advertising budget to ensure you show up at the top of the search engine results page.

Are there some situations in which my business shouldn’t pay for Google Ads on branded keywords?

Believe it or not, there are some disadvantages to bidding on your own branded keywords. According to HawkSEM, here are the situations in which you should not bid on your branded keywords:

• You have a strong organic presence — Bidding on branded keywords helps to ensure your business name comes up when consumers search for you. But if you already have a strong organic search presence, there’s no need to spend money on your keywords.
• You’ve got a limited budget — If you only have limited money set aside for advertising, bid on non-branded keywords instead. That will help you cast a wider net for potential customers.
• You have minimal competition — Bidding on branded keywords ensures that your competition can’t rank for those keywords instead. But if you don’t have the competition, there’s no need to spend that money.

What do I do if a competitor is already buying my branded keywords?

As of June 2019, Google abolished the restrictions that stopped brands from bidding on a competitor’s branded keyword. Competitors just can’t use your trademarked brand name in ad copy. If you find yourself in that situation, you have a few options:

• Own your brand name — When someone else buys your branded keywords, they’re not interested in posting ads promoting your business. Write strategic ad copy that positions your brand in a positive way and attracts customers.
• Reach out directly to the competitor — It doesn’t hurt to reach out directly to your competitor and ask them to remove those ads. In some cases, your competition may not actually be aware that it bid on your keywords. An advertising agency may have done that on their behalf.
• File a trademark complaint with search engines — If your brand name is trademarked, you can file a trademark complaint to prevent all advertisers from using your brand keywords in ad copy. This won’t stop 100% of infringements, but it should greatly reduce them.
• Bid on your competition’s brand keywords — If your competitor owns your keywords, beat them at their own game. Keep in mind that if you bid on another brand’s keywords, your cost-per-click (CPC) will be higher. But if you have the resources, there are benefits to the cost. Search Engine Journal says, “By targeting the competitor that bought your brand, you could force their CPCs higher, steal some of their lead volumes, and potentially force them to stop bidding on your brand name, which is a good thing.”

TL;DR: Turn to LNP Media Group to Get Your Small Business Noticed 

Our passion at LNP Media Group is serving small businesses in the Lancaster County area. Our digital marketing team has the tools, experience, and knowledge to reach exactly the audience your company wants at the right time. We’re proud to say that we have earned Google Partner status with thorough training and stellar results for our clients.

We provide a number of services to drive customers to your business and guarantee that your digital advertising campaigns are optimized for the best performance. Our digital marketing services include display, SEO, email marketing, paid search (PPC), social media marketing, and more.

LNP Media Group’s digital agency has a proven history of success. Contact us today to get started.

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Have you done a Google search for your product lately and noticed a curious change in search results?

Lately, no matter your search query, Reddit posts have been coming up excessively in Google product review search results. As of February 2024, Search Engine Land says, “Reddit shows up 97.5% of the time in Google Search product review queries and accounts for nearly two-thirds of the slots reserved for Google’s Discussions and forums SERP feature.” The article goes on to dive into this new wrinkle in the Google search algorithm:

“An analysis of 10,000 key phrases found that discussions and forums appear 77% (7,702) of the time. Overall, 766 individual forums appeared, but just Reddit and Quora had 3X greater visibility than every other forum:

• Reddit appeared in 7,509 results and was featured 14,263 times.
• Quora appeared in 3,513 results and was featured 3,832 times.
• Every other domain (766 of them), combined, appeared 4,989 times, with most sites never getting a second listing like Reddit. Some were inactive but there were no new forums or any forums with a low number of posts.”

The results speak for themselves. While a Reddit spokesperson has denied it to Search Engine Land, Google is clearly pushing Reddit. Unfortunately, that visibility leads to Reddit spam. While not all of Reddit is spam, Search Engine Land found that much of the content within these Reddit links were affiliate URLs and AI-generated comments.

What Does this Mean for Small Business Owners?

Other industry insiders have offered insight into why Reddit has begun to dominate Google search results. For one, Reddit can sometimes be helpful to people. In 2022, Google published a blog post explaining it decided to add an extra “E” to its E-A-T Search Quality Evaluator Guidelines. That new “E” stood for “experience,” as Google determined an online forum where people discuss their experiences with different services is sometimes helpful. Reddit also helps Google’s AI systems by better demonstrating how people talk.

Those reasons have their merit. However, they don’t provide any comfort to small business owners who are watching this algorithm change take away traffic from their websites. It can be hard to keep up with Google’s latest changes, so you need to be proactive. You should regularly take the following steps to protect your website traffic:

• Use paid search ads, as they are now appearing more and more strongly at the top of search engine results pages.
• Regularly post engaging content to your social media sites to drive traffic to your website.
• Build your YouTube channel with high-quality video content that drives viewers to your website.

In this article, we’ll walk you through how to achieve each of these goals so you’ll feel more confident in keeping your site’s Google’s organic search traffic strong.

An Overview of Paid Search Ads

As SEMrush says, “Paid search advertising is a digital marketing strategy where brands pay to display their ads on major search engines.” On Google, these are known as pay-per-click (PPC) ads. PPC ads can be text, display, or video. The goal of these advertisements are to appear at the top of Google search engine results pages.

This is important because when people search on Google, only up to four ads are eligible to show above the search results. Google’s Quality Score factors determine when an ad is successful and thus appears at the top of search results. The factors they consider to determine your ad placement include bid amount, ad quality, and landing page quality. It should go without saying that well-crafted ads with relevant content will score higher than others.

What are the Benefits of Paid Search Ads?

Well-executed paid search ads can greatly improve your digital marketing strategy results. Here are some benefits that you can expect:

• You’ll be able to efficiently reach your target audience: You can target your audience through paid search ads based on relevant keywords. You can also segment further based on location, language, search behaviors, and more. With this level of precision, you’ll have a better chance of reaching people who are the most likely to engage with your brand.
• Paid search ads are a cost-effective tactic — Paid search ads only have to be paid for when someone clicks on your ad. This tactic gives you better advertising budget control. You’ll be able to decide ahead of time how much you’re going to pay for each keyword. You’ll also be able to set a maximum daily spend limit to keep your ad budget where it needs to be.
• You’ll see effective and immediate results — Paid search ads provide results faster than other marketing strategies like SEO-optimized content. That’s because your ads will appear in search results and start driving traffic as soon as your new campaign goes live. These campaigns are also measurable, as you’ll be able to track the number of ad clicks and impressions to conversions and return on investment (ROI).
• The market dictates the price of keywords — Market demand and the resulting competition for specific keywords determine the cost of paid search ads. So if your preferred keyword is a bit expensive, you can bid on a similar word or phrase with lower competition. That will keep your ad costs down while still bringing your target audience to your website.

How to Use Your Social Media Platforms to Drive Traffic To Your Website

One of the easiest and most effective ways to drive high-quality traffic to your website is by staying engaged across your social media channels. If you start by engaging with your followers, that will help to get more eyes on your posts and various platforms. That, in turn, will help to grow brand familiarity. Once you have that expanded social presence, you can leverage it to drive traffic back to your website.

Keep in mind that this won’t be a one-size-fits-all strategy. It changes depending on which social network you are on. Here’s a look at how you can leverage YouTube, Facebook, and Instagram to drive more traffic to your business’s website.

How to Promote Your Business Effectively On YouTube

You can create a YouTube channel for free for your business through YouTube Advertising. This provides you one spot to post product tutorials, walk-throughs, and event footage to your most engaged followers. YouTube boasts the following stats on the effectiveness of YouTube Advertising:

• 72 percent of small businesses think getting started on YouTube is easy.
• 65 percent of small-business owners with a YouTube channel say they use it to showcase their products and services.
• 85 percent of viewers turn to YouTube for fresh content.

To begin leveraging your YouTube channel for business, you should start by customizing your channel. Add a channel icon and banner to represent your brand. Then, fill out your business information. Provide a concise mission statement in the channel description and insert your business website and other social media networks in the links section.

Once you’re all set up, you can begin to find your brand’s biggest fans by using the channel to your advantage. Start creating videos and leverage the following tricks:

• Encourage viewers to subscribe – Create an engaging video that shows off your product or service. End the video by encouraging viewers to subscribe to your channel. It’s the best way to let your audience know when you’ve uploaded a video or created a new playlist.
• Leverage cross-promotion across social media — Did you create a video you’re really proud of? Share it on Facebook and Instagram too! When you have a great piece of content, the more eyes on it the better.
• Use the right keywords in a video’s title, tags and description — Be strategic with the keywords you use in titles, tags, and descriptions. But don’t go after broad keywords, aim for more local, specific keywords. That will help to optimize your videos for SEO.
• Work with influencers — Partner with a relevant influencer to create a video that showcases your product and service. The right influencer’s audience will be directly interested in what you sell, which can help drive more traffic to your website.

How to Promote Your Business on Facebook

Facebook boasts more than 3 billion monthly active users, making it a great place to promote your business. With a Facebook Business page, you can direct a portion of those users to your website. When you leverage Facebook for business, you’ll reap the following benefits:

• Engage with new and loyal existing customers
• Gain a better understanding of your audience through precise analytics
• Drive traffic to your website or landing page
• Promote your products and services in one place
• Reach more potential customers

In order to get the most out of your Facebook Business page, you need to complete your business page profile. Provide appropriate contact information and, if you have a physical storefront, add that location. Include hours of operation along with a profile picture and cover image that accurately represent your business. Finally, add a call-to-action (CTA) button that encourages people to engage further with your business by visiting your website.

After that, it’s time to create some high-quality ads. One way to make those ads as effective as possible is to make really good content. As Wordstream says, “to get the lowest possible cost per click on your Facebook ads, priority number one is making your content so good that it encourages positive engagement.” Facebook’s algorithm will take notice when people share your content. When that happens, Facebook will show your ads to even more people.

How to Drive Website Traffic from Instagram

A common complaint about Instagram is that it doesn’t allow users to add clickable links to their posts. While links like that are the simplest way to bring your audience back to your website, there are other ways to drive traffic back to your site. Here are some ways to do that:

• Leverage your Instagram bio — When you initially set up your business’s Instagram profile, put your business website as the link in your Instagram bio, then you can update that link as much as you want. Swap it out when you have a new campaign page, featured news story, or anything else relevant. Draw attention to a new link in the captions of your posts.
• Curate relevant Instagram stories highlights — If you want your Instagram stories to last beyond 24 hours, leverage the highlights feature. Come up with some relevant, evergreen themes. Create high-quality stories that belong under those umbrellas. Make sure each highlight includes a relevant call-to-action that urges users to go to your business’s website.
• Partner with Instagram influencers — If you need to work on building your Instagram presence, partner with an influencer in your industry. Work with them on creating high-quality content that promotes your products or services. Make sure those videos include links to your website. That can bring a brand-new batch of potential customers to your website.
• Add Instagram action buttons to your profile — Are you creating good and engaging content on your Instagram profile and still not seeing a boost in traffic to your website? Consider adding an action button to your profile to see if that helps. That button can lead to whatever page or action you want, which could drive more conversions.

TL;DR Boost Your Social Media Marketing with LNP Media Group

Getting a steady stream of traffic to your business’s website can be tough, especially as Google’s algorithms are constantly changing. However, much of your audience spends a lot of time on Instagram, Youtube, and Facebook, so it’s time to meet them there. Our team can help develop and execute highly effective paid search and social media campaigns that align with your brand and offer consistent messaging that will drive customers to your website.

LNP Media Group’s digital marketing experts are a Google Partner and are Meta Certified to provide your business with paid search ads and social media ads that work.

Contact us to get started today

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These days, you can buy nearly anything you want online — from clothes to furniture, even cars. Online shopping is a booming, multi-billion dollar industry. Thanks to new technology, consumers can view high-quality videos, images, and descriptions of products with a few clicks. With all that level of convenience, it’s no surprise that online shopping continues to thrive.

But as technology continues to evolve, it’s changed how consumers approach online shopping. Since social media has become a mainstay within society, it’s become intrinsically tied to online shopping.

In this article, we’ll discuss social media shopping, also known as social commerce or social e-commerce. We’ll offer best practices for businesses in the retail space to put into practice. You’ll walk away with a better understanding of social commerce and how to incorporate it into your social media strategy.

What is Social Commerce?

As Sprout Social says, social commerce is all about the buying and selling of products or services right within a social media channel. That means consumers can complete the entire buyer journey within a social media platform. For example, someone can be scrolling through social media and find a post promoting a pair of shoes.

Thanks to social commerce, a consumer can click a button that says “buy now,” and complete the transaction without leaving the app. Social commerce provides a huge opportunity by meeting your audience where they are.

What are the Benefits of Social Commerce? 

There’s a reason social commerce has become so popular. It provides many benefits to businesses that know how to use it well. Here are some that you can expect:

• You’ll have the opportunity to reach a wide audience — As Sprout Social says, more than 5 billion people use social media worldwide. It’s estimated that there will be 110.4 million US social media buyers by the end of 2024 — that’s half of all social media users. The size of this audience can open the door for your business to connect with a huge number of potential new customers. As more people join social media platforms every day, you’ll have an opportunity to see your own customer base grow, too.
• Convert customers where they are — It’s ideal to make the customer journey as frictionless as possible. So if your audience is already on social media, why not convert them there? If your customers can buy an item they’re interested in on the spot, they’ll be more likely to follow through with the purchase. Also, by converting customers in channels that they frequent, you may even see your customer retention rate grow.
• Establish social proof — When your audience can’t test out or try on your product, reviews and recommendations are key. Social media is a great channel to get as many recommendations as possible. If you create engaging social content, you’ll attract new followers. If you interact with new and existing followers, they’ll be more likely to leave you positive reviews. As Sprout Social says, “As your engagement grows with new reviews coming in, it sends a positive signal to social media algorithms. These algorithms will deem your content relevant to even more potential customers.”
• Learn about your customers’ social media habits — When you execute a social commerce strategy, you’ll have access to your customers’ social profiles. If you tie these insights into social media listening, you’ll have a direct line into your customers’ habits and interests.

What is the Difference Between Social Commerce and E-Commerce? 

E-commerce is traditional internet shopping. As Vidjet says, it centers around customers buying your products through your website or mobile application. In a traditional e-commerce set up, consumers can browse and purchase your products through your business’s site.

Social commerce refers to the implementation of product sales through social media channels. That means that customers can buy something directly through one of your social media profiles. They can browse, purchase, make a payment, and leave a review all in one place.

Different Kinds of Social Commerce

Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, and TikTok are among the most popular social commerce platforms. Here’s how each channel applies social commerce tactics:

• Facebook and Instagram — Meta offers Shops on Facebook and Instagram. Meta calls Shops an online shop for people to browse, explore and purchase your products directly on Facebook and Instagram. The platform offers customizable collections and design tools. That lets you show off your business’s featured products, thus bringing your brand to life and make shopping frictionless on social media.
• Pinterest — On Pinterest, business owners can create Product Pins. Pinterest calls these, “shoppable Pins, formatted to display accurate and relevant product information.” You can create Product Pins in one of two ways:
• Upload your product catalog to Pinterest and create Pins for each of your products
• Add meta tags to your website so people can save Product Pins directly from your site.
• TikTok —  TikTok Shop “enables brands and sellers to showcase and sell products on TikTok, through a suite of in-app shopping touch points.” TikTok goes on to say that Shop is a one-stop-shop for driving brand growth and sales right on TikTok. Anyone tuned into social media knows that TikTok’s popularity continues to rise. As 70% of TikTok users find new brands and products they like right on TikTok, it’s a great channel for businesses to take advantage of.

Social Commerce Best Practices

If you want to weave social commerce into your business strategy, you need to have a confident grasp on best practices. Here are some to consider:

• Implement omni-channel experiences — Connect your social media platforms to the rest of your business. This creates an omni-channel buyer journey. Make sure your support and service offerings are consistent across all channels. As Salesforce says, customers will be more loyal to companies that provide consistency. Engage often and provide a through line for branding and messaging across all channels. Customers want the same experience across every branch of your business. Your social media networks should be an extension of that.
• Experiment with augmented reality (AR) experiences — Studies show that AR is on the rise among consumers. Social media is already a big driver of AR usage. As Shopify says, Snapchat, Instagram, and TikTok are already leveraging AR filters. Retailers can jump on this trend by using these filters to demonstrate their products or allow customers to virtually try them on. This will help to give consumers more confidence in their purchase.
• Produce more video content — It’s a general rule of thumb across the board that video content performs well on social media. TikTok’s massive popularity is proof of that. According to Wyzowl, 89% of people state they have been convinced to purchase a product or service by viewing that brand’s video. Videos can be leveraged as a way to show off products, create behind-the-scenes livestreams, conduct video consultations, and offer personalized product recommendations.
• Work with micro-influencers — Marketing Dive states that 81% of consumers will trust a social media influencer’s recommendation over a brand’s own marketing message. While you may not have the budget to work with a big-name influencer, you can always work with a micro-influencer. They’ll have a specific audience type, usually local, that will make it easier on you to target different demographics. Their followers will trust their recommendations.
• Leverage user-generated content — Some of your most influential social media content won’t come from your own brand. It’ll be posting or resharing user-generated content (UGC) from real customers. Images from happy consumers will help to generate the social proof that users want to see before making a purchase. In fact, Hootsuite states that nearly 80% of people say that UGC highly impacts their purchasing decisions. You can encourage your followers to submit UGC by creating hashtag challenges or by jumping on current content trends on social and using those in your campaigns.
• Use AI-trained chatbots — Shopify says that 41% of consumers want live chat while they’re shopping online. Social media platforms are now part of the online shopping experience. That means that you should make your live chat accessible through those networks. Customers want to interact with brands the same way they talk with friends. Live chat through social commerce is what will help your brand become more sociable and interactive.
• Use targeted ads — Targeted advertising is a great way to ensure that you reach the right audience at the right time. When you use targeted ads on social media, you can ensure that your message is reaching the right potential customers. Influencer Marketing Hub says that 49% of consumers decide what to buy based on targeted advertising. Consumers may not click on a specific ad right away. But the more that consumers see your ad present on their timeline, the more likely they will be to eventually make a purchase. But make sure that your ad content has the right tone for your desired audience. Sellers Fi says that “Millennial and Gen Z shoppers are often looking for a laugh, while Gen X and Boomers crave a more traditional ad experience.”
• Create a frictionless experience — Even though you might be able to entice consumers to make a purchase, your audience doesn’t want to feel like they’re shopping while they’re scrolling social media. They’re looking at videos and checking out their friends’ profiles. Stumbling upon your brand and product should just naturally fall somewhere in that process. Lean into that experience by offering features like one-tap payments and stored contact information to make the sale. The fewer steps in your purchasing process on social media, the better. Eliminate every unnecessary step that you can.
• Interact with your audience — Don’t be an invisible presence on social media. Interact with your audience. Social media is full of opinions — the good, the bad, and everything in between. But you can only gain access to those insights if you engage with your followers. Build relationships with your audience. Take the time to really listen and learn. Those efforts can help to produce your next product idea or customer win. When customers see those positive results, they’ll become advocates for your brand.

TL;DR — Master Social Media Shopping with LNP Media Group

We don’t need to sell you on the importance of social media, it’s found its way into nearly every aspect of daily life and shopping is no exception. If your business is in the retail space, it’s important that you learn how to tie the two together. Engaging in social commerce offers a myriad of benefits to businesses like yours. Jump on best practices such as implementing omni-channel experiences, producing video content, working with micro-influencers and more to reap those benefits and watch the social side of your business take off.

But in order to get there, you need a social media marketing strategy. Social media has become one of the most effective tools for targeted digital marketing. Our team is Meta Certified meaning that you’ll be working with people who have deep knowledge of how to make social media work for your online shopping sales.

At LNP Media Group, your results matter to us. Contact us today to learn how we can work together.

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When you own and run your own business, spending much of your time working toward its success, you realize the importance of building a team of employees who will support your venture with enthusiasm and drive. The process of attracting, finding, and hiring qualified employees needs to be approached methodically and carefully, so that you will be successful in building a productive team to support your business.

You’ve tried job boards. You’ve tried word-of-mouth. As a small or medium sized business owner, you may wonder what campaigns or methods will actually work best for attracting excellent job applicants. This guide will help you explore the options and processes that yield the best recruitment results — and that go beyond the job board.

Social Media As a Recruitment Tool

There’s a reason social media is sometimes referred to as the modern-day town square — it’s all about spreading messages to large groups of people at one time. If your company has a social media channel – whether Facebook, Instagram, X, LinkedIn or all of those — one of the first, no-cost steps is to publish a post letting people know that you have an opening on your team. This can be particularly beneficial if you already have a strong number of followers on your social media channels.

Join Social Media Groups

According to Scion Insights, recruiters can even join relevant groups and communities to be in the same sphere as potential candidates, which is a great way to organically build a community of people who may be strong additions to your business.

Learn LinkedIn – An Important Social Media Platform for Recruitment

While it is definitely worthwhile to post a job opening on Facebook and Instagram (and can often be successful, depending on the type of company you own), one of the very best social media platforms for recruitment is LinkedIn. LinkedIn provides access to an extensive network of professionals. Running a LinkedIn recruitment campaign allows filters to be applied to industries, locations, and even salary ranges. Companies and individuals on LinkedIn can indicate in their profile, bio, and feed that they are hiring for a role. Professionals looking for a new role can indicate that they are looking for work and will often scour LinkedIn posts in their chosen area and industry on an almost daily basis.

LinkedIn also serves as a great platform for recruiters and candidates to initially connect. If a professional is interested in an opening, they can easily comment or directly message the recruiter with further information — and vice versa.

Use Hashtags Wisely

When posting a job on LinkedIn, remember the importance of using relevant hashtags as tools to categorize specific content. In addition to general recruitment hashtags, like #hiring and #interviewing, use industry-specific hashtags, so potential candidates will know who you’re looking to hire.

Interact on Social Media

If you see a candidate with interesting and relevant experience, you can strike up a conversation by directly messaging them on LinkedIn or Facebook. Sending a personalized message, such as pointing out something on their LinkedIn bio that piques your interest, can lead to a meaningful conversation and submitted application.

Embrace Geofencing and Google Ads As Recruitment Tools

Utilize Google Custom Intent Audience

According to Google, a custom intent audience refers to a specific group of potential customers identified by their online behavior that shows they are interested in products or services similar to what you offer. As an employer, you can use Google custom intent audience ad campaigns to target people who are currently searching for jobs like the ones you are offering. Targeting options include relevant keywords, competitor URLs, and even competitor apps, which helps employers reach the job candidates.

Utilize Geo-Fencing

Messaging only matters when it is reaching the correct audiences — which is why geofencing is a vitally important tool to use when attracting the right employees for your business. A geofence is a virtual perimeter for a real-world geographic area.

You can develop great digital ads that communicate your company’s open position and use geofencing to reach people in your area who may be interested.

• Use relevant keywords in your ad copy to ensure your ads appear in searches related to the job position.
• Cast a geographic net that makes sense. Depending on how many people you think you need to reach, determine a geofencing radius that will reach enough potential candidates in the locations where the job is available. Examples of fences for recruitment ads include:
• Your competitors – Their employees have the skills you want, and may be interested in a new employer.
• Testing centers – Locations like CDL testing centers can be great places to find job candidates with the skills you want.
• Schools – Colleges that offer the training your employees need, like CNA certification, are a great option to fence.
• Write compelling and concise ad copy that highlights key job details and benefits to attract the right candidates.

Write Engaging Job Descriptions

The recruitment, interviewing, and hiring process is a two-way street. While you are looking for the best candidates, remember that the best candidates are being particular as well. When candidates are searching for jobs, whether they’re browsing or actively and regularly applying, the copy that goes in a job description is the first impression they get of the role, the company, and the people that they would be working with. Therefore, it’s critical to write copy that is smart, detailed, and appealing to the type of people you’d like to hire.

So, what exactly should you include in a job description?

Outline Responsibilities and Expectations

First and foremost, potential candidates will spend more time reading a job description if they see the list of responsibilities and expectations are aligned with their skills and experience. Be honest about what you’re looking for — but don’t get too far into the details. In an interview or follow-up conversation, you can discuss the minute details. According to CIO, an extensive list of requirements, even if you call them preferred qualifications, isn’t always the best idea. Instead, omit expectations for specific or advanced degrees that are not truly necessary to the role.

Showcase Company Culture

Now more than ever, candidates on the job hunt are interested in learning more about what a company’s culture is like. According to statistics surrounding recruitment featured in TeamStage, company culture is an important factor for 46% of job seekers. More specifically, married candidates value culture more than their single colleagues, and 94% of entrepreneurs and 88% of job seekers say that a healthy culture at work is vital for success.

It’s clear many candidates want to know about your company’s culture. But what exactly does that mean? According to RecruitingDaily, including information about your company’s mission, goals, and values in a job description can give them a better sense of what it’s like to work at your organization and how they’ll fit in at the company. A small or medium business with an entrepreneurial spirit can be a major positive for certain candidates.

Do you value flexible working hours? Hybrid schedules? Vacation time? These can all catch the eye of top candidates who know what they value as well.

Feature Amenities and Benefits

Perhaps even more important than highlighting your overall company culture is a list of the amenities and benefits that your employees can expect from the job. Ongig has an ultimate list of 60+ job description benefits to consider featuring if they are relevant, including health insurance, retirement savings plans, paid time off, parental leave, professional development opportunities, education assistance, volunteer opportunities, and more.

According to IBM, workers placed work-life balance (51%) and career advancement opportunities (43%) at the top of their list of priorities, with compensation and benefits (41%) and employer ethics and values (41%) following close behind.

According to LinkedIn, salary, career growth, and meaningful work are the top three priorities when deciding to take a new opportunity.

Use your job description copy as an opportunity to feature what makes your company such a great place to work.

Highlight Potential Career Paths

Not only do you want to attract fantastic employees – you want to retain them as well. You’re more likely to have excellent team members stay on your team if there are clear opportunities for career advancement and professional development. For extra-motivated candidates (who you want on your team), featuring this on the initial job description will be an extra draw. Mention in a job description specific professional development opportunities – such as paid courses or the ability to attend workshops or conferences – and use this as a talking point during an interview to further sell a candidate.

Be Clear and Straightforward

It will save everyone’s time if you are honest and upfront in the job description copy. Are you looking for an employee who is in the Lancaster area full time? Clarify that in the job description. You may get fewer overall applicants, but more of them will be worth an interview when the expectations of location, hours, and the type of work is clear from the very beginning. If you are honest with candidates in the application and hiring process, it will establish a basis of trust throughout the rest of the working relationship.

Highlight Company Successes

Top candidates prepared to bring success want to know that they will be working with equally motivated colleagues. Highlight a recent win or point of pride for your company — this can also be a great point of discussion and elaboration in a future interview.

Embrace SEO Words and Action-Oriented Language

According to Predictive Index, it is important to write a job description that will get noticed by search engines. This means skipping tired terms like “rockstar” that people don’t actually search for when job hunting. Instead, use words and phrases that will excite the type of candidate you want to hire. Action-oriented words, like “plans,” “coordinates,” and “organizes,” can positively connect with people who have been spending the whole day browsing job descriptions and can give them more insights into what their work days would look like.

Use Photos For Authenticity

In addition to writing genuine copy that connects with job seekers, including photos in a job description can pique job seekers’ interest. However, avoid the use of stock photos because they do not provide insight into your company’s culture. Instead, use real photos of your current team on the job or volunteering together. This glimpse into life at your company will increase candidates’ trust and interest. Using photos can also increase engagement and help your company stand out from other businesses looking to hire.

Use Print Marketing To Your Advantage

The best way to recruit is through a varied but strategic approach. In addition to utilizing the digital tools discussed above, remember that print marketing, especially for small and medium sized businesses in Lancaster, remains a remarkably effective way to reach job seekers.

LNP hosts spring and fall jobs every year, attended by over 600 job seekers, and, at each fair without fail, job seekers bring physical copies of the print newspaper as a reference.^.

The following print promotions are great ways to reach and make an impact on job seekers:

• Daily LNP newspaper —we deliver to 40,000 households daily, many of which may be passive job seekers or may know people who are job hunting
• Front page placements—we run multiple ads on the front page of LNP to reach both active and passive readers.
• Classified section—we run ads on the front page of classifieds as well as a section within.
• Pocket—this publication is delivered to over 80,000 LNP non-subscribers throughout the county. With an ad in Pocket and in LNP, you can reach almost every household in Lancaster.

When you are able to successfully campaign for job applicants you will be able to prove to potential candidates that you care about hiring the right person for the job. Most importantly, this approach will increase your chances in hiring a candidate who is the perfect fit for your business.

Connect with LNP Media Group today to optimize your marketing and recruitment strategy to keep your pipeline filled with applicants and decrease your open-to-hire time. LNP Media Group will provide you with campaign reports and keep you updated every step of the way. Call 717-291-8831 or click here to contact us.

TL; DR: A varied but strategic approach, including social media, geofencing, print advertising, and compelling copy with authentic photos will help you reach, attract, and retain the best candidates for openings at your small or medium sized Lancaster County business.

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Charitable giving is always something that can bring value to your personal life — but did you know it can benefit your business as well?

Will My Charitable Efforts Make An Impact?

As a small or medium sized business owner, you may wonder how much of an impact your charitable giving can make on your business. The answer? Quite a lot.

According to SCORE, the nation’s largest network of volunteer, expert business mentors, approximately 75% of small businesses donate an average of 6% of their profits to charitable organizations annually. Compared to larger businesses, small businesses donate 250% more to local nonprofits and community causes, often in the following ways:

• Giving to local charities
• Supporting youth organizations
• Donating to local first responders
• Supporting local religious organizations
• Aiding local service groups
• Donating food or volunteering in soup kitchens

When you work with LNP Media Group, it’s easy to combine multi-channel marketing with charitable marketing because LNP Media Group is part of WITF.org, a non-profit public media organization. WITF is a regional affiliate of NPR and PBS, and provides educational services to teachers, community members, and to local schools. By associating your business with LNP Media Group and WITF you will be working with a trusted local non-profit with a mission to provide local news and education services.

How Exactly Can Charitable Giving Positively Benefit My Business? 

Attract Customers Aligned With the Cause You Support – And Increase Sales

As a business owner, earning sales and reaching your goals each month is likely your constant, top-of-mind priority. But did you know you can get closer to your bottom line by prioritizing charitable efforts? When potential customers see that you support nonprofits or causes that are important to them as well, their perception of your business will change in a positive direction — and they’ll be more willing to purchase your goods or services. Customers are also more likely to be loyal to a business that prioritizes the values that they align with. When customers feel connected to your businesses’ values and charitable efforts, they will feel that giving you their business is also making a philanthropic impact. Purchasing from your business is linked with the same warm feeling people feel when they donate their own time or resources to a non-profit. According to Platform Magazine, a study revealed that nine-in-10 millennials reported that they would switch to brands that are associated with a cause they support. Further, research by Accenture looked at factors that attract people to buy from certain brands over others and found that 50% of consumers were influenced by whether the brand “supports and acts upon causes that we have in common.”

Read our blog about Cause Marketing for more information on how cause marketing can help your business can stand out in Lancaster County.

Enhance Your Brand With Authenticity

According to an article from Business.com, companies are no longer judged solely on their bottom line, but also on the role they play in the community. Customers are genuinely committed to seeking out brands that are charitable and honest about their values. When you establish philanthropy as a part of your company’s mission, it becomes a part of your brand story. Both returning and potential customers will associate your company’s name, logo, products, services, and employees with philanthropy when you make it a recurring and prominent part of your organization. This will be most successful when it’s done for the right reasons — because you want your business to make a true difference in the charities and causes it supports.

Build Team Camaraderie

When an organization is focused on helping others in need, it helps employees put day-to-day work into perspective — which can boost morale and productivity. Your employees will feel positive about working for a company that cares for others. A particularly great way to build team camaraderie and boost morale is to set up volunteering opportunities that double as a team bonding experiences.

Consider asking your employees what volunteer efforts they would be most interested in – you can even take a vote and pick a new cause to support each month or season. Likely, your employees will suggest volunteering with causes close to their hearts — and if they feel their work is able to support something they care about, they’ll be more likely to work with enthusiasm. As an employer, a best practice is for you to pay your employees for the time they spend volunteering; this really demonstrates your support for volunteerism.

Attract Top Talent For Open Positions

It isn’t just customers and current employees who will be interested in your philanthropic efforts — it will also appeal greatly to potential future employees.

According to a study from 2021 featured by the University of Cincinnati, 8 out of 10 employees say it is important for company values to align with their own. Further, 75% of workers expect their employer to be a force for good in society, and more than 50% of workers say they would quit their job if their company’s values did not align with their own.

In a 2023 study by Fidelity Charitable, an independent public charity and the nation’s largest grantmaker, in an ongoing tight labor market 86% of employees say it’s important to work for a company whose values align with their own, and 81% of employees want to work for a company with socially responsible business practices. This is particularly true among Generation Z and millennials. It’s abundantly clear that many employees are valuing, more now than ever, working for companies with strong values.

When your business advertises its open positions, you can include photos that show your team volunteering together and include copy that describes what charities are important to your business. In interviews with job candidates, you can discuss the prioritization of charitable efforts, which appeals to potential employees who are looking to be involved as well.

Look Into Potential Tax Advantages

While motivation for charitable efforts should come from a place of wanting to help others, it is wise to be aware of the potential tax advantages that may be available to you. According to LifeLongLawyers, deducting qualifying charitable donations reduces the amount your business pays in taxes. Talk to a financial expert about which donation strategies make the most sense for your business.

If you do itemize your deductions and claim charitable donations, your donations will need to meet certain requirements, including the following:

• The charity must be tax exempt under section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code. You can check an organization’s eligibility to receive tax-deductible charitable donations using the IRS’s search tool. Individuals, social and sports clubs, political groups, most foreign organizations, for-profit schools, and other types of organizations do not qualify to receive deductible contributions.
• The three basic types of charitable gifts that can be deducted are cash, property or equipment, and travel expenses that result from helping a charitable organization. Donation limits apply, but they are quite high (generally 30 to 60 percent of your adjusted gross income, depending on the type of organization).
• You should keep track of your donations with written records in case you are audited. The IRS also requires you to obtain written acknowledgement of the donation from the recipient for any contribution of $250 or more (including cash or property).
• You must fill out an IRS form for each noncash contribution that is more than $500.
• The IRS has special rules for some types of donations, such as automobiles and inventory. There are also rules for determining the value of donated property.

Improve Your Community

While some large-scale causes can be beneficial to give to, for small and medium sized businesses, often the best way to be philanthropic is to help in your own community. When you support schools, clubs, or religious organizations in your own backyard, you can forge a genuine connection with the people and organizations in your area. When you make a point to prioritize charitable efforts with small organizations that do not have much exposure on their own, you can be seen as a leader in your community that really cares about your customer base.

How To Leverage Your Charitable Efforts

Attracting great employees, building team camaraderie, supporting your community, increasing your customer base, and getting tax cuts — these are all great reasons to prioritize charitable efforts. But how exactly should you go about charitable giving in a way that yields the above results?

Pick A Cause You Care About

It is not helpful to anyone to invest in a cause that you don’t have much interest in. Rather, put your energy toward supporting causes and organizations that pique your interest and passion. Otherwise, employees, customers, potential customers, and the community will sense you’re just going through the motions — which will negatively impact your business.

Be Strategic With Philanthropic Storytelling

It doesn’t only matter that you publicize your charitable efforts, but it also matters how you do it.

The LNP article, “Charitable Giving: A Marketers Guide,” outlines some of the best ways to strategically communicate your charitable efforts:

• Craft a compelling press release. Send out the press release to local media outlets with information and photos that highlights your involvement.
• Include dynamic stories about nonprofits and volunteering in your business’s newsletters and social media posts. Instead of just sharing that you helped, tell stories of why you helped, why the cause is important to you, how exactly you got involved, and what you plan to do next for the cause.
• Create links on your website. Whether linking to a simple web page for donations or including more information about volunteering opportunities, including links and key details on your website will help philanthropy become a visual part of your brand.
• Ask customers to get involved. Send out emails and feature posts on your social media pages, urging your customers to get involved in the causes you’re most passionate in supporting. By helping connect customers with a cause, you can forge a beneficial relationship with them.
• Connect with The Extra Give. Each year, the Lancaster County community supports the Extraordinary Give. The Lancaster County Community Foundation sponsors Lancaster County’s largest day of giving and raising millions of dollars in donations for over 300 organizations. LNP Media Group supports The Extra Give through an annual special section; putting your business in this section can help raise your profile as an organization that supports local charitable work.

Participate In Community Events

The first step in helping your community is being an enthusiastic member of your community. From attending community days to local sporting events, having a presence with your customer base will establish your presence and connect with you more people and opportunities for volunteering and giving.

What To Avoid When Finding Charitable Avenues

It is critical to carefully vet and choose each charitable organization your business associates with:

• Make sure the charity is completely legit and highly rated. WITF has a top 4 star rating on Charity Navigator. This tool is a fantastic way to do a quick search of a charity to view its star rating, its contact information, and details in different categories, including Impact & Measurement, Accountability & Finance, Culture & Community, and Leadership & Adaptability.
• Make sure the charity aligns with your business. It doesn’t make sense to associate your business with a charity or organization that is off-putting to your primary customer base or desired audience. Ensure that your philanthropic efforts align with the type of customers you want to gain. WITF is an affiliate of both PBS and NPR, and those customer bases are premium groups for almost any business.
• NPR audience demographics show that 42M is the weekly NPR audience across audiences; that NPR is the #1 and #2 drive time news/talk radio program in America; that NPR ranks #1 out of 13 news brands for trustworthiness, integrity, and respect; and that 89% of listeners agree that NPR provides them with information that other media outlets do not provide.
• PBS reaches over 36M adults on linear primetimes, linear primetime; engages 16M monthly users across PBS.org, OTT video app, and the mobile video app; and reaches 213M annual full episode general audience streams on PBS-owned platforms.

TL;DR:

Customers and employees today are drawn to businesses that value charitable efforts. Be strategic about the charities you support and how you promote your charitable efforts so you can have real impacts on your bottom line. Contact LNP Media Group to combine multi-channel marketing with charitable marketing efforts, through our status as part of WITF, a long-standing local non-profit with an impeccable record in the community.

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When working with your marketing agency to strategize a new marketing campaign for your small to medium sized business, chances are the campaign will include some type of digital and/or social media marketing. One common mistake in developing digital marketing strategies is assuming that all types of digital marketing are fairly equivalent. In this article we will focus on the key differences between social media marketing and other types of digital marketing.

We will start this article with a brief description of each of the types of digital marketing:

• SEO
• Paid search (PPC or pay per click)
• Email marketing
• Display
• Geo-fencing
• Social media marketing – Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, X (formerly known as Twitter), Snapchat, Pinterest, and LinkedIn

Then we will follow with:

• Differences between social media marketing and other digital marketing channels.
• Key aspects of social media marketing where it is significantly different from other types of digital marketing.

Types of Digital Marketing

SEO

SEO, which stands for Search Engine Optimization, is focused on improving where your business’s website appears in the list of search results when people search online for terms relevant to your business. For example, if you own a local dress shop, you want Google to show people your store’s website as high as possible on the search engine results page (SERP) when they search for “dress shops in Lancaster PA”. Ideally, you’d want the search engine (Google, Bing, or other) to show your store’s website in the first position at the top of the first page of results.

Using SEO to improve the visibility of your business’s website on those search results pages is important because most people click on the first several websites listed on page 1 of Google search results, and the same applies to Bing, Duck Duck Go, or any other search engine results page.

SEO is a strategy that takes a significant time commitment to yield results. Six months would be the minimum time to dedicate to SEO and successful companies consider SEO to be a continual, on-going part of their marketing operations. There are three basic types of SEO work:

• On-page SEO – Adding relevant content to your site such as informative blogs, detailed product copy, images, videos, interlinking across internal pages, use of relevant keywords in the copy, easy navigation, etc.
• Off-page SEO – Adding links to your site from other reputable sites and building a solid social media presence that has engagement from your audience.
• Technical SEO – Ensuring that all the back-end functionality and code of the site is optimized, including responsive design, schema markup, robots.txt, H1 tags, secure https, sitemap, etc.

Properly executed SEO will, over the long term, improve both the quality and quantity of your website’s organic traffic from search engines. SEO is an important investment because it creates a sustainable increase in traffic to your site, which should also drive more revenue for your business. This is different from paid digital marketing campaigns where the traffic will stop when the campaigns stop.

The data that is collected on your site because of SEO work can be used to understand your audience’s shared demographics, how they use your site, and how to optimize paid digital campaigns. Optimized digital campaigns will do a better job of increasing online traffic and elevating campaign ROI (Return on Investment).

Paid Search (PPC or pay per click)

This is a digital strategy used to quickly increase traffic and leads to your site. PPC stands for “pay per click” which means that every time someone clicks on your paid search ad, you get charged for that click but you do not get charged for the impressions from ads that weren’t clicked. Paid search ads are displayed on search engine results pages (SERPs). Google Ads is the platform used to deliver paid search ads, and it offers three basic types of paid search ad campaigns:

• Text ads
• Shopping ads
• Local services ads

Each of these ad types appear in different positions (and in different formats) on SERPs. A properly set up paid search campaign will result in a relevant ad for your business appearing when a consumer is searching for a product or service that you offer.

Benefits of paid search include but are not limited to: immediate online product sales, increased website traffic, and increased lead generation. The amount you pay per click is based on how much you bid for that ad space.

One of the most important factors in successful paid search advertising is the use of keywords. Keywords are entered during the ad creation process to help Google, Bing, or other search engines determine which of your ads are most relevant to serve on the SERP.

For example, if your company wants to reach people searching for low-cost family vacation ideas, you will want to bid on keywords such as “low-cost family vacations” or “family vacation on a budget”. This way, when someone enters “low-cost family vacations” into Google, Google Ads will serve your ad and bid for the top spot on the SERP. To learn more about PPC advertising and keyword targeting, read through our Beginners Guide to Digital Campaign Targeting.

Display

Display ads are the typical rectangular and square ads you see when you are browsing news websites. Display ads can be designed as animated gifs, which convey more information about your business than a static jpg or png ad. Targeting for display ads includes interests, placements, keywords, and demographics. Display ads are best for raising awareness of your business’s brand. The old “rule of seven” in marketing is that a person must see an ad at least seven times to retain awareness of your business’s brand.

Building brand awareness is an essential ingredient in your business’s marketing mix. Research shows that consumers are roughly 70% more likely to take an action, such as making a purchase, when they are already familiar with a brand’s name, which means that digital display campaigns should be part of your on-going digital marketing strategy because they set the stage for other campaigns that directly drive online shopping sales.

Geo-fencing

Geo-fencing is all about location. To run a geo-fenced ad campaign you specify, using GPS coordinates, a location with a minimum radius of 50 meters. This location could be a school, a competitor, your own business’s location, or an event venue – basically any location where you know that your target audience will be present. When someone enters the fenced area with their location-enabled mobile device, their device is tagged so that your ads will be delivered to that person the next time they are on a website or app that is in the ad network. Geo-fencing tends to produce a smaller number of leads than other types of digital marketing, but these leads tend to be highly qualified.

The key caveat with geo-fencing is that you must be very confident that the people you want to reach are, in fact, present at a particular location. For example, if you wanted to fence the offices of one of your competitors to try and attract their workers for a job opening at your company, you’d need to be sure those workers are still coming to the office. With the rise in remote working during the Covid-19 pandemic it is now harder to be confident that office workers are actually in a company’s office space.

Email Marketing

Email marketing is not only a form of digital marketing, but also a form of direct marketing, meaning that you are communicating directly with an individual consumer. Email marketing must be compliant with the CAN-SPAM Act, which requires that email campaigns have an unsubscribe link, be sent to people who have opted-in, have clear subject lines, and clearly indicate who the email is from.

Email marketing campaigns can be sent to your own list of customers and prospects or can be sent to email lists from proprietary databases of opted-in email addresses. These large email databases offer selection criteria by age, interest, occupation, intent to purchase, and much more.

After your email marketing campaign has been sent out, you can target digital ads to people who have clicked on a link in the campaign. Email marketing is a good choice to keep your audience engaged with new information about your products, brand, offers, and events. Email marketing is a more personal approach than paid search, geo-fencing, or display marketing.

Social Media Marketing

Social media is a huge presence in digital marketing with billions of users across the main platforms. Below are the approximate number of users for each platform as-of 2022:

• Facebook – 2.9 billion users
• YouTube – 2 billion users
• Instagram – 1.8 billion users
• TikTok – 1 billion users
• LinkedIn – 774 million users
• Pinterest – 459 million users
• X (formerly known as Twitter) – 319 million users
• Snapchat – 300 million users

Source: Hubspot State of Marketing 2021.

As a result of the dominance of social media as a communications channel, some companies, like Spotify, have decided to exclusively use social media for outbound communications to their users. Spotify uses X (formerly known as Twitter) messaging as their only form of customer assistance because it is so accessible and easy to use.

There are two fundamental ways to approach social media marketing: 1) posting organically about your business (and sometimes boosting those posts), and 2) running ad campaigns on social media platforms. For ad campaigns, each social media platform has its own setup process, ad formatting requirements, targeting options, boosting options, and unique demographics. Like email marketing, social media marketing can help your company engage with your audience in a more personalized way than SEO, paid search, geo-fencing, or display.

Using Facebook as an example, the big limitation in using organic posting to promote your business is that organic Facebook posts only reach about 6% of your fans. So, if you put a lot of time and effort into organic posts you are, unfortunately, wasting your time because a large portion of your audience will not see what you have posted. A business can choose to pay to boost its organic posts, which will reach a somewhat larger audience, but boosted posts don’t offer the full power of paid social media ad campaigns. The limitations to boosted posts on Facebook include:

• No option to A/B split test a campaign. A/B split testing provides important data so that you can learn what types of posts perform better.
• Limited targeting options. With boosting, you can only select one of these options: people who like your page, friends of people who like your page, targeted audience. Note that the “targeted audience” option within a boosted post only offers a fraction of the targeting options available in an ad campaign.
• Optimization is only available for engagement (likes, comments, shares). You cannot optimize for web traffic, video views or conversions.

Because of these limitations, which are similar on all social media platforms, we recommend that businesses post once or twice a month to let people know that the business is still open. Then take that time you would have put into organic posts and instead work with your digital marketing agency to develop highly effective social media ad campaigns.

Next let’s review the key differences between social media marketing and other types of digital marketing.

Key aspects where social media marketing is better than other types of digital marketing

1 – Social media is powerful for both brand awareness and online sales/lead generation.

Traditionally, social media was considered better for brand awareness than for generation of leads or online product sales. Social media’s strength in brand awareness rests on its ability to personally connect your business with people who are interested in your brand. Your brand’s organic social media posts and ads can be intimate, funny, storytelling, or candid in a way that is difficult to replicate through other digital platforms.

Social media ad campaigns can be displayed in users’ feeds, thus appearing naturally alongside organic posts. And, even though organic posting is an inefficient use of your time, your brand can post organically at no charge. Plus, your brand’s social media followers can like and share your organic posts and your ad campaigns, thus giving you free help to reach more people. All these aspects mean that social media remains a brand awareness powerhouse.

For online product sales and lead generation, paid search campaigns have long been considered more effective than social media. More recently, this conventional wisdom has been changing as social media marketing has been proving that it can be very effective for lead generation, selling products online, and even hiring for open positions. Insider Intelligence estimates that half of all U.S. adults made a purchase via social media in 2021. The revenue from online purchases via social media ad campaigns in 2021 amounted to $492 billion dollars and this number is predicted to more than double by 2025. Selling products online through social media channels now even has its own name: social commerce.

While social media has is now considered a highly effective channel for both brand awareness and online sales/lead generation, paid search remains more one-dimensional as a great choice for online sales/lead generation, but a poor choice for brand awareness due to the fact that paid search ads reach a narrow audience that is actively searching for specific products, services, or information.

2 – Social media has the most interest-based targeting of any digital platform.

If you think about all the things Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, X (formerly known as Twitter), Pinterest or TikTok know about your habits, likes, and interests, you realize that those platforms have a lot of data about who you are and what you like. The benefit for a business in Lancaster County is that you can work with your digital marketing agency to leverage this interest information to craft audiences of people who are highly likely to want to purchase your products, services, or apply for your open positions.

The different types of targeting available in social media platforms perform best at different points in the marketing funnel, according to Hubspot:

• Social media demographic targeting is most effective at driving brand awareness.
• Social media interest targeting is most effective at driving purchase intent and consideration, if the size of the interest-based target audience is comparable to the size of a demographic-based target audience. Meaning, you want to be careful not to create an overly narrow target audience using interests because if the audience size is too small it could reduce the effectiveness of the campaign.

Below is a partial list of interest-based targeting options just for Facebook. As you can see, the options are extensive and detailed. The complete list can be found here on page 9, but beware, targeting options on all social media platforms change constantly. While the interest options below are for Facebook, every other social media platform has as many or more detailed lists of interest-based targeting available. The options are truly staggering and are all derived from users’ real, tracked behaviors, making these interests very accurate.

• Hobbies and activities:
  • Political and social issues (e.g. law, environmentalism, volunteering)
  • Home and garden (e.g. furniture, home appliances, gardening)
  • Arts and music (e.g. fine art, guitar, singing, dance)
  • Pets (e.g. dogs, cats, reptiles)
  • Travel (e.g. adventure, air, vacations, nature)
  • Vehicles (e.g. SUVs, RVs, trucks, boats)
• Business and industry:
  • Real estate, architecture, nursing, higher education, construction, and more.
  • Design (e.g. fashion, graphic, interior)
  • Online (e.g. digital marketing, web development, search engine optimization)
  • Personal finance (e.g. credit cards, insurance, investment)
  • Banking (e.g. investment, personal, online)
• Shopping and fashion:
  • Beauty (e.g. cosmetics, tattoos, spas, hair products)
  • Clothing (e.g. children’s, men’s, shoes, women’s)
  • Fashion accessories (e.g. dresses, handbags, jewelry)
  • Shopping (e.g. boutiques, coupons, luxury, discount)
• Fitness and wellness: dieting, running, yoga, Zumba and more
• Family and relationships: fatherhood, motherhood, weddings and more
• Technology:
  • Computers (e.g. hard drives, network storage, software,)
  • Consumer electronics (e.g. cameras, TVs, game consoles, smart phones)
• Entertainment:
  • Live events (e.g. theater, concerts, nightclubs)
  • Games (e.g. card, board, online, video)
  • Movies (e.g. drama, fantasy, anime)
  • Reading (e.g. e-books, magazines, manga, non-fiction, newspapers)
  • TV (e.g. game shows, reality, talk shows)
  • Music (e.g. hip hop, pop, rock, soul)
• Sports and outdoors:
  • Sports (e.g. soccer, tennis, golf)
  • Outdoor activities (e.g. hiking, hunting, fishing)
• Food and drink:
  • Alcoholic beverages (e.g. beer, wine, distilled beverages)
  • Cooking (e.g. baking, recipes, beverages)
  • Cuisine (e.g. Japanese, Thai, French)
  • Food (e.g. barbecue, vegetarian, organic)
  • Restaurants (e.g. diners, coffee houses, fast casual)

Note that there are even more options for demographic and behavior-based targeting which are not listed above because the focus of this article is how social media channels are different from other digital channels, and interest targeting is a key difference.

3 – Social media offers better creative space compared to other digital channels.

Ads in social media platforms are larger, more dynamic, and can use video at no extra cost. By contrast, the most dynamic ad format on a display campaign is an animated gif, which is nowhere near as engaging as ads on social media. Social media ads can be short videos (like speeded up cooking videos), or testimonials from users, or shots of products being used/modeled in action, or drone flythroughs of an event space, and on and on.

Of the different social media platforms, TikTok is, of course, 100% video while Facebook and Instagram can utilize either video or photos. Facebook and Instagram include more room for copy than TikTok does. Ad formats are shown in social media alongside organic content which only heightens the authenticity of the social media ads themselves.

4 – Social media is memorable.

People remember that they saw your business on social media. We often hear our advertisers say that their customers tell them “I saw you on Facebook”. This is because users are highly engaged when they are scrolling through the feed of their favorite social media platform. Your business’s ads will be shown to social media users while they are in that highly engaged moment. Using the professional design capabilities of a digital marketing agency, your ads will flow naturally within the social media feed, thus increasing the perception that the ads are part of the overall engagement experience. In this way, social media advertising is much less passive than other forms of digital advertising.

5 – Social media platforms offer a diverse array of dedicated fan bases.

Each social media platform has its own core group of dedicated users with distinct generational and interest attributes. Because each platform has its own fan base, you’ll need to consider which type of social media fans are most aligned with your brand and campaign goals.

Researchers at Brigham Young University identified four basic categories of Facebook users:  relationship builders, town criers, selfies, and window shoppers. While this type of research has not yet been applied to TikTok, we do know that 47.4% of TikTok users are under age 30. Facebook, predictably, skews toward an older audience, with only 24.9% of users under age 30.

Researchers at Lahore University have identified six types of  X (formerly known as Twitter) users: professional users, personal users, business users, spam users, feed/news users, and viral/marketing users.

The lists of various user types for each social media platform are almost endless, but you get the idea. You digital marketing agency experts can help you dig into the details of which social media audience is right for your business’s campaign.

Conclusion

Having a strong social media strategy will maximize your business’s overall online performance. Working with a digital marketing agency to develop savvy social media campaigns will boost your company’s brand awareness and increase your online sales and lead generation. Social media marketing stands apart from other digital marketing channels because of its extensive interest targeting options, cost effectiveness, and generous amount of space for visual assets and ad copy.

Whether your business wants to reach people in Lancaster County or anywhere in the U.S., the digital marketing experts at LNP Media Group will help you to achieve your business’s goals. We work closely with your team and provide full transparency into the performance of every campaign. We are social media enthusiasts who can select the most appropriate social media platform for your business goals and develop the optimum combination of demographic and interest targeting. Plus, we provide digital creatives at no additional charge. Contact us to today for a completely free, no commitment marketing strategy conversation.

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