Tag Archives: Social Media

Best Practices for Creating Handles or Usernames

Best Practices for Creating Handles or Usernames

A digital marketing speaker Hong Kong notes that there is a lot of misinformation about social media handles or usernames. So, it is not a big surprise that many brands and businesses are challenged in getting the right one. According to a social media agency Hong Kong, a handle or username is a public identifier. It is a way to send a certain message. Using witty handles is a way to show -off fun and laidback character. A clean and non-colorful handle shows reliability or trustworthiness. Below, here are some best practices for creating handles or usernames.

Align Your Handles with Your Business Name or Domain Name

A business name is a legal identity for a brand or business. A domain name is the digital website address of a brand or business. The best practice to create handles and usernames is to align them with the business or domain name. It is the most logical thing to do for consistent branding. As much as possible, do this on all of your social media pages and websites.

Be Ready with a Backup

There may be times when your chosen social media handle or username may no longer be available on specific or all social media platforms and websites. The best practice is to list at least five variations of your chosen handle or username to have a backup plan. As such, you can still embrace whatever you have chosen.

Choose a Completely Original Brand Name

Assume someone already has your ideal username. Choosing a completely original handle or username can boost the chances of getting its copyright. Besides, it secures your brand identity across all social media platforms. A completely original social media handle or username should be distinguishable, easy to spell, memorable, and short. Most of all, it should tell something about what you do.

Determine the Availability of Your Chosen Brand Name Across All Platforms

Choose matching handles for consistency. Consistency in social media handles or usernames can bolster brand recognition and promotes better communication. If a brand or business wants to use the same handle or username across all social media platforms, try to keep it under 115 characters. Avoid using numbers or special characters.

Keep The Handle or User Name Concise

Ensure they are easy to spell and pronounce. A good social media handle or username should easily roll off the tongue when read verbally. To help customers find them quickly, it should be easy to spell and pronounce. Avoid using punctuation. Ensure that it is closest to your brand or business name.

Select a Name That Stands the Test of Time

One of the best practices in choosing a social media handle or username is to pick something that stands the test of time. To do so, try testing your chosen handles one at a time. Upload them on your social media pages and websites and observe the result after a week or a month. Choose the one that receives the most conversion and engagement based on analytics or statistics.

Reference: https://blog.red-website-design.co.uk/2022/07/22/social-media-handle-username/

How Often You Should Post on Social Media

How Often You Should Post on Social Media

More than half of the world’s population has a social media account. According to a social media agency Hong Kong reported that there are around 3.96 billion social media users today. That is why many brands and businesses post regularly on social platforms to stay on top of the modern consumers. Yet, there are times when the frequency of posting can make or break an online marketing strategy, as a digital marketing speaker Hong Kong says. For a video marketing agency Hong Kong, the frequency depends on one’s location and social media platform. Below, we have laid out some tips on how often you should post on social media. These recommendations were based on a series of studies among successful brands and businesses.

FACEBOOK

Facebook is referred to as the king of social media. It now has around 3.96 billion monthly active users (MAUs). Around the world, 93% of businesses used Facebook. To avoid being spammy, social media marketers should post no more than once a day. That highest will be at least 2 posts. The best time to do it is between 1:00 PM to 4:00 PM, the time when most people already accomplished everything they need to do midway. As they need a break from their daily routine, most Facebook users check their feeds during mid-afternoon. To gain traction, brands and businesses can curate or reshare a post every other day.

INSTAGRAM

Instagram is now a sharing app for photos and videos. The platform has around 2 billion monthly active users (MAUs). There are more than 200 million business accounts on Instagram. Buffer recommends posting on Instagram at least 1 to 3 times per day. The best time to do it is between 8:00 AM to 9:00 AM and 2:00 PM. It may be beneficial to Instagrammers to see curated and new posts every morning and mid-day.

LINKEDIN

LinkedIn is the world’s largest social network of professionals, with more than 66.8 million monthly active users (MAUs). Out of the 66.8 million LinkedIn members, 65 million are decision-makers. It made LinkedIn the most effective lead generation platform. LocalVox suggests that you should post on LinkedIn at least once a day between 10:00 AM to 11:00 AM. The key to an effective LinkedIn strategy is posting experts and niche content. You can also curate or reshare a post every other day.

PINTEREST

Pinterest is a visual discovery engine with more than 433 million monthly active users (MAUs) worldwide. Around 75% of Pinterest users are shopping on the platform. So, it made Pinterest a vital eCommerce tool. Three to thirty pins should be spread out throughout the day to get the best results on Pinterest. The best time to publish pins are 2:00 AM, 3:00 AM, 4:00 AM, 1:00 PM, 2:00 PM, 3:00 PM, 4:00 PM, 8:00 PM, 9:00 PM, 10:00 PM, and 11:00 PM. 80% of your pins should be from other sources. It will also be smart to curate or re-pin at least five content every other day.

TWITTER

Twitter is a microblogging site with more than 231 million daily active users (DAUs). It is the go-to social media platform for news and trends. More than 85% of Twitter users are high-income earners, making them a highly targeted marketing group. Quick Sprout found that there should be a higher tweet frequency for brands and businesses. It should be at least 15 to 51 tweets daily, including retweeting about 7x per day. The best times to tweet are 2:00 AM, 3:00 AM, 6:00 AM, 7:00 AM, 9:00 AM, 10:00 AM, 11:00 AM, 12:00 PM, 1:00 PM, 2:00 PM, 3:00 PM, 5:00 PM, 6:00 PM, 9:00 PM, and 10:00 PM.

Reference: https://blog.red-website-design.co.uk/2022/05/18/how-often-post-social/

The Benefits of Content Curation to Social Media

The Benefits of Content Curation to Social Media

Content curation is a valuable digital marketing strategy. According to a digital marketing speaker Hong Kong, curated content highlights industry expertise and provides extra value to your social media followers. Just like a museum curator, it displays the best artifacts and artworks to engage your audiences. Below, let us discuss the benefits of content curation in social media.

WHAT IS CONTENT CURATION?

social media agency Hong Kong defines content curation as sharing content created by others to give more value to your social media audiences. It involves discovering, gathering, and presenting pieces of content around a certain category, industry, niche, or topic. It may include an article, blog post, expert advice, infographics, news, videos, etc.

Technically, to curate means to collect. Thus, social media content curation is as simple as filtering interesting posts across the web. Brands and businesses gathered and share their links to provide relevant and valuable information for their target audiences.

THE BENEFITS OF CONTENT CURATION TO SOCIAL MEDIA

Consistent posting of quality content on social media boosts the visibility of a brand or business. Content curation can help upgrade your social media strategy. Here’s how!

It Adds Unique Insights to Help You Become a Thought Leader 

The first step through though leadership is to provide answers to your audiences’ queries. With content curation, you can research for answers and lend them with your original works. Besides, you can provide references to validate your claims. 

Curated content can be the focus of a brand or business among aggregation apps, community forums, email newsletters, podcasts, and RSS feeds. A video marketing agency Hong Kong also uses content creation on YouTube channels. By doing so, brands and businesses can find what their audiences love and place themselves as thought leaders. 

It Builds Communities

The best way to spread brand awareness in social media is having dedicated communities of followers. You need a lot of content to do so. Content curation keeps the feeds of social media pages full. These capture people’s interests by educating them. They also help build credibility and trust, resulting in a loyal community of followers.

It Increases Social Signals

Social signals are comments, likes, reactions, saves, and shares received by social media posts. Using content curation in social media, brands and businesses can boost conversions of these social signals. It leads to better SEO ranking and visibility. The top-performing content curation formats are articles, expert roundups, infographics, listicles, and statistics.

It Keeps Your Content Calendar Full

Content curation to social media helps brands and businesses keep their content calendar full. They are an easy hack to easily post on social media pages. Some creative and quick content curation hacks are:

  • Asking a question or giving an opinion to a shared post.
  • A brief summary of why people should read an article or blog.
  • Quoting or picking out a stat.
  • Simply hitting the retweet button.

The key is to ensure adding a personal twist for branding. The more creative a brand or business gets, the better!

It Mixes Up Original Content to Avoid Looking Too Self-Promotional

A good rule of thumb when posting on social media is to create 40$ of original content and share 60% of curated content. It helps a brand or business avoid looking too self-promotional. Even the best bloggers don’t talk about themselves all the time. Content curation also makes your social media post look more balance. 

It Opens Up Networking

When you share content, it opens up new relationships with the author. It can be an advertiser, another brand or business, a creator, or a Facebook page or community. Content curation can be enough for these people to notice a brand or business. It also makes brands and businesses visible to their followers. As such, content curation opens up networking.

Reference: https://quuu.co/blog/benefits-of-content-curation/

The New Era of Hybrid Shopping

The New Era of Hybrid Shopping.

The COVID-19 pandemic has shifted shopping behaviors from physical stores to digital shops. During the new normal, people are fusing in-store and online shopping experiences. The result is a new era of hybrid shopping!

A digital marketing speaker Hong Kong poses a question if brands are prepared to deliver in the new era of hybrid shopping. It means having a lot of touchpoints both offline and online. Brick-and-mortar shops are back to operations. Digital shops are now exploring live shopping. 

WHAT IS HYBRID SHOPPING?

Hybrid shopping means the best of in-store and online buying to create a convenient and customized shopping experience. Think of your shopping habits. You are browsing on Instagram and saw a shirt you want to try on. You check for the nearest location of the physical store, visit the store, and eventually make a purchase. 

By personalizing the buying journey, a social media agency Hong Kong highlights that hybrid conversion can boost conversion and engagement on brands and businesses. So, they need to invest in integrating their online and physical stores.

BOPIS is becoming a popular hybrid shopping trend. It is an abbreviation for Buy Online, Pick up In-Store. It starts with a shopper browsing a brand or business website for products and services. They choose the items that they want to buy online and check out with a preferred pick-up location. Store associates will pull the in-stock items either in-store, on another branch, or at the warehouse. Once the items are ready, the customer can pick the orders in a dedicated area.

WHERE DO MODERN CONSUMERS PREFER TO SHOP?

Recently, Meta (formerly Facebook) conducted a study about retail shopping behaviors. Here, they have concluded that modern shoppers are trying to experience the best of both worlds. It means that omnichannel marketing is no longer about having different social media pages or online apps and websites. Rather, brands and businesses are starting to merge with physical shops. 

41% of global shoppers prefer hybrid shopping. Here’s a breakdown of the top 11 regions:

  • Mexico – 52%
  • Thailand = 49%
  • United States = 44%
  • Germany = 44%
  • United Kingdom = 43%
  • Australia = 42%
  • Brazil = 41%
  • Canada = 37%
  • Slovakia = 35%
  • France = 34%
  • Japan = 29%

From these data, Meta experts have formulated some keys to a better shopping experience. 

KEYS TO A BETTER HYBRID SHOPPING EXPERIENCE

Enhance Digital Shops

Modern consumers are looking for digital solutions to solve their frustrations when shopping in physical stores. The inconvenience of carrying bulky and heavy shopping bags prompted them to order online with the convenience of getting them delivered right to their doorsteps. 

Hybrid shopping results in online being an appealing destination to find products. They are convenient and easier to navigate. A video marketing agency Hong Kong scales short video clips as a way to promote products online. With 66.3% of shoppers researching for products and services on the web before buying it, they are an effective way to highlight its features and functions. 

Hybrid shopping makes social media a source of interconnectivity among marketing channels. It helped them make informed decisions. Recommendations from Facebook groups, family members, and friends can answer the needs of a shopper. That is why 60% of modern consumers use social media across all markets to find products and services. 84% of them made an in-store purchase after discovering items on social media.  

Make In-Store Shopping More Efficient

In the new era of hybrid shopping, brands and businesses should use technology to make in-store shopping more efficient. Mobile app navigation and online payment processing can boost in-store sales. 

One of the most common pain points in in-store shopping is not finding the right color or size of merchandise. With online inventory being synced to different physical stores, hybrid shoppers can be directed to the nearest store where their color and size are available. 

Modern consumers are also looking for instant solutions. By syncing online checkouts and in-store deliveries, they can receive the goods in under 10 minutes. It makes hybrid shopping more convenient and fulfilling on the side of the customers. 

USE AR and VR to Enhance Immersion

Modern consumers still want a human touch during the buying experience. So, brands and businesses can use AR or VR o enhance an immersive buying experience. Hybrid shopping no longer needs to go to a physical store to try-on apparel, beauty products, fashion accessories, etc. They can even do a test drive for a car virtually.

The conventional wisdom of eCommerce makes it possible for shoppers to feel as if they are physically present in-store to try out new products and offerings. Today, one-third of shoppers are using augmented reality to experience products. 

Reference: https://www.facebook.com/business/news/insights/the-next-era-of-hybrid-shopping-au

A Half-Year Review of the Top Social Media Platforms

Social Media

There are 4.48 billion social media users around the world today. It means that 2/3 of the global population have at least one social media account. As such, brands and businesses focus on social media marketing. It is an essential key to success in promoting their products and services online. For many, social media is a way to connect to the world. According to a social media agency Hong Kong, it is also a place to find ideas and inspiration. That is why the marketing strategies in these online platforms are very different. First, you need to educate your target audience to give them ideas. Second, you also need to be creative in engaging and inspiring them.

There are so many social media platforms available online. The challenge for brands and businesses is choosing the right one. To help them make better decisions, here’s a half-year review of the top social media platforms.

CLUBHOUSE

The Clubhouse app is a social audio app launched last March 2020. A digital marketing speaker Hong Kong highlighted that it revolutionized the audio marketing industry. Other social media platforms tried to clone the app. The Clubhouse app was initially invite-only in iOS but has recorded 13 million downloads in less than a year. Today, it has enabled Android download and has opened its membership to the public. The audio chat app now has 20 million downloads. With 10 million monthly active users, Clubhouse is now worth $4 billion in a Series C round. 

FACEBOOK

The king of social media has now grown to 2.895 billion monthly active users. Almost fifty percent of its members come from the Asia-Pacific region. Its quarterly revenue stands at $29,077 billion. A large part of the earnings came from Canada, Europe, and the United States. Facebook now focuses on AR and VR innovations. It is also adding features and tools for live broadcast and paid online events. By 09 August 2021, it will hold the first-ever movie premiere. With Facebook Pay being made available among 3rd party platforms, this year may be a huge leap for Facebook paid services.

INSTAGRAM

Since Facebook acquired Instagram in 2012, it has become one of the most influential social media platforms globally. With a large number of millennials using the app, the platform switched from photo-sharing into photo-and-video-sharing. As of Q2 of 2021, Instagram has 1.386 billion monthly active users. Its revenue stands at $18.16 billion. At the beginning of 2021, Instagram introduced a “Professional Dashboard.” It houses all the features and tools a brand or business needs to manage an Instagram account. The platform has also integrated its Messaging API, allowing access to multiple Instagram pages.

LINKEDIN

The largest online network of professionals now has 774 million monthly active users. LinkedIn was also currently on track to generate $3.7 billion for this full year. A video marketing agency Hong Kong notes that LinkedIn posts with videos are 20x more likely to be shared than any other forms of posts. It may be the reason why the platform focuses mainly on enhancing LinkedIn Stories as of these days. It was introduced in late September 2020. Last January, LinkedIn enabled the automatic “follow” action and swipe up button to enhance its Stories features. 

PINTEREST

After reporting a series of consecutive growth for 11 quarters, Pinterest showed a slight decline in Q2 of 2021. It now has 454 million monthly active users. But its revenue grew to $613 million, on track with a growth of 125% year over year. Pinterest has noted that the decline is due to the easing restrictions on physical stores. Brick-and-mortar shops are slowly coming back. It makes shoppers shift back to store visits instead of online searches. As such, Pinterest now focuses on expanding its virtual try-ons. Initially, the visual search engine enabled it among makeup products from big global brands. Recently, it enabled a virtual test drive for Volkswagen. Pinterest has also added more ways for creators to earn money. These include product tags and paid partnerships.

SNAPCHAT

Snapchat now has 293 million monthly active users. Its revenue now stands at $982 million. It is a solid increase in both account and profit growth. After a shaky period resulting from the launch of Instagram Stories, the messaging app is now recovering. It has seen significant growth in India after the TikTok ban. Recently, the platform launched the “Open Your Snapchat” video campaign in key cities of the world. It also introduced the “Campaign Lab,” a hub for creating Snap Ads. 

TIKTOK

TikTok is a Chinese short video clip app that recently made waves around the world. Because of the rapid growth among its users, many social media platforms cloned the app. There are Reels from Facebook, Shorts from YouTube, and Spotlight from Snapchat. TikTok became the first non-Facebook app to hit 3 billion downloads. It is estimated to have 689 million monthly active users today. Its current revenue now passed $2.5 billion. Thus, it became one of the non-gaming apps with a revenue greater than $1 billion since 2014. TikTok has greeted the world with a whirlwind of short amateur videos. Because of the fun and interactive elements, people started using them as a daily routine. They cater to a variety of genres – brands, celebrities, millennials, and kids. 

TWITTER

Twitter’s revenue was up to $1.19 billion in Q2 of 2021. It also has 206 million daily active users. It was a strong quarter for the microblogging site. The platform has added several paid subscription services to boost its revenue. These include Twitter Blue, newsletter sign-up, Super Follow, ticketed Spaces, and Tomorrow weather subscription. Today, many brands and businesses feel more positive about Twitter marketing. As the platform houses current global events conversations and ramps up in enhancing its marketing tools, Twitter is becoming the biggest threat to Facebook.

YOUTUBE

The video-sharing platform accelerated back to high growth as it reached $7 billion in revenue in Q2 of 2021. YouTube now stands at 2 billion monthly active users. Alphabet, Google’s parent company who owned YouTube reported that there was a spike in advertising revenue resulting from the lockdowns and social distancing measures from the COVID pandemic. Shopping behaviors were forced to shift from physical stores to eCommerce websites. Plus, videos have greatly influenced shoppers to learn more about a brand, product, or service.

The World’s Top Social Media Influencers (2021)

Top Social Media Influencers

Today, more than half of the world’s population use social media. With around 4.66 billion social media users, influencer marketing among social media platforms is forecasted to be a $15 billion industry by 2022. Around 90% of brands and businesses believe that influencer marketing is very effective. There are 56% of them partnering with the same influencers across different campaigns. 

According to a digital marketing speaker Hong Kong, the top social media platform for influencer marketing is Instagram. TikTok recently bagged the second spot as a preferred influencer marketing platform, while YouTube garnered the third spot as video marketing continues to be the king of influencer content. Instagram Reels, Tiktok Clips, and YouTube Shorts are continuously booming among influencer content as a video marketing agency Hong Kong says. 

Yet, the biggest challenge with influencer marketing lies in finding the right partner. Most brands and businesses are having a hard time sealing a contract with their preferred influencers because of a limited budget and niche considerations. To help them find the right partner, here’s a view of some of the top social media influencers. 

WHAT IS INFLUENCER MARKETING?

A social media agency Hong Kong defines influencer marketing as the partnership of brands and businesses with social media influencers to increase brand awareness or conversions among a specific target audience. Marketers sponsor an influencer’s online content to endorse products and services. This is to influence the buying decision of target audiences and eventually drive conversions.

There are five categories of social media influencers based on their number of followers. These are the following:

  • Nano-influencers with 1000 to 10,000 followers. They are commonly bloggers, reality TV stars, social media sensations, or vloggers.
  • Micro-influencers with 10,000 to 50,000 followers. They comprise around 81% of the active Instagram influencers. They have a large community of followers commonly interested in a specific niche.
  • Mid-tier influencers with 50,000 to 500,000 followers. These types of influencers are commonly active advocates of political or social causes like journalists and photographers. They often have radical views, so brands and businesses should be very cautious in partnering with them. 
  • Macro-influencers with 500,000 to 1,000,000 followers. Commonly, macro-influencers are thought leaders who have top-level decisions among companies.
  • Mega-influencers with more than 1,000,000 followers. They are commonly seasoned athletes, models, movie stars, and musicians.

If brands and businesses were able to find the right influencer, they can make more than 5x of what they spend on influencer marketing.

THE WORLD’S TOP SOCIAL MEDIA INFLUENCERS

Here are the world’s top 50 influencers across social media platforms:

  1. Cristiano Ronaldo, a soccer superstar with 517 million followers
  2. Justin Bieber, a Canadian singer with 455 million followers
  3. Ariana Grande, an American actress, and singer with 429 million followers
  4. Selena Gomez, another American actress, and singer with 425 million followers
  5. Taylor Swift, an American singer, and songwriter with 361 million followers
  6. Dwayne Johnson, the American actor popularly known as “The Rock” with 342 million followers
  7. Katy Perry, another American singer, and songwriter with 338 million followers
  8. Kylie Jenner, an American media personality and socialite with 333 million followers
  9. Rihanna, a Barbadian singer for pop and rhythm n’ blue music with 332 million followers
  10. Kim Kardashian, an American model, and socialite with 319 million followers
  11. Lionel Messi, an Argentinian football player with 298 million followers
  12. Neymar Da Silva Santos Jr., a famous Brazilian footballer with 283 million followers
  13. Shakira, a Colombian singer, and songwriter with 282 million followers
  14. Jennifer Lopez, an American actress, dancer, and singer with 277 million followers
  15. Beyonce, an American actress, and singer with 267 million followers
  16. Ellen DeGeneres, a famous American comedian and TV host with 260 million followers
  17. Miley Cyrus, an American actress, and singer with 235 million followers
  18. Nicki Minaj, a Trinidad-born rapper and singer with 232 million followers
  19. Barack Obama, America’s 44th President with 221 million followers
  20. Will Smith, an American actor and film producer with 217 million followers
  21. Kendall Jenner, an American model, and socialite with 212 million followers
  22. Demi Lovato, an American singer, and songwriter with 211 million followers
  23. Lady Gaga, an American rock singer and songwriter with 210 million followers
  24. Kevin Hart, a black American actor and stand-up comedian with 201 million followers
  25. Virat Kohli, the captain of India’s National Cricket Team with 195 million followers
  26. Eminem, an American rapper with 194 million followers
  27. Drake, a Canadian rapper with 192 million followers
  28. Khloe Kardashian, an American model, and socialite with 191 million followers
  29. Bruno Mars, an American pop-music singer with 191 million followers
  30. Chris Brown, an American rapper and singer with 180 million followers
  31. Vin Diesel, the famous lead actor of “The Fast and the Furious” with 177 million followers
  32. Narendra Modi, the 1st Prime Minister of Independent India with 175 million followers
  33. Justin Timberlake, an American actor, and singer with 175 million followers
  34. Billie Eilish, an American singer, and songwriter with 171 million followers
  35. Charlie D’Amelio, an American dancer with 169 million followers
  36. Kourtney Kardashian, an American media personality with 165 million followers
  37. Cardi B, a rapper for New York with 160 million followers
  38. LeBron James, a famous American basketball player with 157 million followers
  39. Adele, an English singer, and songwriter with 156 million followers
  40. Priyanka Chopra, an Indian actress, and singer with 144 million followers
  41. German Garmendia, a Chilean YouTuber with 143 million followers
  42. Wiz Khalifa, an American rapper with 142 million followers
  43. PewDiePie, a Swedish comedian and YouTuber with 141 million followers
  44. Akshay Kumar, an Indian actor in Canada with 140 million followers
  45. Snoop Dog, a Californian rapper with 138 million followers
  46. Deepika Padukone, a famous Indian actress with 138 million followers
  47. Britney Spears, an American pop star with 137 million followers
  48. Shawn Mendes, a Canadian singer, and songwriter with 136 million followers
  49. Whindersson Nunes Batista, a Brazilian comedian, and YouTuber with 135 million followers
  50. Salman Khan, a famous Indian actor with 134 million followers

Reference: https://www.visualcapitalist.com/worlds-top-50-influencers-across-social-media-platforms/